Patron

10 things most German banks won’t tell you about your mortgage

Once leading a simple life of little means, some of us are now facing the realities of adulthood. Enough with wasting money on rent, it’s time to buy property to call “home”. The prospect is exciting but the road is long, and the hurdles numerous. Some of them are particularly harsh on foreigners like us; language barriers and lack of local rules/market knowledge for example. It’s just simply not nice to feel ignorant or fooled by the bank mortgage specialist (I’ve been there, i know).

While it is a regulated market, bank will sometimes withhold information that could be beneficial to you. Here is a selection of what you should probably know about before you apply for a mortgage, and after too.

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Experience

4 ways you can legally decrease your rent in Germany

Time has taken its toll on Berlin’s once famous affordable housing market. Like many other up and coming cities before (Paris in the 60’s, San Francisco in the 80’s, Brooklyn since the 90’s), the German capital’s attractive lifestyle has brought many newcomers wanting to have a piece of the pie too.

This has a triggered a sharp increase on the demand side in a city where landlords use to struggle to even find tenants ever since the end the beginning of the cold war. As result, rents have steadily been going up at rate that often goes faster than the average income. This is very concerning when in average, people spend 35% to 40% of their income on rent alone in Germany.

This impacts locals and expats alike but the good news are that there are ways to decrease your rent when the conditions are right. This takes a bit of courage and a bit of knowledge to pull off, but it is possible to fight back! Landlords will try to deny, to impress or to pressure you. However, the following ways to decrease your rent in Germany are perfectly legal. So put on your on best David suit, it’s time to fight again Goliath!

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Behold

“Expat” or “migrants”? How should we call ourselves & why you might be wrong

expats or immigrants, what's the difference

Some things in life have become so familiar to us that we don’t even question it. I’m thinking about queuing 2 hours for Berghain, waiting too long for a Döner at Mustapha’s or giving up on the idea of ever buying real butter (no margarine) at Lidl & Aldi. Those things exist and we won’t challenge them.

One could also say the same about how most of us define ourselves. The term probably comes up in your conversations once in a while back home or here.  We are expatriates, expats part of the expat community.

  • “What does it feel like to be an expat?”
  • “Aren’t you tired about all those expats ruining the city?”
  • “I can’t believe how many expats just don’t want to learn the language! Right?”

But why exactly do we favor that term? Surely, as foreigners, if we left our countries in search of a better life abroad, should we not be immigrants? It would seem to make sense after all. So who is an expat? Who is an immigrant? What does that say about us? And is there a better way to call ourselves? These things have been in my head for a while now, and i will make my own attempt to try to answer to these questions.

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Patron

Picking the right language course for you

In the past few years, there has been an abundance of new ways to learn a new language. Numerous apps are promising to make you speak a new language in only 2 weeks for example. (We all have seen that ad: “A normal guy learned 7 languages in just 1 year!”). This requires a lot of self-discipline, something we all too often lack.

To add a learning routine in a busy lifestyle and committing to it in the long-run is hard to do alone. That’s why a lot of us are still going to a good old-fashion language school. A motivating teacher and a bit of peer-pressure can sure do marvels to get from A1 to B2 in no time. We talked about language in schools in Berlin in this post but i have seen on Facebook groups and forums many questions on how to pick the right one.

I took those questions to one of the best language schools in Berlin to get some answers. This is what Sprachenatelier had to say about it:

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News

The impact of the airbnb ban in Berlin – 6 months after

Expats and locals alike have been experiencing the increasingly difficult challenge to find accommodation in Berlin the last few years, especially in the more central and trendy areas of the German capital. Alongside topics like gentrification & start-ups, housing capacity shortage has been in everyone’s conversations, which naturally lead to question the impact of short-term rental platforms like airbnb on the current situation. In other terms; how many flats are being repeatedly put for rent by owners as holiday rentals when they could be made available to local long-term tenants?

A first attempt at objectively measuring the extent of the problem in Berlin was made by Studio Karat through their dedicated website: airbnbvsberlin.de. Put together thanks to data provided by the platform itself, this allowed for a data-driven analysis of the situation.

