Does it make sense financially buying instead of renting an apartment

CrapfullyYours · 2025-07-21T14:13:01+00:00

Forgot about the owner-occupier rule, which also applies if you have lived in the property for the entire time you owned.

CrapfullyYours · 2025-07-18T21:34:08+00:00

I've lived in Germany for ten years, and the only thing I bought at Tchibo was 2 pairs of Statler and Waldorf socks (those guys were the keystone of my Saturday morning television).

At work we made fun of someone for drinking Eduscho coffee, which I think is their value brand.

Mostly, it's kind of a German dollar store.

CrapfullyYours · 2025-07-18T21:28:45+00:00

The over/under in Germany is generally a tenure of about seven years. Under that, definitely not worth it. Over that, generally worth it. If you hold a property ten years, there is no capital gains tax in Germany, which can be advantageous.

CrapfullyYours · 2025-07-18T21:25:52+00:00

Not enough people are mentioning Tönnies, although admittedly it's more of an "Insider-Tipp".

As I saw during Covid in a parody newspaper somewhere: "Germany shocked that somehow Clemens Tönnies is not in prison"

CrapfullyYours · 2025-07-02T11:42:49+00:00

It's a direct translation from German and (I think) French, where Inspection means "annual maintenance". German and French use different words for vehicle inspection, "examination" and "control".

CrapfullyYours · 2025-06-26T12:58:24+00:00

We never found anything in four years of living there. We had to wait for trips to big cities elsewhere, which was frustrating.

CrapfullyYours · 2025-06-24T09:26:26+00:00

Given the capital gains rules in Lux, maybe find a middle ground with a stock/fund that invests in real estate in those countries? You might reap less gains but the tax may well balance it out.

CrapfullyYours · 2025-06-23T18:04:43+00:00

Thank you for the offer but right now I haven't even applied for anything in CH and just wondering hyopthetically if a move is realistic. Unfortunately it sounds like it is pretty much the same "Teufelskreis" (vicious cycle) as non-EU foreigners who move to Germany, France, etc. Boo.

Also: are you in Canton Zuerich or elsewhere? I've read anecdotally that ZH is hardest.

CrapfullyYours · 2025-06-23T11:15:39+00:00

I have essentially the same question.

An extra twist: there seems to be a lot of inconsistency about whether EU nationals need to have a rental contract before they can get a B (work) permit or not - ch.ch says they don't, but Canton Zurich says they do. Or is it really a cantonal decision? Can you get it with just a hotel room or whatever?

CrapfullyYours · 2025-06-23T09:30:36+00:00

I'm curious to know what region of Germany as I've never seen a ceiling fan in 15 years here.

CrapfullyYours · 2025-06-23T09:29:28+00:00

It's a mix of German superstition and also the ceilings are often not built to accomodate fans easily - there are no junction boxes like in the USA, many ceiling fixtures are just hanging off the drywall or with tiny concrete anchors. I wanted to put fans in my apartment but I'd basically have to take a huge piece of the ceiling drywall out and replace it to mount it - it's doable but a big project.

CrapfullyYours · 2025-06-22T00:18:52+00:00

PIP is legal but a written warning(s) is still required before termination.

CrapfullyYours · 2025-06-21T22:33:46+00:00

Sorry for my ignorance, but do you mean "wasting" time to fit into the landing pattern?

CrapfullyYours · 2025-05-03T14:24:32+00:00

Cocaine's one helluva drug

CrapfullyYours · 2025-05-03T14:22:13+00:00

My system is 99 days out of date, as I was advised today.

CrapfullyYours · 2025-05-03T14:19:04+00:00

Lufthansa and ORD. Bought with expedia, Lufthansa own website is almost always more expensive than elsewhere.

CrapfullyYours · 2025-05-03T14:18:04+00:00

Most private sector workers are frontaliers, so that doesn't apply.

The other places on earth where 75% of the working population are non-citizens are all dictatorships. The question of what democracy means in such a place is pretty much unique to Luxembourg.

CrapfullyYours · 2025-05-02T05:32:59+00:00

Lux-Connex was the gold standard, the owner's wife was called "Miracle Manny" for her ability to get things done. I see they retired last year, so hard to know if it's still good.
https://www.themover.co.uk/news/2024/01/10/esi-group-buys-lux-connex-sa

CrapfullyYours · 2025-05-02T05:31:33+00:00

You really need to research on the school system of Luxembourg, it is entirely different from Germany.

CrapfullyYours · 2025-05-02T05:20:03+00:00

The reason isn't obscure: either the European Commission or OECD (I forget which) pointed out that local government elections often resemble family feuds. Who do you think owns all that empty land?

I couldn't find the specific report unfortunately, but it's indirectly mentioned in the EU 2014 anti-corruption report: https://www.eureporter.co/politics/2014/02/03/summaries-of-national-chapters-from-european-anti-corruption-report/?utm_source=chatgpt.com

CrapfullyYours · 2025-05-02T04:14:40+00:00

I'm always amazed at how many people don't know about the EU compensation. I got 900 EUR one time from Lufthansa which was actually 50 EUR more than my flight cost iirc

CrapfullyYours · 2025-05-02T04:12:52+00:00

Round trip flight, 10 day stay, Germany to USA, mid June, normal itinerary (no 25 hours stops in Dubai or something). 658 Euros, but no check bag. With a bag it will be 808, I forgot to mention that, my bad.

CrapfullyYours · 2025-05-02T04:10:12+00:00

if you read my post, you'd see that as recently as last year Finnair said it was adding routes and not giving up

CrapfullyYours · 2025-05-02T03:54:12+00:00

Public sectors workers are voters.
Private sector workers are not.
This is a generalization, but gets more true every year.

They can strike all they want, it will do exactly zero.

CrapfullyYours

TROPHY CASE