# Buying Property in Germany



## Überling (Mar 18, 2021)

Hello all. I’m a retired US ex-pat with a German wife hoping to buy a house in Germany. It seems OFX is probably the best way to get large quantities of US dollars converted to euros and deposited to my German bank account. It worked pretty well for buying a car.

But a house is a lot more expensive, and apparently the banks charge a hefty fee just for holding money over €25,000 per person on the account, which means my wife and I can have €50,000 in the account without incurring a fee. Does this basically mean I have to transfer funds totaling under €50k, withdraw the funds in cash, then make another transfer of the same amount, and rinse and repeat until I have the total amount for the house purchase? That sounds neither practical nor secure. Getting a loan is apparently unlikely, since what bank is going to lend money to an older foreigner, or even his retired German wife? 

I can’t be the first ex-pat to run into this problem. Does anyone have a better option?

Thanks, 
Derek


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