In case you’re one of the few hundred readers who have much better things to do on a Tuesday morning than religiously follow my Instagram stories (good for you), you might not know that this week has been an absolute whirlwind for me. You see, I understood a few things incorrectly about the legality of staying in the current apartment I call home in Hamburg, Germany and the bottom line is that I need to move. And fast. Yep, in fact the very systems and organization that I love so much about Germany are the same reasons I’m now in a mad dash to find a new apartment in Hamburg, or as it’s called in Germany, Wohnung. (Voh-nung.)

And let me tell ya, it’s been a trip! I’ve put in an application on two apartments, joined lines of cute couples stretching around the block for masked, socially-distant viewings, and run screaming from some flats lacking the basics… like an oven. But one thing I can say for certain is that this entire apartment hunt abroad has been one comical learning experience, filled with things I never dreamed I’d encounter. So in the spirit of sharing the stories that this blog was built for, I’d like to share some of the quirks of finding an apartment abroad, and more specifically finding an apartment in Hamburg, Germany.

1. Is the kitchen included?

This is a serious question. I cannot tell you how many flats I’ve seen where the kitchen is a blank room, lacking all appliances. As I quickly discovered after scouring sites like Immobilienscout and eBay Kleinanzeigen the term Einbauküche (or EBK) means that the kitchen appliances are included in the rent. It might seem funny, but when you factor in buying appliances, a move into a flat without a furnished kitchen becomes seriously expensive.

2. … and what about the floors?

Ok, this one isn’t as common as the kitchen question, but I kid you not, in some Hamburg apartments the previous tenant will ask you to purchase the floor from them. 100% serious. (This is where my imagination runs wild and I imagine saying “No! That’s ridiculous!” and then the previous tenants crow-barring [is that a word?] up the floor, plank-by-plank, and leaving me to walk on swiss cheese.) I guess it’s just a German thing that certain tenants want to get rid of ugly carpeting and so they take it upon themselves to install new floors and would like some return on their investment. I get it. But I also really don’t get this one.

3. Warmmiete. Kaltmiete. Nebenkosten.

What does it all mean?

When you’re looking at an apartment listing in Germany, you’ll see several different numbers. First, you’ll be enticed by the low-looking number known as the Kaltmiete. That’s the base rent, with nothing included. Warmmiete is the rent cost plus the bare necessities like water, gas, etc. and then you have to add on the Nebenkosten which are basically maintenance fees for the building, trash, etc. It’s these Nebenkosten that took me by surprise, as they can be upwards of 100 euros/ month. And then, you have to add on any additional utilities like internet. I found this part of apartment hunting in Hamburg to be much different than New York. In New York, we had rent and we had utilities, but there was none of this “maintenance fees” business jacking up the price of my rent. (Or perhaps I never lived in nice enough buildings to know this…)

4. Show Me the Money!

Kudos to Germans for having their financial lives together more than yours truly (you can peep my debt journey here). Before getting the keys to a place in Hamburg, just like in the USA, you need to put down a security deposit, known here as a Kaution. Completely different to New York is the amount of that deposit. For all of the different apartments I rented in New York, the security deposit was the first and last months’ rent. That’s it. Here, you’ll need to fork over 3 months worth of rent for a deposit and then pay the rent for the first month, additionally. Perhaps I’m a bit too sensitive about my finances at the moment, but this one really took me by surprise. That’s a lot of money up front! Oh, and on top of that- Ask anyone in Germany and it’s common place to wait several months to a year to get your deposit back on an apartment. Basically, you can’t move here if you’re broke.

5. Nachmieters

One of the very, very refreshing things about the rental market in Germany is that brokers aren’t a necessity, and if they are, they’re not paid a commission from the prospective tenants. I used a broker twice in New York to find apartments, and while they were completely wonderful, the fees were ridiculous. In contrast, one of the most common ways to find an apartment in Germany is through the person leaving their lease who will advertise online that they’re looking for a nachmieter. In other words, someone to take over their lease and flat. 9 out of 10 apartments I found fell into the nachmieter category. One or two were shown by brokers, who were hired by the buildings or management companies, but at no cost to the future tenants. The current tenants then forward the information from prospective tenants to the landlord, so it’s best to have a nice chat with folks showing the flat, and hope that your info winds up at the top of the pile! Oh, I have to talk to people? It’s like I was meant to rent a flat in Hamburg ;)

In all honesty, the things above were initially a bit intimidating for me this past week. For instance, I’ve never even contemplated buying a refrigerator, let alone in another country and then transporting it to a new apartment. But instead of letting myself get swallowed by the uncertainty, I really came into my own over the past 8 days and saw this as an exercise in empowerment. If this were all a test, how would I want to be remembered for my answers? Well, I’d want to come away with an apartment and my head held high, knowing that I rose to the occasion.

So that I did!

And I will say, sharing all of these flat viewings on Instagram and getting so many insightful, thoughtful responses from y’all made me feel like I wasn’t doing this alone. It might sound cliche but it’s true! Because yes, for the first time in my life, I’m finding a place to live for just me. Alone. And it’s a bit intimidating. But knowing that I’ll soon have my very own place to furnish, and make memories, and invite all of you over for cocktails and dinner parties (ok, maybe in shifts so that we can all fit at the table…) makes me so incredibly happy and proud of who I am and how I got here. Thanks for being a part of this journey. I really couldn’t have done this without you. And your incredibly divided opinions on studio apartments… ;)

Want to know which flat I’ll be calling home?

Well, for that, you’ll have to subscribe to my incredibly infrequent newsletter.

See you inside!

Flat Highlights Here

5 Weird, Ridiculous Facts About Finding an Apartment in Hamburg, Germany