Nextdoor Albania

My husband and I smoothly relocated from Italy to Albania 10 days ago. I tried initially to use the online platforms for apartment hunting in Tirana. I discovered that most of the ads were fake. They are a way to get your attention and then once you reach out with a message, if you are lucky, an agent responds, tells you that the apartment is rented and proceeds to collect your information, move date and details for your desired apartment. They say they will start sending leads. I didn’t receive any leads. My move date was getting closer and I started getting nervous. I joined a few expat Tirana Facebook groups. I asked for recommendations for a real estate service for locating and securing long term rentals in Tirana center. There were a dozen or more responses within 48 hours. I noticed that Suzi from Next Door Albania was recommended with glowing reviews. I contacted Suzi and received prompt professional helpful replies right away. She explained the fast moving rental market in Tirana and answered all my questions. We felt comfortable to book her services. We also booked an AirBnB for a week and Suzi would have apartments lined up for us to view. She was confident we would see something that we liked within our budget within a couple days of viewings. I felt comfortable, relaxed and like I had a new friend. About a week or more before our move date Suzi sent two leads. One was over our budget, the other was a fit. It had a garage we were looking for, it was set back on a small street but in the center, a new building, an elevator. This was 2 bed 2 bath… and we are blown away by our wrap around terrace. Unbelievable. You can enter the terrace from every room and the terrace makes the apartment feel double the size. We were very interested. Suzi arranged a live zoom showing within a couple days. We wanted it. We paid the deposit and signed the lease. I would have not been comfortable doing that without Suzi and Next Door Albania. I felt comfortable with the online viewing and email lease signing. And it all happened in time that I could get refunded for the Airbnb fee!!! The Suzi’s agency fee matched the AirBnB refund! Hiring Next Door Albanian was the best money spent. We arrived and were met at the building by Suzi, Gregor and the landlord. Escorted to our parking place, into the elevator and into our new apartment. It was seamless. Meeting out landlord, getting our keys and being welcomed to our new home. And the outstanding service continues most every day. I am so grateful. Thank you Suzi and Gregor and Next Door Albania!

The process of renting an apartment in Tirana can be daunting as a foreigner as the process and paperwork can be very complicated. Suzi and her team took their time to explain the process, organize all the people involved, and walked me through the process. Physically, walked from office to office with me all over Tirana. As someone that had only been in the country for two weeks, it would not have been possible without the proficiency of Suzi and her team.