First of all, thanks for the continued interest... special thanks to DocSchnaggels for the hints regarding FA.... phew, I really have to be careful with my all-from-one-source strategy... But we are still a long way from that... ;)
Today out and about again, place in the Eifel, about 500 m above sea level --- a "dream house"... at least 17 years ago, when the builders proudly moved in.... Today, I still can't believe it, a nearly total renovation is due, in my opinion. Not only the family, but the house is completely out of balance. Someone completely misjudged their needs when building.
A few data points: cost price back then 1.2 million DM (I believe that immediately, you can see it already), asking price today about 400k euros... The plot is huge but completely overgrown. The people never lifted a finger to maintain the outdoor area after its professional completion. How could they? Anyone working full time six days a week cannot dedicate additional work time to keep such a property in shape. Learned something new again: Whoever does not precisely calculate the working hours required after moving in, and does not clearly establish who takes over the work and how it will be paid, ends up exactly like this.
Living for the house instead of in the house, for so many years. Sad.
If we were more interested, the first thing I would have done here is get a full cost calculation: what would it cost to make the garden and house habitable again? I bet that restoring the wilderness costs more money than a complete new setup on raw land would. Recultivating 1300 sqm of wilderness... how much would that cost? Are there any benchmarks for this? The interior shows a comparable picture, which I won’t elaborate on.
It becomes ever clearer to me why an apartment in a multi-family building is so attractive: you have no work with it. It will never overwhelm or overburden you. By contrast, you can only manage such a house if all trades are professionally contracted out… for the time after moving in, that is. I would subtract 150k from the asking price to cover the complete renovation.
And then the topic of owning one’s own house at all: If you add up just the interest on the 1.2 million DM over 17 years... what could those people have rented for that money? And would they still have their equity today... plus interest and compound interest on top... Phew... I still don’t believe it is economically viable (i.e., in the countryside where land prices don’t really rise) to build/buy a house before I know the figures exactly. By contrast, the apartments in the crane houses at the Cologne Rheinauhafen are said to have doubled in price... why do you think that is?
By the way, there were more houses for sale in the area, between 10 and 20 years old... And what strikes me as well: how fast houses age! They age faster than people... The realtor said about that: yes, a house that is 20 years old is considered old on the market; and is therefore harder to sell. That would also apply to my new build... what would it still be worth in 20 years? Half? I’m already getting depressed now... and what will my descendants say when they have to realize the property one day?
Wishing you a nice rest of Sunday... I didn’t have one and it’s my own fault.