Buying your first property

The order of steps

First-time buyers often start with the best part: looking at listings, viewing, falling in love. The bank comes afterwards. That is the wrong order, because without a financing confirmation you lose the good flat to the interested buyer who already has one. This is better:

1. Work out your budget. What instalment can your household carry? The calculation is on the page How much property can I afford?
2. Count your equity. Does it cover the additional costs and a reserve? If not, the page Buying with little equity helps.
3. Get a financing confirmation. The bank checks you in advance and confirms a limit.
4. Set your search profile. Location, size, flat or house, maximum price.
5. View and check the documents. For a flat, above all the minutes of the owners' meetings.
6. Reserve and prepare the purchase contract. The notary sends the draft.
7. Sign the loan agreement, then the purchase contract at the notary.
8. Pay the purchase price and take over the keys. The exact sequence is shown on the page Purchase process from reservation to keys.

Steps one to three cost you a few evenings and one conversation. But they decide whether you can say yes quickly later.

Allow several months for the whole path. The search takes different lengths of time depending on your wishes and budget. Between your yes and the notary appointment lie at least the two weeks for the draft contract, often more, because bank and notary need documents. After the notary appointment come the real estate transfer tax assessment, payment and handover. If you are moving out of a rented flat, only start the notice period once the handover date is fixed. For tenants it is as a rule three months (§ 573c BGB, German Civil Code).

Flat or house

With an owner-occupied flat you buy a share in a building and become a member of the owners' association. The association decides by resolution on the roof, facade and heating. You pay a monthly service charge (Hausgeld), from which the maintenance reserve is also funded. With a house you bear everything alone, but you also decide alone.

What matters in detail when buying a flat in Berlin is on the page Buying a flat in Berlin. If the flat is let, separate rules apply, see Buying a let flat. If a rented flat was only converted into owner-occupied property after the tenant moved in, the tenant has a right of first refusal on the first sale (§ 577 BGB, German Civil Code). More in the guide Tenant's right of first refusal.

Berlin or surrounding area

For many first-time buyers, this is the real question. Instead of comparing prices that differ from street to street, it is worth looking at the points that count in daily life:

• Commute: how long does it take by S-Bahn, regional train or car at rush hour? Do the route once at the real time of day.
• Nursery, school, doctor, shopping: what is within walking distance and what only by car.
• Second car: if the household needs one in the surrounding area, it belongs in the household calculation.
• Taxes and law: in the surrounding area, Brandenburg law applies, including for real estate transfer tax. Calculate the additional costs with the rate there.
• Plot: standard land values show how much of the price is attributable to the land. How to read them is explained in the guide Standard land values in Berlin.

If you are searching in the surrounding area, you will find pointers on the page Buying a house in the Berlin surroundings. For Berlin itself, Buying a property in Berlin is the starting point.

Viewing: what to look for

A viewing takes half an hour. Reading the documents takes longer, and they tell you more. At the latest at the viewing, the seller or agent must show you the energy certificate (§ 80 para. 4 Building Energy Act (GEG)). For a flat, also ask for:

• the minutes of the owners' meetings of recent years,
• the current budget plan and the last service charge statement,
• the declaration of division with division plan,
• the level of the maintenance reserve.

The minutes record approved special levies and repairs still to come. A new heating system for the whole building can quickly push your share into five figures. Go back a second time, in daylight and at a different time of day. The detailed printable list is at Viewing: checklist.

At the viewing, also look at what could become expensive later: damp patches in the cellar and bathroom, the age and condition of the windows, the heating and the electrics. The energy certificate names the energy source and often the year of construction of the heating. If in doubt, an appointment with a building surveyor before the notary appointment is worthwhile. It costs money, but far less than an overlooked defect. Also ask what is sold with the property, from the fitted kitchen to the parking space, and have it written into the purchase contract.

New build or existing property

When you buy an existing flat, you pay the purchase price in one go as soon as the notary notifies you that it is due. With a new build from a developer it is different: you pay in instalments according to construction progress. How many instalments are allowed at most, and for what, is regulated by the Real Estate Agents and Developers Ordinance (Makler- und Bauträgerverordnung, § 3 MaBV). For your financing, this means the loan is drawn down in parts over months. Ask the bank about commitment interest for the period in which money is promised but not yet drawn. More on new builds is on the page Buying a new build in Berlin.

Purchase contract at the notary

A contract for the purchase of a property is only valid if a notary certifies it (§ 311b para. 1 BGB, German Civil Code). As a consumer, you should normally receive the intended text two weeks before the appointment (§ 17 para. 2a Notarisation Act). Use the time. The notary answers questions about the draft and is bound to be neutral.

In the draft, look at the purchase price and due date, the handover date, items sold with the property such as the fitted kitchen, the provision on approved special levies and the exclusion of liability for defects. After the appointment, the land registry enters a priority notice in your favour. The notary tells you when the purchase price is due. Only after payment and the real estate transfer tax are you entered as owner. The guide Notary appointment and land register explains each step.

After the purchase: the first months

With handover, benefits and burdens pass to you, as stated in the purchase contract. From that day you pay the running costs. For a flat, this is first the service charge (Hausgeld) to the management. Notify them of the change of owner and set up the payment. You also pay the property tax yourself from then on.

For a house, from handover you need your own buildings insurance if the seller has not transferred theirs. For a flat, the association insures the building; your household contents insurance remains your own matter. Check the meter readings at handover and record them in the handover protocol, together with all the keys.

And then the first owners' meeting. Go. Decisions about your money are made there, and anyone who listens early quickly understands how the building ticks. You become a member of the association with your entry in the land register. Until then, the management usually still invites the seller; whatever the purchase contract provides for this period on voting rights and costs applies between the two of you.

Typical mistakes on a first purchase

• Viewing without a financing confirmation. With several interested buyers, the seller often decides for the one who can pay straight away.
• Forgetting the additional costs. In Berlin, with an agent, roughly 11 to 11.6 per cent are added to the purchase price. At €350,000, that is up to €40,495.
• Putting all your savings in and keeping no reserve.
• Not reading the minutes. The most expensive surprise is often already in last year's resolution.
• Choosing the fixed-interest period only by the lowest instalment. When the fixed period ends, the remaining debt counts. More under Mortgage financing in Berlin.
• Signing the purchase contract before the bank has given a binding commitment. Then you owe the purchase price even if the loan falls through.
• Misjudging the agent's commission. When buying a flat or a detached house you pay at most half if the seller commissioned the agent. More in the guide Agent's commission in Berlin.

Technical terms such as priority notice of conveyance (Auflassungsvormerkung), land charge (Grundschuld) or declaration of division (Teilungserklärung) are explained in our glossary. For financing, we advise you ourselves: mortgage broking (Immobiliardarlehensvermittlung under § 34i GewO, German Trade Regulation Act) is handled at our firm by Maximilian Vigansky personally. The registration details are in the Legal notice (German). If we receive money from a partner, we tell you beforehand.

Sources

• § 311b para. 1 BGB (German Civil Code), notarial certification; § 17 para. 2a Notarisation Act, draft two weeks beforehand
• § 80 para. 4 Building Energy Act (GEG), energy certificate at the viewing
• § 577 BGB (German Civil Code), tenant's right of first refusal; §§ 656c, 656d BGB, agent's commission for flats and detached houses
• § 11 Grunderwerbsteuergesetz (German Real Estate Transfer Tax Act) with the Berlin tax rate of 6 per cent
• BBI: additional purchase costs in Berlin
• All sources accessed on 28 October 2026.