Build or not? What do you think about it?

Hello,
Let me introduce myself briefly...
I am Christian, 25 years old and still very naive
I come from Schleswig-Holstein and am considering building a semi-detached house...
At the moment I live with my parents in the house, I have my own apartment there and don’t have to pay rent, no food, no drinks, nothing really^^
I am an electrician by profession.
But living with my parents is starting to get on my nerves, especially since they could rent out the apartment well (they don’t want any money from me).
However, I finally want to do my own thing and for me it’s clear that renting somewhere is pointless and not my taste either.
You pay for something where you have a roof over your head and if you move out, you haven’t gained anything from that money; if I pay installments, I at least know that it will eventually be my property!

But I also don’t want to buy a house because my parents still have a large building plot which I could be gifted.
It is very large with about 1100m²
At first I thought about a simple house with a nice big garden, but now I think the garden would be much too big
Now my idea is to build a semi-detached house with a total of 4 apartments, of which I could then rent out 3 apartments in the hope of getting good tenants so that I could pay the installments from the rent!

The fact is that the house should definitely have a full basement, because my parents’ house has one too and I just find that super practical, so if it’s a house, then with a full basement.

Now what else to say is that the house would be built completely on my own initiative.
My father and my uncle are bricklayers, my brother-in-law a heating engineer, I do the entire electrical installation myself anyway so no cost for me there, painters, roofers etc. are also all in the family.
I get the plot as a gift, so theoretically it would be "only" the material costs.
But since I am still very young (25) I probably have forgotten a lot^^
That’s why I am here, what do I have to do? What would my first steps be? Should you even build at such a young age? Although I think the sooner you start, the sooner it’s all paid off!?
I have to say I have not yet been to the bank for financing.
So give me some tips!

Best regards, Christian

Hi,

first of all, you should consider that as a landlord you also have obligations. I myself have been a property manager for 10 years – but I only manage third-party apartments. My assessment after already 3 years of professional experience was: 1) never buy a condominium and live in it yourself 2) if I ever become a landlord, NEVER have the tenants in the property where I live myself 3) only become a landlord if I win millions in the lottery and I could financially absorb one or even two rent dodgers 4) homeownership as a landlord is most worthwhile in Bavaria (Munich)

Many of my owners have no contact with their tenants or even their rental properties and have never inspected their condominiums. The manager as a buffer is definitely worth it. In 10 years of professional experience, I have only had to carry out one eviction, but have seen many landlords who suffered severe losses. Many run out of steam (or rather money) even before the eviction lawsuit.

But not only financial problems play a role. With 3 apartments, it is almost certain that there will be a troublemaker. Whether it’s too loud music, too many parties, nighttime swimming, active sex life…… the list is endless… and the other three parties feel disturbed. As a landlord, you are constantly accessible and will be flooded with complaints for about 2-4 hours per week (estimated cautiously). I can tell you that you can’t imagine beforehand what neighbors could be bothered by. Added to that is also someone who has a lawyer for tenancy law among their acquaintances… that will cost you, besides all your nerves, a lot of money too. Believe me – I have considerable people skills, but even I still fall for some things.

As a private person, I want to tell you that I bought a house with a 1000 sqm plot. Even here I feel disturbed because 2 of my 5 immediate neighbors like to party loudly and long without consideration. Just last weekend, their party went on until 4:00 am and forced me to keep the windows closed. Still, I see a detached house with land as the best solution (for us!!) for homeownership. You are still young at 25 (I bought a house at 30 – back then an old farmhouse was my dream, today – almost 8 years later – I want to build new) and you still have some time. Just consider once again that the future Mrs. Electrician doesn’t want to live under one roof with strangers, but wants to lie on the terrace in her bikini. And do you really want to burden your Elli with the possibility that the “wrong” tenants might suddenly ruin her property and she has to endure parties every weekend? I’m not stuffy (my children’s friends actually find me cool) and I like to party too. But if during the Football World Cup (my husband rarely watches it) or other sports events I can’t sleep at night, plus family gatherings (2 of my 5 neighbors are relatives and I bought the property from the father/grandfather) and spontaneous parties, then it’s too much for me too. I basically move parties indoors after 10:00 pm – out of consideration for neighbors. By the way, I’d like to add that eviction lawsuits without a “Russian threat commando” drag on forever and cost the landlord quite a bit. Whether it’s about lost rent or noise disturbance is initially irrelevant. According to the real estate industry, such cases usually cost 10,000 euros and lost rent is not even included.

So my advice to you: you have all the time in the world – save instead. If you can get a building plot as a gift, then take it. Wait for Miss Electrician and then plan a house with her just for you (i.e. in 90% of cases she will plan it *fg). This will save you and your parents a lot of stress. If you absolutely want to become a landlord, then buy a property that you yourself will never use and find yourself a manager. You can deduct the costs. Never show yourself on the property and above all never tell anyone who you are or where you can be found (i.e. if you have a good and capable manager, that’s doable – otherwise stick with that and look for a capable manager *gg)

That’s my opinion… and nobody pays or sponsors it.

Best regards Bromi

Hello,

...first of all, you should consider that as a landlord you also have obligations. I myself have been a property manager for 10 years... That is my opinion.... and it is not paid for or sponsored by anyone.

That is also my experience after 17 years, therefore you have put my two coins into the right words

Kind regards

Hello Christian,

building a house at 25 is certainly not unrealistic. I also started planning my house at 25 and have been living in my own four walls since I was 27.

Your starting situation doesn’t seem so bad. A "cost-free" plot of land and being fully employed for years without paying rent => you should have saved up a certain amount by now. Also, interest rates have been relatively low for months. However, building a house also involves a lot of responsibility and at least being down-to-earth, alternatively life experience.

You should definitely forget the idea of semi-detached houses. That is far too risky. The reasons have been sufficiently explained. Just take the time to calculate what kind of house you can realistically afford. Only what you can handle yourself should you build. For this first step you don’t need banks, just a focused weekend and various calculators on the internet. You will certainly also become clearer about which kind of "repayment" you will choose, etc. The forum here can also help you well with concrete questions regarding the financing framework.

Once this financial framework is set, you can consider everything else. For example, whether you want to build with an architect or buy a "ready-made house" from a catalog, how high the additional costs (development, notary, etc.) will be. There are also many suggestions about this in the forum.

In any case, I wish you lots of fun with it!

Best regards

The whole thing definitely sounds pretty good from a financial standpoint. You don’t have any costs for the property and can contribute some personal work that is considered equity. In addition, tenants could bring the necessary additional income to manage financing.

The objections that troublesome tenants might cause trouble cannot be dismissed, but financially it would probably be feasible.

Hi, hmm I have also thought about the fact that you can also get "bad" tenants! Yes, of course I have already set aside a certain amount (I have been saving 700€ every month for a few years now and can still live quite well^^ With my girlfriend I have been together for over 2 years and we are planning this together and would also pay for it together! Managing it sounds logical, on the other hand my two sisters and my uncle rent out entire houses and it works out, sure they have had problems too but overall they have probably always been lucky! I have to calculate this exactly again!