Without me?!

Since Joern does not work in an office, his job provides some amount of freedom that mine does not. So, since work is slowing down a bit for the holidays for Joern, and he needs to use the time while he waits for me at work, he has been visiting some home companies.
His first visit was this Monday. He visited the home company his parents used 20 years ago to build their house. Unfortunately, his visit was quite discouraging. Turns out that building a house with them would cost close to a million dollars. Bleh! So, although I was sad that Joern went without me, I would have been really depressed leaving that company.
When Joern came to pick me up from work yesterday, he was in a great mood, and told me he saw a wonderful house, well in our price range. He went to the house park we visited in April. This time, he stumbled into a model home we had not visited. Turns out, the model was beautiful, and looked to be just about what we wanted. Joern had a very good conversation with the company representative, and had an excellent feeling about the company. We are looking forward to further meetings with the company, and plan on returning to the model home, with me, in January!

Previously owned or newly built?

Germans are much more excited about building their own homes than Americans. Most often, fist-time buyers are also first-time builders. Like with their cars, Germans seem to still enjoy the ability to tailor-make their homes to their specifications. Yes, many Americans purchase newly built homes too, but they are usually purchased as a part of a sub-division or planned community. American new homes tend to be pre-planned, and the buyers get to choose carpets, flooring, cabinets, paint, etc. In Germany, there are few opportunities to purchase a new-built like Americans can, here, a new-buiid tends to actually involve working directly with an architect to plan your dream home. Unfortunately, most people cannot afford their dream home when they are in their 20's and early 30's, and most home building ends as a compromise.
Here are a few of the new-built homes we've seen on the internet that we like so far:

image from: www.innovahaus.de

image from: www.weberhaus.de

image from: www.schwedenhaus.de

image from: www.bostonhaus.de

Because I know we would not get to have every detail we would like, I would not mind buying a previously owned house. The problem here though is that in Germany, frequently, only extremely old houses are extraordinarily cool. We looked at a house that was built in the 1600s, although it required tons of work, then end product would be incredible. If you buy a house from the 50's, 60's or 70's, you end up with a very compartmentalized home. They tend to be very dark and have little natural light. Some though are also quite nice:



all above images from: www.immobielienscout24.de

As you can see, we really have lots of decisions to make. So far, we only are certain that we want a yard and a single family house. But, many, many previously-owned and new-builds fill these two criteria! Fortunately, we have lots of time to decide!

Welcome to our new blog!

Well, it seems like we're really beginning a new chapter in our lives. What better way to celebrate, than with a new blog? Since this blog probably won't be updated as much as my regular blog, I thought it would be best to simply devote an entire new blog to our new home adventure.
Let me start with a brief introduction.
Joern and I have been married for 7 1/2 years. On Christmas Day 2008, I will celebrate my 7th moving overseas anniversary. Although my move to Germany was not my first experience living overseas, it was by far my most challenging. I spent a semester in Dubin my junior year of college. My first two years here, we lived with Joern's parents. Its not as bad as it sounds though, we had our own separate floor in their house. For the past five years though, we have been living in a small, but beautiful apartment. Part of me would like to live in the apartment forever. It has only one bedroom, but it is perfect for us. The apartment is full of natural light, and cozy. I feel immediately happy when I walk through my door.
We do need to move on though for a few reasons. We would like a dog, and you cannot have one in our building. We would like a yard. Most importantly though, we would like to have kids soon, and right now, we have no room for a little one. So, we have decided it is time to start our search for a new home. We're of course extrememly excited and a little nervous. There is so much out there, and so much to learn before you buy a house. I hope that we can make the best decision, as this will be our home for quite a long time!
I hope you enjoy following along on our journey to owning a home. If you find as you read this, that you have any experience you would like to share, please feel free to post a comment. My comments will be open to everyone, because we will gladly take all the advice we can get!