Why Germans Don’t Buy Houses | Feli from Germany

[@FelifromGermany]

Check out our podcast episode on money & finance in Germany vs. the US to find out more about the Germans' dislike of debt▸kzbin.info/www/bejne/n6HXgYVtjb-Ghsk and check out this video to learn about the differences between German and American homes:▸kzbin.info/www/bejne/oWbNgniNpdCnb68| *What are your experiences with this topic? Do people in your country prefer renting or owning?*

[@waelfaraj6705]

For those who can afford , it would be more enriching to gather funds to own real estate in the long run than to pay for a renting house ... Here in Lebanon, some expatriates now are either looking for apartments or buying flats or lands if they can afford ...

[@Ryan_Dye-r]

@@waelfaraj6705 True.

[@waelfaraj6705]

@@Ryan_Dye-r It is better also to allocate some funds to real estate that to put all your wealth in volatile stock markets even if invested in a well diversified portfolio of various kinds of stocks ...

[@captain_context9991]

Feli, dear. you cannot possibly compare Germany with Romania. On home ownership, economy, or absolutely anything. It would be like comparing New York city to Alabama. Romania is the absolute worst place in Europe and its a barely working country where you can buy a concrete bunker for next to nothing and call it a "home".

[@brianplum1825]

@@captain_context9991 Not just Romania -- she also compared Germany to Croatia. The Albanians must feel so left out and forgotten 😂

[@janfg1578]

I am also German and when I visited Australia I was surprised at how people in their early 20s already bought houses for themselfes. In my hometown you literally need to be a millionare to buy even your own flat, and its still much cheaper than the larger german cities like Munich.

[@jumper5803]

in the rhine-main region u'll pay about 500k € for a flat with about 70 to 80m². however, if you look at the rents here, it becomes clear that you're not that much worse off if you buy a house anyway.

[@TheRomanianfalcon]

Germany is a rich country with poor people.

[@donovanfoto3263]

In the US, it is considered an investment. When you consider renting for thirty years or buying a house, buying gives you Security. After thirty years of paying rent, you have nothing to show. In the US, buying a house at $100,000, in thirty years your house is paid off and you own a $450,000 investment. Net gain is $350,000, which helps with retirement.

[@chrisk5651]

Australia is a huge country (a small continent) with a small population so there’s a small population density so it it is relatively cheaper than in most of Europe.

[@the_Kutonarch]

lol, this thread clearly doesn't have any Aussies here! Australia has a housing crisis at the moment, the younger generation have been priced out of the market by baby boomers and foreign investors. On top of that there's a tiny amount of rentals on the market, in Sydney it's at 1% of available stock, 3% is considered a crisis. Average rents are higher than mortgages at the moment. More renters are in rental stress than home owners who're in mortgage stress.

[@ChristopherAbelman]

Formerly when I purchased my first home to live in; that was Miami in the early 1990s, first mortgages with rates of 8 to 9% and 9% to 10% were typical. People will have to accept the possibility that we won't ever return to 3%. If sellers must sell, home prices will have to decline, and lower evaluations will follow. Pretty sure I'm not alone in my chain of thoughts.

[@FinnBraylon]

Very soon, affordable housing will no longer be affordable. So anything anyone want to do, I will advise they do it now because the prices today will look like dips tomorrow. Until the Fed clamps down even further, I think we're going to see hysteria due to rampant inflation. You can't halfway rip the band-aid off.

[@HildaBennet]

I will suggest for now; get your money (as much as you can) out of the housing market and get into the financial markets or gold. Because home prices will come down eventually. The new mortgage rates are crazy, add to that the recession and the fact that mortgage guidelines are getting more difficult. Home prices will need to fall by a minimum of 40% (more like 50%) before the market normalizes. If you are in cross roads or need sincere advise on the best moves to take now its best you seek an independent advisor who knows about the financial markets.

[@JosephineKenney]

Please could you kindly elaborate on the advisor's background and qualifications?

[@HildaBennet]

She's Sonya Lee Mitchell, The fiduciary that guides me. The internet is where to find her basic info, just search her name. She's established.

[@JosephineKenney]

I searched her up, and I have sent her a message. I hope she gets back to me soon. Thank you for the lead.

[@danadarnell4329]

Hello, Listening to you has helped me understand a lot about my father, who passed away over 20 years ago. My father was born and raised in Germany during WWII. Came to USA at 17 years old, joined American Air Force. Learn to speak English by reading American comic books. My mother till this day complains about how hard it was for her to get my father to buy a house.

[@paulsomers6048]

Once we bought our house in New Jersey, we paid off the mortgage asap. We lost the tax deduction, but that was less than the actual mortgage cost. So we came out well ahead. Then when we sold the property, it had appreciated so much that we didn't have to borrow for our second house. We remain debt free to this day 16 years later.

[@holger_p]

you know what a typical German would say to your story: There is no guarantee this will happen to me again, that's why I will not do it. They are much more risk aware and want guarantees for everything. Also, only 5% of germans are on the stock market.

[@FeralPlumber]

Property taxes in New Jersey are insane; you're anything but debt free......

[@paulsomers6048]

@@FeralPlumber 1. We pay our taxes without borrowing. 2. As seniors we have property taxes frozen. 3. Taxes vary from location to location in NJ. We retired to rural southern NJ with far lower taxes than in northern NJ.

[@philiph6456]

@@paulsomers6048 I was familiar with Newark, Bayonne and Jersey City- didn't like NJ....until I went down around Batsto and some of the rural Southern areas in the Pine Barrens.....Day and Night difference.! I'm 2/3rds through my mortgage....borrowed against my nest egg--could pay off the whole mortgage, but still getting a little break...THANK GOD for a fixed mortgage!! Still cheaper than renting!! (I'm in Long Island)

[@willysnowman]

Pretty sure Bonezpurz screwed that tax right off anyways.

[@Ulas_Aldag]

Buying a house here in hamburg just seems impossible, especially for younger folks. Places that had a price of 400k 15 years ago are now approaching a million euros. The prices increased so much in the last decade that the only option for us is to leave our beloved hometown and move to a more rural place in the vicinity.

[@Jess-Rabbit]

Its the same as in the US now. The house me and my husband own was bought for 450k ten years ago and is now about doubt that cost. Its a very large house in a good suburb of Cali so its technically still a good deal for California, but its pretty ridiculous everywhere right now. Fuckin inflation man

[@hairyairey]

@@Jess-Rabbit Not just inflation, people buying houses to not live in (ie as an investment) is common. Probably the most opposite of carbon neutral for an investment that you can make!

[@wubstepgrandma]

Sounds like you need a violent overthrow of capital, the answer is obvious. You have nothing to lose but your chains

[@goodsmile5170]

It’s corporate housing and it is in USA too. That really is a sad.

[@ferrari2k]

@@Jess-Rabbit Not necessarily inflation. I've seen a graph recently on Twitter where you could clearly see the house prices shoot up after the stock market crash in 2008. In other words: money went into real estate and the people who invested there want their percentages back thus the price of living shot up sometime three-fold in 15 years. Of course without proper adjustment in wages... And with the job market becoming much more uncertain in the last decades (working from learning to pension in one company was common in the 60ies, kind of unheard of today) to bind yourself to such high investments with the possibility to losing your job and you lose everything you worked for is just too big of a risk to take for many people, myself included.

[@AleksiHimself]

This was an exciting video. Here in Finland, it's quite the opposite. I believe around 60% of dwellings are owner-occupied. Finns don't invest in the stock market but buying a home has always been a top priority.

[@gregorsimon9337]

Only a few Germans invest in the stock market. Not investing in stocks or real estate leaves most Germans with low return investments. Germans prefer to spend their money for expensive cars and travelling. That leaves Germans in a high income country with relative low wealth. One reason for that could be the good social security system.

[@andreycham4797]

@@gregorsimon9337 friend of mine put his parents in a condo he bought to his name so the government pays their rent and they renovate the place the way they like it. On top of that for himself he rented two bedroom apartment in downtown of big city only for 600 from co-op in which he has been paying for years. Any system could be milked just learn how it works and make decisions most beneficial to you

[@edgarhernandez3059]

Apartments in Helsinki are too small and vastike costs too expensive. Weather is terrible and the city does not have mch to offer beyond sagety and good public transport.

[@funny3272]

My German girlfriend said the land is too expensive and not too much of it. This was after watching a German TV game show where a family won a house that was smaller than an American starter home. The whole family was crying with happiness that's when I asked her the question about owning a home in Germany.

[@burtonkephart6239]

That’s funny. So if they want to get a home they move way out in the country

[@leDespicable]

It's lgoical when you consider the fact that the concept of a "starter house" doesn't exist in Germany at all. If you buy a house, you keep it, period. Either you rent it out if you want to move somewhere else, or you live there permanently. As Feli said, Germans are not gonna buy a house if they don't intend on staying in that place for a long time

[@Bambeakz]

Yeah but you get a real concrete house that can stand the test of time instead of wood and drywalls.

[@pubculture]

@@Bambeakz yeah,nobody mentioned HOW houses are build in Europe vs US

[@charleymount582]

@@pubculture yeah, American build quality is appalling

[@DetlevHochmuth]

Not to forget 5.5% "Grunderwerbssteuer" (tax on the price of houses/real estate) and 1.5% "Notargebühren/Grundbuchamt" (public notary and deed documentation) which make buying and selling real estate in Germany more expensive and less likely to occur often. Houses in Germany are long-term, often life-long decisions. Houses in US are re-sold more frequently and easily. Also note that in New York approx 67% of homes are rented, too, for example. The higher the absolute prices, the higher the renter ratio. The high quality level and very high energy-saving levels enforced by law make building houses in Germany very expensive. When inheriting, you are required to upgrade to certain energy-saving levels, which is quite expensive. Many heirs sell instead of keep, also inheritance tax is bitter in Germany.

[@notroll1279]

Grunderwerbsteuer is raised by each federal state and can be 3.5-6.5 % On the other hand, the annual real estate tax (Grundsteuer) is much lower than in many US states - so whoever buys real estate in Germany is well advised to keep it for longer.

[@waelfaraj6705]

Are electric cars popular in Germany ? IN 2021 , a survey says that 26 % of all new car sales in Germany were electric ...

[@thomasf.9717]

@@waelfaraj6705 I am assuming they are counting hybrids as electric in this survey.

[@LNVACVAC]

Covert socialism.

[@waelfaraj6705]

@@thomasf.9717 Yes , possibly , and still hybrid cars are more environmentally friendly than traditional cars and can save more fuel especially if they can be recharged at home ...

[@ShalandaDewitt]

Building wealth from nothing involves consistent saving, disciplined spending, and strategic investments. Begin by creating a budget to track expenses and identify areas for savings. Prioritize paying off high-interest debt and establishing an emergency fund. As you build a foundation, start investing in low-cost options like index funds, and focus on continuous learning and improving your skills for better income opportunities.

[@SA-gu3ed]

Bro that was relevant 30 years ago. Now you basically save for nothing

[@GenerationNextNextNext]

Well, having good parents with money to support in the foundational years helps. If they can put you through college, help with resumes in youth, and build connections, then sure, you can get good jobs, save, discipline your sending, and invest strategically. But everyone doesn't live like that. Unless you want a public life and to make money posting consistent videos on a topic as a product, many people will hardly see anything close to wealth.

[@christoph3187]

I’m a top 3% earner in Germany living in the suburbs of Frankfurt. Finding a house is a real problem as they’re in great demand. Also financing it is a nightmare, even my income was considered too low by some banks. Additionally I wouldn’t even be able to pay it off by retirement for bank rates I could afford. So essentially you need parents to pass on inheritance early.

[@accelerator5524]

how much do you earn?

[@dragos640]

Frankfurt area is depressing when it comes to owning our even renting smth, same applies for other big cities. That’s a big con for Germany if you don’t want to live forever in a rented apartment.

[@gabrielatwigg]

@@accelerator5524 I believe my mom is in the top 5% and she earns 82k gross annual income… she had to move 52 miles away from a metropolitan city (Worms) to be able to “buy” a house. 108000€ for a 1955 house on 1/4 acre. However, she had to sign over her private retirement savings (predicted to be 60k at retirement) and her already 20year old savings account (18k). All of this for a low interest rate of only 8% and 30 year term… meaning after 30 years they’ll reassess/ increase the interest rate. She’s only allowed to put an additional 6k towards her principal each year and cannot pay it off in less than 30years. In addition she cannot sell the house before living in it for 10 years… and Germany is revamping their property taxes and increases of up to 1000% are likely🤷🏼‍♀️ So yeah… they sure make it difficult to “own” properly, though I keep wondering who the f*** owns all the rental properties in Germany.

