The Truth: Happy Money Cutters

There will definitely be fireworks again next Saturday. It then bangs and shines like last year at the opening ceremony of the Immocation Festival in the Leipzig exhibition hall, where the truth was there. An AI-generated video will be played showing people with happy faces between fancy houses and big cars.

“Welcome to Workflow City!” a voice booms through the hall and a speaker enters the stage. "It's nice that you're all here," he shouts, "many of you are already residents of our city, where money is raining from the rooftops. Hello to you! And others are here to become part of our community. Congratulations on making the decision. In the next two days you'll find out how you too can become rich with real estate."

Events like Immocation are aimed at private investors who want to network and get involved in the real estate market. It is not aimed at the building savings contract generation, but is aimed primarily at young men who dream of making quick money.

Influencers no longer just tout their surefire deals with stocks or cryptocurrencies, but also give tips on how to become a real estate millionaire as quickly as possible. The movement's guru is Gerald Hörhan from Vienna, who calls himself an “investment punk”, combs his thinning hair into a kind of mohawk and is always present at events like the one in Leipzig with his so-called “Academy”. His last book: "The One-Room Millionaire. How you can't stop yourself from becoming rich."

Who is also here: Sven Schwarzat. He is in his mid-thirties and has already been the protagonist of various documentaries that deal with particularly blatant rip-offs by Schwarzat Capital GmbH of tenants in Leipzig. Normally he is not available for interviews, but he is now making an exception for the taz. You can experience him here at the Immocation among his peers, he writes in advance by email.

Schwarzat was a pioneer in “optimizing” student shared apartments. By installing partition walls yourself, an apartment with four rooms becomes one with eight. It is no longer the square meters that determine the rental price, but rather the discretion of the landlord.

If you confront Schwarzat about it, he remains completely calm. This practice is now commonplace, he says when we meet in a small champagne bar at the immocation. He had just passed a trade fair stand where software was being offered that completely redesigns and divides apartments in every conceivable configuration, guaranteeing maximum returns. “She does it better than I did in my best times,” says Schwarzat, almost wistfully.

Into the festival hustle and bustle. Exhibitors include tax consultants, project developers, everyone you need on your way to the top of the real estate business. Location, location, location is good, plus avoiding taxes is better.

Ikea and XXXLutz are also there. For equipping furnished rooms with fantasy rents, currently the megatrend in the real estate scene. And a company from Luxembourg offers mailboxes; the luxury model has space for up to 100 address tags.

In a workshop that you end up in by chance, the topic is how to drive out tenants with annoying old rental agreements that only disrupt the planned sale of the apartment. The coach advises the interested audience that there is no need to release rats or fake construction site noise. This is mostly about old buildings, where something always breaks or the heating fails. And then, according to his advice: just do nothing and don't respond to any emails, no matter how pleading.

"You then have to stay tough. Pity is the enemy of returns," said the coach. Only when doing nothing at all does not make the tenants capitulate should one turn to “slightly dirtier methods”.

The festival is ideal for practical tips like this, says an investor at the closing party who came all the way from Stuttgart with his friend. One calls himself Immo-Karl, the other Wucher-Schorsch, and there is also a sense of self-irony in the scene. At some point it will be about Berlin and the expropriation plans there. The one who calls himself Usury-Schorsch starts to laugh.

"Look around," he says, "the atmosphere is great. With us the money flows, we are agile, the others are slow. Join us, or remain a tenant and go under."

Sven Schwarzat is still here, surrounded by excited young men who look as if they want to apply for one of his student shared apartments. They all want his autographs. The fireworks continue.