Life in the towns of Eifel and Mosel

Can anyone living in these areas please advise on anything you feel we need to consider abouit a move there next year? By way of background, it's my wife, me and three greyhounds. We're looking for a property to live and to conduct a small tourism business from (motorcycle and other specific interest groups). We are looking to buy for between 90 and 150 thousand euros. I particularly need to know about general taxation (how it operates), electric/oil/water prices, council tax and general cost of living.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

Are you the same person who posted on The Local?

General Taxation - works the same as anywhere else. If running a business you'll pay Einkommensteuer (Income tax) on what you pay yourself and Gewerbesteuer (commercial tax) on what you turn over over a certain amount. If you're sensible you won't pay yourself more than the taxable limit and you won't turn over more than necessary UNLESS it brings real rewards. The the obligation to administer MwSt (Value added tax) begins at a low level, in comparison to other European countries, say UK. After 17,500 Euro turnover you're obliged to register for MwSt. In UK it's GBP 67.000. A big difference. I don't know about Sweden.

Council tax is laughably low.

General cost of living is relatively high, but in areas like Eifel/Mosel it's offset by low land/housing costs and low council tax. Vehicle fuel costs here are also low IF you tank up in Luxembourg. There's usually a 25 - 30% variance in Luxembourg's favour.

PM me if you need additional info.

not sure how far you have got with your move to the Mosel. House prices are quite cheap here. Go to www.immopool.de to check them out. I think that you can get a decent sized place for the money that you have. The Mosel has good rail-road-air links to the rest of Europe. If you need further info ,contact me. I know some good English speaking estate agents and that is important because of the legal side of things.If you are looking at buying ,then get somewhere on the river itself because some of the villages out of the valley are nice but remote. Just make sure that they are flood-free.If you need any help or additional websites to look at give me a shout.

Thank yo kind sir. yes, still looking. The website link is much appreciated - it's very detailed and has lots to look at. I'll get back after I've had a proper look.
Thanks again.

just some more advise for you. Come over in the winter if you can and arrange to see as many properties as possible. You can get the idea of how quiet it is out of season. The season runs between May and October. After May the whole area is taken over by the Dutch whether in their camper vans or the many bikers that come from Holland. If you decide to buy, make sure the house is empty as some of the older houses still have all the furniture . You can tell your estate-agent exactly what you want to do, what you want to keep etc and this will all be written in to the contract. It costs money to get rid of rubbish here. Although once you are registered, the council will remove old furniture free ,twice a year up to 2 cu m. Fly over to Frankfurt-Hahn, there are flights from Sweden. The Mosel is around 20kms from there. If you need help to find overnight stays or longer let me know or if you need transfer from the airport, same again. Do your home-work before you come and get the most of the time that you are here. In my opinion the area between Zell and Cochem is one of the most beautiful parts of the Mosel. There are lots of shops not far away, Lidl,Aldi and a big super market called Globus. Links to the railway making Koblenz and Trier an hour away, motorway around 25 mins away and of course Hahn airport. If you need any other info let me know. All the best for now...

Thank you very much for all that information and advice.

Hi there, have you already moved to the area? I would suggest that you should not only search arround Mosel area, for your business-idea places close to the racing course Nürburgring should be a very attractice location. Loads of tourists with interests in motorsports, and of course many bikers. So running a B&B in this area would make sense, too.

Thanks, we've paid a deposit on a house in Zeltingen Rachtig and sign the contract in two weeks time. It seems to offer the ideal combination of being right on the middle Mosel, whilst also being close to the Ring and other good biking tour destinations around the Eifel and Hunsrueck and towns like Heidelberg and Trier. We hope to be running tours from May 2010 and we will also have a unit for holiday lets. We're looking forward to it.