Where will we live in Germany?

Another very common question we get about the move to Germany is “where will you live?”  This one is fun to answer because we have no idea. We have some hopes and dreams and some ideas about what we would like out of our place in Germany, but the reality is that we will be limited by the options available when we show up. How it will work is that we will be booked in a hotel or short-stay rental property when we first arrive and then we will be (mostly) on our own to find a long-term rental property. Luckily there is a large U.S. community in the area, so we should get plenty of help from other Americans and ideally we will be able to find a place that another American family recently vacated.

First: general location.  Our work will be on one of the U.S. bases to the West of Frankfurt near Wiesbaden, Germany. In that area there is Wiesbaden itself (260,000ish people in the city) which is North of the Rhine River, Mainz, Germany (217,000ish people in the city), which is South of the Rhine River, and a few smaller villages and towns between Wiesbaden and Frankfurt. Overall the Wiesbaden urban area has around 500k people. (For comparison, Baltimore has around 550k people and the greater Washington metropolitan area, which is where we actually live in Maryland, has more than 6.3 million people. The sheer number of people shoved into this area without the infrastructure to support them is a huge reason we’re looking forward to getting out of Maryland for a few years.)

Second: housing requirements. One fun thing about German real estate is that the majority of houses available for rent don’t come with any kitchen cabinets, countertops, or appliances. Instead there is a space where a kitchen will go, and the renters are expected to purchase what they want and install it and then take it with them when they move out. That is obviously not going to work for us, so one of our primary requirements is a house that already has a kitchen (in German real estate phrasing an “einbaukuche”  (a fitted kitchen).) Our second requirement is that dogs are allowed, which should be fairly easy to find since Germany is a very dog friendly country.

Everything after those two requirements is negotiable.

So here is the wish list:

• No more than 20 minute drive from work

• Highly walkable neighborhood (can walk to grocery store, restaurants, bus/train station, other amenities)

• A parking space (garage or off-street preferred and if we’re dreaming big, with EV plug-in available)

• More than 1,000 sq feet (1,500+ would be nice)

• Air conditioning or extremely good energy efficiency (AC isn’t super common in German houses, instead Germany is obsessed with heating costs — global warming is starting to change that equation with summer heat waves, but only newer places tend to have AC.)

• At least 2 bedrooms and 1.5 bath (3 and 2 would be better for guests & hobbies)

• Washer and dryer in the house/apartment

• Bicycle storage available (this is actually very common in German apartment buildings)

• A kitchen we can actually cook in (some of the apartments have tiny kitchens)

I’ve been looking at rental properties (mostly apartments and the occasional townhouse) that fit our criteria for the last several months and I have seen multiple places pop up that fit all of our criteria and more. The real trick though is what will be available when we get there. We could end up in downtown (mitte) Wiesbaden or Mainz, which would neatly handle the highly walkable/20 minutes to work thing, but could end up compromised on the parking space, sq footage, and washer/dryer. We could also end up in one of the smaller villages, which would likely have fewer amenities in the walkable area, but would fit most of the rest of our needs and be closer to work.

One thing we probably won’t consider though is a larger single-family home in the suburbs or country. For this adventure we want to minimize things like yard work and maximize getting out and enjoying all Europe has to offer.