how we bought a flat in Berlin, and why we bought a second one
Looking for a flat in Berlin? Our friend GP suggests to listen to this Radio Köln program (in Italian), explaining how even in Berlin some Italian fake real estate agents try to rip off Italian customers… click here.
Our golden rule is always the same: do as the locals do!
Use German real estate agents, German websites, a German notary. Ask for track record to German friends.
Good demographic looks in German cities unearth real estate hidden gems?
Check out this article from The Local…
Yeah, Berlin has never been N°1 in the ranking of the highest real estate returns. If I remember well, it used to be Munich. Recent research by Berenberg bank shows that now Wiesbaden leads the top league. But Berlin is not far away…number 5.
The article published by Manager Magazin is here, an English excerpt was published by The Local.
Berlin, a life-changing city? apparently yes. Check this article on Repubblica.
Gentrification, the double-edged sword. At the beginning it makes the neighborhood (=Kiez) cool. Then it kills it with SUVs, too many wine bars and the disappearance of bakeries, normal supermarkets, haberdashery and Kneipe. Have a look to YGG…
Still I guess that there are well-equipped Kiez in Berlin, who will not let the developers turn them into social deserts like the Parisian Marais. In the 90s it was fabulous and a little bit seedy, now it’s sanitized and desertificated. At 8pm cardboards are piled in front of the boutiques, and that’s it.
PS
check out the Guardian’s article here
Three years have gone by since we bought our flat in Berlin (the first one).
What happened in the meantime?
On a parallel street a new building in neo-bauhaus style has just been built. Prices for these new properties vary from 3,500 to 5,000 Eur per square meter. Well, there is so much real estate worth renewing in Berlin that new buildings could be avoided, right…still the prices tells something about the direction the market has taken in Berlin during the crisis.
The construction company who carryed over the refurbishing of our flat is always as busy. Business did not slow down for them, they are excellent craftsmen after all. Refurbishing of existing buildings in the Kiez carries on, both on Wilmersdorf’s side and on Kreuzberg’s side.
The Kiez has not over-gentrified in the meantime, and that is good. Across the townhall I’ve spotted a new patisserie and the smith has gone. But maybe he was not a good smith after all…his store was always closed, the service was a bit patchy.
The Kiez did not become fashionable, there are no fancy boutiques and we still have all our bakeries, delightful independent bookstores and stationery shops.
Still looking for a good reason for buying a flat in Berlin? read today’s Telegraph article…
A few days ago the Isabella handbag was launched by BVLGARI in cooperation with Isabella Rossellini. Beautiful portraits of La Rossellini, nice mise en scène pour le sac à main , here sitting pretty on a beautiful chair…
Today I visited the 4711 website. There is a nice ’60s commercial where the armchairs are so cute! And the young party-goers sniff (eau de cologne) like mad!
A flat in Berlin...(well, actually two!) 
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