Acquiring property in Germany
Do you know that Germany has almost half of its population living in their own homes? Actually, Germany comes second-lowest after Switzerland in the whole of Europe. This act has been contributed to the fact that acquiring property in Germany is not as hard as it is in other countries for foreigners. Moreover, it is even encouraged to buy than rent a home. Well, this might just be good news for you if you are planning to work and settle in Germany. Remember, you can also score a permanent residence permit in four years, down from five thanks to the latest immigration laws. Furthermore, there are no legal restrictions on foreign property ownership.
So, how do you go about buying a property in Germany? Here are the things that you need to know:
- Choosing a property
The perfect time that you should give yourself to score a suitable property should be between a year and two. Remember, any house that you likely buy may be your home for the next fifteen years, and so it would help if you took your time and got the best. Have in mind that competitive neighbourhoods have low turnover, and that is why you should give time until that perfect moment to strike it.
- Mortgage calculation
Depending on your annual net income, assets, savings and any other financial information such as credit score, you can use online mortgage calculators to determine your estimated monthly ate. Remember, the offers may vary from one realtor to another, and you must, therefore, find the most suitable.
- Buying a property
Transferring a property may not be the issue as you can easily do that in less than a month. However, you’ll have to give your all when sourcing for a favourite property. After all, is set, you must do the following:
- Get an offer in principle.
- Notary to draw up a sale contract.
- Sign the contract.
- Notary registers the property.
- Pay property sale tax after 28 days.
- Property registration
Before even signing the contract, it’s a prerequisite requirement that you appoint a notary who would complete the property sale. In this case, a notary acts as the middlemen or rather the arbitrator in case of any dispute. After signing the contract, the notary can proceed to register the property with the government, after making sure that there isn’t any dispute in the transfer.
Depending on your creditworthiness, you can pay a deposit of between 20% and 40%. However, the standard rate is 20%, with high-risk buyers such as new foreigners required to deposit more by property officials. Moreover, you cannot apply for a mortgage if you don’t have proof of regular savings within the past few years of your stay in Germany. The end of it is that it would be best if you considered mortgage option after staying in Germany for like four years or so, or better still with a permanent residence permit.
- Selling property
Finally, not everyone is looking up to have lifetime properties; maybe you just want to buy from an investment point of view. Moreover, if anything happens, such as job transfer which may require relocation, you may have to sell the property. So, how do you go about it? Remember, buyers pay almost all costs of transaction; therefore, this makes it easy for you as the seller. However, you must note that a 25% capital gains tax is applicable in the sale if you had stayed in the property for less than ten years.
