Wanting to move to Berlin

Hi fifthtexas,

Welcome to Expat.com

If you have some doubts or if you need any further information, do not hesitate to ask your questions on the forum and we will do our best to help you.

Thanks,

Priscilla 

hi Priscilla

many thanks for your reply.
my plan is
I plan on trying to find an apartment to rent first. maybe 6 months lease
and I come every other weekend, i have job here, but i would love to live and work in berlin.
i plan maybe start come over much as i can, i plan go over every weekend so i can get used to it, look for jobs, at moment i am trying to learn language.
can you advise what's best thing to do, i just looking small apartment, rent, how do i go about doing it
any good agencies, that can help british find apartments to rent?
once i move over i plan buy apartment.

i would appreciate any advice.

Hi fifthtexas,

Your question is still both very wide and too vague.
I recommend you first read the many posts on this forum about similar situations, and then post any remaining questions in detail here.

Some things that came to my head right away after reading your plans:
- Meeting people and getting friends is easiest once you are there and can partake in leisure activities. Note that Germans are quite reserved in the beginning, so many foreigners find it difficult to befriend them.
- To find an apartment, you need to be physically there and look at several available ones. Rental contracts are usually signed a few months before move-in, so don't expect this to be quick! Agencies are generally expensive and not much use.
- Finding a job depends on your education, work experience, industry, language skills and ability to present yourself in an application / interview. I cannot comment on any of these without knowing your details.
- I assume you are British national (EU citizen), so you can freely move an work in Germany (at least until Brexit ...). Otherwise you'll have a whole other set of problems.
- Buying an apartment as a foreigner is easy (once you find one), but without well-paid job you might not get a loan - can you pay 100% up-front?

many thanks
I will read forums, it where to start. looking for an apartment
so agencies it not worth bothering with.
are there any good websites I can look at. yes I would come over for a week
and have a look around.
yes selling house here, so I would have money to but apartment in full wont need a mortgage.
I am cad technician, draughtsman, I looked some jobs there I am qualified for
but I need to get better at language at moment I have personal tuition twice week and I do a group german class too.
but many thanks I read forums

For housing ads, you can check quoka.de, kleinanzeigen.ebay.de, immoscout24.de and possibly some local sites that I don't know. It's all in German, of course, as will be the rental contract, so take a native speaker along to help you!

Learn on the job.  the quickest learning curve is staying here while learning German. You did not mention family so I assume single- that entitles you to learn the absolute quickest way - a closer friend.
But most people in Berlin are crazily liberal to learn more English- so you will find it a larger challenge to choose between a larger group hungry for english exchange and a smaller group that endure your first baby steps in the language. That's the only conscious decision to take before moving.

Of course , depending on the vote of the UK, you might found youself outside the EU, soon, which means longer rows for those expats at the consulates (most passport services are outsourced to private companies - so visas takes quite long in comparison to other countries due to arduous burocracy to cross verify). All in all expats, startups and entrepeneurs will suffer the most with the BRISO ( British isolation) vote.

Whichever way, don't procrastinate - get yourself over here asap. As single - what can you loose?

hi
many thanks for advice

yes I going alone
thing I found frustrating, when I try talk german they just just reply back in English
at moment I trying to learn language,
I know lots words it putting it together, I find watch you tube stuff in german good
I just have to stick at it.

fifthtexas wrote:

thing I found frustrating, when I try talk german they just just reply back in English

I heard this complaint from several English-speaking foreigners in Germany, so it seems to be a common thing. I guess for most locals, conversing in broken or Pidgin German is more difficult than in the English they learned at school (which isn't that bad in most cases).

Persist. Persist. If u miss this curve ball you're stuck for life Without getting such an excuse to learn it again...

hi
thanks your right got to stick at it.
i determined to learn it
how you finding berlin?
i been few times now. love it there
i like german people.

danke

I love to move to Hamburg, know nothing in German... I have doctorate in Telecommunications from Portugal....Any advice?