u/Reasonable_Net3302

I've been apartment hunting (lol) and have encountered some obvious scams, but this is a whole other level...I'm not even sure if it is indeed a scam.

The apartment was posted on Kleinanzeigen and I answered. The price seemed decent (not too high, but also not too low). The name of the user was not the HV's name, but a silly word. I did not share any personal details aside from my name and last name.

Two days later I get a call from the woman who runs the Hausverwaltung, let's call her "C." I have no idea how she got my phone number, but I thought it was maybe sent when I answered the message. During the call C. was very nice and polite, asked a bit about what I wrote (profession, where I'm from) and invited me to a viewing. She asked me to send her an email and she replied confirming the viewing that week. She wrote that the previous tenant terminated the contract a bit earlier and the move in date would be 10 days later, at the beginning of the month.

I went to the viewing with my partner. C. was super friendly. The apartment was exactly the same as in the photos (minus the furniture, it was empty) and the previous tenant was there, with her dog, cleaning. I spoke with the previous tenant briefly, who asked if I was interested in buying the kitchen and I said yes. C. said she had some time to show us the Keller, since the previous person apparently forgot about the appointment and the one after us called in sick.

C. showed us the Keller and the bike Keller. She even briefly spoke to a neighbor who was in the Treppenhaus looking for her cat. C. then told us that cats are allowed, but that the landlord (who owns the whole building) doesn't really like dogs – and that was the reason why the previous tenant was moving after almost 20 years. She then walked us outside and made some small chat, pointing at the doorbells to show how "diverse" the neighbors are (my partner and I are gay) and that many people had been living there a long time. She even pointed at a name on the doorbell that was the same as her last name and she said "But of course, a different Frau C." We said goodbye, she said she'd be in touch very soon as I had less than 10 days to move and the landlord was apparently going on holiday in 2 weeks. I sent her my documents (incl. Personalausweis...yes...I know) and said I was interested.

After the weekend I get a call from her asking if I want to take the apartment and I say absolutely yes. She said she'd send me a draft of the lease per E-mail and we could sign 4 days later.

Well...the next morning I got an email from her with the lease and the instruction to pay the Kaution until the day of the signing. She also attached a Zahlschein. I read the lease thoroughly and saw the following paragraph:

>"Der Mieter ist bei Leistung einer Barkaution berechtigt, die Kaution zu drei gleichen monatlichen Teilzahlungen zu leisten. Die erste Teilzahlung ist zu Mietbeginn fällig."

I didn't know that this was not a normal practice, but of course this raised a million flags for me. I called the Mieterverein, who confirmed that I should only pay when my contract starts.

So, I emailed her back saying that the lease looked fine and asking very politely if there was a reason why she wanted the Kaution paid in full until the day of the signing, since it diverges from what the lease actually said.

And this is what she wrote back, 15 minutes after I emailed:

https://preview.redd.it/76tsov2wak2h1.jpg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bedb311fb197e13061b7abae6267c71c3e2585b1

I was super shocked. This seemed like a crazy overreaction to my question. C. did try to call me 7 minutes after this email was sent out, but I don't think she tried for long because I only got a notification of a missed call, but not the actual call itself.

Of course, I tried to call back to no avail.

Now, after analyzing it a bit, I was like...was this a scam? It feels super fishy. So I went down a rabbit hole of looking her up, and I still can't tell.

Why it may be a scam:

- Asking for the Kaution ahead of time and this weird reaction

- C. does not have a Handelsregistrar number on her website's imprint and I couldn't find her company's name there either

- The landlord's address is not listed on the lease and his name has no results on Google

- The whole Kleinanzeigen thing is a bit suspicious

- The Zahlschein for the Kaution has a different account number than the one on the lease

- No reviews on Google Maps or on her social media channels

Why it may not be a scam:

- C. is on Facebook and has a personal website for her hobby (non-HV related). Her company's Facebook page has existed since 2011 and she's on Google Maps

- There are other results of her name online as a member of a Verein in the same neighborhood where her office (home office?) is

- She had the keys to the Keller

- It seemed way too authentic to be a scam

We made an Anzeige with the police nonetheless and are thinking of also alerting SCHUFA of a possible identity theft...but...yeah, this was definitely a doozy.

