Blogging is a hobby. That is fact, and if one likes his hobby, the person takes the time to do it.
I have neglected the blogging part for quite a long period of time and will really try to not let it happen again. That I will try to solve either by preparing content in advance and posting at least every 10-15 days, I have more than enough material. So what has happened from February 2018 until today… well let’s start:
I turned 36 in October so I am officially middle aged in accordance with EU Commission guidelines,
I visited Silverthorne, Colorado, USA for a Rotary visit and a ski-trip (it was awesome and will get it’s own blog post),
Did a Porsche trip for CarVia Friends and Family over the Alpine passes from Germany to Italy and back through Switzerland, it was… amazing.
I visited Moscow, Russia – also great.
I cut up my hand in Croatia, learned a lot about the medical system in Croatia and luckily got my finger stitched back together by a surgeon.
Business started to really take off in Germany so my typical working day is 12-14 hours and I am looking to finally expand the German team to make our working hours normal again.
Had about 30 other experiences from Octoberfest, Conferences, Love, Disappointment, Smiles, Cries and WTF moments, all noted down and ready to be blogged about, coming soon.
Going on a 3 week trekking vacation in Argentina in November in the hopes to recharge the batteries for the next round.
Quit smoking (a few times this year).
Got worried about my health, possibly through stress and work combined with low levels of exercise and junk food eating regime, something I am changing actively for the last 2 months.
I have a lot of notes written down, so there will be stuff to blog about, but a special category I am adding is:
Taxi stories
Why? Well, about a month ago I had the coolest taxi ride of my life – it involved a random young blonde, a blind gentleman in his 50s and one of the coolest taxi drivers. I hope I will be able to describe the story, but it was amazing and inspiring. Joy of live in its purest form. And Taxi stories should be it’s own category, since, even though I never mentioned that, I ride taxis wherever in the world I am and sometimes the stories are amazing, either just the stories the taxi drivers have, why and how they to it, where they are from or what they want to do. So these I have plenty of – the crazy drugged up rickshaw driver in Udaipur in India where we needed to catch the train and it was like a Need for Speed game and extremely dangerous, but we did it to the fight with the Cuban taxi drivers, to the cool driver in Kraljevo in Serbia… plenty to tell and plenty to write about. Coming soon to the blog page near you 🙂
What I do kindly ask of you, drop me a comment below this post, having active readers makes me more active in taking the time, to write a story or two of mine, I would love a confirmation that you enjoy reading my blog. Take care, Jan
I knew that being a foreigner, obviously not being a native German speaker and running a company with the HO in Slovenia might be an issue in the DACH market to some of our would-be clients even in today´s international environment.
I was not wrong, personally I experienced mixed or negative responses to my origin, but it did not leave me feeling too negative about it, as I tend to be sceptical of foreigners providing services or products, which is a trait I am not proud of, but I guess it comes with being human and having a certain perception or stereotype of a nation. Since I caught myself behaving in such a way on several occasions, I do not really blame people having the same initial response, and you can never really keep everyone happy, right.
So recently I had an experience where we were offering a solution to a client that really can benefit from it, so business case wise it is not an issue, however, we did the initial introductions (after the product was already presented to them by their IT consultant) via telephone. After the phone call, the CEO of the company said she will investigate our competitors and let us know. We knew there are no competitors that would offer this solution, at least not for that market price and outputs, but still, a month went by. Indirectly we found out that an issue was with my German on the phone call, so this resulted in scepticism. It is not a big deal that would be of strategic importance, however it is a very nice showcase how a client may benefit from our solutions and really save time, effort and operational costs when doing business. My colleague and I decided to meet the CEO in person and proposed a meeting.
We met, and I believe we left a good impression, that may potentially result in a bit broader scope of our services as initially anticipated, but we will see how the decision on the client side will go. Whichever way it turns out it is a clear indication that business is based on trust, which must be part of the package, no matter if your solution is really the best or the most competitive on the market. And I understand that, I cannot take it personally, even though I would very much rather have it the other way around, without prejudice as a global environment should be. This is part of doing business and if meeting people in person to try and get rid of that issue, I have no problem with that. We are here for the long term and building trust and reputation is something that one cannot achieve overnight.
