Buy and renovate an old building, built around 1925

Good day everyone

My wife and I + junior would like to buy the house in which we (parents and I) have been renting for about 35 years.

The location is great and the plot is huge. The garden is a dream.

The catch is that almost nothing has been done here, except the electrical system was renewed (around 1975), the roof was redone including the roof truss (also around 1975), the house was excavated around to seal it. Otherwise, I can’t really think of anything except small cosmetic repairs.

Oh yes, there is no heating here either. We heat with oil radiators combined with a new briquette stove on the ground floor.

Since the chimney runs right through the 1st floor, there is plenty of waste heat.

Hot water is provided by an up to date instantaneous water heater.

Now to the to-do list:

-We want to install a new heating system
-The water pipes would have to be replaced anyway (old pipes totally scaled)
-New windows (currently "pre-war single glazing")
-Facade insulation (if possible, since I think the building limit is tight)
-Convert and of course insulate the roof.

Clearly, that costs a lot of money but "except for" the heating + water pipes we will do the rest ourselves with friends and family.

Questions:

1.) What should we generally pay particular attention to?
2.) Are there any regulations nowadays according to which we MUST renew or replace anything? e.g. So you definitely have to get rid of the briquette stove now or you have 2 years to insulate the house or or or.....

Of course, we want to get an expert. But we are very curious in advance about what awaits us.

It is my very personal dream to stay here because I grew up here and my son does the same now as I did. But I also don’t want to throw ourselves into misfortune.

Our current landlord is very fair and definitely wants to offer us the house first since, as I said, we have been living here forever. We could also take great care of my parents when they are old.....The whole thing should happen within the next 2 years as he wants to sell the house then.

What do you think about it?

Best regards

Gibson1979

I would say it totally depends on how much the good old house is going to cost you... How much budget you have for purchase & renovation & expansion etc.

Mh budget after purchase approx. €40,000. We thought about combining the main loan with subsidized renovation loans. But everything step by step. The expert definitely seems important to us. As said, what interests us a lot is whether there are any deadlines for anything as described in my first post.

1.) What should we generally pay special attention to?

.. quite simply ... everything .... so I advise you the following ... find an older and truly experienced expert, an architect or site manager, and have them take a very close look at the house ... from this you or this expert determine the current value of the house and the total renovation costs, from experience I can tell you that such renovations of old residential buildings are usually more expensive than new builds ... the surprise lies in the details, but often the surroundings and the property are worth it .... there was a very interesting show on RTL once: Bargain Houses ...

Hello,

Houses of this construction year are realistically only calculated with the equivalent value of a shell construction and also correspondingly reduced before being renovated. This would then presumably be in the six-figure range, depending on size, intended living standards, and current condition - only a specialist on site can of course provide more details. Furthermore, it must be examined whether the intended changes entail the obligation to comply with the current Energy Saving Ordinance.

On the credit side, there are usually the established residential location, a larger garden than with many of today's new buildings, and the familiar neighborhood to mention. On the downside, the often low ceiling heights in old buildings, the floor plan that often does not meet today's living standards, and a possibly permanently damp and low cellar should be noted.

Ultimately, everyone must assess this for themselves.

Two rules should be observed in any case and they apply equally to new construction as well as to renovation: Costs are always higher than calculated in the end - and every change to the building leads to two more.

Thank you for the answers

We live quite well the way we live

We would just like to modernize a bit.

As I said, can anyone force us to take any measures at the moment or is there any deadline???

Best regards

Gibson1979