Timo from Finland in the autumn draws to Germany. He asked me how to find an apartment here. I myself am only just moved, so I'll try to explain it.

The easiest way is of course by word of mouth. That means you hear about friends or family, that somewhere an apartment becomes available. But so does it not always. So you have to give up either an ad in newspapers or read the ads in the real estate market, so in that part of the newspaper in which it comes to apartments and houses. Or searching the Internet, the largest stock exchange is immobilienscout24.de.

In Germany you measure the size of a first home in rooms. A two-bedroom apartment is to say, it has kitchen, bathroom and two bedrooms. In a 4-room apartment has kitchen, bathroom and four bedrooms. But caution: Often the kitchen is empty. This means that although there is an area for the kitchen, but there is no furniture, no appliances. The room is empty. So often you have to invest much more money and buy a complete new kitchen, if you want to rent an apartment. You will often see the abbreviation SFBC, which means kitchen. If the focus is therefore on a display, it means that the apartment has a kitchen.

The size of an apartment is, of course, also measured in square meters. Where there is a difference: For example, if a large balcony or terrace are here, then these areas are not counted. So if you have 30 square meters terrace, in which the calculated than 15 square feet of floor space. Complicated, right?

Are two important differences: rent and monthly rent. At the monthly rent is all inclusive. So this is the amount you really need to pay to the landlord. Normally we have in view only the rent. For rent added the so-called ancillary costs. These are costs for refuse collection, water, heating, sometimes for the lighting of the house or the cable connection. Electricity and telephone costs are usually paid directly to the power or telephone companies, which has nothing to do with the landlord.

If you have then found on the Internet or in a newspaper an apartment, you make an appointment. Sometimes the landlord organizes these events themselves. Normally, however, assumes a broker. We must therefore look at the apartment and ask questions. Often the competition is fierce, especially in cities such as Munich. Many people want to have the apartment and the landlord can opt for a tenant. So this decision easier for him, he usually calls for a so-called self-disclosure. This is a sheet of paper, a form on which the prospective tenant fills out information about themselves. What he has work, how much money he earns, where he lived before, sometimes even if he plays an instrument (because of the volume) or not. If everything is OK, can you sign the lease.

All this is of course a cost. The broker requires a so-called commission. This may be up to 2.38 monthly rents can be high. That is, accepted the rent costs 1000 € rent, then you pay € 2380 to the broker. The landlord then demanded a deposit. Most are also three times the rent - which in our case, around 3000 €. If then a kitchen is already installed, or as a fitted wardrobe, a transfer fee demanded by the previous tenant. So we bought him from the kitchen to the cabinet. No wonder that the Germans do not like to move, right?

In order to understand what is in advertisements for housing, this list from Wikipedia is very useful, with all the abbreviations: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liste_der_Abk% C3% BCrzungen_ (small ads)

German music again and finally, this time by priests Störte the song "Holy Child", the new CD the band is from 1 August on the market.

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Timo from Finland in the autumn draws to Germany. He asked me how to find an apartment here. I myself am only just moved, so I'll try to explain it. The easiest way is of course by word of mouth. That means you hear about friends or family, that somewhere an apartment becomes available. But ...