[@bendover-bz4bc]

How come indian and African IT students come to German study in german language and buy houses within few years after joining job ???

[@christoph3187]

@@bendover-bz4bc I haven’t seen many doing that, but Arabs from the gulf states come here and buy a lot. I think it may be money they’re hiding from inland revenue or something.

[@nikitamondal4173]

Meanwhile in India, although people often have to live in rented apartments for work, they still have permanent homes in their hometowns or elsewhere. Sometimes even a person has more than one house because our parents don't sell their house they transfer it to their children. Can't imagine myself without a permanent home. And for that we should thank our culture and our parents too. So many memories and emotions are associated with a home. 🇮🇳🇮🇳

[@bvssrsguntur6338]

Good. But Germany also conserves public spaces while we India has no respect for schools, parks, playgrounds etc

[@nikitaw1982]

Does India have inheritance tax? What right do they have? Already tax every cent u earn.

[@GothicGame]

nicely written

[@faisalrazzaq6002]

Same in Pakistan.

[@eurodrift2498]

@@nikitaw1982 no inheritance tax , it's just simple transfer to their children

[@USWARRIOR7476]

Just wanted to say I recently came across your KZbin channel and have been enjoying your videos. While serving in the U.S. Army I was stationed in Wesel from 1985 - 1989. I grew up in Columbus Ohio so we have this in common. I loved Germany and made quite a few German friends some of which I still stay in contact with to this day. It’s fun watching your videos and they bring back good memories for me. I remember going to the Aldi’s for the first time in Germany and having to purchase my grocery bags that was a first for me then when Aldi’s came to the states or at least Ohio I would tell all my friends about going there in Germany and I had to buy my groceries bags. I know I’m off topic here but it’s the first time commenting so I wanted to share that with you.

[@omgsolikevalleygirl]

I live in Germany and I definitely want to live in a house, but right now it is just much too expensive... there is something extremely fishy happening with global real estate and it has hit Germany as well beginning around 2008-2010. Right now there is no way an normal working person will ever be able to afford a house by themselves during their lifetime in Germany.

[@MrOpacor]

Well that depends on where you assume the income of the "normal working person" is. I am a teacher at a vocational college in a rural area and many of my advanced students (Fachschule für Technik) are able to purchase or build houses and my co-workers of course are all able to own houses. So what is the lowest income where it is possible to own a house is possibly at a monthly net income around €1,800, which is well within normal regions. Of course it gets easier, once income gets higher. Assuming two people working it is very much doable - if one is willing to leave the big cities and work in rural areas. How do I know? A co-worker who is currently building her own house said that she had been conservative and planned all in such a way that one income would suffice to support her and her boyfriend and to pay the mortgage and her net income is around €2,700 a month, so not too far from the average German monthly income, although of course above it. But if you factor in that there is often a second income it becomes fairly easy. So, if your dream is to own a house, maybe move to a more rural area and do so. Often there are plenty of jobs in such regions (if you are qulifies) and a house with some land around it is in the region of under €250,000. This can be done with just one regular income with the spouse's income for all other expenses.

[@newbris]

@@MrOpacor "although of course above it."....wages are on the low side in Germany?

[@MrOpacor]

@@newbris Well, whether you want to consider German wages to be on he low side of course depends on where you are coming from and what you consider a net wage. For most Germans it includes a health insurance that covers basically everything without co-pay and a retirement plan that allows you to retire at the age of 67 without a private retirement plan, although a private retirement plan is recommended and encouraged. The gross income for the colleague would be around €4,700. That is above the average German gross income of around €4,000. So, what is a low wage, what is a high one? I suppose if you only consider the net income what is left after a health insurance that covers basically everything without co-pay and a retirement insurance has been paid, many wages in many countries could actually be negative. If you have other metrics you might get different results. Furthermore, not all sources measure income equally. Compared to the USA, Germany sometimes is about 20% lower on average, but other sources have it up to 7% higher. I guess it is complicated.

[@newbris]

​@@MrOpacor Thank you. Yes a very inexact science. I guess I meant do Germans read about/feel they are on a lower salary than comparable countries. It seems a little low to me as an Australian, but wasn't aware so many deductions cam off it. Wasn't sure if Germans had a general feeling about it. She would only net €2,700. from a gross of €4,700? Where does it all go? I think in Australia you would net around €3,300.

[@MrOpacor]

@@newbris Wheren it all goes? Well, roughly €830 in taxes €1,060 in compulsory social security insurance for health, retirement, unemployment and other things, including a mandatory additional retirement benefit fund as she - like myself - is a teacher and as such works for one of the German federal states which run such programmes. Is this on the high side? Well, I must assume this. But Germans generally do like a safety net and thus ours is pretty extensive and costly. I would not want it any other way. This way you should not really become poor just by bad luck. On the other hand the possibilty to get rich is dramatically lower than in other countries and while I do not need that I can very much understand why some people like to take risks and are not thta much willing to pay for a safety net. Maybe that contribtes to the fact that so many people in Germany are renters, not owners. But Feli is from a city. In rural areas things are different. In villages, once again for stabilty reasons, ownership is the norm - usually over generations, if things just are rural enough. The region I live and work in has still houses that have no proper adress as the villages have no street names and only numbered the houses and sometimes a hous just goes by the name of the family who has owned the house for over 300 years.

[@TomsDoItYourself]

This is such an interesting topic. Where I live in upper Bavaria, houses are just too expensive to buy, like €1.3M minimum. We are forced to rent, because we do not have the means to buy. Our duplex costs €1750 to rent, but would cost €4000 per month on a mortgage. I am sure many more germans would own, if they had the means. As a renter, you can easily get kicked out (Eigenbedarf), and then you are squabbling to find a new place to live. Plus, many landlords are asshats. Of all the people I know that still rent as we do, they do so because they like us, cannot afford to buy. I have been in Germany since 2007, and I feel like the gap between the rich (those who own multiple houses) and poor (renters) is getting wider and wider.

[@p.s.224]

I agree. My parents lucked out: they own a little row house in a large German city but wouldn’t be able to afford it today. Feli mentioned the „average“ price of 320.000€ for a house in Germany where I am like… yeah, you probably wouldn’t even get a small apartment for that price here. Also, even assuming you found something decent for that price, with a 20% down payment you‘d still need 64.000€ in savings, and this still doesn’t include the huge transactional cost… Not an easy to reach amount for the average citizen. I feel like I will never be able to afford to own something in my hometown.

[@slfbm870]

True. We got lucky ~6 years ago to buy the house we were renting for a relatively cheap price. Also props for the word "asshats". 😅

[@cherryblossom6702]

I don't understand why the government makes it virtually impossible to buy real estate in this country. They have the means to change these laws. And the quality of the rented apartments are very low if you can't afford quality apartments.

[@olafg.1333]

@@cherryblossom6702 Because they are communist and they want to finish privater ownership (except for themselves of course).

[@giuliobuccini208]

Houses prices have constantly gone up of 10% per year in the last 10-11 years. This is insane. I lost the train. Now I know that I will never (never) have enough money to buy even a little haus/appartment in the Munich area... This speculations is a shame, and the giverment makes nothing...

[@Phiyedough]

Interesting. I have looked at houses for sale in Germany and was aware that a lot of Germans prefer to rent. For me (from UK) the main attraction of buying my own place was the thought of eventually having the mortgage paid and getting an effective increase of income. I have not paid rent or a mortgage since 1997 and I can recommend the feeling of financial security that provides.

[@djp3637]

Additionally in the UK rents are so high that they are about the same as a mortgage. Most people would rather have a mortgage where they build equity instead of paying a faceless landlord (who will most likely use the rent you pay to pay their mortgage on the house).

[@FadeTheDisciple]

In my personal experience as a German, the whole thing of having to pay of debt is something Germans don't like. I mean to have debts at all. I have many friends in Spain and most of them get cars etc early while in uni and pay them off slowly. But Germans don't like that, most of my friends in Germany save up until they can afford it.

[@FelifromGermany]

Yes, that's very true! That's actually exactly what we talked about in our podcast episode: kzbin.info/www/bejne/n6HXgYVtjb-Ghsk

[@TheRomanianfalcon]

So they never buy, because they cannot afford it at all :))))

[@LS-Moto]

@@TheRomanianfalcon Pay day always comes at some point and that's when many people go downhill.

[@jfrancobelge]

I'm not German but for me having debts, any kind of debts is something I just cannot put up with. I don't own much but it's all mine and paid for its price, no credit interests added. I have a much more comfortable life as a renter than most owners who sweat blood and tears to pay for their mortgage. And I don't owe anything to the banks - in fact they are the ones that pay me interest.

[@mbr5742]

Debt for a house is seen as different from dept for buying a TV. The house is a long term investment (German houses last for generations being brick and mortar stuff) so taking a "Hypothek" (a house financeing credit) is seen as acceptable. It is more the costs that keep people of. Even an older terraced house in a less than great city costs over 200.000€ easily

[@jacobvriesema6633]

I also live in the Midwest and my experience was pretty similar to yours. So long as you can get a decent job, it’s normal to buy your first home in your 20’s or early 30’s. It only took about 1 month from looking for houses to when I bought a house, and then we waited 2-3 more months to allow the previous owners to move out. Our realtor was very kind and helped us out thru the whole process!

[@oldtop4682]

I'm a year late to this one. While stationed in Frankfurt I got curious about what land cost nearby. There was a house for sale on my way to work, so that triggered my interest. HOLY CRAP Batman! I had never heard of buying land by the square meter, and the cost of one meter just astonished me. We are talking 11 square feet of land for thousands of Euro (Marks back then). So, my initial impression was that folks lived in apartments due to cost. You explaining the issues after the war made total sense to me once I heard it. The US has a lot of land, but even here costs of buying a house can be pretty high depending upon location. And, like Germany, the prices just zoomed up the last couple of years. This is a global thing for the industrialized countries it seems.

[@californiahiker9616]

Thank you, Feli! Over the years this has always been puzzling me. I was born and raised in Germany, but I’ve been living in the US for decades. My grandma owned her home in Germany, my parents rented apartments til the day they died. When my husband and I bought our first home in California we were in our mid 30’s. We felt paying rent is like flushing money down the drain. You pay off a house over 15-30 years, then you own it. If you pay rent all of your life your money is gone. Buying a home is one of the best investments you can make.

[@felixb.3420]

That's wrong. You are paying for a house your whole life long because you have to repair and renovate it even when you own it or it will decrease in worth. If you rent a home for less money, you can invest the difference and can make more of your money.

[@tecumseh4095]

That’s not entirely true coming from an investment banker working at Credit Suisse AG in Zürich. A home is an investment that comes with many investment benefits and risks, which makes it an investment that is not for everyone. Over time, your home might increase in value, but it probably won't appreciate enough to offset all of the costs. Instead, if you took what you'd save from not buying a house and invested it in something that's likely to grow in value, such as stocks and bonds, chances are you'd end up with more money in the long term. 😉

[@Lingu42]

An investment with big possible return, but one that ties you to an immovable object, with no diversification (being tied to the local property market puts a certain risk on it).

[@Dixie_Normiz]

Are you still paying your home? For how many years? Most people get in to a 30 year mortgage on average. Some dont even pay it off and spend hundreds in refinancing. So its not always "throwing or wasting money away in renting" there are pros and cons to buying a home and renting a home or apt.

[@mattheweurich33]

Renting makes sense for a short term. Less than 5 years.. But there is nothing like owning your own home, so much more control.

[@thats_guip]

In Brazil, owning a household was a much common thing in our parents’ time, but it is a lot more difficult for our generation now, due to inflation. Recently I’ve seen a thought that was simply perfect; saying that “Millennials and Gen Zs are too young to own a property, but too old to become TikTokers” 😅

[@777jones]

But if it were pure inflation, houses would remain easy to buy. But, it sounds more like inflation paired with declining living standards. Which is, to be fair, much worse than inflation itself

[@thats_guip]

@@777jones indeed!

[@eduardochavacano]

Owning A House is a Must in third World Nations.

[@mehoprelivoda]

someone should tell them there is an tiktok for adults

[@clifford629]

@@777jones The same thing has happened in the US. In the 1950s, a house would cost roughly 1-2 years median salary. Flash forward to today and it's closer to 8 years.

