Has anyone invested in German property

fathippy

Does anyone have any stories or thoughts on German property? There are plenty of sites and companies flogging whole blocks of flats and other large buildings in the £20k sort of range.

Clearly when something looks too good to be true it normally is - see Bulgarian holiday resorts etc, however these on average seem to have some if not all flats tenanted and a decent income stream.

Is there a cost to owning these properties - like a tax or a levy - which make the numbers less attractive. Otherwise if you tuck one away as a "punt" and hope to get your money back in rent over eg 5 years then you shouldnt go too far wrong ????

edinburgher

Does anyone have any stories or thoughts on German property? There are plenty of sites and companies flogging whole blocks of flats and other large buildings in the £20k sort of range.

Really? That surprises me! My fiancee's dad is Austrian (not so wildly different to Germany!) and £20k wouldn't buy you a one bedroom flat in the sticks.

funscott

isnt it somthing daft like buying the property off the goverment thus so cheap the down side is you have to sell back to the goverment.

datostar

edinburgher wrote: »

Really? That surprises me! My fiancee's dad is Austrian (not so wildly different to Germany!) and £20k wouldn't buy you a one bedroom flat in the sticks.

Austria's wildly different to depressed areas of the former East Germany, suffering high unemployment and depopulation of the younger element. Former Soviet military bases have large blocks of rather basic accommodation still standing empty. If any of this cheap property is in the East I think I'd want to do a bit of research and preferably have a look at the place. A friend of mine has relatives over there and I've visited with him a few times. Vast amounts of money have gone into large cities like Dresden and Leipzig but there's still a long way to go in much of the rest.

opinions4u

Totally agree with datostar.

If it's in the centre of Munich, count me in.

If it's a concrete block somewhere near the Polish border, there's a reasonable chance it has a limited life expectancy before crumbling, no power and no running water.

fathippy

Totally agree with all the points made - these are most definitely in former east germany and not in larger cities.... however....

If for example you pay 20k for something which has an income of eg 5k and is part tenanted, then "cross your fingers" for five years or so - even if the rent goes 5,5,4,4,3, etc then at some point you are in for free.

People have done similar with areas of the US, however these are never tenanted, always vacant and there is a cost of ownership, ( it may cost 1-2k per year in taxes ) so the risks are greater. I couldnt see similar here, and in some cases there appear to be grants in the opposite fashion. Plus with multiple flats, there is less downside when one tenant dies/leaves/defaults etc, and more chance of being lucky and even increasing the occupancy.

I guess the crux is refurbishment costs if some are unavoidable, hence I was wondering if anyone knew anyone who had done such a thing. By the looks of things it is a market that exists - alongside the US stuff, the bulgarian stuff and the dubai stuff etc - just never heard any stories of the pain yet!!