On 01/05/2016, a new law was voted by the city Senate in an effort to limit the effect of such platforms onto the long-term local housing market. Named “Zweckentfremdungsverbot” (law against misappropriation of housing space), this regulation threatens anyone who puts an entire flat* for rent with the intent of generating profit with a fine up to 100 000€ per violation. Any commercial exploitation has to be sanctioned with a special permit from the city. This move received acclaim from many local actors who saw the end of abusive listings. However, since this law passed, we can still see many listings on airbnb up to this date.

It is therefore quite interesting to again have a look at the data today, and the story it tells us: did the new law have the desired effect of reducing unwanted listings?

Studio Karat released another data-driven study on their blog and gives us a few clues on the answer.

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Involve

5 reasons not to take part to the local elections in Berlin

Every now and then, there are posters hanged on lamp posts or in the U-Bahn. I’m sure you have noticed them. This is generally the sign that elections are soon held. This time, it is local elections in Berlin; representatives of each Bezirk in the city (BVV – Bezirksverordnetenversammlung) are renewed every 5 years.  That’s 55 representatives per Bezirk who take decisions on local matters and allocate budget as well. As a foreigner who has been living here for a while, there is a good chance that you are interested in how politics are run in your Bezirk. Those are elections are a chance to impact those policies.

So let me tell you 5 reasons why you probably won’t take part to those upcoming elections in Berlin.

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Patron

Why you should (maybe) consider Hamburg for your expat life – Part 1

I know what you are thinking…

This guy has a blog called “settle in berlin”and he is telling me that i consider moving to Hamburg? What is wrong with him?

You’ve got me there. It doesn’t make sense. However many of us expats become a bit obsessed with Berlin with time. We all know why; excellent quality of life, top night scene, alternative lifestyles, etc. We all fell in love with the city for good reasons. However sometimes, when you feel passionate about something, it’s hard to see past it. We do visit the country once in a while, especially Hamburg since it’s only 1h45 away with the train  but we might never consider other candidate cities in Germany for our expat life. A special invitation from the city & a personal wish to see past my love for Berlin leads me to do that today.

If you ever felt like you got tired of Berlin, maybe this post will help you reach a decision.

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Experience

How i improved my future job interviews with start-up pitches

Last month, i was invited by the folks at BecomeWide to take part at an event at BetaHaus. This event called BetaPitch happens on a regular basis in the coworking space. During a few hours, start-ups come and pitch in front of fellow entrepreneurs and in front of an experts’ panel who have experience in the industry. This allows to gather feedback on the business case and see where shortcomings might be.

It is a wonderful and scary experience.

During the BetaPitch, a group of journalists & bloggers were gathered to work on a more specific part of a pitch: the elevator pitch. I’m sure you all know this exercise that is about convincing someone under 3 minutes about your project. It’s a difficult exercise that requires work & precision.

Very much like during a speed-dating, each of us were matched with an entrepreneur for 3 minutes that was to convince us with their great idea. After that time, a rotation would let the next one in, until each journalist/blogger had met with each entrepreneur.

Why should that matter to you? Good point. I’ll tell you why.

Having to sell your project to an investor is very much like selling your-self to a potential employer. There were some elements that i thought could be relevant to an interview situation and that could make a difference between getting a job or getting negative answer.

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Uncategorized

6 things you can do in Berlin instead of going to May Day’s Fests

The real first days of Spring are finally here and the summer is luring in the distance. After the long days of Winter, you find yourself in dire need of outdoor entertainment. What better way to quench that thirst than going on a urban trip on the 1st of May? All the right ingredients are there after all: free concerts, cheap booze, & general sense of laissez-faire with the occasional fight. In a nutshell : the perfect occasion to meet up with some friends and spend some time in a joyous atmosphere around Kottbusser Tor or Görlitzer Park.

However the reality is far from ideal. The 1st of May is best defined by the following:

  • Unmanageable crowds in narrow streets meaning it takes about 45min to walk 200m
  • Permanently losing friends that didn’t follow the group properly, thus spending half of the time trying to back-track them, instead of enjoying
  • The impossibility of contacting them via cellphone since connection is non-existent (refer to 1st bullet point for explanation)
  • A tons of concerts way too close to one another, with never-ending sound system competitions. This means you either can’t hear the music properly or risk hear loss.
  • Pick-pockets & fights

My point: Here are some 6 free ways to better use your time around the city.

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