[@jhonalexisvalenciameneses1041]

I am colombian and I live in Germany. I am married with a german and we recently bought a house. I was very surprised when I found out that my husband was already planning to stay at that house for the rest of his life while I was already planning to get a nicer house when our finances are much better. I am also planning to buy another flat as an investment but the german system doesn’t seem to be the best one to do that. Learning about this differences between my home country and Germany when it comes to real state has been a very intense experience but I have learnt a lot from it.

[@MBD12367]

Gotta love all these people who buy apartments as "investments" ramping up the prices and making it impossible for other young people to buy at least one apartment for their own needs

[@annfrost3323]

Completely agree.. The first house is not nearly the house of your dreams.

[@christoph3187]

Investing can be done with profitability in Germany. Just be aware tenants have a crazy amount of rights and the bad apples are well aware of that. Average ROI is only 2%, meaning most landlords lose money on their investments here because of that.

[@WCIIIReiniger]

@@annfrost3323 you say the first house is not your dream - for many Germans the first house remains a dream.

[@petertorda5487]

Here in CZ (next to Germany 🙂), also people if they are buying a house, they are trying to buy something for they lifetime, and later on maybe to do some reconstruction. This is mostly due to high prices, and how real estate prices dramatically growth in last years. For example in 2016 in Prague's surrounding area you could buy a big house for 640k Eur, now 1.6M.

[@kellywellington7122]

I was born, raised and have lived the overwhelming majority of my life in the western US. Home-ownership was a huge status in my world. I grew up in a lower middle-class family where an ambitious father overcame his rural past to become professional in his trade and an urban property owner. As a young man, I decried that I would likely never own property in that I had no 'nest egg', nor earning capacity, to buy my own home. I figured I would be renting for life. Then, I married a woman who had inherited from her father and owned a small property with a bungalow in the inner city. By owned, I mean paying off a 20 year mortgage contract. We paid it off together, then she died of cancer. I never thought I'd own property, but I inherited the home I helped my wife pay for....a cozy little two bedroom bungalow with a small cottage garden.

[@kpackard1]

Too bad about your wife but happy for you and your good fortune!

[@kaebella2259]

It's all in who you marry.

[@anordinaryman3885]

it's a sad weird story 😥.

[@kenyonbissett3512]

Glad you have the bungalow, sorry your wife died of cancer.

[@Zireael83]

sad :((

[@Tyrann7]

Hi, a German here :D Great video! Never heard someone summarize the housing situation here in such a happy and optimistic tone before even though all the facts (as of my knowledge at least) are correct. I'd probably add one more thing as we are currently seeing, thanks to covid (strange to say) a new situation. Many people who liked to move into a house out in the rural areas, finally are able to due to Home Office. Many can move out of the big cities, where houses are plenty expensive, and still work a well payed job, which aren't that plenty in the countryside. Even though the speculation with ground is damaging the market, prices in smaller cities and towns are still affordable. Keep up the great content :) your videos are always so upbringing

[@Tyrann7]

May I add my personal experience as well: I'm 28 and 2 years ago it was unthinkable for me. I even moved to Berlin for a new job even though I hate big cities. From next year on I'm able to work remotely and move to the north and still earn enough to buy a house in a few years out in a small town. Even through all the bad stuff something great came out of it for at least a few of us

[@jacobvriesema6633]

Covid has made a similar change in the US also. Many young people have been moving away from the expensive cities to buy a house in more rural areas, and work from home. Living in a city can be very expensive in comparison to the country or suburbs.

[@wallmih]

In Romania the rent and the mortgage are quite similar (lately the mortgages have increased due to the interest increasing), so many people prefer to pay mortgage and own the house/apartment rather than pay the rent and not owning it. Also, the laws are not friendly for tenants as the landlords can kick them out very easy (for instance the notice for leaving the house is about 2 weeks, maximum 1 month, so you have to move fast).

[@mariakehr-raggay2658]

Really interesting! Comparing rental experiences in Germany with the UK and the US, I personally would say that tenants in Germany have a lot more freedom to make the space their own and so it can actually feel like you own it without the responsibility of ownership. There are a lot more restrictions around what you can do in a rental in the UK and the US I personally found.

[@jamesbinns8528]

My past experience as a renter was renting low-rent apartments or small run-down houses with landlords who did not want to make repairs in a timely manner. I hated being at their mercy. When, in my thirties, I was able to buy a very modest house on one acre, I was thrilled . I paid off the house and lived without a mortgage, and could make the improvements and repairs that I wanted to make. No regrets!

[@ramblingmillennial1560]

Good point. It really depends on your landlord here in the US I think. If you can actually get in contact with your landlord and have a good relationship with them it's possible they'd allow you to customize. But I know that in Germany you can repaint and I've heard you can even put in your own tile if you want? It also seems like that apartments are more personally customized in Germany anyway since you have to bring your own kitchen and bathroom furniture most times. I even heard you have to bring in your own light fixtures XD. A concept I will never understand lol.

[@inezm8444]

Renting is a nightmare here in Australia as there are many rules and regulations on the renter and many landlords don't/won't fix problems with the property and they get away with it due to how long it takes to get anything actioned......

[@GAGA00730]

@@ramblingmillennial1560 Yes, most of what you said is true. I don't think so for the tiles unless you ask your landlord maybe. I think it's common sense in Germany that you can customize your rental the way you want as long as it is in the original condition when you move out. It makes sense for most germans to rent, especially in your 20s and 30s, because of the responsibility it takes when buying. If your'e a renter here, your landlord has to fix most of the stuff when it is broken, you can customize your place, renters have a lot of rights and if you like your place, you can live there a long time, even if it's not your property. Buying a house or appartment in Germany is associated with settling down, start a family and have kids and choosing a city/place you want to stay for a long time with a partner you want to be together with for the rest of your life (which often is not the case when looking at the divorce rates haha). Buying a house on your own is something that is very uncommon in Germany.

[@jennyyyy189]

That's all true on paper but even in Germany there are terrible landlords (for example my last few and current ones😂) If you rent cheap apartments because that's all you can afford, your shitty landlord counts on you not having any money to move soon and so they don't repair stuff You could go and get a lawyer because technically it's your right, to get stuff fixed by your landlord, but if you don't have insurance to cover your lawyer, you have to pay them yourselves and that gets expensive, so you just live with your broken light or cold water

[@rockymtn1291]

I was hesitant to get a mortgage (US) because I didn't feel like I could earn much more than I already did and I have health issues that might play a part at some point. Also, the consequences of defaulting on a mortgage are worse than not paying rent. I finally decided to take the leap forward as rents were becoming more expensive. Now rents keep climbing almost double but my mortgage has stayed about the same.

[@tamwilfred]

@@JudeMalachi It's just an assuming that all real estate always go up or stocks always go up. Not all areas or properties are the same. You have to analyse the area, political atmosphere, growth prospect, environmental conditions and a number of other things. If real estate was that easy to make money or to come out even then everyone would be rich or make money. Look at the housing crash that happened in 2008 because people were speculating on home prices rather than the actual worth of the homes. Or places that had booming growth but because either a large employer pulled out and the surroudning neighbor declined or a number of other reasons that neighbor becomes less desirable. Here are the top 10 cities where prices have fallen the most, along with the annual change in median listing price as of March: Toledo, Ohio: -18.7% Rochester, New York: -17% Detroit, Michigan: -15.4% Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: -13.7% Springfield, Massachusetts: -5.8% Tulsa, Oklahoma: -5.0% Los Angeles, California: -5.0% Memphis, Tennessee: -4.6% Chicago, Illinois: -3.7% Richmond, Virginia: -3.4% At least based on the information Rocky had and he information about if the neighborhood he made an educated guess that the nieghborhood would still be in high demand and decided to purchase a home. If he was using the home for an investment or assest then he would be wise to run the numbers either by himself, with an real estate agent, or an appriaser to see if a property is a good purchase or not. A property is an investment if don't live in it and rent it out. A home you live in is a utility. Also a home price isn't just the price you pay but the additonal cost that continue after you buy it; property taxes, maintenance costs, upkeep costs and other costs. Some home owners get lucky if appreciation of a home is more than inflation and all the cost owning a home.

[@jacobvriesema6633]

@@JudeMalachi there are many reasons one might default on a mortgage. As the guy above said, his medical bills might go up, making paying a mortgage impossible. Your point that you can always sell your house is true only if someone wants to buy. If someone did not keep up their house, or it’s in an undesirable location, or the local housing market crashes are all reasons why a house may never sell, leaving the owner will no options. Additionally, moving to a new house is not an easy thing for many Americans - it can take weeks or months to pack up everything, and many generous friends to bring your belongings to the new house. If one is having financial difficulties, taking weeks of time off from work is often not an option. If one is not fit enough to lift furniture or heavy boxes, they can hire a company to help, but that’s even more money.

[@DoodleDoo]

Can someone give me the tldr of this video? She just kept going on and on.

[@mariusvlad2090]

@@JudeMalachi > Plus, as you mention, a mortgage doesn't increase with inflation or other market conditions That's simply not true, at least not in places where the central banks hikes interest rates to combat inflation.

[@jamesbinns8528]

@@tamwilfred I think that it is a mistake to buy a house that you are going to live in, and to think of it as an investment. If you buy in a decent area, have a reliable income, a house should be paid off, and then not have any more payments. That is a huge monthly boon! In the years leading to the 2008 crash, people bought houses that were too expensive for them to maintain. People ought to buy what they can afford to pay for, and to take care of. I've never made over $40K any year of my life, and I worked 50 hours a week until I was close to 60 years old--so yes I know life can be tough. However, my point is that a modest home that can be paid for, brings freedom. After I paid off my house--in 15 years---I started putting the amount of my house payment into my ROTH IRA. Btw, my house payments were less than other people's rent payments. I have since sold my house for four times what I originally paid for it in the 1990s, and built a small, simple house on my partner's property in rural area. If one is a wee bit handy and can learn to do one's own repairs, that's a leg up.

[@anjah.8089]

Very good video! It took me 8 years to find a plot in the Munich outskirts. The price per square meter in a tiny village ranges around 1000 € and with building a basic house you'll land around a million. Plus you'll have to pay tens of thousands in fees and annual taxes.

[@Mdwells2944]

Really enjoy your videos as they explain so many things which I wondered when stationed for four years back in 1988-1992. Somethings you didn’t want to ask or you didn’t know who to ask, your videos are a great source of information to help educate us Americans. I loved my time in Germany and really want to return some day before I get to old to do so. I loved the many great festivals and all the awesome food, beers and brotchen.

[@vivviedarling9336]

I live in the UK and rented for the first 20 years. I was fortunate to find a rental place with an older landlord who was not greedy for rent rises. But then he gifted the property to a daughter and before too long I was evicted (so that she could double the rent). I was lucky enough to be able to buy a cheaper smaller place and now 10 years later I have a larger house where the mortgage is equivalent to what I was paying in rent. My kid is going to college and his rent on a single room is more than my mortgage. I think people are being squeezed for more and more of their earnings to have somewhere to live. I wish we had better rent controls in the UK.

[@coolhorse13]

Do you want someone to place limits on your salary? There is one very simple and reliable way to lower home prices. BUILD MORE HOUSES!!!

[@oswaldjameslangston6008]

​@@coolhorse13or decrease immigration

[@coolhorse13]

@@oswaldjameslangston6008 That will take much longer and not have as much of an affect on pricing as a flood of new houses being built to offset demand. Supply and Demand. Your suggestion definitely impacts demand

[@classicjulie5381]

one year ago, i bought property outside of Germany and I feel very good about it. Being German, I would like to own property in my own country as well but German real estate simply comes with far too many strings attached. From the very scouting process to the endless taxes... It might not even amount to much of a financial burden in total (idk) but the mere thought of all the beurocracy sadly kills it for me. I am currently saving for my next property abroad.

[@aruntutu]

I just bought an apartment in Munich after 13 years in the city (studies included) and everything you said was spot on... It's not as easy to buy one here and right now I'm signed up to pay mortgage well into retirement. I'm sure I'll pay it off quicker but the risk of being a loaner for this long surely puts people off the idea... Coming from India, everyone buys thier own apartment. It's a lot cheaper than it is in Germany. 😃 Great video and explanation Feli. 👍

[@wora1111]

Sometimes even young people do not look for their own apartment but rather a way to invest their money early planning on buying a house later. When my daughter bought her first apartment after starting work she kept paying rent for the (bigger) place she lived in. German financing rules are rather strict, so she plans to use her apartments as a stepping stone when having to apply for bigger credits in order to buy the house she wants to live in with her future family in order to raise her children.

