Bought a house cheaply. What now?

Well, with that idea you could start your own thread, couldn't you?

Yes, but certainly not in this forum.

"Marriage counseling" certainly doesn't harm anyone, especially or precisely when building/buying a house. If some had gone there a bit earlier, not so many houses would be resold today and livelihoods auctioned off (as in the thread).

That may be true, but there is a difference between someone asking for help and someone being forced unwanted help, and that has happened several times here in this thread.

Some even happened to meet their partner by chance at a first consultation appointment, who had been going there longer and with good reason........or the sad fact was simply communicated without such counseling in the usual way by registered letter.-

But that does not automatically qualify every random internet user as a therapist. I would be glad if this forum would simply address the actual questions of the thread starters instead of always posting some know-it-all answers. And no, this is not specifically aimed at you, there are a whole bunch of users here who do this. It seems to have become the standard here over the last few years and unfortunately causes those seeking help, just like in this thread, to avoid the forum again after a few days. Then it is no wonder that in a forum where over 100 registered users are online at the same time around the clock, only a handful of posts are created every day.

Is Skripted Reality a role model for behavior in Germany?

Whether it should be, I would answer "no" - but to your question whether it is, the answer is probably "yes" tens of thousands of times every day. The people who consider reality merely the uninteresting little brother of GZSZ are, to put it kindly, not exactly rapidly decreasing ;-(

So, take it slow. There's no rush at all. The first thing that has to happen is an honest assessment. What was done when, what needs to be done?
What are properties in the area worth?
Do you want to live in there or not?
Think about it, or he should think about how things should proceed. If the house was bought with equity, you have more time.

I am just an amateur, too. But I have bought and renovated two old houses. Mostly in [EL].
So, think about it.
Take photos and upload them here. Photos of heating, water, sewage, roof, windows. There is often a date stamped between the panes in the window showing the manufacturing date.
There used to be a pub in there? Inquire with the municipality about the cost of a change of use.
Draw floor plans and upload them.

Great, thanks for the tips, Joedreck. Exactly, it was bought with equity. I will upload photos bit by bit, at the moment I have a lot going on at work and therefore only limited time.
And wow, this is such a lively community here, I did not expect so many answers, I need to process them first.

Now let’s see some photos!

And say something about the location.
Unfortunately, it sounds a bit like a remote outback to me. (My interpretation based on the lonely auction date with the presence of the mayor)

I have to fully agree with nordanney. Here in the Düsseldorf e4 area, rarely anything cheap comes on the market. But if so, they are usually old houses with an abandoned pub inside. Those are even slow sellers here.
Even more so in the outback.
So I don’t believe in the illusion of reselling the property immediately at a profit.

If you renovate the house so that you would move in yourself, it will be converted into a single-family house, right?
If there is generally demand for that in the village, I would renovate with the option of moving in myself and watch the market.
If you have the change of use approved and have already done some nice DIY work, I can imagine that you could make a good profit.
Otherwise, just live in it yourself.

The location is central in a village of about 1,000 inhabitants. It is a very lively community. The nearest train station is about 17 minutes away by car. There is a regular bus service. The next larger town (about 78,000 inhabitants) is about 20 minutes away by car. Shopping facilities are about 7 minutes away (by car). In fact, some villagers have already approached my friend and said they are interested in leasing the pub and also offered to help a bit with renovations etc. This is a group of several villagers who had considered bidding together, but since they did not reach consensus before the auction date, they ultimately did not place a bid.
Upstairs there is already a fully finished apartment where one could move in initially without renovations. Only the water pipes and heating etc. need to be checked. If the pub with bar were converted, it would probably be possible to create up to two additional apartments from it.

No problem. Since it was purchased with equity, there really is no pressure at all. Whether the people actually want to lease remains to be seen, I think. If it works out, great, but maybe don’t count on it at first. As long as the house is priced within the range of comparable condominiums, it might even have been a good purchase. Sometimes you can just get lucky. But as I said, you can’t really assess it. Now it’s about making decisions and clarifying possibilities. I would be glad if you kept us updated.

Thanks for the answers Berenike! For me, that all sounds half dramatic.

That may be hard to imagine for some high-security-enthusiast homeowners who started saving for their own house at 12 years old. (Please don't take it the wrong way if you feel addressed... always think along with a ). But there are crazy people who just implement spontaneous ideas and slide from one adventure to the next. And are happy doing so. I like that.

I don't believe in the resurrection of the guesthouse either. It really sounds like one of those typical ideas after 2 to 8 beers at the campfire among acquaintances, which sober up fail against reality. But still, I can imagine that you can make something good out of it.

Whether it's the deepest outback, I still can't assess from your description. For me, northern Brandenburg is always synonymous with outback. You can live 20 minutes from Neubrandenburg (just under 70k inhabitants) and still be at the arse end of the heath.