Purchase of mortgage real estate in Germany. How safe is it?

To begin with, everything is safe in Germany!

As for the objects that are sold under the forced sale procedure, they have an undeniable plus: you will not find any skeleton in the closet later. All debts and encumbrances during the trial are erased with the last blow of the malleus. And the new life of the object begins, from scratch.

After the meeting, the judge must ask if those present have a desire to appeal the decision, if not, the court decision to transfer ownership of the mortgaged property to the new owner takes effect.

If someone wants to appeal the decision of the court, this is allowed, but the applicant must justify his application.

This is from the advantages of buying real estate in such a system. The downside is that such property cannot be viewed from the inside beforehand.

But back to the pros, this type of real estate, going to court, has an appraisal report that records the entire history of the object: when it was built, energy efficiency, who pays how much and other details of the object’s “life path”.

Therefore, often buying a mortgage property becomes more attractive compared to direct selling due to the available information and transparency.

With direct sales, the owner is not required to order a valuation report and most often you have to believe a word. In such a situation, for example, data on tax requirements may suddenly become clear when, after a lapse of time, the owner receives a notice of arrears from the tax authorities. This, although rare, but unfortunately happens and to challenge the case in court is practically impossible.

To purchase collateral real estate in Germany, a foreign buyer does not need a personal presence at all stages of the transaction, everything can be done by proxy. It is important to choose a reliable partner, a company that professionally and competently fulfills all organizational and bureaucratic needs and formalizes the selected object.

Turning to specialists in Germany will be more convenient and cheaper, since the buyer must be fluent in German when meeting with a notary and in court, and it is certainly more correct to transfer powers to specialists by issuing a paper power of attorney.



Costs in the process of acquiring a property:

- the cost of the facility itself;
- a purchase tax, which varies from 3.5 to 6% depending on the federal land in which the object is located (according to the law of Germany, this tax is equally divided between the buyer and the seller, but in practice, due to the high demand for real estate in Germany, this tax is paid by the buyer);
- notary services from 1 to 2% depending on the value of the object;
- state duty for an extract from a land book from 160 to 220 euros, depending on the land in which the object is located.



Maintenance costs after acquiring a property:

- tax on the ownership of real estate, an average of 1.5% per year of the cadastral value of an object, depending on the land;
- payment for utilities by meters;
- management company services, about 20 euros per month;
- contributions to the communal cash desk (the amount is determined at a meeting of homeowners), an average of 25-30 euros per month.

When buying real estate in Germany, the law does not provide any distinction for a citizen or non-citizen, therefore, foreign real estate buyers cannot count on any privileges when buying and owning real estate in Germany.

The mere possession of German real estate also does not give the right to apply for a residence permit. But at the same time, the consulate provides this category of citizens with the opportunity to receive a multi-visa for a period of 5 years.