[@Dudettehere]

I am from a major Indian city. Not everyone buys their own home. Renting is becoming the norm for those not staying with their parents

[@aruntutu]

@@Dudettehere I was referring to people buying apartments as an investment option with tax breaks for bank loans. Sure I agree when it's pertaining the bigger cities it becomes that much more difficult (I'm from Bangalore and literally had to sell a kidney to get one) but as Feli said, much like the US, you'll get way bigger apartments at a cheaper cost compared to Germany.

[@SK-ck9qu]

If you have extra room in the apartment, you may consider renting it out.

[@thechosenone1533]

@@SK-ck9qu But if it doesn't work out with his roommate it will be unpleasant staying in his own house. And he may have to get a court order to evict him.

[@MsJackieXie]

I am a Chinese who has been living in Canada for 25 years. I bought my little semi detached 14 years ago and paid off my mortgage 9 years after all by myself. I worked really hard, worked a lot of over time to pay it off. I was a single, worked as a part timer, it’s a bit scary to own a home myself in case I was sick or lost my job. Luckily I was all healthy and held the job until I quit it myself. Now I am mortgage free and rent free and can fully enjoy my life. Different cultures have different perceptions of owning a property. Some cultures, people like to move around a lot, but the Chinese cultures don’t like to move too much. As one of the immigrants, owning a property makes me feel I am rooting down. Owning a house, I have the advantage of doing whatever I want to the property and buy whatever I want cause I don’t have to move all those staff. Most Chinese immigrants own their own home as soon as possible. A lot of us rent part of the house out to help with the mortgage for the first few years. We have to work and save hard for the first few years, but after a while, we can sit back and relax permanently. In China, condos or flats are really expensive, but most families try hard to put their money together to buy at least one. Capable people like to invest their money in real estate. Most of my peers friends classmates own multiple condos or flats in China.

[@MKPhilippines]

wow you paid your mortgage at much earlier time. kudos to you

[@robertrobski1013]

Can't pay by 9 years in Canada impossible

[@MsJackieXie]

@@robertrobski1013 At that time, it was only $246k, I worked a lot and didn’t go anywhere, no vacation no holiday no shopping much. Rented the basement out to help cover some cost.

[@mgntstr]

hippety hoppety, Property tax not deposited. You home is now mine.

[@seandelaney1700]

Your peers are speculating in the RE market, just like the USA in 2006,7,8 which led to the crash, which China is now facing as well. Great insight.

[@powerwagon3731]

Being a house builder (my wife realtor ) I’ve owned several homes outright in my 60 years and the first thing I told my children when they got a proper job was to buy a house and it’s a good thing they did because rent is double or tripled in the last 5 years and their mortgage is half of a rent payment.

[@GinJ1337]

In Germany landlords have very limited possibility to raise the rent and if they do they can only raise it by a little. You more or less "lock in" your rent. Eventually the rent in the market will be much higher than your rent. The moment you move out the landlord will be celebrating because now he/she can rent for much more. In most cases mortgage + taxes and maintenance costs for a house is much higher than renting a flat. The difference saved can then be invested.

[@nohemycorreagallery]

Thank you for sharing your experience!. Please. Please. Do you have any knowledge about the legal permits, etc. To renovate your house yourself?. Renovations as bathroom, windows, etc. We are very crafty, and we have done it before in Spain where you only need permission from the authority, and it takes about 20 dias. I am wondering if I can buy an old house in Germany and do most of the renovations ourselves. I do not know if you have any experience with it. I heard that even to change a bathroom or new floror, new window I will need the project from an architect I don't know if it is true. Thanks in advance

[@car9167]

I'm from Romania (but living in US since 2008) and I didn't know about 96% home ownership. I do remember my parents were renting and the majority of Romania had "plattenbau" and were usually financed by the company (only state companies at the time) where my parents were working. After 1989 revolution and Ceausescu fall everybody was offered to buy their apartment instead of renting at a very low price so majority took that opportunity.

[@mariusvlad2090]

Summarized, but an important thing to mention is that while inflation sky rocketed in the aftermath of that "revolution", the commies blocks kept at the same prices as they were before the event. So that's opportunity you're actually talking about, and that's why it has the highest ownership. The value of the real state didn't keep with the inflation, as the state didn't increase the price accordingly. An imported TV set from Germany was sold at a higher price than an apartment, that's how big of a difference was. Technically, the state just gave people their places for free.

[@MrAlpinab7]

Pai normal, astia n.au nimic si zic ca noi suntem saraci, cand ei n.au nici macar un tool shed.

[@car9167]

@@MrAlpinab7 Pana la urma mai mult conteaza experientele din viata. Daca acumulezi lucruri doar de dragu' de-a avea fara sa ai ceva sa te faca fericit din cand in cand, ce conteaza

[@porcudracului]

@@car9167 da, in principiu. da aici idea nu e neapărat da acumulezi la infinit fara noima, ci doar sa ai opțiunea sa cumperi, daca asta vrei. având în vedere că sistemul german are ca și focus principal intervenția statului (rent controls and caps) și nu piata libera, asta nu înseamnă că e mai bun decât alte sisteme care se concentrează pe alte aspecte. (sistemul american, unde participi și tu). de ex. in America sunt zone/orase foarte similare cu cele din Germania, L.A, N.Y, San Francisco, unde există exact același gen de problema: chirii exorbitante, număr redus de apartamente, calitate scăzută a proprietăților, etc exact din aceleași motive: rent controls and regulations. daca germanii nu au avut acces la alt sistem decat cel ce îl au și l-au avut până acum, nu însemna că nu este altceva mai bun.

[@Laserfrankie]

I bought my house in 2012 for 165,000 Euros. When I look at the prices now, it's worth about 350,000 Euros. And I live near the North Sea coast, not in a big city or fancy area. Prices are going crazy and will prevent even more people from buying or financing a house in Germany.

[@newbris]

350,000 euros is a really cheap price for a house now in Australia. A family house around 30 minutes drive from our middle sized city starts around 600k euro. In Sydney would be starting 1.3 million euro. Crazy prices.

[@cooleve]

it will be like Japanese asset price bubble in 20 years

[@Burrmajesty]

I'm a single mom in the US. Renting was so stressful because you need to have first and last and deposit. Especially during and after Covid its requested to do 6-9 months rent up front. Every time the lease was up the rent was going up hundreds of dollars. So it was a huge relief to buy a nice house that is easily $2,000 less a month to pay a mortgage instead of rent. I used my VA loan and it was $0 down and I just paid earnest money and closing costs. I hope I never rent again.

[@hhorror]

That shit is so fucking illegal, y'all should be reporting any scumlord that tries to do that. Asking for first and last months rent is NOT legal. Asking for multiple months rent up front is NOT legal. Requiring a damage deposit is legal, but there are restrictions around how much that amount can be as well. And increasing the rent by hundreds of dollars each the time the lease is up is INCREDIBLY fucking illegal. Rent can only be increased by a certain (small) percent every year.

[@michaelmayo-vb5fl]

Lol I'ma be a van life guy live on the Road . What rent what property tax besides the van 😂

[@blackrifle6736]

*Good for you! You earned VA loan rights because you honourably served our country. Cheers!*

[@blackrifle6736]

@@hhorror*Naw. Your unhinged rant applies only to blue, DemonRat-run locales. That Soviet $hit doesn't fly here in Florida.*

[@TheErber]

Hi Feli! My wife and I bought a house in May of last year in germany. Beautifuly located in the black forrest. The process of buying the house in general was very easy. We just regret that we found the house via a realestate agency and had to pay them almost 15000 Euros for listing the house online so we could find it, showing it to us (which literaly meant opening the door) and going to the notary office with us. All in all we are more than happy with our house! But I wish there would be more support for people in general, who are thinking about buying or building houses! I mean we had to pay almost 20000 Euros in taxes alone!

[@DrWatson610]

I respectfully disagree with subsidizing homeownership. Why would you subsidize one style of living over another one? Besides the suburban experiment is starting to show its downsides by being a catalyst for climate change.

[@geroldatlarge1841]

My German grandmother came from the East after WW2 and was relocated to Bamberg where she lived in an apartment. Though she grew up and lived in a mansion prior to the war, she was quite content living in West Germany and away from the utter chaos that existed in East Germany after the war. People had lower expectations and were happy with some tranquility. People in Germany don’t think any less of individuals who rent. I suppose through German socialism people just think much more in equality terms. In addition, with low inflation and low rent , people have money for other things-travel. However, Germans don’t buy much. Just a few high quality goods that they keep a long time.

[@jonas1630]

Low inflation and low rent? When was that? 10 Years ago?

[@LZ08]

As an American who’s been living in Germany for almost 10 years now, I found your video very informative. Keep up the good work!

[@huongspy1626]

In Vietnam, it’s also a big milestone when purchasing a house, it means a lot to that person and shows that person has means to create and maintain a family. Renting is is mostly for students and those who don’t have enough income to afford to buy a house on their own. Renting in Vietnam is fairly cheap, but the regulation is not really tight.

[@tihan86]

In Europe it is perfectly acceptable for anyone to rent a place. We don‘t really have the need for buying houses and in many situations it is way more sustainable to rent a place. Also a big upside to renting is that usually you are close to shops, public transport and POIs, which is like non existent in American suburbs.

[@markk.7531]

Very interesting indeed

[@Keirosqeen]

@@tihan86 but you don’t own anything after paying rent for 10 years whereas I know so many people who paid off their mortgage (with hard work and hustling) under 10 years and now they live in a very nice and big house with a pool and a yard.

[@tammiepulley1396]

New sub here. I am very happy for you guys. Loved the level of detail in this video. I’m a 50 plus year old American living in the San Francisco Bay Area. I found this video so interesting. There is a bit of shame on me for not owning a home at my age but I get a pass slightly because I live in the most expensive place in the US. Owning real estate is how Americans raise themselves up a notch in their social class, build wealth and security for their children. If you own a home it protects you a bit from being completely wiped out by a major medical expense as we do not have socialized medicine here. This happened to me personally. I owed so much I used my equity to pay medical bills. Eventually sold my house and couldn’t buy another…so now I rent and help a landlord buy his house.

[@megapangolin1093]

Sad to hear, there is something rather iniquitous about the US health system where it seems common to go into debt due to health issues, isn't this avoidable? People must live in fear of normal older age health problems and that worry stress probably helps cause those problems.

[@j.w.matney8390]

My wife and I sold our Bay Area house and paid cash for a new house in North Carolina. We discovered that utilities, insurance and property taxes are much less than in California. There are a lot of people living in our city who have moved here from California, New York and Illinois. There is a great shift happening now of people and companies migrating from high tax states to lower states. The Economist and other publications are predicting that in the Northeast, Chicago and California there will be mega cities similar to Tokyo where most people are living in apartments. I believe that Europe is well along the path to Megacities.

[@donnamaco1]

@@megapangolin1093 People have not quite figured out physical entropy. It is a concept that is not really acknowledged. Eventually they will learn. Americans are s l o w to learn about things that are imposed by nature. Medicare for All. One REAL pandemic will be eye opening.

[@marcburns508]

Thats terrible... it seems people everywhere are being ground into poverty courtesy of the banking class and destruction of traditional societies. We have property tax in PA. Even if you own the house, the government still gets to tax you to pay for the schools. The schools that are always building new buildings, buying new busses, generous raises and pensions for staff... there is no incentive to get spending under control.

[@cooleve]

it will be like Japanese asset price bubble in 20 years

[@atunaco]

Greetings from the poor sunny Spain. I guess you know my country well, it is there where thousands of Germans every year are making house prices rise even more by massively buying houses to live there after their retirement. Nothing to object to. It is logic that they want to enjoy one of the countries with the longest life expectancy in the World, and avoid spending their last years under the gray clouds of industrialized Northern Europe.

[@despoina.markaki.]

I was looking for an answer like yours! We experience excactly the same problem here in ''poor'' Greece, especially in my island, Crete. Her comments were not kind at all.

[@atunaco]

@@despoina.markaki. Eυχαριστώ my frend! My sister has traveled all over Europe and part of America and the place where she returns every year is Greece and Crete. "In Greece, I feel at home", she likes to say.

[@despoina.markaki.]

​@@atunaco Oh! I appreciate the polite opinion of your sister. Thank you!

