Habeck claims anyone could quite easily use 10% less energy

[Eric7 555]

10 minutes ago, Gambatte said:

Colleague of mine, Chinese, highly paid and PhD, but with very limited German, told me when he email Makler he very often doesn't even get he reply. Not sure if this is racism or what, but if the market was not as hot I bet Makler would probably behave differently.

 

Is he buying or selling?

[Fietsrad 432]

21 minutes ago, Gambatte said:

Colleague of mine, Chinese, highly paid and PhD, but with very limited German, told me when he email Makler he very often doesn't even get he reply. Not sure if this is racism or what, but if the market was not as hot I bet Makler would probably behave differently.

I think he could try writing in English, nearly 😉 all educated Germans would understand that. There is even a suggestion that English be the second Amtssprache/"officially language in Germany

[Gambatte 980]

19 minutes ago, Eric7 said:

This is certainly possible but unless you know the market, it's difficult to know what a higher price is. Our logic was that a house sold privately for €500k (for example) would cost the buyer €535k if they went through a Makler, for the seller to end up with the same amount of money - what is more attractive for a buyer - an house costing them €500k or one costing €535k?

The way I see it is the following:

Makler know the market better than vendors do.

They are also better skilled at making more people aware that said house is for sale.

And they are also better at presenting buyers all the arguments why the house is worth more rather than less.

 

So if you sell a house on your own, you sell it to 500k. If you sell it with a Makler, chances are you sell it at say 540k (possibly to a different buyer whose attention you couldn't catch on your own) and pay him 30k. Of course I make the numbers up but I think they're realistic.

At 6% I would definitely hire a Makler.

[jeba 4,364]

8 minutes ago, Gambatte said:

The way I see it is the following:

Makler know the market better than vendors do.

They are also better skilled at making more people aware that said house is for sale.

And they are also better at presenting buyers all the arguments why the house is worth more rather than less.

 

So if you sell a house on your own, you sell it to 500k. If you sell it with a Makler, chances are you sell it at say 540k (possibly to a different buyer whose attention you couldn't catch on your own) and pay him 30k. Of course I make the numbers up but I think they're realistic.

At 6% I would definitely hire a Makler.

In my case (I sold my house in 2019) your numbers were quite right. Without a Makler I wouldn't have asked as much as it finally sold for. Plus the Makler was paid for by the buyers.

[fraufruit 42,673]

Where I come from, the agent is always paid for by the buyer because their commission is baked into the price of the property. Buyers are aware of this and many will buy if only for sale by owner because of it.

[agathaaa 13]

23 hours ago, Gambatte said:

I think this is a very rare solution.

The other one, Solarthermie, with no electricity whatsever is the common one used for heating water.

 

Here is an example of one available product: https://www.marlec.co.uk/product/solar-iboost/

 

I'm not sure how popular they are in Germany. Perhaps the hot water cylinders here don't have the necessary support for such a system.

[Eric7 555]

54 minutes ago, Gambatte said:

The way I see it is the following:

Makler know the market better than vendors do.

They are also better skilled at making more people aware that said house is for sale.

And they are also better at presenting buyers all the arguments why the house is worth more rather than less.

 

So if you sell a house on your own, you sell it to 500k. If you sell it with a Makler, chances are you sell it at say 540k (possibly to a different buyer whose attention you couldn't catch on your own) and pay him 30k. Of course I make the numbers up but I think they're realistic.

 

After we advertised privately, we had at least 10 Maklers contact us under the pretence that they had a potential client interested in the house. None of them actually had a potential client and actually just wanted to market the house themselves. All of them said our asking price was too high and should be at least 10% lower.
We sold privately at our original asking price, which indicates it actually could have been a bit too low.
At the end of the day, a Makler wants a house which is easy to sell, not one which will take 6 months. They are more likely to suggest a lower price to get the house shifted quickly and the commission pocketed.

 

1 hour ago, Gambatte said:

At 6% I would definitely hire a Makler.

 

If someone wants to hire a Makler, they should hire a Makler.

[agathaaa 13]

I recently bought a house that was marketed as Provisionsfrei! I assumed the Makler costs were just included in the advertised price, which we paid without any bargaining.

 

I'm currently selling a property in the UK, and the Makler costs are paid by the seller. However considering they are typically only 1% of the sale price and are taken from the sale proceeds, you barely notice.

