Things to consider when buying real estate

Berlin is the largest city in Germany and it is also the capital. Best known for its historical relationship as the capital of Germany, tolerance, street art, museums, palaces, and internationalism, Berlin has a varied architectural style.

Visitors here can find representations of different historical periods within the city center, from the few remaining medieval buildings to postmodern glass and steel buildings, as well as unique neighborhoods.

For investors, Berlin offers the best quality of the property market with reasonable growth and serious investment. The city remains the preferred economic capital of Europe with favorable economic indicators. There is a greater demand for the real estate market now compared to its supply.

Due to the uniqueness of its historical past, one can find new properties at reasonable prices in the city center. So whether you are looking to invest in a safe place or relocate with your family, Berlin has all the ingredients to meet your needs.

If you are planning to buy a house in Berlin, you need to consider a good number of big decisions before making a purchase. An important factor is whether to buy an existing apartment or an off-plan one. However, making the right decision in this regard is not always easy. Most buyers only consider financial factors and miss other important aspects such as the market and social trends.

Existing apartments

It is quite difficult to establish the true value of an existing home. One reason is that it is difficult to determine the conditions of the plumbing, electrical and heating systems in advance, and problems arise when it is too late, at a cost of between 7,000 and 12,000 euros.

Another possible reason is that despite the repair or remodeling of the building, the materials used were of low quality and cheap, requiring additional works on them. An expert can be hired to assess the condition of the property, but it can be a costly affair.

Although, the real estate agent / broker is there to help you while you buy a property that would eliminate most of the problems but will charge a fee of between 5% and 10% of the total value. This would increase the final cost of the property transaction and could be close to an off-plan cost of ownership.

In addition to these problems, there are other problems related to buying existing homes. For example, if a building was built in the last twenty or thirty years or earlier, some important factors need to be explored and evaluated, not just to check the condition of the building.

One must make an assessment of market trends and property values ​​in the surrounding area, and these could show different figures within a district such as Friedrichschain, Kreuzberg and Neukolln. The residents of the building must also be taken into account. If the building is older, there is a chance that the condo fees remain unpaid and are also not adequately funded by the building’s Homeowners Association. Consideration should be given to the existing rental situation within the building and whether it is a tenant-occupied dwelling, as it becomes difficult to increase the rent or undertake a remodel after its purchase, at least until the date of the lease.

It is often said that the cost of new buildings is quite high compared to buildings that were built in previous decades. Although this may be correct for buildings in the city’s outlying neighborhood, the history of Berlin must be taken into account.

A price review of the cost of properties in different districts says that not much change in values ​​could be seen in Mitte, which is the central district of Berlin, in recent times relative to other districts.

For example, the cost of real estate that was built after the fall of the Berlin Wall is almost close to contemporary properties, while properties built earlier were comparatively cheaper. The reason is that these earlier properties built during the GDR era are not equal to those found in western districts in quality, as quality considers real estate values, resulting in stabilization of purchase prices. Additionally, many of these cold war era buildings were never maintained, requiring unexpected sunk costs to make necessary repairs.