[@AB-jz9ns]

@@despoina.markaki.Sorry for the late response. As a Greek living in the US, I agree her comments were kind of insulting but then again she is very young so I will give her the benefit of the doubt.

[@samirjoza]

As a German myself, renting isn't all that good in Germany anymore either. If you have children or pets, it can be pretty hard to find a rental. Furthermore every open rental has many applicants. So in today's market, it would make more sense for young German adults to buy their house.

[@johncook538_modelwerks]

Your channel is helping me, an American from New England, better understand the culture of my German employer so thank you. I've always been curious about Germany and I studied the language in High School, and yes it is difficult. What do I think about owning a home? Its my sanctuary, my biggest investment, my biggest personal project, and a point of pride. I took a house that had been rented into the ground (lots of damage from tenants) and have spent 20 years fixing it up. Around here, home ownership is prized over rentals very much because the perception is that tenants don't bother to care for the places they live and often damage them while home owners take pride in their property. This includes good maintenance of the house, eye pleasing gardens and landscaping, and its also a way to earn the respect of your neighbors by having a neat, nice looking house and yard.

[@dannywalters958]

This is really a great content. Thanks to you Feli but I have a question bothering me for a while now. Given that stocks. Which would yield better output. Considering a young mid income, short term person with not so much spare time.

[@chriswilliams2061]

Has got to be Stocks(they are generally more predictable and most drops are temporary) but of course, you have to go into this with good knowledge or better still, get a pro to handle it for you (that way, you save time and minimise risks). Made my first million this way earlier this year. One more thing, one can wake you up by 2am to complain about a leaking pipe, the other can't.

[@davidblakes4952]

why limit your options to just the two??? pretty sure there are more lucrative alternatives!!!

[@savedhayden]

@@chriswilliams2061 Sound and pragmatic... I have actually been into both for quite sometime and though I won't say I have lost a fortune, but I have squandered quite a lot. If it's not a problem, do you mind recommending the pro. you worked with? I could definitely use the help of one right now... I look forward to your reply...

[@chriswilliams2061]

@@savedhayden Funny enough, I can honestly relate. Not as easy as it may sound and takes some level of decisiveness and discipline. I don't know if I am permitted to go into details here, but her name is "Leah Marie Sandock". Was in the news a lot in 2018. You may look her up for more.

[@marguritetheodore2194]

@@chriswilliams2061 wow I know this little lady. Once attended a fundraiser she was also in attendance in Vancouver,, Great speaker with a funny accent,, She's American though, I doubt she works with foreigners,,,

[@hardanheavy]

I live in Munich and have recently moved. My previous home was offered to me to buy, but to pay about 350k for a 2 bedroom apartment on the very edge of the city (for those in the know: Oberschleißheim) that was built in the 50s to me is absurd. It simply is not worth that amount of money. The only reason for that high price is the low amount of available housing in Munich. If I would be willing (and able) to move 50 kilometers out of the city, I could buy an entire house for that money. But to add buying a car (I have none, as public transport is excellent here) and having to commute to and from work would not help much, financially speaking. Not to mention that I really wouldn't look forward to living out in the sticks somewhere. I searched for a new place to rent within the city for many months. I sent my details to about 100 landlords, got invited to have a look at a place 10 times and was offered to rent a place exactly once. So I took it because time was really running out. Paying 1000 Euros per month for this one bedroom apartment feels extortionate, but what can one do? At least I live only 5 U Bahn (metro) stops from the city center now, which is a huge bonus to me.

[@danielbliss1988]

Chicago by US standards is a depressed property market and yet 1,000 Euros/dollars would be considered a very competitive deal indeed for a typical one bedroom here in such a location.

[@whyareyoulying1568]

1000 dollars for one bedroom in america would be great (atleast where i live)

[@nightcorelove2626]

A entire house for 350k outside of Munich? Where?

[@kpackard1]

$1,000 is a bargain for you. Think about what you would be paying if you bought that house not only a huge mortgage but taxes insurance maintenance yard care etc. you did the right thing

[@masudashizue777]

I didn't realize the importance of owning a home until my mortgage ended and I didn't have to buy a dime more. Rental prices are high in Hawaii so it really helps.

[@raddadization]

That's because Hawaii is basically Communist.

[@kpackard1]

Hawaii is for millionaires

[@pigoff123]

My mother died in Germany. Her neighbor told me I had to leave enough money in her bank to pay 2 more months of rent. I refused to do that. I left enough for the utilities and phone. I emptied the apartment and left it spotless. If you die do you still have to pay rent because you didn't give notice?

[@DaylanTheAngrySauerkraut]

No. The landlord is trying to fleece you

[@TravisJones812]

I bought my first home, an apartment by the Moskva River in Moscow, in December of last year. Buying an apartment in Moscow, especially one that has three rooms and is in a desirable part of the city like the central district, is sort of a sign that 'you've made it' in life. Detached houses and even townhouses don't exist inside the major cities where most middle class Russians live and have limited infrastructure - Russians commonly think of single-family homes as 'dachas' or weekend and summer residences and dacha communities will often lack the most essential infrastructure, like schools and medical facilities. Your access to community services is determined by where you are registered, and because most landlords are reluctant to register people (especially children, who have extensive tenant's rights at their registered address), most middle class Russians consider single-family home ownership unrealistic - unless they are digital nomads and can register at a relative's address. The enhanced marriage prospects of someone who owns an apartment, especially one in Moscow, are comparable to what you find in China, and you'll often find that wealthier parents will invest in apartments for their children, as getting married when you already own an apartment is a guarantee that you won't lose it if you get divorced.

[@burtonkephart6239]

We don’t want to hear about Moscow or China buddy. Evil states

[@alfabeech]

The goal of buying is having no housing payments when you get old, you control your space, and it is a hedge against inflation. It's really hard when you're young, but anyway possible, it's the best option. People standing in line at gas stations and now they are in line at Starbucks in Krogers? In line, car running at fast food? The money people waste in the name of a little inconvenience is astounding. We own 2 old commercial buildings and an 8 acre property in the hills and survive on social security because we are frugal and self sufficient.

[@jonas1630]

Thats exactly what my german parents think. They don't pay more in mortgage than they would pay rent but once they are old they don't need to pay anything at all (except maintenance cost and property taxes). It's the best investment in retirement provision you could make.

[@catgirl6803]

OMG. Starbucks is not the reason why today's younger people can't afford homes. Even if you figure people are spending $5/ a day on coffee- which they're not, because nobody goes every day, that's only $155 a month. That's $1860 a year, which means it would take 13 years to save $25,000 on Starbucks money for a downpayment. Homes aren't affordable because values have gone up but incomes have not. Cost of college has gone up . We also have cell phone and internet bills that are like $100 a month that didn't exist. Ask any young person who can't afford to buy and they'll tell you that they go out to eat and Starbucks maybe 3x a month. I only go more because I get gift cards from work. My first job out of college paid $11/ hour and my rent was $500. A mortgage is going to be around $1500 a month, and jobs are still only offering $15 an hour. More and more businesses are only paying minimum wage when they shouldn't be. New grads can't even get paying jobs because companies only want to hire them as interns and criticize them for wanting to get paid for their work. People need to live life and that $50 a month they're spending on Starbucks and going out is not going to make or break anyone. Their boomer parents pressured them to go to high cost colleges and take on massive debt when they didn't need to and not enough people took high paying blue collar jobs because we were told we'd be losers, making too many college grads in white collar jobs with not enough positions to go around.

[@DesertRat332]

Rents here in the U.S. are insane. Especially the way they raised them after COVID. It's no wonder we have so many homeless and the problem gets worse every day. My parents were landlords and they never raised the rent on good tenants. They only raised it between rentals. Nobody does that today. Your rent goes up every year and usually faster than your paycheck goes up. How can you ever save for a house?

[@TroySchoonover]

You must live in a state (like California, for instance), where this might be true because of their insane laws. In much of the country, we don’t incentivize homelessness like they do in places like California, we have much better policies that encourage economic growth, and our general cost of living is lower so it’s entirely possible to save for and afford a home.

[@Burrmajesty]

I spent a year and a half living with family to save money to buy a house. I couldnt afford rent and the yearly increase and having to keep paying up front to move each time.

[@peterdegelaen]

In Belgium we have a saying that a Belgian is born with a brick in his stomach. And apparently with reason. It seems that not owning your own place to live in Belgium is one of the most decisive factors for ending up in poverty after retirement.

[@holger_p]

So in reverse, if retirment payments are well organized, you don't need to own your house. That's Germany.

[@peterdegelaen]

@@holger_p No matter how retirement payments are organized, if you don't own the place you live in when you retire, you will have to continue paying rent once retired. That's always at least €800/month less that you can spend on other things. I don't know how retirement payments are organized in Germany, but in Belgium the retirement income is considerably less than what you earned while professionally active.

[@Micha-bp5om]

@@peterdegelaen It is the same in Germany. There are plenty of old Germans that cannot afford to pay their rent. After three years of coming to Germany I bought an apartment perfect to live in now and when I am old. One bedroom, one stop away from Stuttgart city center, nice balcony, first floor, built in 2010 so nothing to fix. In 20 years I will finish paying it with a fixed interest rate and no rent afterwards plus I will have a substential ammount of money. 😎

[@Firejewel1]

I wish that the US had as many renter's protections as Germany does. We just had to talk down our landlord from a 40% rent increase down to a 25% increase in a single year's lease. I do like renting to a degree, but there are times I do wish I could own my home and do with the property as I wish.

[@LS-Moto]

What needs to be said though is that, just because the law grants renter's protections, doesn't mean its always the case in practice. There are landlords that rent out places, that are a violation of human rights if you ask me. Places with mold that has just been painted over to "hide" it, until you are in contract, and then blame you for it (I've seen that DOZENS of times). Places with terrible heating systems, that don't heat properly. Bathrooms that are so old and dirty, its unwashable. If you call them out on it, they don't care, because there is always someone desperate enough that will take the place over you. There are many landlords that are just greedy as fuck, don't want to renovate the place and perhaps change the old heating system from the Hitler days to a modern new one.

[@kathy9399]

Arizona has very good tenant landlord laws and they protect the tenant much more than the landlord. And the landlord is required to give you a copy of the laws or the link for you to read them.

[@MrNanah38]

@@LS-Moto You did not see the place before you put your deposit on the unit? So why are you finding fault about the condition now? I have been a renter and I am also a landlord, and let me tell you we are not getting rich, at least not where I live, being a landlord is not glamorous we are responsible for everything eventhough we don't live there. For example, if I rent you my unit and you put garbage on the streets guess who get the ticket? I can go on and on, if you don't like your place you can always move.

[@LS-Moto]

@@MrNanah38 I work in construction and renovations. I've seen landlords paint over mold and make the place look nice, in order to present it nicely. Once someone is in, all the covered issues reappear. I don't see why you get all bitchy about this. I didn't say all landlords are like this and I didn't say all renters are amazing people. However, I have seen quite a bit of fucked up shit on both sides, not necessarily in places I live, but in places I was called to.

[@MrNanah38]

@@LS-Moto you still haven't answered my simple question, let me ask it again. DID YOU INSPECT THE APARTMENT BEFORE YOU MOVED IN? I'm not the one who is bitchy, its clear you can't answer a simple question yet you are in the comment section acting like a child.

[@TheStorm36]

My father is from Germany, he came here at 17 in the late 1950’s… met my American Mexican mother , fell in love and got married 3 months later… they never bought a house here. He simply wanted to stay living in an apartment.. they decided to move to a Germany when I was born in 1973… we lived with my Oma. My mother was so upset. She wanted them to buy their own home… didn’t happen . Mom and me came back to California…. It just didn’t work out with the two ladies together in one kitchen as we say. Sad really. I love all things German…. Ended up living there during the summers only. Thank you for explaining.

[@ivanamicimici]

I live in a village in east Germany and my rent is only 275 €,plus the electricity,heating and water it amounts to 475€.internet and home phone is around 40€ and I think it's a miracle! It's just awesome. Insurance is also pretty cheap so costs of living are very low.

