garyh911

Catjones is spot on!  Also keep in mind that the Realtor, since he is paid by the seller, works only for the seller.  He may help the buyer with the purchase but his legal responsibility is only to the seller.  The Realtor is like the Makler in Germany and will also take advantage of every "slight of hand" that he can so like the saying goes "Buyer Beware"  When you are referred to an attorney, a title company, building inspector, etc by the Realtor you can count on him getting a "referral fee"  from the company.  I usually never used the Realtors recommendation without thoroughly checking it out myself first.

When I have to drive around here, I go to googlemaps.com  on my smart phone, zoom in on where I am, and click on Traffic or Verkehr  and you will see all the traffic, accidents, construction, etc.  You can also use it as a GPS (Navi) and it will steer you around traffic jams.

Like CynthiaM, I also don't really like it here.  I'm from New York, married to a German woman and I'm German-American (my father was born in Bremen in 1921) !  Even though I've lived here since 2010, I still fell like a foreigner.  OK, my German is only Between B1 and B2 but at my age learning a language is difficult.  As soon as I start to say something in German, the question is "do you come from Britian or the US?"  My wife used to handle all the German stuff but she had a stroke 2 years ago and she can't manage the Amts and Krankenversicherung any more  so I go it alone.  People overall are not too friendly but I do find that Germans here in the east are more friendly than up north.  There is only one guy that I could slightly call  a friend, and certainly none of my neighbors.  Because of my wife's medical problem, I am basically stuck here although I try to visit my children and grandchildren in NY a couple times a year.  I really can't see why younger people would come here at all !!