This is our very personal list of criteria for identifying the Ideal Neighbourhood where to look for The Flat.
1. Transportation: the Kiez should be connected to the ring formed S-Bahn line S4 and have U- and S-bahn station at hand. You should feel comfortable and safe in your whereabouts. To us Berlin seems a pretty safe city, but if you are in for some number-crunching, chose your ideal neighbourhood while having in mind the Police statistics, 2007 and 2008.
2. Low noise and pollution levels: big Autobahn junctions or 6-lanes streets come in handy… or lie just a little bit too close? Berlin is bike-friendly, but distance matters! How is the metro-bike-foot mix?
3. Green areas: green is beautiful or mineral Paris-style is charming? In Berlin Green is MANDATORY!
4. Retail. That’s a nasty one. You want to quickly fetch a bottle of milk, croissants or a bar of soap in a 5-minute-walk radius from home. Still visual pollution from overwhelming chains and inevitable social desertification are a risk. So you want to be in an area rich in local shopkeepers, cafes & bakeries, grocers and a good doner kebab outlet. If you also find:
a) a flower shop, a bookshop
b) a couple of cosy restaurants, “die gemütliche Kneipe, die zu guten Gesprächen animiert”
c) a pet food store
d) more than one hairdresser
chances are that you are snooping around in a very lively neighbourhood. If there is also a
e) Fahrrad station (bycicle shop and repair) then…bingo!
You definitely do not need fast fashion and underwear outlets, american coffee chains selling marketing instead of macchiato, mobile phone pushers or optician supermarkets under your windows!
5. Playgrounds for children are great in Berlin and you will regularly find them like a dotted line around town.
6. A farmers’ market is a fantastic asset, so look out for those!
7. Water. Berlin is very green and very…liquid. The city is no longer turning her back to her rivers and canals, which are now mis en valeur. Living near the water is always such a pleasure for the eyes!
8. A village feeling. Is there something like a “piazza” where at different times of the day people transit for different reasons (market, cafes, university, garden, playground), and that IS NOT A MALL? This sort of piazza generates a feeling of community, security and ultimately, creates the village.
To wrap it up, the Berliner Morgenpost has a very interesting set of interactive maps highlighting the demographic structure of each Kiez, its safety degree as well as its green areas and the presence of rivers and lakes…test your target area here.
If then, the day of Germany-Turkey you spot flags on the balconies in equal proportion, it’s just perfect!
Well, this list came up little by little, en arpentant la ville, however for a scientific approach you can check out the very exhaustive Monocle list here.
Hello.
I’ve been following your blog with fascination, and, am thrilled with the information you’ve been posting. I am in the process of beginning to look for a small flat to purchase in Berlin, from my residence in Canada. I have a fair amount of flexibility in my job and so am hoping to be able to spend a few months at a time in Berlin, and also, to rent out the flat to friends who may be visiting Berlin.
Have you found that flat prices have gone down with the economic downturn? Is is still a good place/time to purchase? Do you have a real estate agent you could recommend? I have been doing al my searches online.
I look forward to your response.
ciao DJ!
thank you for your kind message…
For your online flat-hunting I suggest you browse regularly the web site
IMMOBILIENSCOUT24
You can select your criteria (price, lift, area, year of construction, rented or free, to be refurbished or brand new…), and receive daily updates via email.
The Expose’ are always very clear, with many photos.
The Google maps view gives you an idea of the neighbourhood (photo, map and hybrid…fantastic!!) and you can check the orientation of the house vs. the sun.
You have also price maps with different shades of orange for the different price levels.
In order to check if in your neighbourhood there are already too many competitors (in case you are thinking of a Bed&Breakfast) look at Mowitania.de
From what I read in the Berlin press from time to time, apparently you find now cheaper flats (50s) where big investment funds had bought and have to sell due to the crisis, whereas it is more difficult to find quality Altbaus to be refurbished at good prices (I guess the rarity effect…people stick to them!).
I am seeing a flat of the 50s in Schoeneberg on monday, 39k for 30sqm, perfectly refurbished but without lift (very common feature in Berlin…lifts are rare)…just looking!
I am happy to provide you with the name of our favourite real estate agent (he speaks only german though) and if you need it, the details of a company doing the refurbishing (polish and really professional). Our architect is italian, on the other hand.
Shall I send the contacts over to your email address?
I wish you good luck with the hunt…let’s keep in touch, and if we can help, MeinMann and I are very happy to do so!
Have a nice day!
StripedCat
PS
on our sister blog BerlinRomExpress, more about Berlin…(link in the blogroll)
Hello stripedcat
For a young family with a 2 year old boy what area in berlin would you recommend?
Our criterias are:
- Safe and Family friendly
- Near International Nursery/Kindergarten (French or English)
- Convenient to anywhere in town (Near U or S bahn) to go out to restaurant, cafes, bars
- Near hypermarket or supermarket
- Good Value for Money for Rent or Purchase (60m2 for 500 euro/month or 80k euro)
I heard about Charlottenburg, Savigny Platz, Prenzlauer Berg, Friedrichshain…
What do you think? Any comments or suggestions?
Thanks for your kind help
Kai
Hi Kai!
by looking at the tag cloud you can see we’re strong supporters of West Berlin, especially Schoeneberg
But we also like a lot Wilmersdorf, Zehlendorf, Steglitz…
Portions of Wilmersdorf and almost 100% of Schoneberg are also very close to the S-bahn ring.
We do not know so well Charlottenburg, but our impression is that it is such a big Bezirk that you can find in it excellent Kiez (=village atmosphere) such as the famous Savigny Platz as well as a few no man’s land areas.
So as with any Bezirk in Berlin, you have to check by yourself and test your guts feeling!
Prenzl’berg is definitely very famous (Pregnancy Hill) for families, but we like less its hype, that means, prices. Check out the Berlin newspapers…there are pros and cons.
Check out these posts:
The haberdashery factor on this blog
and
http://berlinromexpress.wordpress.com/2009/05/02/socialize-this/
on our sister blog BerlinRomExpress for a comprehensive Social Atlas we found on the local german press…
I hope it helps and bon courage!! Did you see that Berlin was just crowned Number 10 Best City for the quality of living?
ciaooo and thank you for stopping by at our virtual Flat in Berlin!
StripedCat and MeinMann