Most of the work of buying is here: finding a good property to buy, looking at it properly and knowing what it's worth.
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Search the portals
New builds are sold by their developers. Nobody pays us to list these sites.
German words in listings
- Kaufpreis
- The asking price. Purchase costs come on top.
- Wohnfläche
- Living area in m². Ask how it was measured; balconies often count only partly.
- Zimmer
- Rooms, counting the living room but not the kitchen, bathroom or hall. A small room can count as a half (2.5 Zimmer).
- Hausgeld
- For a flat, what the owners pay each month for the building: running costs and the maintenance reserve. What Hausgeld covers.
- Käuferprovision
- The buyer's share of the agent's commission. For a flat or a single-family house bought by a private buyer, it is at most half of the total unless the buyer alone hired the agent (§§ 656b–656d BGB).
- Baujahr
- Year built. It tells you what to look at: heating, windows, wiring.
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Keep five things in mind
Location. The one thing you can't change later.
Go at different times of day, and look up the local development plan (Bebauungsplan) for what may be built nearby.
Rented or not (vermietet). A let home comes with its tenant.
The tenancy continues after the sale. Moving in yourself means giving notice for your own use, which takes months, and in some converted flats isn't possible for three to ten years (§ 577a BGB).
Energy (Energieausweis). The class, A+ to H, hints at heating bills and future work.
Ask when the heating was put in. The seller or agent has to show the certificate at the viewing at the latest (§ 80 GModG), except for a listed building or one of no more than 50 m², which don't need one for a sale (§ 79(4) GModG). How to read one: the energy certificate guide.
Listed building (Denkmalschutz). Changes need the heritage authority's permission.
Some work costs more. Renovation agreed with the authority can be deducted from income tax over several years.
Leasehold (Erbbaurecht). You own the building but not the land.
For a fixed term, often 99 years, with a ground rent that often rises with inflation. Lenders look closely at how many years are left.
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Contact the seller or agent
- Be quick: popular homes get many requests in the first days.
- Have a financing confirmation ready: agents often ask for one before a viewing.
- Ask for the exposé and the papers before the viewing, not after.
Papers to ask for 7
- Energy certificate (Energieausweis). The seller or agent generally has to show it at the viewing at the latest (§ 80 GModG, formerly GEG).
- Land register extract (Grundbuchauszug). Rights in Section II, such as a right of way, stay with the property unless they're deleted; the contract says which ones you take on.
- Floor plans and living-area calculation.
For a flat, also:
- Declaration of division (Teilungserklärung). What is yours alone, and what all the owners share.
- Owners' meeting minutes, last three years. Where planned repairs, disputes and special levies (Sonderumlagen) show up first.
- Hausgeld statement and budget (Wirtschaftsplan). What you'll pay each month, and what it covers.
- Maintenance reserve (Erhaltungsrücklage). How much there is, and what it's earmarked for.
Read the minutes closely: a new roof or façade the owners have already decided on can become your bill after you've bought, as a special levy that falls due once you're the owner. The contract can put it on the seller.
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View it
Take your time, and go back a second time if you're serious.
Print the viewing prep sheet (PDF)What to look at 11
- Roof. Ask its age and condition, and when it was last repaired.
- Façade and windows. Cracks, damp patches, the age of the windows.
- Cellar. Damp, a musty smell, tide marks on the walls.
- Damp and mould. In the bathroom, behind furniture, in window reveals and on outside walls.
- Heating. What kind it is, and the year it was put in.
- Ceilings. Solid, or suspended below the real one? A suspended ceiling can hide damp, pipes or old wiring.
- Walls. Knock on them: a hollow sound means plasterboard, or plaster coming away from the wall.
- Floors. A wooden floor? Beware of carpet laid over it: it can hide damaged boards. Ask to lift a corner.
- Electrics. Old: screw-in fuses, sockets without the earth clips, cloth-covered cable. New: switches instead of fuses, one of them a residual-current switch (FI-Schalter) with a test button.
- Water pipes. Their age and condition, and any sign of leaks.
- Light and noise. Come back at another time of day if you can.
Questions to ask 12
- Why is it being sold, and how long has it been on the market?
- Have there been other offers?
- What's included: the fitted kitchen, parking, a cellar room?
- How old are the roof, the windows and the heating, and what condition are they in?
- What year was it built? Is any asbestos known in the building? (It was used in Germany until 1993.)
- Are there known defects, damp or water damage?
- What are the neighbours like? Any disputes?
- For a flat: how much is in the maintenance reserve, and are works or special levies planned?
- Is it let? At what rent, and since when?
- When could the sale be completed, and when would it be free?
- If the sellers live here: are they staying in Germany, or moving abroad? (A seller abroad is far harder to pursue over a defect they hid.)
- Would they agree to a surveyor looking at it before you sign?
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Check the price
The asking price isn't the value. Listings show what sellers ask; sales can close lower.
Ask a financing expert about this price →What homes actually sold for. Market reports, from real sales.
Each area's valuation committee (Gutachterausschuss) publishes them by area and year built. Standard land values (Bodenrichtwerte) are online at BORIS-D, and some states publish reference prices per m² there too.
The bank values it too, often 10 to 20 % below the market value.
Lenders size the loan against their own cautious valuation (Beleihungswert). A high price then means more own funds, or a higher rate.
When to pay a valuer. An older house, a leasehold, an unusual home, a price that looks high.
A full market-value report (Verkehrswertgutachten) costs more than a short valuation, so ask the price first.
Talk price with evidence. Comparable prices, defects and work that's due.
An offer binds nobody: what does is agreeing on the purchase.
Primary sources checked on 26 October 2026: the statutes and official pages linked above.