New building inspection (in Dortmund)
Photo: imagoI know from my own experience that things can go wrong with money. I bought a stake in a ship once and kept it until freight rates plummeted a few years later. I still have 200 Nokia shares in my securities account, a holdover from the wild days of the New Economy, when Nokia was briefly Europe's most valuable company.
But my family and I can live well with such bad investments. Because our two property purchases more than offset them.
When we recently talked to neighbors about the increased prices, everyone looked around with satisfaction.
We were lucky, no question about it. And the right timing. When we recently talked to neighbors about the increased prices in the area, everyone looked around with satisfaction: We don't just live for free. We even get money.
How does it work? I don't have a recipe for it, but I have a story, my own.
We bought our first own four walls in Hamburg in 2003 when our rented apartment became too small for living with a second child. A few months didn't matter, that helped. We could search until an apartment met our wishes and criteria: four rooms, quiet street, small private garden, close to the subway, not far from the city center.
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