[@arishemghoul9571]

come to england

[@MichaEl-rh1kv]

Well researched. I'm living in a more rural region in Southwest Germany, where the homeowner's ratio is traditionally higher than in more urban places, and many villages are surrounded now by large settlements of single and semi-detached houses, inhabitated by commuters to the next bigger town. But space for this is becoming sparse, since the region is thriving, and more and more communal development programs start to aim at multi-party complexes, and at reducing the necessity to own more than one car by better integration into public traffic networks - which is a process of urbanization. Young people are often highly mobile, changing cities with the job, as long as they have no children. This style of life goes far easier with renting than owning in Germany, and the high prices for real estate in most big cities, especially the "hip" ones, does its part, too. Therefore owning your own home becomes not a thing before you "settle down" with family and children. And for many the place they settle down in the end is not the place they have grown up. So even if they inherit some real estate, they will sell it, because it is not in the city they want (or have) to live - and the revenue they get for it is often not higher than the down payment they would have to do for a mortgage if they planned to buy a house within the limits of the city they live now. So they will rather rent an older single or semi-detached house and use the rest of the money for a longer holiday.

[@Sadowsky46]

Yeah, and Germany subsidies commuting by car, so there is incentive

[@WWTormentor]

I have two questions. 1) so who owns the rental properties? Are these corporations or just very rich people? 2) do people in Germany buy more than one property where they live in one and rent the others? That’s huge in the US. On a side note, in the US, one reason for large home ownership, is because it creates equity. Let’s say you home a home that’s worth $850k and you owe $300k you have $550k in equity that you can use to take out and buy more property or to use for emergency expenses such as a home equity line of credit. I personally own two homes (one I live in and one I rent) and a 8 unit apartment building that I rent out. As equity builds up, I pull out the cash and buy more property. I guess it’s a different mentality of building wealth here in the US compared to Germany.

[@PhlogPhanatic]

As an Australian I find it completely mind boggling that here in Germany no one really buys a house. I am trying to convince my partner it would be a good idea to buy, especially since even if we move for work we can rent it out. She is German and feels exactly as you described. It is a huge deal for her but I just can't imagine why we would voluntarily pay off someone else's mortgage when we do have the means to pay our own one instead.

[@anilabarbullushi8527]

Exactly , I was thinking why nobody does some calculations. 👏

[@wolfgangloll2747]

@@anilabarbullushi8527 Risk aversion. If your landlord's house burns down, that's bad luck, but if the house your bank owns burns down, that's worse. And as a landlord you have a lot of obligations.

[@anilabarbullushi8527]

@@wolfgangloll2747 you can pay insurence for that, and whats the chance of a house to get burned? Like maybe we die tomorrow. And about obligations what do you mean?

[@wolfgangloll2747]

for me, a house would be a decision that influences the next 30 years. if i spend 1 day to buy a car, i should spend twenty times that time to buy a house. In addition, there are many problems that you have to take care of, besides the insurance you also need lawyers who assure that the insurance pays. You should be familiar with the building structure otherwise you buy junk that you pay off 30 years. It makes sense to buy a house, but you should not treat it like a shopping spree and still expect 20% extra costs due to screw-ups or trouble.

[@anilabarbullushi8527]

@@wolfgangloll2747 i dont know how it works in germany, i bought a house in turkey just for not stayiing in rented house for 5 years that I would be here, than when I go I sell it with same price so no money lost. I searched 1 month, saw it for 1 day, checked it next day and signed the papers. Diffrent poits of views interesting.

[@julianosvonskingrad7009]

I just started to work as a software engineer and have a pretty high income (4500 EUR / month). I still live in a flat and pay rent. Reasons why me and my friends are not buying houses? We might work in a completely different part of Germany in the next few years. Selling the house then is more complicated than simply tell you landlord you will move. Additionally, a house is a lot of work. You have to take care for a lot of things that are now done by a janitor for me. And moreover, when my parents die, I will inherit their home on the Baltic Sea. What am I supposed to do with 2 houses?

[@mercywairimu5236]

Rent one house and live in the other

[@thatailurophile3706]

You've explained everything wonderfully, I'm an Indian and we people make it our life mission to own a home,even a kid is groomed in a way that he/she should own a home at early age. It all comes down to security and investment. I myself have faced being kicked out of the house right away because the owner finds a higher paying tenant or just because they favor someone more, there are soo many rules and owners will not hesitate to kick out people from home. Also weddings are costly affair to some people sell their house for wedding or paying loans etc, if the house is not sold it is passed down to their kids who can use it for investment. Government provides subsides and women avail special benefits to own a home and in our country if you have a home you can belong to that city and the whole place becomes your home.

[@garywiseman5080]

I’m guessing many people don’t know how internalized the home ownership idea is in the US. When my parents moved to Japan in 1960, the US military sold them the house we lived in. When we left 4 years later, they bought it back, and sold it to the next family. We bought the house, around 1200 sq ft (120 sq m) for $1800. The military bought it back for $2200, because my Dad maintained it, and added some improvements. My parents were in their 20’s.

[@california7376]

It was much more common in the UK than the USA. The UK unfortunately was the King of buy-to-let.

[@Zireael83]

buying a house for 4 years? as a german, that seems very very strange to me. i woulfd have rahter rented it for such a short time. in german, you would have to pay much to the state for buying and selling the house, would be really expensive ^^

[@peterhagemann8149]

I am a German, and I'm moving from a place of my own to a rental apartment as I write this. This is in no way a social decline for me, I'm not forced to do this, I'm even very happy about my new apartment. I'm moving for several reasons. 1) Germany is the country of taxes and bureaucracy, and you get the full load of that if you have your own place - I'm sick and tired of that. 2) My new place is in a far better area of town, and it has way higher standards than my old place. If I tried to implement that in my old apartment, it would cost me a fortune. 3) The old house (being a multi familiy place as well), needs will need a lot of repairs in the near future, and while I would be able ti pay the price, I'm just not willing to do so. 4) The most importand reason is that I have a handycap, and the new place is completely barrier-free. OK, I will have to pay rent from now on, but I must becaome very old before that eats up the money that I got selling the old place.

[@Duke_of_Prunes]

Often it makes more sense to rent in the States as well. My wife is disabled, I am nearly 60, and our daughter is leaving for college. My lawn is bigger than many of the parks around town. The house is big enough for two families. It's literally cheaper for me to sell, rent an apartment, and let someone else pay taxes and mow grass. Best of luck in your new apartment -- hope it works for you 👍

[@Serothil_and_stuff]

My parents had the same situation. Their new apartment ist a dream compared to the dump the house was.

[@Micha-bp5om]

Yes, but you owned a property before that brought you a lot if cash now. If you had nothing and maybe now a low pension you would not have been able to finance the rent. Instead of paying rent till you are 60, it’s better to buy something and if it’s not anymore suitable, just to sell it.

[@leDespicable]

@@Micha-bp5om It sounds easy, but when even a one-bedroom-apartment in a big city can easily be around half a million Euros, that's not something you're just easily gonna be able to buy.

[@Micha-bp5om]

@@leDespicable I just bought an apartment in the center of Stuttgart and one a bit outside. I decided to do so after the owner raised my rent with 20% after three years even though I renovated the apartment when I moved in. I don’t want to be the slave of the owner, a credit guaratees fixed costs

[@jimturpin]

The weirdest thing I noticed was when my brother and sister-in-laws moved to Germany and were looking for a place to rent, and almost none of the rentals had a kitchen, it was just bare walls. They had to buy their own appliances, cabinets, sink, etc. and have it built out, and they had to remove it all when they moved out a couple of years later.

[@ericmueller87]

true :D but in practice kitchens are often sold to your successor and therefore stay in the apartment.

[@leDespicable]

Two simple reasons: Germans rent long-term and consider the kitchen part of the furniture. Germans don't move very often and tend to stay in apartments for a long time, so they want to furnish it the way they like. Having somebody else's old kitchen in there isn't exactly what many people want in that case. For the same reason most apartments in Germany come without light fixtures as well, Germans simply consider them part of the furniture and install their own ones that they like, and of course take them with them when they move.

[@jimturpin]

@@leDespicable Light fixtures were the other thing, they said they had to replace those as well. When I was a kid back in the 1960's, the place came furnished, furniture and everything, but it was a small town outside of Ramstein Air base so I think the owners as well as a number of other German apartment owners, were taking advantage of the nearby base to get renters who didn't wish to live on base, like my mom and dad (he was in the air force).

[@ChrisTaylor-dz6nk]

The same in the Netherlands 🇳🇱

[@remote24]

Germans are so sick man. I really struggle to find an Appartment with a kitchen, it's like und 10% of all available Appartments have one...

[@philquintana3576]

Miss Feli, I must admit this video really surprised me. My wife and I bought our first home when I was 28 and wifey was 26. Our first house was $285k. After that, we upgraded every 10 years. Our last "forever" home was $650k. For us, and many Americans, it was just a natural progression. I can't imagine being 66/64 and still be renting. Thanks for a very informative video.

[@taminy2051]

I'm German and 45. I've never owned property and I never will. I've inherited and could afford something nice but I can't be bothered. My toilet is running, I call my landlord and they take care of it my heater is mucking around, I call my landlord. I would never exchange that comfort.

[@MisterPyOne]

@Naikomi But most people live in cities in Germany and that will only increase over time. There are some places were you can buy a house for 1€ but no one wants to live there, because infrastructure is bad and there are no jobs or a perspective. I never met anyone who had their own house in their thirties which weren't already like 50-60 when I met them.

[@newbris]

@@MisterPyOne "or a perspective."....what does this mean btw?

[@Micha-bp5om]

@@taminy2051 I rented an apartment for three years and never had such problems so I decided to buy my own in the same building. Plus I prefere to tackle myself the problem than to wait for the owner. I have Handwerker 👨‍🔧 from Eastern Europe who fix anything for peanuts. Germans like to stay poor.

[@RichSDet]

Congratulations on your home purchase!

[@greghouston2521]

Great video! I learned this from living in Bavaria for 7 years and buying a home there. I met many germans in midlife who were renters and not interested in buying. As an american this was surprising. Your video provides the answer I was looking for!

[@TWARDOWSKY.]

ONE BIG REASON: CONVENIENCE from my observations and conversations with colleagues in Germany, there is one more important reason: CONVENIENCE . Because if something has gone crazy in a rented apartment, they don't have to fix it themselves. The Germans are very comfortable and they don't fix things themselves, because they have a lot of money, they often outsource everything to others. Alles machen lassen und sich bediene lassen

[@fayem9433]

I’m American but I live in Germany. I loved this video very informative and well researched! I just wanted to ask, did you account for the fact that a 1-bedroom flat in the US is actually a 2-room flat in Germany because American flat descriptions don’t count the living room. So a 1-room flat in Germany would be an American studio

[@PaulinKantue]

Vielen dank for this in-depth video. I live in Munich for a couple of years now and I can definitely relate to the perception of renting over buying!

[@Janewski11]

I also own my own house. I had it build some 40 plus years ago, back when I was married. My wife at the time, wanted a house, so we checked out many places and decided on having our own house built the way that we wanted it. My house is a three bedroom raised rancher, with 1¾ bathrooms, hardwood floors, a one car garage, and it's on 1.2 acres of property. When my wife left, I bought her half of the house, since I had put a lot of work into this house....landscaping, home improvements, an asphalt driveway, etc. This house cost me $38,400, but that was some 40 plus years ago, but to me, this house was built with materials that today's houses aren't built with, and today's houses are in no way constructed as well as my house was. I am 69 years old, and I love my house, but as I get older, it's getting harder to maintain this house, but I'll keep doing what I can to be able to continue to live in this house. This is my first, and only house, and I'd never buy another house, because if the time should ever come to where I am no longer able to maintain my house, I'd be forced to move in with my daughter, who said that she would really like to have me move in with her and her family, since I have always been there for her when she needed it.(she doesn't ever want to have her mother move in with her since her mother treated her like crap when we got divorced.) Anyway, congratulations on your home purchase, and I wish you all the best with your new home. I hope that you will have many happy memories living there. Oh, and I have been a log time subscriber to your channel, and I really enjoy your videos, so keep them up!

[@marklavardera6080]

Strange. Britain is even more densely populated than Germany but people tend to want to buy as soon as possible. Houses are also very expensive here, especially in and around London, where a standard family home is around £1M (€1.1M). But people still manage to do it - mainly due to help from parents and grandparents, who themselves have inherited and passed some of this money down. I guess that in Germany the lack of inheritance money prevents this from happening except for the richest people in society.

[@nicholasfield6127]

I can tell you that owning a home and not having a lot of money is extremely stressful. EVERYTHING that breaks is up to me, and I don't know how to fix it and cannot afford to pay a professional to fix it. It really sucked for a few years. I finally am doing well enough I can afford to pay someone who knows what they are doing, but KZbin tutorials still come in handy.

