karin_brenig

ok, that explains a lot of things right there.... hit in the head by a surf board...

easy: take clippers, or scissors, and start cutting if you're a total newb - watch youtube "how to's". I personally made one for you (and others) - if you speak enough German.

  I see your dilemma... but, speaking from recent personal experience, I can tell you: 0% down is totally possible.    Our house (250m² Doppelhaushälfte, with 330m² back yard, and 56m² Einliegerwohnung to create a small income stream and offset the cost of our purchase) is located 26km outside of Munich. It cost (all related closing cost and taxes included) less than €1m. We had absolutely nothing saved up - because we just moved from the US back to Germany - but found a lender willing to work with us.    I'm not saying it was "easy", and everybody's situation is different - so you may not be in a position to get the same results now. But you can always make an assessment of your financials and come up with a plan, if you have a goal of home ownership. Find a good professional financial advisor, and explain your goals to them. Align your life with that goal. What kind of income do you need, to be attractive to lenders? Get the job that supplies it! What other assets do you have? Use them as collateral! How old are you? Start as early as possible!   ....I can already feel the Tsunami coming.... <<duck and take cover>> ...under my desk in my (very own) home office....

that works for some people - kinda boring, though 

doesn't work for me - my mirror cabinet hangs over the sink, not in the shower ;)

ha! that sounds familiar     I'll let you in on a few secrets of mine how to handle this: before you start cutting, remove all unnecessary objects (towels, utensils, bath-rugs...) from the area around your bathroom sink where you will be cutting your hair.  Dry the sink and plug it, to prevent clippings from falling in and clogging your drain later. Keep the vacuum cleaner handy while you are cutting. Get naked, you can't get clippings in your underwear if you're not wearing anything   When you're done with your clippers, use the vacuum cleaner to suck up as much of the hair as possible, even out of the sink.   After the dry clipping part, I also have a wet cutting part to do - if you don't do that, you can step into your shower now.  Otherwise, take your shower after you're done with the wet/scissors part of your haircut.   If you want to take this to the highest level of perfection, plan your next thorough bathroom cleaning activities (I hope for your sake that you're doing that often) for right after a haircut.

which is why we have a good HP network printer in our home office and an instant ink subscription. The contraption works well, is cost efficient, and saves on taxes too :)

  that depends... on what kind of job you're doing. If your task is in any way dangerous (healthwise) for you or the unborn baby, your doctor can order a "Beschäftigungsverbot".    There are several situations, that would give you "early leave" this way. Mostly "physical" jobs, that would require you to stand up more than 5 hours, lift more than 5kg, work at night, or work on an assembly line, working with chemicals... the list is quite extensive, and it depends on your doctor how well he/she uses it for you. If you have a simple office job, that would be harder to do.

 well - in that case you'd have to get a temporary plate "Kurzzeitkennzeichen" to drive your purchase home: https://www.allianzdirect.de/kfz-versicherung/kurzzeitkennzeichen-ratgeber/   is valid for up to five days inside Germany. And you'd need to find an insurance company that handles those.

  no, it's a term of endearment  when somebody shouts at me "mei, Karin, oide Fischhaut ! Sag' wia geht's da, Saupreiß, amerikanischer ?" then I know here's home. Totally even-tempered, educated, and belonging right there. I agree, 35 years in a place is not enough - it'd have to be a life time.

  I can totally relate to that  some people still call me (German born, dual national US/German, spent over 50 years in and around Munich, speak fluent Bavarian) "Saupreiß, amerikanischer" - doesn't mean I don't belong.

  ok - I've heard that talk about "real-estate bubble" in Munich (and the surrounding areas) ever since I can remember. People talked about it when my parents built their house in Baldham, 1969. We all heard it, when my parents bought a house in Schwabing, 1979. I still heard it when I bought my first condo in Neuperlach, 1989. The same talk was going strong when I bought an investment property (or tax-savings apartment) close to the (then brand-new) MUC airport. Those voices were even louder last year, and compounded by stories about the effects of COVID-19 (which people thought would make the imaginary bubble burst) when my husband and I bought our (dream-come-true) house in Kirchseeon (26km outside of Munich) last year.    Point being: while the price of real estate (in Munich or elsewhere) may fluctuate short-term, in the long run - since supply can't grow, but demand naturally will - real estate prices will always go up. We've had the discussion about "rent or buy" on this forum a couple of times - my opinion there is clear: whatever you're paying for rent would be better invested in ownership. Unless you know for a fact that you will not want to live in that location for more than 5 years.   About "tiny village" (Kirchseeon has a poplulation of about 7,000) being not "foreign-friendly" that could be the case, and it would be compounded by your inability (or lack of effort) to speak German. This part (in my experience) depends largely on your personal effort to integrate. There's a lot that you can do, if you want to "belong".   

well, what you're asking for is challenging, but not impossible to attain.     My husband and I bought a house (Doppelhaushälfte) in Kirchseeon last year. Ebersberger Forst (the largest forest in Bavaria) is in walking distance. We spend hours riding our bikes there. Keeping your distance from people during a pandemic is easy to do here. The only part of your wishlist that I'm not real sure about would be the language. People here do speak some English - but I wouldn't want to rely on it.

well - does that car have a manufacturer? and does that manufacturer have local representatives where you live? they might be able to locate that particular model of car for you, have it shipped to where you are located, and deal with all the other stuff.  Like, if I wanted a certain specific BMW car, I'd walk over to my friendly neighborhood BMW-dealer and tell them what I want  they'll keep an eye out for me, search their database for me, and take care of my future "Fahrvergnügen".   P.S. - now I'm really curious to know, what kind of car you are looking for, especially since you said it's your "first car in Germany". 

we looked on local "official" car dealers' lots/websites. Good old "analog" still works well for me. Also, I prefer those shops that don't just sell, but also work on, cars. That way, if I bought a car from them, I can hope for the "personal connection" to carry over into maintenance and repairs in the future.