Conjunction junction, what’s your function?

October 16, 2006 · Filed Under Uncategorized 

This post has been updated to include new information and make that information clearer!

I just discovered the Schoolhouse Rocks! website. Had fun in Regensburg this weekend, but now comes the hard part. How do I pick a new abode? I need advice, so I thought I’d ask my friends in the Blogosphere. Anyways, here are our options, I’ll put them in order that we viewed them:

(1) Laaber
Floor (American counting): Ground floor apartment
Size: 4 rooms, 100 qm (about 1000 square feet/rooms in Germany is room count excluding kitchen, bathroom, hallways, storage, etc, so this is a 3 bedroom apartment with a living room)
Monthly rent w/utilities: € 650
Balcony: south-facing terrace
Garden: Yes, a very large one with apple and plum trees; not fenced but owner’s will let us fence it in
Condition: floors and walls need to be renovated
Distance to city: 20 minutes walking down one hill and up another to train station, 20 minutes on train (Year ticket = € 550); or 30 km with car
Neighborhood: On the top of a large hill in Laaber, a picturesque, small village of 3,000 people. Located in a valley with the Laaber River running through. Has castle ruins and exposed rocks on the hillsides - very pretty - the kind of place Germans take vacations to. Locals were friendly. Playground across the street from apartment, kindergarten 100 m down the hill. We would be highest apartment on hill, so the wooded top of the hill would be a good place for walking Charlie off-leash. Snow plow does not always make it up the hill right away (by German standards - I was snowed in plenty as a child growing up in the DC area, so it would be more like that). Down in the valley are plenty of shops and restaurants.

The view from (1)

(2) Regensburg-Prüfening
Floor (American counting): 4th floor apartment, no elevator - that’s a lot of steps for someone with a bad back to carry up possible future little people.
Size: 4 rooms, 92 qm (about 920 square feet); dryer will not fit in bathroom (can’t be stacked - water heater is located above area for washer)
Monthly rent w/utilities: € 900
Balcony: south-facing balcony
Garden: No
Condition: beautiful, dark laminate floors
Distance to city: Bus stop is 5 minutes away, 10 minutes on bus to city center (Year ticket = € 550)
Neighborhood: Kinda ugly. Full of high-rises built in the 60’s. One neighbor we asked for directions was pretty unfriendly. Parks and Donau nearby, but no place for Charlie to run off-leash. Kitchen has view of Donau river between neighboring high-rises. Small mall nearby.

(3) Sinzing
Floor (American counting): Two-story house
Size: 130 qm not including a finished basement (about 1300 square feet + basement)
Monthly rent w/utilities: € 1150
Balcony: two small terraces
Garden: Small, landscaped (ie, not for Charlie)
Condition: beautiful, parquet floors
Distance to city: Train station is 5 minutes away, 8 minutes on train to city center (Year ticket = € 550)
Neighborhood: Very posh - may put pressure on us because we aren’t posh types. This is a budget buster - we won’t be eating out or having any other luxeries here. Not sure we would fit in since we don’t drive -or have desire to drive- big Audis or BMWs and we’ll have no disposable income.

(4) Regensburg-Grass
Floor (American counting): 3rd floor in 4-family house
Size: 115 qm, 4 rooms (about 1150 square feet)
Monthly rent w/utilities: € 880
Balcony: large south-facing - spans entire south side of apartment
Garden: shared with neighbors
Condition: Parquet floors
Distance to city: 50m to bus stop, or 30 minutes by foot to University (Year ticket = € 550)
Neighborhood: No stores in Grass, didn’t notice any doctors either, but University-Klinik is nearby.

(5) Regensburg-Burgweinting
Floor (American counting): Rowhouse
Size: unknown
Monthly rent w/utilities: will probably be over € 1000 (apartments are € 900)
Balcony: small terrace
Garden: medium-sized and fenced in
Condition: New
Distance to city: Bus stop nearby, 10 minutes by bus to city center (Year ticket = € 550)
Neighborhood: We didn’t get an appointment, so could only walk around neighborhood; we’d have to go back and look again. It is a new development that is near completion. Diverse restaurants and regular and asian supermarket all nearby. Near to Siemens, so probably all the neighbors work there.

(6) Donaustauf
Floor (American counting): 2nd floor
Size: 124 qm, 4 rooms
Monthly rent w/utilities: € 900 warm
Balcony: big south facing
Garden: None
Condition: New
Distance to city: Bus stop nearby, 20 minutes by bus to city center (Year ticket = € 550)
Neighborhood: Village is okay but nothing special, wood paneling on ceiling. Owners are really nice.

