Real Estate and Mortgage Glossary
Abstract
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Houses for rent in Germany – listings and offers
Who is listing offers for rent?
In Germany you find usually two types of listed offers: Those from private people offering the house or apartment to rent, and those from agencies or brokers. Private people can either be landlords who own the house, or tenants who look for someone to take over and step into their terms of contract; or private people or companies who have actually rented a place and want to sublet it, either for commercial reasons or because they have to move to another place for a while. A last possibility would be property management institutions if you know any.
From whom is it better to rent?
Surely enough if you want to save money you can always find the private advertisements either in local newspapers or on the Internet. As the tenant usually has to pay the agent or broker in Germany (the «Immobilienmakler», «Immobilien Firma» or short «Immobilien»), many tenants try to save this fee and go directly to landlords. This procedure can have its liabilities. Normally by hiring an agency you deal with professionals who know the rental laws, the rules and how the contract has to be worked out between tenant and landlord. But there may be another aspect too. When it comes to negotiating certain points like the rent, work to be done in the house, terms of lease time and so forth, very often both parties are well advised to have an agent as a kind of mediator and also one who can really and reasonable negotiate.
The better recommendation is to work with a reliable agent who knows your language and gives you personal take care and then search with him. Negotiate with your employer who is relocating you to Germany to cover the agency expenses for you. We know by experience that often they will agree.
How to read home listings
If you read german home listings, you will encounter some particularities and abbreviations. We try to explain them briefly:
2 ZKB = 2 Zimmer, Küche, Bad. That means a flat with two rooms, a kitchen, and a bath. Kitchen, bath, storage cabinets and hallways do not count as rooms. Germany does not list by number of bedrooms, so you have to figure out that probably 2ZKB means one living and one bedroom.
3 ZKBB = 3 Zimmer, Küche, Bad, Balkon. Now we have the balconey added in the second B. And another bedroom.
4 ZKBB = 4 Zimmer, Küche, Bad, Balkon. But that can be two bedrooms or three bedrooms. E.g. two bedrooms, living room and dining room.
2 1/2 ZKB = 2.5 rooms. The half room is usually a room that due to its small size cannot be counted as a full room.
The term «Studio» is seldom used. More often you find 1 Zimmer Apartment or 1 Zimmer Wohnung.
ETW means «Eigentumswohnung» and this means a condo or flat for sale within a multiple dwelling house. It refers to sales, not to rentals.
RH = Reihenhaus and is a town house or row house. Usually has only small piece of ground with it.
REH = Reihenendhaus, a townhouse at the end of a line of houses, usually more attractive and with larger land.
DHH = Doppelhaushälfte; semidetached home. Bigger than a Reihenhaus.
EFH = Einfamilienhaus; a house for one family. Can be RH, REH, DHH; but normally is being used for a single standing home.
Villa = well, thats self explanatory.
Bungalow = flat house with one level, sometimes with living space in the basement too.
ELW = Einliegerwohnung. Thats a separate small flat within a house, often used for a maid or as a guest apartment or being rented separately.
Mieter = Tenant
Miete = Rent
Vermieter = Landlord, lesser
mieten = to rent (verb)
vermieten = to let (verb)
NK = Nebenkosten; utilities (gas, water, electricity, garbage, tax, etc.)
Sizes:
In Germany flat and house sizes offered for rent are being quoted in m² or square meters (also: sqm or Quadratmeter). How do sqm convert to square feet or square yard? One square meter = 10,764 square feet. 250m²=298,996 square yard. So conversion is really not that difficult. To make it easy, just 10x the square meters and you roughly know the sqft.
Wohnfläche = Living space (in sqm). All rooms that one usually uses for living, including bath, kitchen, hallway.
Nutzfläche = other usage space not living space (only indoor). E.g. storage, attic, rooms or space smaller than 1.50 meters, rooms with no heating in them or no windows.
Rents are based on the Wohnfläche. A large Nutzfläche however is to be considered with a portion of rent, too.
Other shortcuts:
ZH = Zentralheizung. Central heating. Can be with gas or oil.
GEH or ETH = Gasetagenheizung. Heating system with gas which is for that one flat only.
How to respond to a home or flat listing
The best is to call the people offering. If no phone number is given, you may have to either fax or email them. Sometimes they quote a Chiffre code. In this case one needs to write them. Premium Service Clients of AllGrund should contact AllGrund to do this for them.
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Real Estate in Germany
Thousands of homes are sold every year, and the vast majority of these sales involve the work of an estate agent.
Here’s our guide to getting the best from your agent.
«Real Estate Agent» is just another name for «Salesperson»
Don’t ever lose sight of that fact. Their only mission is to sell, sell, sell to you.
Don’t ever let on that you are in a desperate situation, or that you need to buy a house fast, or that you are in a desperate crunch to buy this house now, because you are being transferred into town this week.
It’s simply none of their business and as far as they are concerned, you are not in a rush to buy a house.
What estate agents do
Estate agents are the ‘arrangers’ of the property world, carrying out three main functions: valuing, advertising and negotiating.
- They decide how much a home is worth, based on an understanding of the local property market and consideration of the fixtures and fittings.
- They make sure that potential buyers know of the sale by advertising and providing details, or ‘particulars’.
- They act as the go-between for buyers and sellers communicating offers and counter-offers between the two parties.
Getting the best from your estate agent
When you’re looking for an estate agent, ask among friends for recommendations, and take a look at the boards in the area in which you’re planning to buy.
Also, have a look at the local press to see who advertises – it will give you an idea of how busy they are.
Estate agents are self-regulated, working under codes of conduct regulated by their professional bodies. Look for agents who are members of organisations such as the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and the National Association of Estate Agents.
Some, although not all, agents are also members of the Ombudsman for Estate Agents (OEA) Scheme which guarantees that if you have problems with your agent, you will have a right of redress. Look for the OEA badge on their details.
Although estate agents are usually working on behalf of the seller, they still have certain duties to all buyers.
- They must not mislead buyers about the nature of the property in the particulars that they provide.
- They must treat all buyers fairly, and should not hold back offers in cases where a buyer has refused to use their services.
- When you make an offer, the agent must pass a written copy to the seller, unless they have specified otherwise (for example, that they will not consider offers below a certain amount).
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