Anyone know a good financial advisor/mortgage broker in Berlin?
Question:
Answer:
Can't give you a specific tip on a financial advisor, BUT:
Note that in Germany, financial advisors and planners are rarely independent and almost always have financial incentives to steer customers to the products of institutions with which they have some kind of relationship. So you're best bet is to contact a few advisors and get several detailed offers in writing that you can compare with one another. I would start by contacting Berlin-based people at institutions like Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank and seeing what they have to offer. Online banks such as Cortal Consors (backed by BNP Paribas) also offer mortgage deals, I think. You should also check financial institutions in the UK; it seems to me entirely plausible that a UK institution would finance a mortgage for a German property, and then you'd be dealing with contracts in your native tongue and which operate in a legal framework which you're more familiar with. The seller of the real estate doesn't care if you got your mortgage from a German institution or not.
I would also advise getting a fixed rate mortgage, as the European Central Bank will probably be more apt to raise rates going forward than to drop them. There's just a lot more certainty with a fixed rate.
More Related Questions & Answers...