Buy an old farmhouse from a retired woman?

Hello,

I am new here in the forum, and of course I hope that you can support me with one or the other piece of advice.

First about my situation - I am 26, studied until recently, have now been in a permanent job for 3 months earning about 1800 net, and currently live with my parents. At some point I might want to rent a small apartment, but for now I need to save money.

An acquaintance, an older lady (she’s already 75 years old) - who likes me quite a bit - is single, childless, and her hardly existing relatives live several hundred kilometers away. Well, the lady lives in a very old farmhouse with a large plot, which she and her late husband renovated back in the day. And I would like to have this little house: on the one hand because I find it beautifully charming, on the other hand because I fear that potential heirs wouldn’t appreciate the work that went into it, etc.

Now, it doesn’t seem as if she would come up with the idea to leave me the house as an inheritance - which I don’t expect at all :) Although she is quite fit for her 75 and can probably live another 10-20 years if all goes well, she is still 75, and thus any day could be her last, which I of course do not wish for.

My consideration now is to offer her to buy the house from her now, with a right of residence on her part until her death, so that I can use it accordingly after her death.

Well, I am 26, not a financial genius, so the question arises - how does one do this most sensibly? If I want to make her some kind of offer, I do need to make her one or the other proposal.

Take out a loan equivalent to the value of the house and buy the house from her with a right of residence accordingly?
Pay her a certain amount of money monthly and thereby finance the house? Is that possible, what is that called?
A mixture of both?

All this against the background that I have to be able to afford it, and in case she lives to be 100 years old, I would also have to pay for another apartment where I could live accordingly for the next 25 years.

Please forgive the lack of structure in this plan - it is still very new in my head, and I just want to get oriented; and I think your opinions and experiences are worth their weight in gold :)

Thank you very much in advance for your answers!

That's almost cute.
But now to the facts. You can't just inherit the house that easily, because there are always compulsory shares that belong to family members. You would then have to pay them out. But that option hardly comes into play anyway.

So you want to buy a house and land... I was in your situation myself three years ago, and the starting salary sounds familiar to me. You still live with your mom, and unfortunately, you have no experience with what costs await you when you move out. That's why I advise you, before you take on such a project, to live for a few years renting, and above all, see if your job has a future. Three months is usually still the probationary period, nothing is certain then. Even if you pass the probation, it doesn't protect you from being fired. I can tell you, at home 1800 € is a lot of money, the moment you have to pay for everything yourself, 1800 € is quickly relativized.

Regarding the purchase of such a property: when you buy old buildings, you are always taking a great risk. You never do such a thing without an expert report beforehand, no matter how fancy everything looks visually. Especially in old houses, if the beams are rotten or dry rot plays a role, it often gets nasty for the buyer.
Energy costs are a big issue, they keep getting more expensive, and the old house is certainly neither insulated nor energy-efficient. If you don't have to pay a mortgage, that might be manageable, but on top of that... well, brave.
Furthermore, a property ties you to the place where you live now. You are young, and you may someday get the chance to change your job, or a woman may come into the picture. What then? Can such a property be sold?
Is the land at least worth the whole thing, can it be divided, is it building land, or can it be turned into such?

Then the bank comes into play. Because they initially own the house. If you can no longer pay, the whole thing goes under the hammer. Depending on the size of the loan, you will have trouble getting one at all. You are young, don't earn much, and then there is the lifelong right of residence. That also means a property cannot be forcibly auctioned.
And honestly: what do you do if the lady lives to be 103 years old like my great-grandfather? Do you want to pay off the house for 30 years, do all the repairs? Maybe by then you have a family and want to build a home with them but you can't because you are already in debt.

You see, buying a house is an unemotional matter, you have to keep a cool head. I wouldn't dare to do that, and if I were you, I would just enjoy the first years of working life now. Put away at least 500 € every month and in a few years you'll have a bit of capital to start something. I’m 32 and think that is the right time to settle down. We enjoyed the years before and treated ourselves to trips that we no longer want to afford so easily now, because the thought of the house is always in the back of our minds. Every euro you put into the house means you finish paying it off earlier, and the sooner you can save money for retirement, care, and the kids.

Well, that's my opinion :D