Assessment/Questions about buying a house

So long as it is built solidly, I assume it has good substance.

Around 1900, half-timbered construction was already rare – but whatever of it still stands today could also not be the worst. In this respect, I would not limit it to "solid".

Hello everyone,

I went to the viewing again with an acquaintance.

He himself is a master craftsman and has completely renovated his own house and also done a lot of refurbishment, and he also helps his craftsman buddies again.

Even though his standards are quite high, his opinion was conclusive.

Investment in the main house: approx. 25,000
Inside: new floors, insulate and expand the attic, painting,
Outside: parking lot in front of the house, driveway, terrace

Old semi-detached house:
Electricity, pipes, roof, kitchen, bathroom... basically more or less everything new. 50,000

All under the premise of having some work done without an invoice.
Certainly, you don't have to do everything at once.

That means for about 230,000 you get a residential house + a small semi-detached house (80 sqm), which you can use as a holiday apartment.

So sorry, but if you don't do everything yourself, you won't manage with 50,000€ for the trades. Just the roof costs at least 15,000€ for covering. The craftsman also wants money under the table. And by the way, it's not very smart to write such things publicly. The most expensive part of renovations or refurbishments is often the labor costs.

The whole thing under the premise of having some work done without an invoice.

Everything under the premise that he only quoted material prices ...

By the way, a master craftsman who likes to renovate himself is not an expert.

Everything under the premise that he only named material prices...

By the way, a master craftsman who likes to renovate himself is not an expert.

That is clear, I just thought it was important to get a second opinion before consulting an expert. He really has a much better perspective than I do.

One must not forget that the semi-detached house is only 80sqm and has 2 floors, meaning the base area is very small, as is the roof area.

We have to look each other deeply in the eyes again and ask ourselves if we want this and set a fighting price. After that, bring in an expert....

Everything under the premise that he only named material prices ...

That would be typical of price quotes from craftsmen who think in terms of DIY renovation categories.

The whole thing under the premise of having some work done without an invoice.

Without an invoice also means without a warranty certificate, or it would be equivalent to a voluntary disclosure ;-)

Surely you don’t have to do everything at once.

I’d say, a beginning - an end.

One must not forget that the semi-detached house is only 80sqm and two-story, i.e. the floor area is very small,

That was not a usual size around 1900 either – is the semi-detached house ;-) possibly not even half of a semi-detached house as designed, but half of a divided single-family house?

At that size, semi-detached houses did exist at that time, but to my knowledge only in the form of workers’ settlements, where two apartments were in one building block, which – in a more comfortable size one might call them maisonette apartments – had the bedrooms located above the living kitchen. Without historic preservation status, they are rare. And in my assessment, anything but in demand on the market, but there may be local exceptions.