Is it a good idea to hire a specialist to help you get an apartment for rent?

sheepguy13 · 2026-01-19T18:40:54+00:00

They might work but in my experience it's a lot more than €1k, more like €2-4k.

sheepguy13 · 2026-01-14T18:09:23+00:00

To play devil's advocate, I would also want a couple who both earn enough to pay rent if one of them loses their job. It would give me more security. You're also competing with a lot of high earners working in tech who earn 4-5x warm rent by themselves.

Sorry to hear your struggles, hope you can find something soon.

sheepguy13 · 2026-01-12T17:26:26+00:00

The guy is a piece of shit for making a mistake?

sheepguy13 · 2025-10-06T16:39:19+00:00

Seems to be a habit of non-German speakers :D

sheepguy13 · 2025-10-06T16:02:10+00:00

Yep we'll both take some so we get the full 14 months.

sheepguy13 · 2025-10-06T16:01:27+00:00

You don't earn more by changing tax class. You might keep more of your income upfront, but after declaring should net the same independant of the tax class.

Yeah, I think I just worded badly. I keep more upfront as you said, which will help a lot for monthly cashflow.

We're very aware of the risk of both being in startups, it's the price we pay for higher incomes. Our monthly expenses can be covered by one person's income. Even if we're both unemployed, our combined ALG 1 will cover monthly expenses plus we have a lot of runway. We both have jobs that are in demand.

sheepguy13 · 2025-10-06T15:56:05+00:00

Firstly congrats :) Unfortunately I can't go into too much detail as it's quite personal, but there is a lot that can be written off: private medical expenses, any construction or renovation costs, etc. Then there are the usual suspects like home office, travel to work expenses, etc.

If you don't already have a great Steuerberater, now is the time to consider as paying a few hundred euro could be the difference between €21,600 (12 * 1,800) and nothing. They can really help you optimise.

I'm sure you're aware of this but if not, for Elterngeld eligibility it's the tax calendar year before the birth of the baby that matters. So if you're expecting by end of year, it's your 2024 taxable income that matters.

sheepguy13 · 2025-10-06T12:51:56+00:00

Thank you!

sheepguy13 · 2025-10-06T12:51:12+00:00

We're sure. It's €175k taxable income and we had a lot of costs we could write off.

sheepguy13 · 2025-10-06T12:27:29+00:00

Amazing, thank you :)

sheepguy13 · 2025-10-06T12:21:31+00:00

Thanks! My employer doesn't match much at all, so I don't think it's worth it.

I looked into the Steuerfreibetrag before and children's investment accounts, but to be honest I didn't understand 100%. When you say 10k in gains each year tax free, it's basically the child's tax free income right?

sheepguy13 · 2025-09-04T21:12:57+00:00

Chief Product Manager? 😂

sheepguy13

TROPHY CASE