Reflections on Renting a Flat in Geneva

So after an exhaustive (and exhausting) search, I've relocated to a new flat in the Champel region of Geneva. Like every town, Geneva's boroughs have a reputation of their own. A sampling by postcode:

• 1201: Paquis. Red-light district. Urban Geneva with hip places to go to. Not dangerous, but kinda sketchy after dark. If you're lucky, you can score some great places along the lakefront.
• 1202: United Nations-land. Where all of the NGO staff want to live (if they're workaholics). Prime real estate along any of the major bus lines that feed into the "Nations" bus stop.
• 1204: Jonction. This area includes Old Town (Vieille-ville). The place to be. Hella-high rents and hella-small rooms. Be willing to drop dime on places up in this J.
• 1205: Plainpalais. The "hip" folk who don't want to live in Carouge. Good nightlife and restaurants.
• 1206: Champel. Where people who cannot live in old town live. Associated with the upper middle class DINKs who don't want to live in suburbia.
• 1207: Eaux-Vives. The folks looking for proximity to Jet d'Eau. If you're lucky enough to score a place along the lake, this is a great place to be.
• 1209: Petit-Saconnex. In certain areas, "like living in the French countryside, but in Geneva." Fabulous single family houses with yards alongside 10-floor megacondos.
• 1227: Carouge. Mini-me Geneva. It old town was modeled after Nice and has proud. Urban-esque living in the suburbs.

Reflections on getting an apartment in Geneva:

• It sucks. Prepare yourself mentally for it. Some people spend months doing this.
• Know what you want. The Geneva rental market is no place for the hesitant. If you can't articulate your requirements, your dream rental may be gone.
• Know what your resources are. Don't rely solely on uber-aggregators like Immopool, Immostreet, or Homegate/Swissimmo. Oftentimes, the listings they have are identical. Desperate owners will post on multiple sites (and often multiple times on the same site) to increase traffic to their post. Don't fall for it. Use the aggregators (together) to find listings that have been around for too long or are listed mutliple times. It may be an indication that there's something wrong with the flat and that the owners are very motivated to get it rented. Instead, go directly to the websites of the agences or régies. The listings are more updated and more reliable than the aggregators. A good listing of regies with a web presence is here.
• Scour the listings. Pound each individual site and get listings that you're interested in. Call immediately.
• Be relentless. Don't let the fact that someone else snagged your "perfect" flat get you down. You will, in fact, face more rejection than acceptance in this game.
• Move quickly. Once you've found a listing, set up an appointment to see it ASAP. If you like it enough, move on it right then and have papers in order and money available to secure the deposit. If your gut is telling you something is wrong, it probably is. Walk away.