Weekend Links for August 11, 2012

Finding apartments as an expat is rarely simple, as this roundup of guides and personal accounts will attest.

This year has been big for working with clients who are moving to Chicago from elsewhere. I've worked with people moving from Boston, New York, DC and Los Angeles. Also in the mix have been renters from overseas. I also spent some time reading my friend's Facebook updates about her difficult apartment search as an ex-pat in Germany. So, after writing about mortgages all week it's time for me - and you guys - to take a well-earned vacation trip around the world with this installment of the Weekend Links.

Renting apartments outside the US. Of course, I cannot depart entirely from the real estate theme here, so we'll be focusing this travelogue on guides and personal accounts of renting apartments in countries other than the United States.

• Australia: Renting a House or Apartment in Australia at AngloInfo.com
• Buenos Aires, Argentina: Renting Apartments in Buenos Aires – a cautionary tale by blogger Gerhard Hachmann of Vagabond Life.
• Cairo, Egypt: Apartment Hunting in Cairo by Melissa Bogar, a former student of the American University in Cairo.
• Germany: From ToyTown Germany, a wiki.
• Kiev, Ukraine: Renting an Apartment in Kiev, Ukraine by Nathan Cox at TryUkraine.com
• India: The Difficulty of Renting an Apartment in India by Sharell शारेल of the truly fascinating blog "Diary of a White Indian Housewife."
• Israel: Top 12 Questions When Renting an Apartment in Israel by Nicole Levin Law Offices at IsraelNationalNews.com.
• Kuwait: How to find an Apartment in Kuwait from the blog "Desert Girl on Kuwait."
• Mexico City: The Top 10 Tips to finding an apartment for rent in Mexico City by Lesley Téllez of The Mija Chronicles
• Moscow, Russia: ... takes some reading to figure out. Start here, then head over to this one, and then finally this one. Good luck.
• Singapore: The Complexities and Intrigue of Apartment Hunting In Singapore by the ambiguously named blogger "Wadhera Magical Mystery Tour"
• Taiwan: Taiwan Property – Finding an Apartment or Commercial Property in Taiwanby TaiwanBill.and of course I couldn't do a list like this without including...
• Tokyo, Japan: A two parter. Apartment Hunting in Tokyo, Part One and Part Two by Jeff of njmatsuya.com.

Eviction of the week: keeping with the theme, here's a story about a group - average age 70 - in Berlin who are taking a page out of the Occupy Movement's book and squatting in their senior center in protest of a pending eviction. The local government owns the building and has chosen to shutter it to cut costs, but the seniors aren't going down easily.

And now a special parting gift from our whirlwind tour. If you've ever wondered what it would be like to rent an apartment in a country without the United States' stringent fair housing laws, check out this account from Manu Joseph of Outlook India, who undertook an experience to find a apartment in Mumbai using the obviously Muslim pseudonym of "Mohammed Khan."