I’m a very low-earner and moving to a new apartment about $130 more expensive than my current one.

My partner (high earner) offered to help me with $80 a month until I’m a bit more settled financially.

I really feel guilty for taking her money and was wondering what I could offer in return that would ease my guilt a bit?

I suggested I could clean her place once a month, but she didn’t like the idea, because she fears it can create an unhealthy dynamic between us.

Any other ideas?

For context: we‘ve been together 5 years and originally wanted to move in together, but our city has an insane rental market deficit and my partner lives in a rent-controlled 1br, so it makes more sense for us to live in 2 small separate apartments close to each other, than together in a bigger and 3x more expensive apartment.

For comparison, the rent of both our 1br apartments together (incl. utilities, internet, etc) will still be about $300 lower than a 2br in our neighborhood.

After 4+ months of looking I’ve just been offered an apartment and, although I really liked it, I’m genuinely torn if I should say yes.

Specs:

- Kreuzberg (close to Görli)

- €650 warm

- 44sqm

- 2 rooms

Reason for move: want to leave the WG and live alone (I’m mid-30s and never lived alone)

Pros:

- Fair rent

- Nice location

- Kitchen (not state of the art, but it exists)

- Neighbors have been in the building for a long time

- Better for my mental health to live alone

- Lots of storage space

- Genuinely cute

- Hausverwaltung seems really on top of things

Cons:

- Index rent

- With Strom and Internet it’ll be over €100 more than what I’m paying now (I’m a low earner freelancer)

- No dogs allowed (I don’t have one atm but would like one)

- Move in is in 10 days, would have to pay double rent as it’s too late to give notice to my WG

- The big one for me: bedroom needs a big renovation because the wall plaster is breaking and the floor probably has asbestos glue. Not sure if landlord would pay for it (haven’t discussed it yet).

What do you think? It’s the only offer I got so far after over 30 viewings and more than 200 applications. I think I was chosen because the Hausverwaltung representative liked me and thought I’d be a good fit, despite my low income.

My landlord doesn’t allow dogs (but allows cats). This is the reason why the previous tenant moved out – apparently the Hausverwaltung had issues with her dog.

Anyway, my partner is getting a dog and I was wondering if it would become an issue. My partner doesn’t live with me, but stays over 2-3 times a week (and so would the dog).

Anyone been in this situation?

Ich werde wahrscheinlich den Mietvertrag für eine Wohnung übernehmen, in der der Vormieter 20 Jahre lang gewohnt hat. Ich ziehe zum ersten Mal alleine in eine Wohnung und habe ein paar Fragen.

Die Wohnung ist ein typischer Altbau und obwohl der Vormieter sie einigermaßen gepflegt hat, braucht sie offensichtlich etwas Renovierung. Der Putz an der Schlafzimmerwand bröckelt und der Boden muss erneuert werden (siehe Foto). Außerdem hat die Wohnung eine Gastherme aus den 90ern, die höchstwahrscheinlich zumindest gewartet, wenn nicht sogar ersetzt werden müsste.

https://preview.redd.it/h1jz2yr40j1h1.jpg?width=2268&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c8dfa7f1e689a1f1a53d0f4e8be0e0505ed9d776

Bei der Wohnungsbesichtigung hat die Hausverwaltung erwähnt, dass die Wand zum Schlafzimmer neu gestrichen wird – aber erst nach dem Einzug. Über den Boden wurde nichts gesagt.

Der Mietbeginn soll der 1.6. sein, aber der Eigentümer ist im Urlaub und kommt erst am 25.5. zurück, weshalb er mir den Vertrag erst dann schicken kann.

