Finding A Flat

We came to Hamburg knowing we had a temporary place to live for 3 months. This was nice given that Aaron's company was paying for our rent that entire time and it gave us a chance to explore some different areas and hone in on where we truly wanted to be. There are so many different neighborhoods in Hamburg and all with their own unique character and reputation. Plus, we were in a dilemma of our own on making a decision on where to live. Do we move farther outside of the city and get a bigger place with a yard and space especially because we were adding another family member in a few months? Or do we find a flat in the city which would definitely be smaller and more expensive but we would have access to explore with much more to do and experience right outside our front door?

I didn't know the answer but I did know the only way to find out was to start exploring neighborhoods in our free time as well as looking at places with our mobility specialist in the area to see what was available and where. One thing that Aaron and I have always been able to do is agree on a gut feel for where we want to be. When looking at places we tend to know right away if its for us or not. We have moved 7 times now in 10 years and it was always an easy decision to come to an agreement on.

I guess I should start with our current temporary housing. The flat is in a 3 story brick walkup and we have the luxury of being on the first floor. It isn't extremely old in comparison to some of the buildings here, but it is definitely on the older side of places we have lived before and there hasn't been much updating. This flat has 2 bedrooms, a decent size living room with a balcony outside, a kitchen and a bathroom. For Hamburg standards this place is huge and spacious. Compared to American standards and the home we came from it is small. Aaron and I are used to small as we have lived in many apartments but now we have a child and a large dog and it just feels super cramped. We also do not have any of our "stuff" yet as it is still being shipped over and we really won't get it until we move into our permanent place. We are at the mercy of using what came in this fully furnished apartment. I can't tell you how excited we are to get our king sized bed back even though it will likely take up our entire bedroom wherever we end up. It has also been an adjustment not having most of our clothing, any of our cookware, learning to use a German stove which just has pictures and is in Celsius, etc. Also, the laundry is in the creepy basement. It is shared amongst the other tenants though I must admit I have never seen anyone else down there doing laundry. It happens to be a combined washer/dryer and it is small so I feel like I am constantly down there doing miniature loads of laundry. It is literally one of the last places I actually want to be. I sound like I am complaining but this is just the reality of things we have had to get used to since we moved in and it does really make you appreciate your own belongings a bit more. I have attached pictures below of the temporary flat.

We obviously have spent the most time in the area we are currently living in. Lokstedt is nice, it is just on the outskirts of Eppendorf, a really cool area with tons of cafes, shops and things to do. Lokstedt is probably on the sleepier side of things when it comes to Hamburg as it has more of a neighborhood than city feel even though it is still hustling and bustling with people every day. There are beautiful homes right here and a hospital that is a 10 minute walk from us. This will be convenient in about 4-5 months when we welcome baby girl.

Now, as far as looking for our more permanent place we started by giving our mobility specialist an idea of our budget and what we were looking for. She let us know right away that a 4 bedroom flat in our price range was out of the question. It just wasn't going to be feasible given how competitive the rental market is plus they just aren't that common. So out went the idea of having a "guest room". So we began our search for a 3 bedroom flat. Our other requirements were that we would like a Kita (Daycare) close by so that I could get Cal to and from there every day fairly easily, and I also wanted a washer/dryer in the apartment. I am past the creepy basement laundry stage of life and with a newborn coming that just will not fly. We let her know that we were ok with looking in some of the hot spots in the city but also wanted to see an option or two outside of the city to understand what that would look like.

She set off to find us a place. In the meantime we were looking on different sites as well. We also got a lesson in how this works here. You set up a showing, it isn't always quick as the landlord is in full control and will have no problem renting out the flat. There are usually up to 10 applicants per flat that the landlord gets to choose from and they can have 100's of requests for showings upon putting something on the market. It often comes down to financial status as their main goal is being confident they will get paid. It apparently isn't easy to kick someone out of a rental for nonpayment here so you can't really blame them. We also learned that most Germans do not buy homes, they rent their entire lives! Those that do buy usually do so much later in life with a fairly large down payment. Part of this is the market and buying property here can be extremely expensive. Another part is the banks do not make it easy to just get a loan and I was told the down payment needs to be fairly significant. Finally, part of it is just the German culture. They do not like having debt of any kind which is a reason why many (especially older Germans) don't even have a credit card. They pay for things with Cash way more often than you see in the US. They do not want the responsibility of a mortgage hanging over their head and are content to just rent forever. I see the pro's of rental life and the lack of responsibility you have when something goes wrong. However, this is one area where I disagree with the Germans and think they are missing out on the big picture. To me it feels like throwing away rent money forever when that could be building equity in something, but to each their own.

The first place we saw was out in the suburbs, about 35 minutes out to be exact. The drive felt long compared to taking the bus or train and being just about anywhere in the city in under 30 minutes. The town was called Volksdorf. It appeared to be a wealthy suburb with a cute downtown area. Walking around the downtown I noticed the average age seemed much older and immediately started to feel like I would be pretty isolated out there. It also seemed to be a place where you would find only true local Germans, not many expats, and the families would all already know each other. While the place itself was really nice, I immediately knew that it wasn't for us. I wanted to have some connection to the city and I think that move would have killed it.

We found another place fairly close to where our temporary living is but on a much quieter street. It was a really nice neighborhood and there was a Kita down the street. Every building in the complex had its own playground and there were kids and dogs everywhere. I thought this was for sure the place and knew we would be pretty happy there but also a part of me was sad that we wouldn't be exploring another part of the city. I had this nagging feeling that we were not close enough to some of the things I wanted to be able to see and do every day. Still, the place was great and so we put in an application.

While we waited on that our girl, Hannah (the mobility specialist), sent us another place about a 20 minute walk from where we are at now but much closer to another really happening area of Hamburg called Eimsbuttel. Eimsbuttel has a street called the Osterstrasse which is just full of shopping, restaurants and cafes. This was more my speed! The place is about a 10 minute walk from that street and I like that we would be a bit removed from a busy area like that but close enough to go every day if we wanted without having to step on a bus or train. The flats at the place were extremely nice as it was a brand new build. There is a giant playground in the center which if you haven't noticed is a theme in that Germany caters to children. We also came to find that they were building a brand new Kita that would be on the ground floor of the apartment building below us! The kita's are also extremely hard to get into with waiting lists because the government automatically pays for 5 hours free whether you work or not. I know, incredible right! The fact this kita hasn't even opened yet is amazing because we have a good shot at getting Calvin in there and not having to wait months for a spot to open up. We now had another option of a place we loved and were torn. We put in application here too and decided to leave it up to fate. Whichever one got back to us first we would accept.

We had seen the first flat we put an application in for about a week prior and still hadn't heard back. I think about 24 hours later after visiting the second location close to Eimsbuttel we got word from Hannah that we got the place! She also let us know that the first location we had wanted was being rented to someone else. That made the decision easy and we have no regrets. I think everything worked out the way it was supposed to and truly believe we will be happy in the place we got. We don't move in there until August 1st but we have time to figure out where all of our stuff is going to go and also to see what we will need to buy for the new place. We also still have to jump through some red tape because it wouldn't be Germany if it didn't involve 2,500 steps to get something done. We are confident we will be able to sign the contract and this will be our home for the next 2 years. I will definitely add some pictures of the new place once we are able to move in there and you will see the stark difference between that and our temporary living space. That post was much longer than I intended!

-Katy