Purchase or construction in Berlin / surrounding areas, realistic?

The topic of children was extremely relevant for me in every conversation with private sellers. It was important to the owners that families with children move in. Childless people or elderly couples were immediately sorted out. Recently, my neighbor sold. Despite an insanely high price, only families with children were invited to viewings. And of course, it then went to a family with 2 small children. Maybe it's a bit different with small properties up to max. 100m² if the floor plan does not offer space for families.

If you don't have children, or if the seller doesn't care about that, then the sale price is maximized:

For that, you have to announce everywhere that you want to buy. And that you can buy. Private sellers have no interest in a long back-and-forth with potential buyers who then can't afford it after all. Here we are unfortunately back to the topic of income :(

It was the same for us with the building plot. The seller was the Catholic military chaplaincy. The requirement was: Christian + children. Preferably two. There were well over 100 applications for the 4 plots of about 1.4xx sqm each. Realtors were immediately sorted out. Although we only had one child, we were lucky that the caseworker came from Poland and I was the first to get in touch. Thus, one could immediately score with the Polish language and got the contract :cool:

No, but I assume you are computer scientists? A gross annual salary of 40 TEUR is already the lower quartile - without a degree. And that is exactly where I would place career starters. With 3 years of professional experience, however, you are no longer beginners. You (especially your boyfriend) are selling yourselves short.

Adults are people too. (With certain wishes and ideas) I don’t understand why children should be relevant. The question about children only arises when considering the number of rooms needed.

Look at it from a different perspective: Many properties bypass the public market. They are sold through acquaintances or recommendations. For not every property seller is profit maximization the priority. Some want to know their "house" is in the "right" hands; quite a few wish for a family as the buyer. So, there are also emotional decision criteria for buyers. When we sold our terraced house, it was important to us that the buyers fit with our neighbors, as we are friends with them and want to remain so. Accordingly, we also made the buyer selection. From this perspective, children show relevance.

For that, you have to announce everywhere that you want to buy. And that you can buy. Private sellers have no interest in long back-and-forths with potential buyers who then can’t afford it.

Extremely important statement. You need to know your financing options and ideally already have some kind of approval. That pushes you forward as a prospect. Think about it yourself: Would you rather sell for 400,000 to someone you can be sure will handle everything smoothly or trust someone promising 420,000 and the whole thing could drag on nervously without foreseeable end or result? The smaller the target region, the more it pays to do some "social engineering." Attend building committee meetings, hang out at the marketplace, strike up conversations in central pubs, show interest in the town and people... simply become present and visible. That’s how you get information about offers beyond the classic ad market. Communities prefer newcomers who show interest in the community and might contribute. It’s about “forcing luck” and for that, the occasional effort and strategic approach is worth it. If you have to pretend too much, you might as well give up; people notice whether interest is genuine or just pretended. Disinterested and people who prefer to remain anonymous have it somewhat harder in many things. There’s nothing you can do about that.

You already read that the two have only been in the profession for 3 years? Not everyone starts in a corporation with 60k or at Microsoft/Apple/********** Hinweise auf Facebook sind untersagt ********** sometimes even with 100k. There is also another world outside the bubble.

Is that a rhetorical question? I have read every word of this thread.

My statement aligns with many others here; they will have read everything as well. At least most of them.
Here in the countryside, an entry-level professional in this industry earns over 3k gross. In the countryside, not a big city. A friend moved to Stuttgart after 3 years and does exactly the same as before and now earns over 5k. In total, 4 years of professional experience. Both are not corporations, medium-sized companies with about 200 employees.

The discussion and evaluation of the activity and salary, especially of the non-writing but reading friend, are expressly undesirable. There is no reason to justify or explain professional decisions in any way. Can we not simply respect that?

As I said, the "revised summary" will take a little longer. But with the search term "11ant Barthel" you can also gather the scattered tips here yourself if you can’t or don’t want to wait. I think there are about thirty-five references (which is why I have already been asked so often for a summary, and now I just have to find time with the publisher).

You can sharpen your view. And you’re not supposed to focus on the objects where the seller already knows that he wants to sell ;-)

I will do that, thanks.

I don’t see it as a provocation, with 40 hours and about 2700-2800 gross your husband earns about 15 euros an hour, which is simply insane for that profession plus big city. Even if you don’t want to hear it or at least relativize it, the key to your problem lies exactly there (or in moving out to the countryside).

And therefore he is not, as described in the post, below minimum wage. That’s why my question whether you want to provoke deliberately with the statement. What is the purpose of this? Again, Hampshire has already repeated it: My boyfriend is not active here in the forum. He knows about it, we talked about it, but he neither reads nor writes here. I can take care of my own affairs, clearly. That is already in progress (at my employer, if necessary I can still consider changing next year if I am not satisfied with our agreement). I cannot influence his salary nor enforce anything else. Just consider how your partners would feel in his situation. That already causes tension at home before you have even viewed the first property.

No, but I assume you are IT specialists? A gross annual salary of 40,000 EUR is already the lower quartile – without a degree. And exactly there I would also classify career starters. With three years of professional experience you are no longer beginners. You (especially your boyfriend) are selling yourselves short.

Yes, I have a master’s degree (not that it is relevant for my profession), he has a bachelor’s (started a master’s, but then started working). I have been working full-time since Q3 2018 (shortly after graduation), he a bit longer. We certainly started too low, since our salary has already been adjusted once each. That is clear to me now. But our situation back then was not easy either, especially his.

Look at it from a different perspective: Many properties are sold off the public market. They are sold through acquaintances or recommendations. Not every property seller primarily focuses on profit maximization. Some want their "house" to be in the "right" hands, quite a few wish for a family as buyers. So there are also emotional decision criteria for buyers. When selling our townhouse, it was important to us that the buyers fit in with our neighbors, as we are friends with them and want to remain so. Accordingly, we made the buyer selection. From this perspective, children show relevance.

The subject of children was extremely relevant for me in every conversation with private sellers. The owners wanted families with children to move in. Childless people or elderly couples were immediately sorted out. Recently, my neighbor sold. Despite an insanely high price, only families with children were invited to the viewing. And of course it then went to a family with two small children. Perhaps it is somewhat different for small properties up to max. 100m², if the floor plan offers no space for families.

Uff, admittedly that’s pretty tough for me now. Of course, I realize that private sales also happen based on sympathy. We are not chaos people either. We are down-to-earth, reliable, feel "at home" in the region. But childless.

Extremely important statement. You need to know your financing options and ideally already have a kind of commitment for it. That pushes you forward as interested buyers. Think about it yourself: Would you rather sell for 400,000 to someone you can be sure everything will go smoothly or trust someone who promises 420,000 and can drag the whole thing out in a nerve-wracking way without foreseeable end or result?

That’s why the first thing we did was go to a financial advisor. We get financing up to max. 450k (with agent commission 7.14%) or 500 - about 550k (without agent). We also have this "kind of commitment" in writing so that we can at least view interesting objects if necessary.

The smaller the target region, the more it pays off to do some "social engineering." Attend building committee meetings, mingle in the marketplace, strike up conversations in central pubs, show interest in the place and people... just become present and visible. That way you get information about offers besides the classic ad market. Communities tend to want newcomers who are interested in the community and might contribute. It’s about "forcing luck," and it’s worth some effort and strategic action. If you have to pretend too much, you might as well give up, people notice whether interest is genuine or just pretended. Disinterested and people who prefer to remain anonymous have it a bit harder in many things. There’s nothing you can do about that.

Valuable tips, thanks. I have to see what I can do that suits me (as you already say, you have to stay authentic).