70s existing property, unrenovated, as a rental object

Hello everyone,

in advance: This is currently a purely hypothetical consideration.

Next year we might have the opportunity to purchase an existing property (a transitional house where we currently live) for a fairly small amount of money.
If we consider it, we would like to spruce up the house a bit and rent it out as 2 separate apartments.
An argument in favor is that the purchase price will probably be very low - but no one knows for sure yet.
Against it is that the house is currently an energy disaster and has quite a lot of "shoddy workmanship" otherwise.
I’d say the idea would only become interesting if the estimated price / purchase price stays somewhere in the five-digit range.
One couldn’t charge high rents in the region either. An unrenovated property from the 70s rents on average between 6-7€ per m². There would probably be interest, but you couldn’t demand high rents.
One apartment would be 82m², the other 90m².

There are 2 separate electricity meters and an oil heating system. The oil heating would probably have to go.
Before moving in, we already did a few small cosmetic repairs. We spruced up one bathroom a bit, replaced the toilets in the bathrooms. Laminated flooring laid in the living rooms of both apartments. Installed a kitchen in one apartment. Wallpapered / painted in places. That’s that.

What would definitely have to be done:
- Exchange heating system - (?) - it’s currently oil, accordingly expensive and environmentally harmful. I would like something renewable, but a heat pump alone doesn’t work with this insulation standard here. The oil heating still works for now.
- Bathrooms probably need to be renovated. So far we only spruced them up visually, but for something more long-term they need to be refurbished. The bathrooms are small (each 7-8m²). Currently, the shower in the bathroom of the upper floor apartment is sealed off, as apparently water leaks into the ceiling when used. So something is leaking. Whether it’s the shower is not 100% clear, but water runs somewhere into the ceiling, so the bathrooms probably need to be completely renewed and the drywall panels in the ground floor bathroom ceiling must be completely replaced due to staining from water damage.
- Energy renovation? Apparently some insulation is already in the roof. I think the windows would probably have to be replaced. In the stairwell there is an area of 2-3 m² of those awful glass blocks that definitely need to go. Maybe one should look at this with an energy consultant to see where the biggest "holes to patch" are. I’ve noticed the house cools down fast, we currently heat some rooms on low setting. The comparison with our previous KFW55 house is of course not fair.
- Get rid of the bucket. :D As mentioned, the house is partly not so well planned. Apparently, they wanted to save money and didn’t install a drain in the heating cellar. Therefore, the condensate water from the heating runs via a hose into... yes, a bucket. :D You have to empty it once a week in summer, more like every day in winter. Of course this is not acceptable if you want to rent the place. How to solve this is completely open—can it even be solved? Can a "drain" be retrofitted into a basement floor (which is actually more like a ground floor)?

The whole thing would only be really interesting if the property could be acquired for very little money (extended family). My husband is currently completely against it, for the reasons mentioned above.

What can you roughly estimate for the complete renovation of the bathrooms (normal standard, no luxury fittings), if you really have to go down to the pipework?
Are there financially manageable measures to make the house a bit more airtight, without going full scale (like facade insulation and such)?

We might possibly have the opportunity next year to purchase an existing property (a transitional house where we currently live) for a relatively small amount of money.

What definitely needs to be done:

Then a small amount of money turns into a larger amount again.

Apparently, they wanted to save money and did not install a drain in the heating cellar. That’s why the condensate from the heater runs through a hose into ... yes, into a bucket.

Where does so much condensate come from? I myself still have an oil heater at a tenant’s place (the heater is from 1990). It doesn’t produce any condensate at all.

I’m asking myself what kind of rent you can get without further renovation. Jury-rig window frames/-sashes tight, paint them and rent out.
If you can rent 172 sqm for 5€ in the unrenovated state, that would be approx. €10k per year. Then the house would be

Estimated price / purchase price somewhere in the 5-figure range

paid off in a few years.

I find this interesting without having more details about the house.

[*]When single-family or two-family houses change owners, this often results in obligations for energy-related renovations for the new owners.
[*]Within two years, the old building must meet the requirements of the Building Energy Act.
[*]The Building Energy Act does not distinguish whether the house was inherited or purchased. Owners who have lived in their house for a long time are currently exempt from many obligations.
[*]In the event of a change of ownership, gas or oil heating boilers older than 30 years must be taken out of operation, and heating and hot water pipes in unheated rooms must be insulated.
[*]In addition, the Building Energy Act results in renovation obligations for the top floor ceiling. If there is currently no thermal insulation, the ceiling must be subsequently insulated, although exceptions are allowed.
[*]If there is not even the minimum thermal protection in place, the Building Energy Act requires subsequent insulation. And this must then exceed the minimum thermal protection.
[*]As long as you do not want to renovate exterior walls, even uninsulated ones, you are not obliged to insulate them. However, if you carry out a renovation to a certain extent, such as applying new plaster, you are obliged to achieve a certain level of energy quality at the same time.

So depending on the case, this can quickly become a 100,000 euro renovation.
And the renovation would of course have to take place before renting out. You would therefore surely have 1 year of vacancy, if not more.
If that is feasible, then I would buy it. Rental apartments are very much in demand in rural areas.

[*]When single-family or two-family houses change owners, this often results in obligations for energy-efficient renovation for the new owners.
[*]Within two years, the old building must meet the requirements of the Building Energy Act.
[*]The Building Energy Act does not differentiate whether the house was inherited or purchased. Owners who have lived in their house for a long time are currently exempt from many obligations.
[*]In the case of an ownership change, gas or oil heating boilers older than 30 years must be decommissioned, and heating and hot water pipes in unheated rooms must be insulated.
[*]Furthermore, the Building Energy Act results in renovation obligations for the top floor ceiling. If there is no thermal insulation there so far, the ceiling must be insulated afterwards, although exceptions are also permitted.
[*]If not even the minimum thermal protection is present, the Building Energy Act obliges subsequent insulation. And this must then exceed the minimum thermal protection.
[*]As long as you do not want to renovate exterior walls, even if uninsulated, you do not have the obligation to insulate them. However, if you carry out renovation to some extent, for example applying new plaster, you are obliged to achieve a certain energy quality at the same time.

So depending on the situation, this can quickly become a 100,000 euro renovation.
And the renovation would of course have to happen before renting out. You would therefore surely have 1 year of vacancy, if not more.
If that is feasible, then I would buy it. Rental apartments are very much in demand in rural areas.

Okay, wow. That’s good to know. I think that essentially puts my idea on hold. I should also inform the current heirs about this. I think this also speaks in favor of a quick resale on their part.

Then small money turns back into bigger money.

Where does so much condensate come from? I myself still have an oil heating system at a tenant's place (the heating system is from 1990). It produces no condensate at all.

I ask myself what rent you can get without further renovation. Fiddling the window frames/-sashes tight, painting and renting.
If you can rent 172 sqm for 5€ in an unrenovated condition, that’s approx. €10,000 per year. The house would be paid off in a few years.

I find that interesting without having more information about the house.

Oil condensing boiler with pipe-in-pipe system produces condensate (like in my old house). The condensate MUST NOT just go into the drain. I have a box with ?? in front of it where the condensate is "neutralized" with an overflow into the drain.

To be honest, it sounds to me like there could be a lot of nasty surprises lurking and you really don’t know what it will end up costing you. Somewhere water is leaking into the ceiling... Aha... Where it has already caused damage is probably unknown as well and might only become apparent when you tear it open and see that you have to keep going to find the end of the problem. Could you pay for something like that easily? If not, I wouldn’t do it.