Posted 6 Jul 2022 Hi everyone, I would like your advice on buying a home in Germany. in Besichtigungstermin (viewing appointment) what are the right/important questions to ask? Asking for a credit directly from a bank is it ok that they want all kind of really personal information just to give you a credit offer?! Einkommens- und Vermögensauskunft Kopie Personalausweis/Reisepass Lohn-/Gehaltsnachweise der letzten drei Monate Einkommenssteuerbescheid Kopie Kontoauszüge/Depotauszüge/Bauspar- und Versicherungsunterlagen I requested the Grundbuchauszug der Wohnung from the Makler after the viewing appointment, but I was told that this will be given directly to the bank when we secure the credit and we really want to buy it? Any help is appreciated. Thank you. 0 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted 6 Jul 2022 If this is a condo rather than a house, you may want to find out what renovations have been done recently, what is planned and how much money they have in their funds. Otherwise, you might find out after you've bought that they are redoing the roof or siding or all the balconies need to be replaced and that they don't have the funds to pay for it so each condo has to fork out a chunk of money. In order to find out, you may want to ask your prospective neighbours, also to find out if it's a quiet building, how much they pay for heating and condo fees etc. I think banks asking you all kinds of things is normal here. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted 6 Jul 2022 Have you used the search on this site? You're not the first of many who've asked these questions. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted 6 Jul 2022 Hi LeonG, all this info is in the Wirtschaftsplan right? It is an apartment rather then house, yes. 0 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted 6 Jul 2022 2 hours ago, Lotzo said: Hi LeonG, all this info is in the Wirtschaftsplan right? It is an apartment rather then house, yes. Should be, at least somewhat but it still doesn't hurt to talk with the neighbors. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted 7 Jul 2022 Do you have permanent residency here? You have to have this to get a loan. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted 26 Dec 2022 I have a few more questions: During the Notar appointment should I pay attention to something specific? Which finance advisors could you recommend? 0 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted 27 Dec 2022 17 hours ago, Lotzo said: I have a few more questions: During the Notar appointment should I pay attention to something specific? Which finance advisors could you recommend? You should pay attention to everything. Get a copy of the contract weeks before the Notartermin. Make sure you understand everything and more in it. If you're less than 100% fluent reading German, get a friend/translator. In our case (old house), the language of the contract was surprisingly simple, unless those I did in England (that was just impossible to understand anything, unless you were a conveyor professional, and English is my 1st foreign language). You should not be surprised the lender asks many question. After all this is their business, they just want the normal reassurances. There must be zillions of mortgage advisors around you, or online, and many of course will be happy to communicate in English (even if at first they don't boast it in their website, just ask, after all MANY professionals today in Germany are fluent in English, not only those that boast it around). Ask your mates around you. 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted 27 Dec 2022 16 hours ago, Lotzo said: I have a few more questions: During the Notar appointment should I pay attention to something specific? Which finance advisors could you recommend? Remember, the Notar is a neutral party. Their job is to ensure all parties involved fully understand all the terms of the contract, and that the contract is executed correctly. The Notar, Makler, bank & seller do not have your interests in mind. If you are concerned about any of the points in the contract, hire your own solicitor to check them. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted 27 Dec 2022 32 minutes ago, almafreya said: Remember, the Notar is a neutral party. Their job is to ensure all parties involved fully understand all the terms of the contract, and that the contract is executed correctly. The Notar, Makler, bank & seller do not have your interests in mind. If you are concerned about any of the points in the contract, hire your own solicitor to check them. Dunno if our case more simple than most, I guess it was not. But the contract was very neutral. It just said what any simple minded person would have guessed, in short: "you pay and you get the property". We did ask a person (well, the Makler, who spoke excellent English) to help us going through it weeks before the Termin. And the Notar(in) insisted we brought at the termin translators/friends, "just in case", which then they just sat down and did nothing. Yes, the Notar is a neutral party. Very neutral. His job is to ensure the whole thing goes according to the law, and all parties understand what they sign. End of. I like this way better than in England. One solicitors per side kind of gives you the feeling it's a confrontation, like his loss is my gain, whereas in reality there's no real need for it to be so. And the Makler is of course neutral too. No need for him to be sided. After all he's only interested in his fat fee. And possibly smiling around and be nice, so you keep a nice image of him and perhaps remember him, or recommend him to your mates, when time comes for selling. I think back at what many say in England "the agent does the interest of the vendor". It is of course not true. The agent does his own interest, because this is the way greedy humans work. Often his interest is aligned with the vendor, but sometimes it is (or it was?) not. Like when they still had the weird 250k threshold for stamp duty. 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted 27 Dec 2022 Getting an verbal explanation in English (or French or Polish..) is good, but remember: the contract is in German, and only the written contract is legally valid. