Opinions wanted on house in Wiesbaden

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I know nothing about Wiesbaden other than I am going to move there in a few weeks. Could someone who is familiar with Wiesbaden look at this house on scout24 and give me an opinion? It has no fee but I don't know a thing about the area or if maintaining a pool would present a problem. Cost of water?

The one thing that stands out is the 3 months deposit which I'm wondering could be negotiated.

I'm living in Sindelfingen so don't want to bother contacting and traveling to Wiesbaden if there is something that stands out to others that looks bad.

Thanks! Bonnie

Crumbs; what a lovely place!

Apologies; I know nothing about Wiesbaden apart from it being down the road (this is not in the centre, but I assume you have a car). However if you take it and ever need help testing the swimming pool... LOL

Best of luck.

Mezzosopran

Thanks!

I'll probably be looking for friends so that might be a possibility if I get it. I'm kind of an odd duck though and very unconventional so you would have to be open minded and not get your feelings hurt easily. I can usually tell within about 5 minutes if we are compatible.

I emailed the owner and we are going to look at it on Thursday. I'm so excited. It sounds wonderful. The landlord speaks perfect English and actually had placed this in the housing office last week but it is not listed yet. He said he rented to Americans a couple of years ago and also to germans but prefers Americans. When this comes up in housing, it will be gone. I can't believe it hasn't been snapped up on scout24. I know it has been on there at least a couple of weeks and I kept thinking it looked good but never got around to emailing the owner.

He sent me more pics and called me twice on the phone so he is very responsive, even though he is in Switzerland. It looks fantastic.

Having 3 young kids, I've got rid of a lot of furniture and stuff because it didn't take much to make a german home look cluttered and I got sick of it. I got rid of anything in excess and even got rid of some nice furniture and kept the old crappy stuff since my 3 have convinced me it is futile to own nice things at this point in time. If I get this house, I'll be lucky if I can furnish the office. I mean I have nothing now lol I have one small couch, two recliners, coffee table and a couple of end tables. I even got rid of two entertainment centers and have the tv on this piece of furniture that we have had for years. We are going to look pathetic in this house.

Oh well.....at least it doesn't appear that we will feel like we are living in a one bedroom. Our house now is 300 sqm but I would never know it because the space is used so inefficiently.

Thanks for the good luck! Bonnie

I think the reason why it hasn't been snapped up yet is the rather steep rent. Germans would expect to pay 11 €/squaremeter in a good neighborhood in Wiesbaden, but not out in the country. So the landlord seems to aim at Americans with housing allowances. That said, the pictures in itself look great and so much space, both garden and house, are relatively rare to find.

Note that the utilities costs could be quite high. Definitely ask for further information about the maintenance of the swimming pool. The utilities costs mentioned in the add are 320 €/month for Nebenkosten (like city tax (Grundsteuer), water, sewage, waste collection, street cleaning, insurances, gardener etc.) plus 200 €/month for heating and warm water. Usually not included in Nebenkosten is electricity, so that comes on top of it.

Re deposit or Mietkaution: Three months' rent for deposit is pretty standard, but you can try to negotiate. In any case, you don't have to pay the deposit in one go. By law, it is possible to pay it in installments in the period of three months. Or the landlord might agree to you getting a bank guarantee (Bankbürgschaft or Bankaval), so you wouldn't have to put such a large sum of money in a deposit account with low interest.

Thanks Rainy Days.

Yes, I asked about maintenance of the swimming pool. I was told that I would have to put some tablets in and rake leaves out when necessary and he said it would be approx. 1 hour a week tops. This would be hubby's job lol

Yes, I agree about the housing allowance and steep rent. We just got done with orientation of housing in Wiesbaden and they said that they go out and negogiate with landlords to get a fair market value. Well after living in Stuttgart almost 5 years, I've seen plenty that I'm pretty certain a german wouldn't pay such a high rent including what I am living in now so I would like to be there when they *negotiate*. Housing also said there is some survey done from time to time that randomly selects homes to get a cross section of rents and they don't care if you are german or american.

The utilities I also asked about and the electricity is included so all of it would be about 500 or so altogether. That is about what we are paying now. I told him that we are home during the day so our utilities are a bit more than most families. He actually sent me information on the cost of utilities i.e. price per kw, etc which was very nice.