[@tamarastone141]

U might want to get another job to increase your income...I mean why would you be house rich and cash poor?

[@nicholasfield6127]

@@tamarastone141 you might want to consider pissing off.

[@BeckBeckGo]

This is why I enjoy renting. I realize I pay more, but over time, considering I never have to do my own repairs or work, I suspect it comes out in the wash, and I'm a lot less stressed out. I'm a Canadian living in the USA right now, and it always annoys me when people say "You RENT? Why not just buy?" EVEN KIDS. It's wild how baked into the culture it is. I don't buy because I plan to return to Canada and I plan to return there without owing anyone money or having to sell anything before I go. Also, what am I going to do with a whole house? I feel accomplished for furnishing and decorating a 3 room flat. Why would one small person + one small child need 5 bedrooms? That is ridiculous to me.

[@NathanHedglin]

@@BeckBeckGo owning in the long run can be much cheaper. It really depends though.

[@tamarastone141]

@@BeckBeckGo So, in other words, you don't have the income to maintain your property. Just say.that. because you saying owning a 5 bedroom house as if there aren't 2 or 3 bedroom houses is asinine!

[@matthewbanta3240]

My brother in law bought a house with his future wife after they had only started dating for a few months. At first, they weren't sure if that was a good idea. However, my father in law pointed out that in the US it is usually a lot easier to sell a house than it is to break a lease. Of course the housing market does go through hot and cold cycles in the US. I once made more money in real estate simply by buying and selling houses to live in than I made at my job. Other people may end up being upside down on a loan they can no longer afford. However in general the market does tend to go up so you probably will make money if you hang on to your house long enough

[@squashua16]

As you see rents in the US usually exceed the cost of a mortgage so buying makes sense for a larger slice of the population. If rents were lower or had similar price controls more people would probably rent.

[@twinwalks]

The same has been happening in Germany in the last decade with the low interest politics of the European Central Bank. People freezes the interest rate for 10 year and pay off monthly the same as they would do as renters. The big question is how will the interest rate be after the 10 years.

[@Anon54387]

Price controls are a horrible idea. Almost always, the reason rents are spiking is because a city has a housing moratorium which causes rents to spike since it limits supply. Now the city government sees this and, instead of removing the housing moratorium so sufficient amounts of housing can be built, they put rent caps in place which now means there is still a shortage of housing AND now rent is below value for that amount of supply thus further increasing demand which just further exacerbates the problem government caused in the first place. It apparently never occurs to them to undo the policy that is causing the problem rather than an additional policy that poorly masks the problem.

[@twinwalks]

In Germany the issue is not directly related to the housing moratorium and renter rights. Building is extremely burocratic, which turns property in general very scarce. In the last decade renting or buying have become extremely expensive! This is because the generation between 25-35 years has never been so numerous (still a reflex of WW2) and additionally there is the immigration. And the building rate didn‘t increase at the same pace. The German Central Bank warns about a market relaxing on real estate from 2025, but I don‘t think this is actually happening.

[@GoMayur]

We bought a house in Germany recently and coming from India it is pretty normal for us to buy a house (just like the USA i guess). I found the process to be OK and not realy time-consuming. Yeah, the contract reading before signing was time-consuming, but otherwise it's a fairly simple process if you understand how the mortgage process works (having already done the process in India before, I felt at home doing the same in Germany) I guess the big problem for immigrants in Germany can be the language, but that is true in all aspects on Germany and not just housing market. What i have observed in Germany, is that people usually only buy houses when they have kids, else even in their 50s and 60s are happy to live on rent.

[@jbaidley]

Speaking as a British immigrant in Germany who has bought houses in both countries, I think you missed the biggest reason: buying in Germany has huge transaction costs. Buying my house here in Germany cost us over €30k in costs - taxes, estate agent fees, Notar, etc. - about 12% of the price of the house. In the UK, my first house cost me about £1k, around 1.5% of the price. Even the cost of both buying and selling when I moved was under £3k, or 3% of the price of the house I was buying. When you're straight up losing that much money to move, moving is a much bigger deal. In the UK you can move every two or three years and still come out ahead. I can't do that in Germany. This is also reflected in the way the mortgages work. I had a two year discounted deal on my UK mortgage, in Germany I have a ten year fixed rate and that was just the default. I'm not sure I've ever seen ten year fixed in the UK. Up to 5 is normal, but you pay a substantial markup for it.

[@FelifromGermany]

I did mention transaction costs at 12:29 :)

[@inerdt]

she literally said that at 12:29

[@jbaidley]

@@FelifromGermany Fair, I missed that :). But I still think it deserved more attention than you gave it. Not that the other points were wrong but IMO that's the biggest one.

[@FelifromGermany]

@@jbaidley thanks for sharing!

[@waelfaraj6705]

Could I ask you if it is easy and straightforward to take a tourist visa to Australia or Canada for UK and A German passport holder? ( Just love to know and thank you in advance for replying ...)

[@marycahill546]

Well done video! Canada here. I own my own home in southern Ontario, our most populous region. In recent years there has been a lot of investment in real estate for profit purposes rather than for living/ lifestyle reasons. A home in Canada now costs about $1 million, and is impossible to buy even for a middle class earning couple. Rent is also high, and very insecure as new corporate owners will renovate in order to raise the rent to a level that longtime tenants cannot afford. We are definitely in a housing crisis, especially in the Greater Toronto Area in Ontario, and Vancouver, British Columbia.

[@jacobvriesema6633]

I can’t tell you how many times I’d be watching The Property Brothers and they’re be working with a newly married couple looking for a home. They’d ask the couple what their price range is and it would be like $500,000 or something 😮, and it would buy a very modest home - like 1,000 sq-ft or something. Toronto pricing is crazy!

[@tomorrowland2684]

As a software engineer or team lead you may get a net income of 5500 at a higher end so it's impossible to buy an apartment with 2 bedroom and still save and do other stuff. House interest not tax deductable. 1 million EUR for a 3 bedroom house. For the same in California you get a 4 bedroom.

[@fabiangniffke164]

Personally speaking, it's the higher degree of flexibility as a tenant that you have just moving in and out within a short period of time without the need to take care of the selling procedure. Renting also comes along with lower financial risks in terms of unexpected single occuring costs, because the landlord has to cover costs for major renovations and adhoc damages.

[@jessicaely2521]

You actually spend more on rent than if you were to buy your own home. My husband's mom is in Switzerland and she has been in the same apartment for 55 years. She could have bought a home and done all the repairs. My husband did the math and as of now she has spent 2 million € in rent. I know Switzerland is more expensive, but it still turns out cheaper to have own a home no matter where you are in the world. If you don't care about being able to pick up and move owning a house is better. You have to think long term and not short term.

[@hmpeter]

@@jessicaely2521 Yes, it usually will be cheaper. But we don't have times where you have finished your education with 20 and start settling down at the place where you will spend your whole life anymore. If you want to own a home esp. with the post-covid prices, higher education and/or self employment and a double income is needed. Puts the people more into late 20s to mid 30s with 2..3 job changes before they have a high enough income to qualify for the mortgage. By then there is barely enough time to pay off a normal family home before retirement. (Here they now approach 500000€ to 750000€ for a standard 90-110m² home. In a rural area where the median household income is 35000€ or so. It is pretty much the choice between house and keeping double income or renting and having kids even for the more privileged. Unless you are both well earning academics, you are basically out. ) The fact that over the lifetime renting was more expensive does not really change anything. life circumstances do not allow to buy young and pay until old. Have not even touched the job uncertainty with the volatile job market these days.

[@juliar1225]

@@jessicaely2521 Actually most to all financial advice channels in Germany do a different math. Due to them its usually better to rent and invest the money you don't have to spent on a mortgage. Of course it depends on on the individuell circumstances. But decades ago rents were a lot cheaper and interestrates higher. This said my husband and i bought a house 20 years ago and will be mortgagefree by retirement. But we will need new windows in the upcoming years... And the first ten years you mostly pay interest.

[@fabiangniffke164]

@@jessicaely2521 It always depends on the single case and the region. Buying/Owning a home is not always cheaper! There are calculation guidelines to find out, what kind of model is more efficient and effective at the same time (e.g. Is the calculated rent of 30 yrs or the rest of your expected lifetime higher or lower than the current sales price?! - just to name a simplified approach to that question). In addition, by saying "lowering the financial risks" I mean that you don't have adhoc payments on the large scale as a tenant in case of a much needed repair (e.g. the main heater is defect and a new one costs you 10k or so, instantly). And again, personally speaking, if renting turns out to be more expensive in the single case, I'm willing to pay it to have more flexibility on the other side.

[@Micha-bp5om]

@@fabiangniffke164 it is literally never more expensive to own the apartment, than to rent. I just bought an apartment in Stuttgart for 150000€ (160000€ with taxes and Notar). 40000€ cash and the rest a mortgage of 500€ per month which is lower than my current rent (600€ kalt for a much smaller apartment in the same building, my property even has an extra balcony and parking space). Adding a renovation of 10000€ that I will do and interest rate, the total cost is 200000€. That is exactly the money I would waste if I spent 28 years the 600€ monthly on rent. After 28 years (I will be in my 50s) I can sell the apartment and be rich, this without spending more money during my youth than a tenant 🤑 the tenant will be still paying rent, most probably an even higher one

[@gwillis01]

I have always found, as an American, that Americans feel that rent caps or rent control is a nasty, unnecessary intrusion of government control into people's lives. The American tradition is that landlords get to be as greedy and capricious as they desire. American renters are always fearful that the landlord will suddenly decide to raise the rent on a whim when the standard one year lease expires. A mortgage payment is much more predictable. American banks do not suddenly change the payment significantly.

[@Polothx]

in Poland current interest rate is close to 10% on 30 years morgage. Bankin system here is criminal to say at least where you interest in two years raised more than double. but the statement about renters are also valid here so htis is huge problem. some of those checkmarks for not to increase rent for people in germany are so great that should be implemented in every country.

[@SilVia-hs2kb]

@@Polothx The rates in the USA can get that high too. Right now an average rate is 5% fixed if you have good credit but in the early 1990's was higher . The state i live in NJ has one of the highest taxes in the country. So think an average house, nothing fancy right now is 500k and in a middle class neighborhood you'll pay 15k in taxes a year ,plus your mortgage, plus home insurance and the 5% interest on at least 400k if you did 20% down. If you did not have the 100k down payment you may have another PMI fee on top of all of that. However, i see 1 bedroom apartments go for 1,500 dollars a month in bad neighborhoods so... you either pay or move to a cheaper state.

[@Cotswolds1913]

Rent controls don't work, and thankfully American economists (usually) understand this & recommend against implementation.

[@gwillis01]

@@Cotswolds1913 What do you mean by "don't work" ?

[@Cotswolds1913]

@@gwillis01 It helps a small number of renters but greatly disincentivizes new construction, with all the long-term consequences that entails. The cities with the worst housing shortages in the US (typically California but also certain parts of NYC), utilized rent controls, and economists by this point are almost uniformly in agreement to recommend against them.

[@senoner90]

I don't quite understand why the homeownership is lower in the former GDR. Some other former Eastern Block countries like Romania have a super high ownership rate, because at the end of communism the government decided that everybody became the owner of the property they were living in. So what happened in the GDR? To whom did the government give the ownership?

[@mediumjohnsilver]

I didn’t buy my first house until I was 37 years old, and by that time I had enough savings to provide a down payment of 33 percent, which kept the outstanding loan amount relatively low for my Maryland home. Buying made sense, both from the standpoint of putting my money towards ownership instead of rent, and from the standpoint of the mortgage interest deduction.

[@Pidalin]

33% percent :-D that's still price which average person will never collect, most of houses and apartments are owned by speculators now and average person borned after 1989 has no chance to own a house, at least here in Czech Republic, you really can't collect 33% from 200 000 eur from your 1000 eur salary. I am saving money for like 5 years and I collected like 4000 eur and I am probably the richest person in my surrounding as a CNC programmer, most of people have no money for food after they pay rent and electricity. It's starting be really bad here, years of prosperity are gone. The best time was between 2012-2019.

[@SolomonSunder]

@@Pidalin Honestly, if you are only earning 1000€, it might make more sense to just move next door to Austria or something, save some money and go back after a couple of years. Or you could be a cross border worker and live in the Bohemian region. I visited Moldaustausee this weekend and it is really beautiful around there.

