I'm Alexander. I live with my family in Värmland, in the middle of Sweden — on a farm with three hectares of land, forest right outside the door, and more quiet and freedom than we could once have imagined. But that isn't how it started.
How it all began
In mid-2020 we set off — my wife, me, our one-year-old child and our dog Laika, with a caravan. We came from the Sauerland region in western Germany. Life in Germany felt narrow back then, and we wanted a place for our children where everyday life was light and open again: out in nature, space, ordinary days. We looked into where that still exists, and we ended up in Sweden, where life was carrying on.
It was meant as a short break, maybe two months. Then we rented a place over the winter. Two months turned into two years, and by now it's six. Sweden has become our home.
From a stopgap to a profession
The start wasn't easy. I wrote countless job applications and at first got mostly rejections. Out of that situation I made a decision that changed everything: I used our savings to buy a small house in northern Sweden. We lived in it, fixed it up, cleared it out, tended the grounds. After about a year I listed it online, and sold it.
In that moment it was clear to me: this is not just a stopgap. This can be my profession.
What followed was an intense apprenticeship. In around a year and a half we moved four or five times — each house a new project, each move a lesson in how the Swedish housing market really works: how to find properties, how a purchase runs, what the authorities want, what to watch out for. I didn't learn this from books. I learned it by living it, house by house.
Until we finally found our own place: the farm we are renovating today. Three hectares of land, our own forest, freedom. This is where we stay.
How I work today
All of that became Rabenfels. I buy houses in Sweden and sell them on, to people who are often standing exactly where I once stood: with a dream, and with the question of whether they can really manage it on their own.
These are my own houses, not the brokering of other people's properties. I name known faults openly, before you ask. How much has already been done to a house varies from one to the next: for one, clearing it out and tidying the grounds is enough; another needs more work. You'll know where things stand before you buy.
And I don't leave you alone with the rest: I guide you through the process in English, so you don't have to fight your way through a foreign language and unfamiliar authorities.
I know the step you may be facing — I took it myself. Today I live the life many people dream of, and I'm glad to help make it doable for you too.