We got 1.6% locked in for 15 years (and fully amortized!) in Germany, when we were lucky enough to finally beat out the wannabe landlords on our fourth offer, a

We got 1.6% locked in for 15 years (and fully amortized!) in Germany, when we were lucky enough to finally beat out the wannabe landlords on our fourth offer, and then only because the seller had strong enough neighborhood ties that she didn't want to present her longtime friends and neighbors with a string of random renters, so she and her son were willing to wait a few days for our financing. We also had the good fortune to have done this in 2015, when you could still occasionally find a rowhouse in a close-in suburb near transit for a non-insane amount of money. I feel for my younger colleagues.