My expectations for the future lie clear – there will be several more cases where our HO or my origins will lead to a trust issue with clients, surprisingly with larger clients this tends to not really be an issue since they are used to working with foreign companies and foreigners. For smaller companies I do believe they might be more conservative and that doubts will always be there. On my part I take it as a mission to prove ourselves and every such attempt will make us better, able to learn more and improve our communication and presentation for even the most sceptical clients. So, a friendly advice on my part – expect everything and if you are confident about your products or service, keep on persisting, it will show on the results and over the years you will manage to build up a brand and awareness of your company and these doubts will fade away through recommendations, good practices and happy clients.
The only thing that keeps bugging me in my mind is – would it have been different if I was from England, Switzerland, France, Austria? Who knows, I think probably yes, but possibly not. In the end it does not really make a difference to me, I know who I am, who we are and that we deliver quality in an efficient way. Therefore, persisting is the only way for me.
I will end this post with a quote attributed (but disputed) to Winston Churchill: “Success is all about going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm.”
So after a really intense few weeks of work (and working or sleeping most of the weekends as well), I finally got a chance to spend the first weekend in February on a more social note. This meaning taking a ski trip to Spitzingsee – Tegernsee to finally brush up on my skiing before I go to the states, which was an experience deserving it´s own blog post, visiting a home party of my coworker, which ended up in myself, my friend and his friend going to a Balkan Party in Munich.
I was certain for quite a while that Balkan parties exist in Munich as it has a strong presence of people from former Yugoslav nations, so the question was only – where and when do they actually happen. Luckily on that day someone wrote in the FB group Slovenians in Munich if someone else will go to that concert/party in one of Munich clubs, I immediately checked it out and of course knew exactly that I need to try and end up there if the social evening would result in going out to party. And what an experience it was, I loved every moment of it with a smile.
So what exactly is a balkan party anyway? Basically it´s a lot of music, of course from the Balkan area and if you understand the lyrics it´s quite heart warming if you combine it with some alcohol for the soul. What I love about that is also that so many nations have this common point through which we can connect, no matter where we are. A big part of that is also dancing, something I love to do, but missed in Germany for the most part, as people tend to hang out in bars rather than going to dance clubs and just hitting the dancefloor (but it does happen, of course). Also with balkan you get high intensity, the moment we came to the entrance of the club, we heard a glass break and a woman shouthing that no, it wasn´t her that smashed the glass. Once we entered, I went to the bar to order drinks, did my best in german, but the bartender looked at me and she asked: Sprichst du Balkan? Which basically means – do you speak Balkan? Balkan of course is not a language, but the languages are so similar that any will do to order a drink. Once we established that, I could wave from the biggest crowd and drinks were on the way, thats´s how balkan parties work, with a small tip included of course. At the moment the first drink was served, a fight happened right next to me, it was basically a woman beating the hell out of a guy that was twice her size, not really sure what he did, but it was surely something really out of bounds. I carefully protected the drinks, she broke his tooth, after that security pulled them apart and the party could go on.
It was amazing fun, the whole club knowing the words to the songs and the dancefloor was crowded, I stayed until the end with a big smile on my face. A great experience, reminded me of home, even though that in Slovenia it is not often that you find a club with “balkan” music, there are a few, but the main ones frown upon such music. Well truth be told, we always end up in such clubs in the end.
What is interesting is that every weekend this club attracts well known performers from Serbia, Croatia, so it is on the map and also on my go-to list if I go and party it out again in Munich. Which might not be so soon, as the hangover from the vodka-redbulls on sunday was really, really bad and once again (as every 1-2 years) I swore I will not drink that mix again. Ever. Until next time.