[Krieg 15,105]

I take back what I said before about the government support for heating oil, heating LPG and pellets.  Well, my complaints were valid, but at the end the support came in a way that makes more sense.    I only know the details for heating oil, the calculation is based now on price per liter and not in the total paid, and how much you paid in 2021 is not relevant, which is fairer.   For prices up to 1.20 per liter it is your problem.  For higher prices you will get support for what you paid over the 1.20 base price, it does not matter how much you ordered.   The minimum support should come to at least 100 EUR, if it is less you get nothing, and the cap is 2000 EUR.    You can file your request at www.ibb.de , you will need your invoice(s) for 2022 only, AFAIK.

 

[scook17 292]

On 2/6/2023, 11:45:21 AM, agathaaa said:

 

Should that be 40,000?

 

Rather annoyingly the gas meter is not in KWh of energy, as it varies by gas type, so it measures volume. The converted KWh is shown on the gas bill. Anyway, I found this one one German installer's website:

 

Normal average values for gas consumption in kilowatt hours per year are in the following range, relative to the living space:

• 30 m²: 3800 - 5000 kWh
• 50 m²: 5000 - 7000 kWh
• 100 m²: 12,000 - 15,000 kWh
• Terraced house: 17,000 - 20,000 kWh
• Detached house: 23,000 - 30,000 kWh

 

BTW, I noticed this week it was possible to again fix gas prices at a reasonable unit price (less than the price brake!) for the next 12 months.

[agathaaa 13]

We are in the nice position that we are currently on Grundversorgungstarif after just buying a property. I also noticed this week there are some cheaper contracts available, and also that our Grundversorger has reduced the prices, 14,71 Cent/kWh & 40,96 Cent/kWh. As the price brake runs until next March, I think I'll wait and see how much lower the contracts go.

[scook17 292]

I see renters in Berlin can now get 500 Euros grant for a solar balcony

https://www.iamexpat.de/expat-info/german-expat-news/berlin-renters-can-now-get-government-funded-balcony-solar-panels

 

[Krieg 15,105]

3 minutes ago, scook17 said:

I see renters in Berlin can now get 500 Euros grant for a solar balcony

https://www.iamexpat.de/expat-info/german-expat-news/berlin-renters-can-now-get-government-funded-balcony-solar-panels

 

 

But only if installed by "experts".   It defeats the whole thing, in my opinion.

[fraufruit 42,673]

Must have landlord permission.

 

So how to get the power inside the flat? Who has to remove the installation when one moves out?

 

[Krieg 15,105]

1 minute ago, fraufruit said:

Must have landlord permission.

 

So how to get the power inside the flat? Who has to remove the installation when one moves out?

 

 

A "balcony solar" is super simple, you put the solar panels somewhere in your balcony then connect the panels to the micro-inverter and then connect the micro-inverter to any electrical socket.

 

The 500 EUR support they are giving in Berlin is only for installations done by professional installers and can not be the ones that connect to normal sockets.

[fraufruit 42,673]

1 minute ago, Krieg said:

and then connect the micro-inverter to any electrical socket.

 

1 minute ago, Krieg said:

done by professional installers and can not be the ones that connect to normal sockets.

 

???

 

So who does that part?

[Krieg 15,105]

Not sure I understand the question.

 

If you buy a simple one, you walk into a DIY shop (Bauhaus, etc) and pay 800 or 1000 EUR, go home, put the solar panels where they get sun and connect everything yourself.  This is no more difficult than buying a new TV or a new vacuum cleaner.

 

If you want the 500 EUR the city of Berlin is giving you, you can't buy those ones.  You have to buy something more "pro" and the installation has to be done by an approved installer and it can't be connected to your house via a normal electrical socket.   So you end up paying 2k or 3k.

 

Recovering your investment is already difficult, so, while I can understand the good intentions of the city of Berlin, I don't think this is the way.  

[fraufruit 42,673]

Thanks. I understand that part. Just not the part where you have to drill holes from the outside to the inside and run cables to outlets. How do you hide the cables?

 

Back in the day, we did this for satellite TV after getting permission from the HVW. We have since plugged the holes. That cable only went from one of our balconies and about 2 meters inside to our TV. We hid it behind the baseboard inside.

[Krieg 15,105]

Most balconies have an electrical socket.   Otherwise, figure out something, an extensión cable or whatever.  It is not like you are moving there thousands of watts hour.

[robinson100 12,854]

8 hours ago, Krieg said:

Most balconies have an electrical socket. 

 

Yes, most "modern" balconies have a socket, but if they don´t, you local electrician will gladly fit one for you!