My thoughts are that (1) Laaber’s atmosphere is great, but it’ll be a big initial investment into someone else’s property, but after that we can save a lot with the low rent. (4) Regensburg-Grass is close to the University, so Rainer won’t even need a month card. (5) Regensburg-Burgweinting has everything we might want nearby, but we would have to go back and we don’t know the prices. (3) Sinzing is probably my last choice. I’d rather have disposable income than live in a posh place. The others are okay with me. Don’t take my lack of description as anything, I’ve got a dentist appointment in 15 minutes and wanted to finish writing this up before going, so my writing is getting progressively terse. So help me out, any thoughts?

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9 Responses to “Conjunction junction, what’s your function?”

  1. Anonymous on October 16th, 2006 1:52 pm

    Hi, Christina,

    how is the renter’s market in the town you’re looking at? Meaning if you decide you want apartment X, is it as good as yours or are there so many renters that you might not get your first or second choices?

    4 sounds like my favorite, without having been there.

    It looks like the answer is “no”, but were any of the places ground-floor apartments with a piece of fenced-in yard that belongs to the apartment? I have a large dog myself, and although I walk him 3 times a day, it’s nice to have the luxury of opening the door and letting him outside whenever he wants. Especially if little people might be in your near future. I’m sure you know that little people require about 30 hours of attention per day, leaving the family dog somewhere on 4th or 5th place as far as quality time. And little people would enjoy a small yard with a sandbox and a swing, too.

    5 might have something along those lines.

    It’s not easy, is it?

    Anonymous-M.

  2. Christina on October 16th, 2006 2:57 pm

    Hi Anon-M, it is definitely not easy! I’m not sure about renter competition. Okay, (1) has been empty since summer, so I guess it’s no problem. (4) and (6) both had other couples there looking, but (4) called this morning to accept us (I think, if I understood him correctly-Rainer needs to call back tonight and reconfirm) and (6) spent at least twice as much time talking to us as to the other couple and the wife said she always wanted a dog and asked if they’d be able to take him along with them on Sunday walks.

    As for large dogs and possible little people, (1) would probably be the clear winner. Nice, small town atmosphere. Huge yard that the owner said we could fence in (another investment-must look into cost of fencing), playground across the street, kindergarten 100m away, school 200m away, no traffic (we’d be the highest house up), plenty of woods to play in.

    (5) would be a runner up. But it depends on the price and requires another trip.

    (4) and (6) are about equal, with (4) being close to Rainer’s work, and (6) having super nice owners/downstairs neighbors.

    So,
    (1) = country life
    (4) = close to work
    (5) = suburban life with asian market nearby
    (6) = super nice neighbors

    Boy, I wish there had been a clear cut winnner!

  3. vailian on October 16th, 2006 3:06 pm

    I would go for (4), especially at the beginning I don’t know if I would get involved in a lot renovation and a long commute, would make it harder to integrate. The money you save on the rent you spend on the transport. And stairs are good excercise— my apartment is like the 4th,5th, and 6th floor of a high old house so if nothing else I have strong legs.
    But most important, never take advice from anyone you have never met!

  4. Stacy McMahon on October 16th, 2006 6:54 pm

    The suburban one sounds nicest to me, and is something like 2/3 the rent of the next cheapest place. Would the train cost 250 euros/month?

    Me only other thought is that if you like doing downtown stuff, maybe you should stay downtown and enjoy it before babies come along :-)

  5. Christina on October 16th, 2006 8:29 pm

    A year pass on the train is €550, or €50 a month. This would be required for all places but (4). All places would be a combo of walking/public transport, so there would be no more costs in transportation regarding all other apartments, except that if we live in or very near to the city, I would probably be going in more and need my own pass.

    And the suburban place with yard will probably be the most expensive (excluding (2)), while the country place is €300 a month cheaper than the others. That’s €3,600/year and it would go a long way towards saving up for a house of our own.

    I dunno. I keep going back and forth on this.

  6. rita on October 16th, 2006 9:01 pm

    judging by the church in your picture, you are heading to bavaria. how about passau?

  7. Grafs on October 18th, 2006 12:35 am

    Nothing beats disposable income. I bought way below my means to have it. My thought is, never trap yourself monetarily if you can help it.

  8. Christina on October 18th, 2006 10:27 am

    @rita: Sorry, good guess though. I can’t believe you could pick out the church in that picture! Good eyes! Rainer says the hills gave away that it wasn’t Leipzig, so I wasn’t being very secretive to anyone who might be reading at the Uni there. So, yeah, Leipzig was a possibility, and I lobbied hard for it, I even tried once during our apartment hunting in Regensburg! (Me: “Just think Rainer, we could have a nice house in Leipzig , no problem!”) But Regensburg’s offer was just much better.

    @grafs: I agree. Disposable income is much more fun than having a tight budget.

  9. Christina on October 20th, 2006 9:51 am

    So, we picked (1) Laaber. Let the renovation fun commence!

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