Hello Members!
It might have been discussed in the past,but this question gets different answers in every economic season.

Been here now since 8 years and now holding on DE pass. So thought of buying an apartment of my own instead of paying rent.

From my investigations I know the following:
-Interest rates are historically low now
-10% of the cost go on as NebenKosten
-There is no appreciation of property in Germany,on the contrary it depreciates 1%/year

Would it still make sense to buy the apartment and sell it off in the next 5 years (may be) without making losses ?

Assuming the property is prime/easily rentable,could the maintenance be done without problems even when you don't reside in the country anymore ? (I heard some horrifying stories from people that the tenants stopped paying rents etc..)

Is it worth it ? Is there a likely hood that German properties business will bounce ?

Any thoughts/opinions/experiences much appreciated!

VAH

This topic doesn't interests anyone ?
Any takers ?

@vah

I don't know if you have noticed, but we are under threat of economics recession at present time. Most of us are struggling to keep our jobs and livelihood. The future looks uncertain for some of us. No wonder you did not get any comments to this topic.

BTW, the answer to your question is, there is no way of being certain that you don't end up making loss after 5 years.

To make it short, I don't think it's worth it if you're planning to buy an apartment for only 5 years.

Hi,

I have bought an apartment in Cologne (currently have Daueraufenthalt-EG, appying for Citizenship next month) and thought about the future prospects as well. Depending on where you buy and what you buy, you stand to lose or gain MARGINALLY over the next 5 years. Over a longer period ( >10 yrs ), you will gain - like is the case always, anywhere in the world.

I have bought the property because I intend to keep it for at least 10-15 years and secondly I still believe that even if your property does not appreciate in value, you are still better off paying for your house EUR 1000 (or whatever) rather than EUR 1000 per month for rent which is money purely down the drain. So in short, especially keeping the economic conditions right now, if you are planning to buy an apartment for the purpose of making a profit in 5 years, I would not recommend it wholeheartedly but if you have other reasons like in my case, then yes, if you are lucky to afford one, by all means GO FOR IT. Good luck.

Hi Buntyji,

Say, you lose your current job, in such a way, that you will not be able to pay the interest rate of, say, 1000 Euro, to the bank any more. In this case you have to move to a rent flat which you pay, say, 400 Euro.

In this case, what happens to the agreement with the creditor?

Will you get your money back, what you have paid before?

Does this have additional expense to the borrower (in this case, you)?

I also have NE and I also slowly think to have such an investment in Germany but as Akshay said in this current economy situation losing the job is not difficult...

Klenze17.

Hi Klenze17,

Immo/baufinanzierung(mortgage) like any other form of loan (Kredit) is a contractual obligation which you have to fulfill regardless of your personal situation i.e if you lose your job and are unable to pay the monthly mortgage payment, you stand to lose your property (it will be repossessed by the bank). In some countries (like the UK where I had a house few years back) you are usually required to get an unemployment insurance in place before you get a mortgage which covers 12 monthly payments if you become unemployed. Presumption being that during this period you will find another job. In Germany, my bank (Deutsche Bank) did not ask any such insurance. So if I lose my job and I can not pay the monthly mortgage, I will stand to lose the property !! But if I know this is about to happen (presuming you will get 1-3 months notice from your employer) then you always can SELL your property - but then you stand to make a loss as you will be under pressure to sell the house quickly.

So in short, it is definitely a liabilty & long term commitment to take a mortgage, and unless you are confident that you will be able to pay back the amount one way or another for at least HALF of the mortgage period (if you have 20 years mortgage then 5 years etc) especially, like Akshay said, under current economic environment, I would not put myself in this tricky position. Unlike renting, living in a house which you OWN (theoretically) is a much more emotional affair and losing it because you can not pay the mortgage is something that can leave a lifelong scar.

Please note that I am not an expert on this topic, have limited experience in DE housing market and the above is based entirely on my personal opinion and past experience in other countries.

All the best with your decision.

Sorry in my example above, half of 20 years - I meant 10 year of course :-)

Hi Buntyji, Many thanks for your descriptive answer.

To whom it may concern: There is an old thread about buying an apartment in Germany. Some ex-GC holder had prepared a very interesting page on web, about his experiences to buy a flat in Germany:

http://www.trust7.com/de/foren/faq_and_important_links/buying_an_apartment_in_germany

Klenze17.

Hi buntyji,

is it possible you give us some hints about how you got the money?

I´m not from Finanzamt, don´t you worry. I only wanted to know which bank(s) you visited and if it was difficult for you to get a loan.

Thanks any info!

Thanks every one who dared to think and answer about the home ownership in the tough times.

Well everybody has a valid point starting from Akshay to Buntyji. It definitely all depends based on ones economic condition & off course future plans.

I have already gone through all the threads from the previous discussions and yes,nothing much has changed for good since then -Rather its going south.

Though these times are officially marked as close to depression,but I don't see it reflected in the prices of properties. I had been following the property prices since 4 years now,but I have hardly noticed a dip in general. Except the mortgage rates have fallen.
Does anybody out there share the same insight ?

VAH

Any Websites other than
immoscout24.de
immowelt.de
for searching apartment, i am located in Bayern,

mkvsr

Hello all,

Is it possible to get bank credit with a fixed-term job contract and not having NE?

Thanks
Ari

@arianna

Is it possible to get bank credit with a fixed-term job contract and not having NE?

Yes, it is possible to get a short-term credit with a fixed-term job contract and without NE. But the credit amount in such cases are very small, not enough to buy a house in any case.

Hi,

I have talked with my subsidiary of Dresdner Bank in Hamburg about credit opportunities for foreigners. He said generally it is difficult for the foreigners in Germany with no NE to get long-term credits for properties. Might be exceptions of course.

HTH.

Klenze17.

Hi,

I am also considering the option of buying a flat.

Here is a link to check Zins-Charts (as reference, since they are interest in case your own capital is about 60% of the total price, AFAK)

http://www.interhyp.de/interhyp/servlet/interhyp?do=createChart&binding1=120&binding2=0&from=09.5.1996&to=09.5.2016&STYLE=b2c&width=540&height=265&red0=240&green0=115&blue0=45&red1=121&green1=121&blue1=121&transparent=

It's also very important to get Zinsbindung bigger than 10 years.

I am not sure, but I heard some time ago that is you get unemployed, you can get some support from the government to continue paying the mortgage (I think for a fixed time period). I don't know much about it though.

Interestingly some people pointed out that if you own a flat and you loose your job probably you will have to sell it (very) cheap to avoid having problems with the bank. That is true, and that shows that now is a good time to consider buying a flat/house (of course, if you're in a stable economical position), because you can get some bargain based on that situation. It sounds hard, but so works the capitalism...

Bye,

Alex

In 2005 (March) I bought flat before I got NE (got it in September).

It is not imposible to get credit without NE but it is also not easy. I tried with my bank and they wanted to give me credit but then I got better offer from Deutsche Bank so I took credit there.

@ YO1

I got my mortgage/immofinanzierung from Deutsche Bank in Cologne. They asked for a lot of financial information which I was luckily able to provide. Unless you are paying around 20-30% of the property yourself (eigenkapital) and have a permanent residency, it will be tough to get a mortgage from any bank keeping in mind the current economic climate. Banks are a lot more wary about extending credit. The way the decision itself is made depends additionally on whether you can afford to pay the monthly payments (rate). At least Deutsche bank calculates it as net income minus all fixed expenses minus unterhaltungs kosten which is EUR 500 for a single person or EUR 800 for a couple per month. At the end you should be left with an amount 20-30% higher than the monthly payment you have to make.