Of course without a photo gallery, any such party would make no sense for women to put on their hottest dresses and make-up, so to get a feeling on how it looked, you can click that link and check our the photos. But photos alone will never give you the experience of the vibe you feel at such a party, so visiting is your best bet, I promise you will not be disappointed if you are just looking to celebrate life.
This club is one of the bigger ones I saw in Munich so far, it has a lounge bar, a dance floor, an upper floor and a smoking area, so something for everyone. You can check out future events and concerts here. Also remember that respect is key, respect the ladies and the guys and everyone will be happy and you will have a great time. Even if you spill drinks on the really biggest and baddest guy in the club, he will understand, but being annoying may get you hurt, especially with the ladies, that´s the balkan way.
So living in Munich is something you may be considering. Everything looks great on paper, salaries seem good, living standards are high and a lot is going on. Munich seems like one of the places you want to be living in if you want to see the world happening first hand.
However, relocating to Munich brings with it a challenge, with which many are faced only after making the decision or already making the last steps before coming here. Where to live in Munich?
Nope, you can forget living in a place like this 🙂
You might have already heard that, but I can confirm, real estate in Munich is expensive. When I was first doing research in 2014, I was surprised at how high rent prices seemed to be for apartments, so I was thinking that maybe an even better option would be to just go ahead and buy an apartment and consider it an investment. Well I was in for a nasty surprise. Housing in Munich is insanely expensive, one could argue that, except for some elite locations in Germany, real estate in Munich is the most expensive in Germany. And rightfully so. If you already live in one of the world global hubs like Singapore, London, Paris, New York, San Francisco, then you will not be shocked at the prices, but for myself, coming from a capital of another EU country, I was surprised at the fact how high the prices were for (often) mediocre real estate.
For the last 10 years real estate prices in Munich have been on the rise and there is much more demand than there is supply. Even though you can see so many construction sites in Munich, the prices are rising substantially every year. This is of course due to the influx of new people moving to the city due to the rise of open positions to be filled, for which there is not enough supply in the local population, so companies are turning to the global markets for experts, the best paid jobs being mostly in the IT sector. Here is some general official statistics for the city of Munich. But be careful, what may be a good salary on paper, may diminish quickly if you are used to living in a normal sized apartment on your own. For high end jobs usually the employer will offer to set up housing for a certain period of time, after that you are on your own.
So, once you are here (or ideally before you arrive), you have three main options on how to live:
A shared accommodation (WG or Wohngemeinschaft) – so if you are younger or do not have problems sharing a flat or a house with others, then this might be your best option. Typically a WG will cost you anywhere between 500 and 800€ per month total, so it is one of the most affordable options for living.
The second option and also by far the hardest to come by is renting an apartment. Usually when an ad for an apartment is posted, people tend to receive a few hundred applications in the first few hours. You can use an agency or try to rent it on your own. Often competing for an apartment means you will have to convince the landlord that you are the best option (if you make it that far). That means providing your employment contract, credit history and basically making the landlord like you as much as possible. A typical rent for an apartment (heating costs, electricity and communal fee included) in Munich will set you back between 900€ for a tiny studio apartment and 2.300€ for a nicely furnished apartment of about 65m2 in one of the more posh and central areas of the city (i.e. Schwabing), prices have no upper limit of course, but an average 50m2 apartment will set you back somewhere between 1.200€ and 1.500€, if you will be lucky enough to be chosen. Most of the apartments are rented out empty with no furniture or equipment, kitchen and bathroom are of course installed. So you need to include the cost of furniture into your financial estimate. Moving companies do big business in Munich with the constant flow of people, so sometimes people also give away stuff or sell it really cheap when they move. If you are on the money-saving side you may profit from various give-away, just pick it up web pages and you will find a lot of good stuff cheap on ebay. Also when you move this is a great option to get rid of the stuff you do not want to take with you.