[@Pidalin]

@@SolomonSunder But "only 1000e" is pretty good salary in Czechia. It's 4 hours by train to Austria for me and I don't want to work as some agency worker 12hours/6days like Romanians and Ukrainians work here. I want to be always native root worker, these work agencies should be illegal I think. BTW, I already have more, it's around 1200 after tax and I have apartment from my company almost for free, so spend half of money for traveling to Austria would be stupid. Only people who live on borders go work to Austria or Germany.

[@SolomonSunder]

@@Pidalin I did say that you could live in Bohemia. Travelling 4 hours certainly is not a good idea. The point was you could buy a house quite faster. I am not sure 1000€ is good in Czech Republic either. I was offered way more than that in Brno. But then I chose Bratislava because they use Euros before we decided to move to Linz to be closer to my wife's family. I do not know the cost of living in Prague. But if 1000€ can go straight into your bank, since your apartment is free, then it is not much different from what you'd save in Austria. Probably in Germany you'd save a bit more with tax exemptions for pension savings etc.

[@Pidalin]

@@SolomonSunder If you are foreigner and you work for some corporation, you are not working for Czech salary, you have still western salary, but when you are Czech, they give you Czech salary which is like 1/3, this should be illegal. These western office workers are damaging our work market same as cheap Romanian workers. They should pay same to person who moved here from English speaking country and same to Czech person who is doing the same job, or I would just kick that company from this country. And it's the same in west, when you move there as Czech, they give you much smaller salary than native German has for same job. I see many videos from expats living here, but working for their western companies, they mostly do some office work or they are IT specialist or something, but company moved them here because it's cheaper for company if that person sits in cheaper country. And these people are completely cutted off reality, they have no idea what's the actual salary in that country. I know many people who moved west and they returned because they won't give you western salary and you have to work 12 hours, so they have actually higher standard of living here. Or the worst thing is that they accept only workers thru work agencies, which means modern slavery and mafia. Everyone is saying something about racism, but when you are from former communist country, they watch you like worse person in western europe, they won't give you same money. And I know how it looks like from other side of view, because we do the same to Romanians and Ukrainians, I see how people watch them here, so I don't want to be watched the same in the west.

[@NaturallyMeeee]

When I brought my home with my husband, it was a really big deal! And the signing definitely took an hour because they read all of the papers to us before we signed. It was a long process, but definitely worth it. I think its still a big deal to buy a home, at least where I am. We had a celebration and everything. I live on thr east coast USA

[@noursoliman8265]

Guys have you noticed the passion in Feli's eyes. It's so inspiring to se perfectionist like her. Thanks Feli for your efforts.❤️

[@georges617]

I was pretty lucky back in 2017 when at the age of 28, I bought out the small 2-room flat I lived in in a relatively quiet but well connected suburb of Hamburg. The owner was getting old and wanted to get out of the real estate business and because I always had a great relationship with her as a tenant, she herself offered me the flat at slightly lower cost than the street value. I didn't have too much capital on the side, but since my creditworthiness was very high, the bank approved the mortgage application anyway and in 20 years, that flat will be wholly owned by me to do as I see fit. I moved to my girlfriend's flat last year and rented out my flat. Because of the insane rental demand Hamburg has, the rent I get pays off not just the mortgage, but also all taxes I expect on the rent and I still have enough left to set aside for renovations down the road. And the best part: The value of my flat has pretty much doubled in five years. Someone offered to buy my flat two months ago and not only would he take over my mortgage as it was, but pay me the value of the contract on top of it too. Needless to say, I rejected that offer.

[@Micha-bp5om]

Yes, 2017 was a good year to buy in Germany. Sadly I just came to Germany in 2018 and it took two years to get an unlimited wirk contract. I bought now two apartments in Stuttgart, one of them is a great one and the other one was a good deal. At least the interest rate was still low by 1,4%

[@megapangolin1093]

I hope you paid back the original owner to the then market value of the property.

[@georges617]

@@megapangolin1093 As I wrote, she herself offered me the flat for a slightly lower price than what would be the average for the region back then. That price was about 90% of what similar flats in the area would have cost back then. So she still made a nice profit in the end. Two days after we signed the sale at the notary's office, the bank transferred the full amount to her and my mortgage officially began.

[@georges617]

@@sperlongatours You misunderstand. I didn't buy that flat just as an object of speculation or profit. I bought it primarily to have a place to stay in case things don't work out with my retirement plans later in life. It is an investment for myself and for my security at an old age. As such, I am not really interested in real estate prices. Yes, prices may stagnate for a while (in this demanding German market, unlikely), but the common concensus is that prices will only know one direction. Most normal people like me already have no chance of getting a mortgage for a house of their own without having to pay for at least 35 years into it (and no German bank will go along with that). Also, interest rate has shot up dramatically over the last two years, making it even more expensive. But as I said, profit isn't the reason I bought and there's a lot of bureaucracy to get rid of mortgage here in Germany anyway. Since my costs are covered, I don't have to worry about it too much.

[@garrettklein7720]

I bought my one bedroom condo in Missouri (usa) in 2016. It is worth over five times today what I paid for it then. Prices have absolutely sky rocketed here.

[@larrysheppard42]

Congratulations on buying a house in the US. The feeling of home ownership is much different than renting. I would like to know (in general terms) how your family reacted to you buying a home.

[@simonegruenig8361]

She didnt buy it alone.

[@Dixie_Normiz]

🤔

[@danielintheantipodes6741]

rq

[@PeterLE2]

There is something that you don't understand or not mention. It is a really good thing most people in Germany rent only a flat in a multi family house. We, and I don't mean us Germans I mean mankind, can not afford that many single family homes. We neither have the space nor the energy. You need much less resources to build a flat than a house. You need much less energy to heat a flat. You probably don't need a car or just one for a family if you live in a flat in a city since you have good public transport. For me I really enjoy living in a shared flat with other working adults in a bigger city. There are so much more opportunities than on the countryside.

[@twinwalks]

It‘s important to mention that even with the renter protection culture, the rents have been skyrocketing in the last years. The explanation is that the generation between 25-35 years has never been so numerous (this is still an effect of WW2) and additionally there is immigration. Apart from that, new flats are being bought by foreign investors, who don't rent them (yes, they keep them closed!). Simultaneously the pensions are getting lower and the poverty among the elderly population is increasing.

[@bitcoin4life]

@Traveling: Amazing, almost none of the things you state as facts are actually true: Rents have not skyrocketed; what has skyrocketed are purchase prices. The generation 25-35 is actually muuuch smaller than generations before it. The generation of people approaching 60 is around 40% larger than 25 years olds. Pensions have actually gone up massively over time, making the current generation of elderly the wealthiest ever and by far the wealthiest generation currently living in Germany. Man, was it painful to read your comment.

[@twinwalks]

@@bitcoin4life Please show me your sources! Not sure we're talking about the same country! ;)

[@PITAH1]

I bet Airbnb also increased prices in bigger cities.

[@twinwalks]

@@PITAH1 Severely! I live in a not very touristic 300k city. Since 2015 the population has grown only 5% but the rent about 45-50%. It's not the absolute population growth that is demanding more housing, but how it's distributed in age!

[@mgntstr]

Not to mention the insane influx of humans from outside of Germany moving in, skyrocketing demand for housing.

[@beckysimeone4882]

This was so interesting. As a German/American I find it very sad that the average German civilian is still being punished for WWII by having home ownership out of reach. Owning a home makes retirement so much more attainable.

[@jasonnicholasschwarz7788]

Germans are supposed to remain dependent on the state to make ruling them easier. Poverty in old age is sky rocketing in Germany. People who worked their entire life and still have only small pensions PLUS no real estate to fall back on which they could sell. They're stuck in rental properties, often ugly, badly designed and badly maintained. It's a shambles. But they chose their masters. Apparently, they like it like that.:(

[@emmyfun2250]

In NYC it's so different. We all rent cause we have to since average price to buy in $1million with at least 20% down

[@hayleyam28]

That's so fascinating about the unlimited lease agreements in Germany!

[@Airbutnotsoft97]

Germany protects it's citizens and I think most people have high confidence and security whereas Americans are always on shaky grounds if they rent.

[@justina.6769]

I feel here in America we are expected to buy a house. I think a lot of it has to do with the old idea that you finished high school and went to college, finished college and found a good job, and then bought a house and settled down to have a family. I personally have no desire to purchase a house, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't live in one again if I inherited one. I understand the pros/cons of buying and living in a house compared to an apartment, but people have to remember there is a lot of upkeep to owning a house. I work a lot and my current situation wouldn't leave me much time to do things like mow the lawn or maybe fix a leaky faucet, where all that is taken care of by the maintenance crew of the apartment complex.

[@machtmann2881]

It's funny, people in America think home owning is as old as the country sometimes but the nation was mostly renters until about the 1930s so the idea is less than a century old due to certain policies implemented. And yes, I agree that homeownership comes with more upkeep than most people think of at first (and it always comes at the worst time). The maintenance crew can fix something in a complex within a certain time frame. Fighting with a contractor to come on time can take forever lol.

[@pauljohnson3524]

Sound lazy

[@NicolasValentinScotland]

I live in the uk ‘ bought a home and paid the mortgage as quick as possible . Buying a home is nb 1 priority in life .

[@annfrost3323]

I cannot imagine being elderly and not having my own place. During the pandemic lock-up I had my entire house to live my normal life without anyone knocking at the door. Safety and freedom.

[@billenglish1406]

I started buying houses when I was about 26 years old. The reason you buy a house beside having something "you own" is two fold. One reason is appreciation in value. For simplicity reasons, let's say you bought a $300,000 house and put 20% down or $60,000 down payment. Now let's say the inflation rate is 3%. That means your house increased in value about $9000. But the return on your investment was actually 15% (9,000 / 60,000). Second reason for home ownership is taxes. Now, lets say that your income tax bracket is 22% and that your interest on your 30 year mortgage was 6%. So your first year of ownership, you would have a "interest" deduction of $14,400. At 22% income tax rate, that equates to an actual tax reduction of $3168. So when you combine the two advantages ($9,000 + $3168) you increased your net value by $12,168. So your return on your $60,000 investment is 20.28% which is not bad. So if you save diligently for 4 or 5 years, you might be able to buy another house and rent the old house and make profit every month in rent. Plus now you can deduct depreciation, which further reduces your taxes. Congratulations on your first home ownership. Every time you make an improvement in your property, you add value to the property, which you should be able to recoup a portion of that improvement when you sell the house.

[@seandelaney1700]

Leverage is the greatest effect in a rising market. The $300,000 is the actual value so if it goes up 15% that is $45,000 in value creation before tax benefits, which I'm seems more like 75%? of your investment alone.

[@rozakfassah7730]

Here in Indonesia, it's normal to see people in their 20s (25 years old or above) buying a house. People are racing to buy their own houses ASAP even with 25 or 30 year mortgage since the housing price can steeply increase per year. So the sooner you buy house, the lower the mortgage may be. Some people also have view that the money paid for rent is money wasted, better use that money to pay mortgage as owning a house is seen as a long-term investment that can be sold later when needed.

[@anthonytorrens9948]

I'm from the U.S but a lot of my family is from Germany. I'm really taking interest in Germany recently, thinking about where I come from. I visited Austria last year that was great! I spent a few hours in Frankfort for a lay over, but didn't get to see much of the city. I can't wait to visit my families home town of Hanau in Hesse. I looked at pics recently and its strange how much that place felt like home. I guess its because we were there for centuries and I still have some family there. Thanks for the videos!

[@ramifridhi4038]

do not come it is overrated country and third of the population is poor i am moving from here this year ....

[@ridinwithjake]

I love the Anglo-Saxon mentality of owning your own home. I’m a native Pole and bought my first home in the UK and my 30s and own my 2nd home in California now. And no I don’t come from money. :)

[@selterdurst]

Very Interesting Video. I had the same experience living in New Zealand, where people even in Uni already set the foundation for buying a house. I think one aspect you left out is the high purchasing / transaction cost driven up by very high realtor costs and notary / Grundsteuer. That makes up often more than 10% which itself is several years of rent. Hence, unlike the US and other markets, you only buy if you are set in a place whereas its much more common to sell and repurchasing elsewhere. This is in addition to all the points you made.

[@waigl1845]

@14:28 "My realtor even told me that she never had a client that asked as many questions as I did". That's just something that realtors say when you start asking questions, it's not much different in Germany. They're trying to signal to you that whatever your level of scrutiny is, it's already more than enough. Insurance sales people do the same thing when you actually start to read the paperwork they want you to sign.