I also got him to agree on the phone to 2 months rent instead of the 3. I paid 4400 euro for the place I am in now and I'm hoping maybe when he meets me, he might even negogiate even closer to that. I really don't want to have to fork out more out of my own pocket. That's a lot of money to be tied up. Goodness!

Can you clarify about the bank guarantee? How does that work? And we have the money to give them. I just don't want to lol I really want to just hand over the security deposit that I get from this house to them. Of course, that is another story. Our current landlord is very difficult and I'm sure will be looking at every little thing. We took great pics and even a video though. We had a flood several months ago in the garage that went down the walls to the hobby room below and they have never bothered to come to survey the damage but they want to come now to make sure we haven't done any. They actually sold the home with the flood damage.

Thanks for your response. I appreciate it. Bonnie

Unfortunately, I don't know that particular area near Wiesbaden, so I can't really comment on whether the rent is too high or not. I just had a look at the survey (Mietspiegel) for Wiesbaden, and 11 € is the rent for large apartments in a very good location. However, those surveys don't always reflect the real market prices, which can be higher.

It seems that the landlord is transparent about the utility costs, which is good in order to avoid unpleasant surprises. It doesn't harm to ask questions to get more detailled answers.

About the Bankbürgschaft or more specifically Miet-Aval: With such a document, your bank guarantees sum X (deposit), should the landlord have any claims. No money needs to be transferred to a Kautionskonto and sit there. This Miet-Aval is only offered to solvent bank customers and will cost a small annual percentage of the guaranteed sum. BTW, it can take a while till you get the deposit from your current home back, the landlord can withhold it a couple of months while examining whether he still has any open claims. I hope your landlord is fair about the water damage.

Good luck with the house hunt and the move!

Thanks!

I think you are correct about the electricity too. I think it wasn't included and I may have misunderstood. My german babysitter was over here so I have several questions I am going to ask and get clarified tomorrow.

When I contacted the meiterverien today he pretty much told me my current landlord according to my contract has to give me the security deposit that day unless she has a claim. This is probably because my husband is civillian and it is a military thing.

Thank you!

It has just come on the market? We were looking for a house about a year ago and I seem to remember seeing it then...but of course I could be mistaken and it could also have been let between then and now. The other thing I saw was that it is also for sale and advertised as a Niedernhausen, not Wiesbaden area. It does seem a lot closer to Niedernhausen - which is of course fine, but if you were expecting Wiesbaden.. Good luck!

Just to add that it is a long way from the centre of Wiesbaden...around 10 km. The address may say Wiesbaden but the Stadtteil it is in feels like a completely separate village in the hills above town. Not an issue if you like peace and quiet but definitely not within walking distance of pubs, restaurants and shops!

Than you nenouche! I could just scream! You just put a big damper on my excitement lol

The landlords tried to sell the current home I am in now and couldn't so they decided to rent it. They didn't tell us they were going to continue to try and sell it and we had immobiliens come through for the entire 3 years that we were here. The only good thing is that the property manager put in the contract that if the current landlords tried to sell, they would pay for all our moving costs. Of course, we are now moving and then they sold it.

THANK YOU for seeing this. I will definitely be discussing this. Our costs are being paid but if he sells after we move in, then we are out moving costs so if we decide to take this, it will be in our contract that he will pay our moving costs if he sells it. I'm also not taking something where an immobilien can come over once per week. Forget that! We homeschool and that was so stressful with 3 children. Yes, it is at our convenience but I was told I had to let the immobilien in once per week. For 3 years???? Arggh!

Anyway, I really appreciate that you let us know about the possibility of a sale. I told my husband that if they want to rent to Americans, it should be taken off the market or an automatic clause put in that moving costs are paid. I wonder if he was going to tell me?

Thanks chickenmadras,

I believe he told me that shops and such were only about 5 minutes away, probably in Niedernhausen. Actually, I consider 10 km really close. Thanks!

Not to put a damper on anything else, but you better scan this board for topics on Homeschooling. It can get a bit dodgy/nasty in bonny Deutschland...

Sorry...I see you're all over the homeschooling topic...never mind!

That's okay. Yes, under the SOFA agreement.

Well off to see the house though a bit disallusioned now. We shall see what he has to say about selling it. Bonnie

How did you get on? It all sounds intriguing.