Difficulties renting an apartment in Germany

And please don't hold the "Ach Du Lieber" against me, okay? I am German-American, but have always been more German and can still speak fluent German with you till "Die Kuhen kommen nachhaus'! "

But in 1990, (after 30 years of living in the USA) I took a job with what was then USAIR in Frankfurt, and all I wanted was an apartment, but you would have thought I was selling my soul to the devil, I had to "jump through" so many "hoops".

"Kaution", "Warm", "Kalt", "Nebenkosten", usw, usw...

And then one must build in his own kitchen, cabinets, wallpaper, and curtains (if one doesn't want to keep his "Rolladen" down all the time!)

Can you say "Culture-Shock"?

After living in the USA for 30 years, this all came as quite a surprise to me.

Can I get a witness?

Q

Eh, yes, or something. What was the question?

Die Frage war: "Can I get a witness?"?

As in "has someone been through this before, and is there a chance things might be simplified?"

I think we have all been through it, and to the latter no, because we are in Germany and things here are certainly not simple.

Witness? You mean someone who was there in Frankfurt in 1990 watching you jump through hoops?

You should be able to find furnished short/medium stay apartments in most cities, but at a premium. Most newer or recently renovated apartments come with a fitted kitchen, but fortunately no curtains (I hate to imagine what aesthetic monstrosities landlord-provided curtains would involve).

So how is the US different, anyway?

Well, not the whole US, but here in Georgia, okay?

I pay 615 dollars a month rent. I had to pay half of that as "Kaution" and for only one month. I live in 86 qm2, carpeted throughout with a furnished kitchen (fridge, stove and cabinets inkl.) and I have two bedrooms with 2 walk-in closets. I have 2 free parking places and free water and garbage pick-up once a week.

But yes, I would give it all up to be able to live in Germany again. It just seems to be cost-prohibitive right now and I wish there were a better way.

And no, "witness" is not what that means.

Q

The U.S. is different in that there's a lot more personal responsiblity involved ... and when you do need to turn to the law, the few things that are regulated are clearer than they are in Germany. The U.S. doesn't have an entire book of laws devoted to allocation of heating costs. My flatmate has been ruder than all get-out, b/c she doesn't understand her own country's laws. I'm having to file a motion for declaratory judgement to get a judge to explain it to her.

I haven't seen a single walk-in closet since moving here. Don't think most of Germany has discovered the concept yet, or else the idea is too radical for most folks. I manage by turning the smallest bedroom into my walk-in closet/storage room.

I don't know how true this is but I've been tell the reason there's no closets is in former times there was a tax on the number of rooms and closets were considered rooms. I have also made one of my rooms into a walk in closet.

Hundreds of years ago there was a tax in the UK on the number of windows in a building. That is why when driving across parts of Northern England you see stone buildings (houses) with blocked up windows (to save the tax...).

I believe in Georgia and various other parts of the South, the phrase 'Can I get a witness?' is an invitation to raise your hands in the air and say 'Amen, brother!', or something similar. An appeal for commiseration if you will. Seems a bit silly to expect all the various expats here to know it though, as it's very colloquial.

Ah - we learn something every day

@ Q Welcome to Toytown Germany!
Regarding your experience with rented apartments: Germans tend to stay in their apartments for a long time, unlike the nomad attitude in the US. Therefore, they buy a kitchen that they like (oh, but for the fitted kitchen in my last apartment!) and if they really do move due to a growing or shrinking family they take the kitchen along.

Same thing with wardrobes and walk-in closets. Germans are possessive about their furniture and buy it to fit their needs. Not to forget: Germany is much smaller than the US, housing has always been on a less generous scale. A walk-in closet would be regarded as curtailing valuable living space.

These differences are regarded as typical to each country's culture, and yes you can moan about it until the Kühe nach Hause kommen but you will most likely receive a "stereotype" stamp in spite of your mixed heritage.

Not to forget: Germany is much smaller than the US, housing has always been on a less generous scale.

Yup. I was shocked when I saw my then-PILs' home for the first time - there had been a lot of references to relatives vacationing by visiting them b/c they had so much space, so I'd envisioned something with ceilings a little less sunken and rooms a little less prison-like. There wouldn't have been any room for closets. Note as well that many a "Schloss" would pass in the states as a farmhouse, most "villas" here would count as, well, houses.

"Hang" in "there". It "will" get "easier" "with time".

No problem to get that sort of deal in Germany. As long as you don't mind living in (say) Oberfranken, Chemnitz, Magdeburg, Bremerhaven...

I think that we've all been through this before.

There are ways to overcome some things, though. I don't know how expensive in other German cities, but Munich is quite expensive. You can get around the kitchen thing by looking for Einbauküchen and the agency fees by looking for Provisionsfrei.

But, this is just part of living in Germany.

When my landlord informed me there were 6 other people interested in seeing the flat I live in now I immediately offered 250 euros more a month for the rent and guess who the landlord gave the apartment too? I had no other choice after looking for 6 months for a beautiful jugendstil apartment in the center of the city but to take out the competition. Then I had to pay 2200 Euros to have it painted as you paint when you move and leave it like it is when you move out. Unlike in America you don't have decorate when you move out in Germany you do.

I would like to apologise if I came off sounding a bit "arrogant" with my thread. It really wasn't meant that way.

It was just a major "Culture Shock" to have to jump through so many "hoops" after having lived in the USA for 30 years.

Again, please forgive if I offended. I am very glad to have found y'all and would like to be a valued member of your "online" community.

Danke

Bill