Today in the Monday Podcast I talk about our latest adventure: buying a flat.
A few months ago we saw a flat for sale a few streets away, and after going to see it we did not take long to reach a decision – we wanted to buy it.
But buying a flat in Germany is a complex process, which includes not only the seller and the buyer (and the estate agent), but also a lawyer called a Notar as well as various German offices that deal wish issues such as land rights. The Finanzamt also sends you a bill for so-called Grunderwerbsteuer.
Of course, that’s the official side of the business. There is also the financial side so we had to present our case to the bank for a mortgage – not an easy task being self-employed.
The bank and the Notar both presented us with a list of things that we needed to supply, mainly documentation such as proof of building insurance. We spent several weeks getting all of these together, until finally the flat changed hands at the beginning of this month.
Now we are in the process of moving from one flat to another. More about that next month.
To find out more, listen to the podcast:
(Press the “play” button to listen to the podcast)
