Wunderbar! Germany, the most popular country in the world.

cambsno said:
You say property insanity and that they rent, but I say we have it better? When you get to 60, most should be mortgage free (or will aim to be). That means, all being equal you have free accomodation till you die, or you may sell up, downsize and have a pot of money. If you rent you have to find the rent money each month, even when you are 85?
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There are other ways to save for retirement that don't involve paying vast sums of money to the parasitic banking system and being chained to an enormous loan for most of your adult life. Besides, people do buy here, when they want to...there isn't the collective mania about 'the property ladder' driving the price of property to ridiculous levels so everyone has to get into even more debt to ride the boom bust train.

In most countries, houses are about homes, not investment opportunity. I have never heard a German mention property, or property prices, it's a refreshing change from the endless bores Brits are about it, it's bad enough getting it just reading the UK papers.
 
If you rent you can theoretically save up to have it covered by the time you retire. However renting does not stop prices going crazy. Here in Munich the rent price is horribly high.
 
I wouldn't say my place is cheap, but it's a palace compared to my place in HK that cost twice as much, and much nicer than the place I had in West London before, again, for less.

Nice thing about Germany is that it isn't totally centred around the one capital like the UK and London. Everything is scattered around Munich, Stuttgart, Frankfurt, Koln, Dusseldorf, Berlin, Hamburg etc and you can live as near or far to them as you want. What annoys me most about London is that you basically have a choice of crime on your doorstep or astronomical rent, although saying that, I was assaulted in Barnes which is one of the nicer parts of town.
 
ianp5a said:
If you rent you can theoretically save up to have it covered by the time you retire. However renting does not stop prices going crazy. Here in Munich the rent price is horribly high.
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Really? Not sure about nonUK but as an example when I moved from rented to my first house, I was probably paying at worst £200 a month more for the mortgage - bearing in mind rates have dropped, had I still been on the same mortagae I would be paying now around £600pm wile a similar property to rent now would be £700 at a guess, maybe more.

Even when rates go up, I doubt I could rent for much less than I pay now, in fact I think it would be on a par at least.
 
cambsno said:
Really? Not sure about nonUK but as an example when I moved from rented to my first house, I was probably paying at worst £200 a month more for the mortgage - bearing in mind rates have dropped, had I still been on the same mortagae I would be paying now around £600pm wile a similar property to rent now would be £700 at a guess, maybe more.

Even when rates go up, I doubt I could rent for much less than I pay now, in fact I think it would be on a par at least.
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There are a ton of costs and risks involved in ploughing your savings into a property, beyond the simplistic monthly payments. Anyway, don't want to derail this thread. Suffice to say that Brits are very conspicuously obsessed with property prices compared to most other nations where houses are homes to be lived in, not investment opportunities to make a quick buck.
 
ianp5a said:
I'm not a great fan of not being able to get anything on a Sunday. It's lock down. Forget something due to being busy and you are screwed. It was designed for housewives having plenty of time at home and not busy working people with kids.
In many places, on the weekends you can only mow the lawn on Saturday before 12 or between 5 and 8pm. Try it outside those hours, or on a Sunday and the neighbours will be around to complain.
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In some places in France you can't mow the grass at all on a Sunday!
 
viv1969 said:
In some places in France you can't mow the grass at all on a Sunday!
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That's the law in Germany...no taking bottles to the bottle bank on a Sunday....if you got anything noisy to do, do it on Saturday. Hanging washing out is even frowned upon!
 
The Germans do have some very good laws, like clearing the snow from the pavement outside your home. Some actually did it. But certainly in the Quarters we lived in (and was on a road opposite German Civvies Homes), while we did it religiously, they did if it suited.
 
mid_gen said:
.if you got anything noisy to do, do it on Saturday. Hanging washing out is even frowned upon!
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Would that be a bad thing if we introduced that here as well? Nice quiet Sunday afternoons, no whine of the bandsaw from two doors up, no lawnmower Le Mans starts from up-and-down the street.. just a peaceful day in the garden with a drink and a bbq..
 
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Some people only get Sunday to do these things.
 
Alastair said:
Would that be a bad thing if we introduced that here as well? Nice quiet Sunday afternoons, no whine of the bandsaw from two doors up, no lawnmower Le Mans starts from up-and-down the street.. just a peaceful day in the garden with a drink and a bbq..
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I think it's great personally, the Germans place a high priority on general well-being, having relaxed Sundays is part of it. Think I said earlier, but the focus on work-life balance is so refreshing after the UK/HK. If you stay late in the office people think something's wrong with you, why wouldn't you go home and be with your partner/family? It's only a job!

Carnival season has started here in NRW, begins in November and runs through to February culminating in a 3-4 day fancy-dress boozing bender, (drunk) arching bands.

Another thing nice about here? Every neighourhood has it's own little high street, with a deli, a butcher, several bakeries, barber, bank, pubs, cafes, and numerous miscellaneous stores. Every neighbourhood also has a regular weekly market (groceries/butcher/bakery/cheese etc).
 
The sense of regional identity is stronger too, my partner is from the Koeln area and will always drink Reissdorf or Frueh (buy not Dom) out of preference - fortunately we can get both locally in the UK. Whichever branch of the family we visit, it's always a local beer they're drinking (shame that I can't now drink these beers) and never the generic branded beer that dominates the UK.
 
Oktoberfest isn't much of a thing in NRW, Carnival is the biggest event of the year up here, very regional. It is seriously frowned upon to order Kölsch in Düsseldorf. The local brew here is Alt which is a dark and yeasty ale style beer.
 
mid_gen said:
Oktoberfest isn't much of a thing in NRW, Carnival is the biggest event of the year up here, very regional. It is seriously frowned upon to order Kölsch in Düsseldorf. The local brew here is Alt which is a dark and yeasty ale style beer.
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Carnival seems to be big in many parts of Europe. It's just us miserable Brits that don't partake.
 
ianp5a said:
If you rent you can theoretically save up to have it covered by the time you retire. However renting does not stop prices going crazy. Here in Munich the rent price is horribly high.
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I remember the rents being high in Munich, so I lived in Aschheim... Cheaper than the Netherlands though.... But at least you get to live in a wonderful city. Sundays at Augustiner am Dom is wonderful.
 
Christmas is quite well done in Munich too. Soon the Christmas markets will start. And it often snows round Christmas. Making the atmosphere authentic . Augustiner am Dom and all the many other traditional Bavarian pubs in the centre will be busy with Christmas meals soon. I've been organising several 'all day' eating and drinking Christmas meals there for the English speaking bunch again this year.
 
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welshwizard645 said:
But at least you get to live in a wonderful city. Sundays at Augustiner am Dom is wonderful.
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I was just at Augustiner am Dom yesterday. Our English speaking photo group met up to take night shots at the Christmas market. And afterwards we went into the cosy Augustiner to warm up. And drink some beer. Obviously.
It is, as they say here, arse cold, "arschkalt" , at the moment.

PB250030RT by ianp5a, on Flickr
 
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And a certain famous German loved Nikon. No one that loves Nikon can be all bad - can they ?

 
arclight said:
And a certain famous German loved Nikon. No one that loves Nikon can be all bad - can they ?
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That was funny. :ROFLMAO:

Theres an even funnier one about his secretary being unfaithful or something I think.
 
arclight said:
And a certain famous German loved Nikon. No one that loves Nikon can be all bad - can they ?
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That clip has been "Subtitled" so many times now, but each one remains a gem :)

And we can't let it go without a word from the Canon camp

NSFW contains some swearies
 
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