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"Reasonnable means that the rent doesn’t exceed 800€ for a 15m² flat" Is living in 15 m² reasonable ? I live in a studio of about 30 m² and I find it claustrophobic at times.
Malcolm Gladwell, in his book The Tipping Point, identifies people like this author as "mavens". :-) The world is better off for having them.
"Reasonnable means that the rent doesn’t exceed 800€ for a 15m² flat" Is living in 15 m² reasonable ? I live in a studio of about 30 m² and I find it claustrophobic at times.
He can't afford more than a 15m² flat but even these are sometimes too expensive. That's not what he says literally, but it's probably his idea, considering that nobody would like to live in just 15 m² but many people have an upper limit on what they can pay.
While I was looking here in Madrid, the least I could find were 20/25 m2 flats.
Regardless, as someone that has shared the author's pains multiple times, kudos to him for the creativity of his method.
My sympathies, I lived in Munich 15 years ago and it was a nightmare to find a place even back then. I've heard it's only gotten worse. We (Nestoria.de) aggregate listings of most of the players in real estate in Germany (IS24, immowelt, immonet, süddeutsche, others) and offer an API. We also offer an API of price trends (ie what the avg rent is in an area and if it's going up or down). Enjoy: http://www.nestoria.co.…
I have to say though, when you are a german couple, have a double income with no children/no pets, its not that hard to find something. I don't envy the rest though!
> Appartment rental agencies cost roughly 3 times the monthly rent, which accounts for around 2000€. No need to say this was a no go for me as I prefer keeping that money and making something good out of it. As far as I know this fee will soon have to be paid by the landlord rather than the potential tenant (by german law).
But surely they will just pass the fee to the tenant in the form of higher rent?
The conclusion from this little study, is that a girl with an italian name, gets an 90% answer rate, a guy with an arab name and is younger than 25 gets, 1% answer rate. The master of all, is the young munich guy who is around 25 Sadly, this doesn't surprise me. Across Europe, numerous anti-discrimination laws have been (rightfully) enacted, but it just pushes any inclination to discriminate that might exist into pri…
Thanks for the input ! Maybe I should try it with jobs, just for a test, and write an article about it. :)
> Appartment rental agencies cost roughly 3 times the monthly rent, which accounts for around 2000€. No need to say this was a no go for me as I prefer keeping that money and making something good out of it. As far as I know this fee will soon have to be paid by the landlord rather than the potential tenant (by german law).
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Thanks for the link, your site is brilliant!
Thanks, you should tell EVERYONE you know. In seriousness though, while we do try our best (not just in Germany, but eight other countries as well), the situation he describes is one that the internet doesn't do a good job of solving. Basically demand way outstrips supply in cities like Munich. As a result, if you have a good flat or house you want to rent out, really all you need to do is tell 5-10 people and via wo…
Malcolm Gladwell, in his book The Tipping Point, identifies people like this author as "mavens". :-) The world is better off for having them.
Maybe you could say some more about it, to make it useful for people who haven't read that book?
In essence, maven comes from Yiddish, and it means "one who accumulates knowledge". Economists spend a lot of time studying mavens and their habits.
Mavens are the people who will analyze every big screen TV on the market, pouring over data, correcting consumer report articles on minutia, and looking for the best deal. They're also the ones who analyze flight itineraries looking for the best combination of layovers and low fare, and they are the tiny fraction of people who actually read the prices on goods in a supermarket and will complain when the supermarket writes "special offer" on something without actually lowering the price, thus holding the market to account.
The interesting thing about mavens is that they not only pour over this data for their own purposes, but they actively share it with the world (even if 'world' only means 'other people they talk to directly') at large in order to help others, consciously or unconsciously.
The work of the few obsessors benefits everyone because markets don't "get away" with conning us.
"Reasonnable means that the rent doesn’t exceed 800€ for a 15m² flat" Is living in 15 m² reasonable ? I live in a studio of about 30 m² and I find it claustrophobic at times.