Stephen and Alice bought their first home in Berlin
After moving from New York to Berlin, they didn't know how long they would stay. Then they felt in love with the city.Published on Apr 9, 2020 . Updated a month ago
The dynamic nature of Berlin, with it becoming more and more international and increasing job opportunities, helped seal the deal for us to decide to stay longer-term.
How did the process of buying a home go?
Good! At first, it was a bit intimidating learning about how the home-buying process works here in Germany since there were many differences.
For one, we were used to having real estate agents on both the buyer and seller sides in the US to help find the right property and navigate the buying process. Here in Germany, we have spent much more effort trying to educate ourselves and understand the implications of owning property as a US citizen and as a German resident.
At which point did you engage Hypofriend?
We contacted Hypofriend as soon as we made the decision to start looking for a home to buy in Berlin seriously.
They were extremely helpful in not only understanding how much we could afford and our financing options, but the mortgage advisors at Hypofriend also helped us explain the general home buying process and market landscape and made us feel a lot more confident when we were searching for a place.
Why did you not work with your normal bank to get a mortgage?
Being an expat here in Berlin, I wanted to make sure that I could work with someone in English who could give me non-biased advice. Using Hypofriend, I was able to get multiple quotes from different banks.
They also helped me run through several scenarios for different loan amounts and lengths so that I could get a complete picture of all the options and make an informed decision.
What would you recommend your friends to do when buying their first home?
Talk to Hypofriend! They'll help you understand what you're able to afford when looking to buy your first home. Outside that, be sure that it's the right decision for where you want to invest your money compared to other opportunities and the time for where you want to live longer-term.