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted 27 Dec 2022 19 hours ago, Lotzo said: During the Notar appointment should I pay attention to something specific? Get the contract copy and get translated in your language. Read it and understand the text before time. If any thing extra has been agreed between buyers and seller, ask the Notar to include it before hand. If something small comes up at that time, nortar will write and include it. In my case, it was the Restwert of the Möbel that we overtook, so just a numerical figure. Apart from the contract, you should also have the paper from your mortgage lender that need to be signed. This letter will say what "text" need to be put on property in the property registry extract. 19 hours ago, Lotzo said: Which finance advisors could you recommend? Try all that you can find and go for that gives you better option for your situation. Online brokers (Dr Klein etc.) can give you advice online through screen sharing or you can visit the bank or brokers physical office personally. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted 27 Dec 2022 We actually brought an interpreter to the notary. He would not have let my husband (very little German) sign the contract otherwise. We received a draft of the contract two weeks in advance which the interpreter translated as well (part of the flat fee). Any open questions we discussed with the makler who acted as a go-between between us and the sellers. There were some little questions that came up at the signing and the interpreter did a running translation of every bit of conversation that we had. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted 29 Dec 2022 Same as @maxie, we took an interpreter to the appointment. The Notar needs to know that you can follow along sufficiently well. We used an interpreter who had worked with other buyers of apartments in our building. He already had the bulk of the contract translated into English which he sent us before the appointment and then live translated in the meeting. Using him saved us a lot of money but a couple of other translators I approached here in Berlin were charging up to €2500k. Some Notars will act as translator and produce/read both English (maybe other languages) and German versions of the contract but only the German is legally binding. Our contract was quite complicated and ran to many pages. Maybe in part because we bought a condo. Also because there was planed modernisation work that was notarised in detail. The appointment went very smoothly and in the end the Notar stopped at key points and explained them in English anyway! We used one of the English-speaking mortgage brokers for our mortgage. I found a couple that really push that they operate in English and there seemed like very little difference between them. We were fairly happy in the end. They helped provide all the right documentation for the bank and also explained the various steps involved. As someone else said, if you are buying an apartment, it's important to ask about any known modernisation needs. It's good to get this from the seller in writing and you can also ask that the answer is notarised. You should already have access to the Wirtschaftsplan, but it probably isn't enough. You might want to ask about things that you won't be liable to pay for, but which could be fairly disruptive, like a loft development. You should also make sure any special usage is clear ie which cellar/garage compartment and where is it. Probably it's easier for a single family home. Good luck! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted 3 January Thank you all and Happy New Year! I have arranged an additional visit to the apartment where I will check that there is electricity, heating, water and everything is functioning. There is a spot on the wall, the Makler said is just from the furniture that stayed there. However I want to be sure and bought a device for measuring the wall moisture. What else would you advice to be checked? Did you hire some Gutachter to check the real estate with you? After receiving the contract for the real estate and the one from the bank did you consult it with some specialist like lawyer or Verbraucherzentrale? Thank you in advance! 0 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted 3 January 17 minutes ago, Lotzo said: However I want to be sure and bought a device for measuring the wall moisture. Good idea! 17 minutes ago, Lotzo said: Did you hire some Gutachter to check the real estate with you? We did not. 17 minutes ago, Lotzo said: After receiving the contract for the real estate and the one from the bank did you consult it with some specialist like lawyer or Verbraucherzentrale? You won't receive any contract from the Makler, that's not part of his job. You receive it from the Notar, and from the Bank. Probably no need to have it checked by a professional like a lawyer etc. But for sure understand very everything in it, with "translator" if needed. My German was far from good and yet I found both contracts (purchase from Notar, and mortgage from Bank) surprisingly simple. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted 3 January BTW if there is a wall moisture what should be the right approach with the Makler: The apartment price must be adjusted or it must be repaired for the seller costs? Once the price is discussed and reservation is made could I still negotiate a lower price? 0 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted 3 January If the room is airtight and is not ventilated properly, then you can get mould/moisture behind furniture that is next to an outside wall. However, if you want to be sure that that is what caused the issue, you should get a Gutachter. When we were recently renovating our house, we got an Energieberater to come round and discussion insulation. One thing he did was to measure the temperature of the walls (from the inside). I think he said any wall that was at approx 16 C or below could have problems with moisture. A normal surveyor might also be able to advise on such issues but an Energieberater might have special expertise? Just a thought. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