Renting a house – by far the best value for money, but also an expensive option. Houses are a lot easier to come by, since there is not that much demand for them and you can rent a house for about 1.800€ and up per month. Of course there is no upper limit here as well, depending on the location, furniture, estate, etc. A nice house will set you back between 2.200 to 3.300€.
If you are smart you can rent a few rooms out in the house, preferably to people who spend only little time in Munich (you have those as well), so you will mostly be on your own but can push the costs of the house to other people as WG and end up paying almost nothing if anything extra for your own accommodation.
Buying real estate – the final option if you plan to be here long and are a bit on the speculative side. There is a lot of talk of the Munich real estate bubble, but it has been growing for years. The price for a square meter might come as a shocker. The statistic is somewhere betweeen 7.500€ and up for a square meter. Typically you can consider that for something normal it will be 10k€ and up. From my experience a central apartment near Marienplatz, owned by a young millionaire has 200 square meters with a terrace and is worth about 25k€ per square meter – so totalling 5 million EUR.
Rent contracts usually have a three month up-front security payment for events of damages or unpaid rent and a three month termination period. If you are looking to rent for less than one year, that will make you less desirable in the eyes of landlords. Also, expect that rent contracts are done in advance, which means you might need to wait for a month or two to move in after you find a place.
You can also check many Facebook groups where you can also sub-rent an apartment when somebody goes abroad for a few months, you can get an apartment for a shorter period of time, this is of course only a temporary option before you get settled and know your way around if you plan to stick around Munich for a longer period of time.
Here are a few that might come in handy, get your google translate ready if you do not yet write and understand German:
Not so long ago the prices of real estate in smaller cities or suburban areas were substantially cheaper but in the last year or two, they have gone up and now rent out only a little bit cheaper than the city area, usually when you add the amount of time you will need to spend travelling to and from work and the (public transport or gas) costs, it makes more sense to look for something in the city.
So the real estate market is tough, sometimes there are cases when people bribe the real estate agents to get selected for the apartment, even though that is illegal, what you can expect to give out (especially if you really really like the place) is somewhere between 2.000 and 4.000€. In cold, hard cash of course.
When I was driving home from work yesterday, there was an interesting political speech about how people from Munich have enough of being intimidated by rising real estate prices due to speculative investors buying up properties. The sad fact is that if you are somewhere in the middle-class income segment, you can forget about buying real estate. Especially if you do not have credit history in Germany and a really good job. Making between 4.000 to 7.000 Gross monthly income and unmarried will net you somewhere between 2.400 and 3.900€ per month. So you can do the math on your own. You can play with numbers here.
So the city is growing and population is growing fast as well. Infrastructure and real-estate investments are unable to keep up with the demand at the moment. Unemployment is extremely low, some estimates even set it at about 1.5% for the city itself.
Many of the original Munich inhabitants have already moved out of the city and decided to rent out their real estate. You also have cases where people have really low rents due to the fact that the city provided long-term rent guarantees to people in the 80´s and I think also the 90´s in order to attract people to the city. Many of these people signed contracts for several decades and still have low rents of a few hundred EUR. They often sub-let their apartments to newcomers and relocate somewhere else.
There is, however, a great trick if you have a place in Munich, that can make you a substantial amount of money. Often people use that option – Oktoberfest. During that time many people rent-out their apartments via Airbnb to the massive number of tourists coming to visit the city. They use the money to take a vacation and when they come back, they still bag a nice profit. A nice example was a friend of mine, he sub-rented his apartment to 6 guys coming for two weeks for 11k€, went on vacation with his girlfriend, spent about 4k€, he was left with a nice 7k€ profit that he pocketed. If you have a house at your disposal, that might be a nice option. Usually people spend most of the time on Oktoberfest and by the time they come home they just fall asleep.
There, I hope this posts helps you understand the real estate situation in Munich a bit better and gives you an idea what to expect on the real-estate market. Good luck with finding a nice, cosy place to stay that will help you miss home less when you relocate to Munich.
My life, my stories, your fun read
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