Meine Fragen:

• Kann ich über das Einzugsdatum verhandeln? Ist das üblich?
• Kann ich verlangen, dass die Therme vor dem Einzug gewartet wird?
• Kann ich eine Mietminderung für den Zeitraum beantragen, in dem die Wände gestrichen werden?
• Kann ich eine Mietminderung aushandeln, wenn ich den Boden selbst renoviere?

Vielen Dank.

I found an apartment I really like and for an OK price.

It's still slightly more than I wanted to pay, and it'll be overall 130 € more than what I currently pay, which is steep for a low earner like me.

The thing that worries me the most, though, is that it's an Indexmietvertrag. I heard really bad things about it, although it seems like that's mostly what people get these days. Should I still sign it?

Another yellow flag for me is that the Betriebskosten are exactly 100 € (it doesn't include gas), and the Kaltmiete is a bit on the higher side, but also a very round number. Is this also normal in Berlin? My rent was always "choppy", never a round number. So it stood out to me as something strange.

I've received contradictory information about this, so can anyone confirm to me: with a WBS 140, can I apply to apartments that are listed WBS 160-220 (if I fulfill the criteria and can prove income)?

Also, does anyone have tips on how to secure an apartment from the Landeseigenen aside from relying on luck? I often get selected to go to a viewing, but maybe there's something in my documents that isn't helping me, or maybe I should tell the Immo person that I'm actually very interested? No idea...

I also am never sure if it's best to send an application through Immoscout or through their own websites (or app, in the case of HOWOGE). Sometimes I send both, but maybe that's disqualifying me as well.

Lastly, any tips on where to find WBS apartments outside of the Landeseigenen/Immoscout?

Vivo uma vida OK na Europa, mas ganho bem pouco. O sonho da casa própria aqui não existe pra mim rsrs

Queria saber se, na opinião de vocês, vale a pena comprar imóvel no Brasil?

Eu sei que nenhum dos meus amigos daqui nunca vai ter a oportunidade de comprar seu próprio imóvel pelos altos preços e crise imobiliária. Minha namorada, vendo que os preços estão rapidamente subindo nas grandes cidades do Brasil, me convenceu a comprar um apto no Brasil. Não como investimento, mas para morar eventualmente.

There are stickers with a certain "Che Guevara taxi service" all over the Tempelhof-Schöneberg, at bus stops, front doors, etc. It's tacky and AI-made.

They have a QR code to a Whatsapp number, which is very strange to me bc I thought most of this stuff was done through Telegram.

I asked a friend if she'd seen this and she said she thinks cops are the ones putting them up. But to what end?

I’ve been with my partner for 4 years. I love her and she has been fundamental in holding my hand through some really dark moments.

We do, however, have some issues. I don’t think they’re unsolvable, but they make me a bit hesitant in taking the next step. We have some incompatibilities in bed, for example, and we both work from home and need a lot of alone time, which makes living together in a tiny apartment not ideal (we tried, it was ok, but not amazing as we were getting in each other’s hairs all the time).

My partner has been hinting at the fact that she would like to get married in the next few years and that she seems very sure that I’m the person she’d want to do that with. I, personally, never really thought about getting married and feel sort of indifferent about it. But I do see us together in the long run and I feel like she is my life partner.

It’s just, in my mind, I’d like to be more secure before taking the next step. I’d like us to work on our issues and “improve” a bit so that I know that the situation won’t get worse in 5 years or so. But I already feel very committed to her, so I don’t know why the thought of marriage throws me off so much.

I’m just a bit confused, because I hear so many people saying “when you know, you know” and stuff like that, and I feel like I’m just not that kind of person. I never had that gut feeling about anyone I’ve dated, so I‘m questioning if it’s because she’s not “the one” (although I find that concept a bit ridiculous, as a non-monogamous person) or if it’s because…that’s just not my personality.

edit to add: we have a 12 year age gap (I’m the younger one, in my 30s).