Buying Guide - Mid-Terrace House 1974

Selling price €285,000, no real estate agent, as it is from a private seller (still unnegotiated)

You end up with additional costs of around €300k. About €100k remains for renovation. You can do quite a bit with that money, but probably not to the extent you are planning. The question is whether you can save something here by, for example, leaving the bathrooms, floors, and radiators as they are.

How big is the house?

Roof ~ 45,000 - If dormer windows are to be made, then add a substantial buffer
Underfloor heating with heat pumps - 50,000
Electrical ~ 25,000
Bathrooms (depending on size and equipment) ~ 20,000???
Kitchen (depending on size and equipment) ~ 20,000???
Floor coverings depending on equipment?

This way you might have a rough guideline

My architect initiated a complete core renovation including facade insulation, heating, windows, doors, roof at around 2300-2500 euros per sqm.
You might orient yourself on that... although for you it should not be a "complete" core renovation

Hard to say. Whether the price is okay can only be judged if you know the location. The plot itself is thus around €65,000 and the house around €220,000, plus the additional purchase costs, which can be quite a lot depending on the federal state. You are probably already at about €300,000. Then you have a 50-year-old house in which basically, apart from the water pipes and two bathrooms, everything is old and needs to be renewed (or not – that depends on you). For €100,000 that will hardly work. Even with a lot of your own labor. And things like heating, roof, dormers, electricity can hardly be done yourself, and especially heating and roof are really big items, with tens of thousands of euros each. Also laying tiles, screed is not easy, and if you do it poorly, you will regret it for decades. Demolition can possibly be done yourself, painting, possibly wallpapering, laying floors (depending on the type), installing windows and doors is also not rocket science if you work neatly and if you do not want to install some fancy windows. What about the stairs? Sanding? How do they look? Can you do drywall and plaster? The house is also not exactly small, so a few square meters of floors and walls add up. Let's say €40,000 for the roof, €30,000 for heating, €10,000 for the screed (very rough numbers – in the end only the craftsmen's bids count and there is a wide range "from-to"). Then you still have €20,000 for the rest, which will not be enough. You also want to install more bathrooms, there the flooring, tiles, sanitary installations are still completely missing, you can roughly calculate €15,000-20,000 for the electricity with simple execution. I don’t know... we haven’t even talked about the exterior, façade and the 1000 "little things" that always come up.

Thank you all for the feedback!
It is good to read objective assessments, as one often becomes emotional and tends to rationalize things.
We could actually spend more than €400,000. But we don’t want to, because we don’t want to work only for the house and would also like to afford some extras on the side.

Since we are currently living (still) quite cheaply in a newly built semi-detached house (under rent), we are somewhat spoiled (underfloor heating, low energy costs due to heat pump, etc., all new). Despite everything, this house is too big for us and the rent will increase in the future.
Building land and used properties are very, very scarce in our area (despite being "countryside"). The price for the terraced house seems reasonable after some comparisons.

The more we research and inform ourselves in forums, the more we believe that it is not necessarily essential to completely overhaul a house from the 70s. And besides, it should still retain its charm.

Therefore, we have the following thoughts:

- A heat pump seems to work in old buildings with radiators as well. So no underfloor heating and no new floor structure
- We might also keep the windows on the ground floor (1 large fixed-glass, 1 large lift/slide system, and 2 tilt-and-turn windows), if possible. They are still from the original year, dark wood (mahogany?), and look well maintained. Paint white on the inside.
Maybe it is possible to improve efficiency by exchanging the glass. And they simply fit the façade aesthetically.
(partially electric) roller shutters with insulation were apparently retrofitted.
- We would like to replace the floors with industrial parquet. We find it nice and it does not seem very expensive.
- In the guest WC, we would actually retile, install a new toilet, a new washbasin, and a radiator.
- The bathroom upstairs is not huge and under a sloping roof. This should be redone as well. Toilet, shower, washbasin, radiator.
- We will waive dormers in the two children’s rooms. They will then be smaller, but in the basement downstairs there could be a "play or gaming room." And children eventually leave the house anyway.
- On the ground floor, we only have two new doors; upstairs we might possibly keep the steel frames and insert new door leaves. None of us are very tall, so 2.01 m high doors are sufficient.
- Due to the largest area being the roof, for energy saving reasons the roof would be insulated from the inside and newly clad.
This could be done as own work or a new roof might be required; we are not sure.
+ new roof windows with blackout (6 units)
- New electrical system; we would rather not do this ourselves.
- Remove a part of a load-bearing wall on the ground floor.
- The stairs are solid with a natural stone covering and look neat. We would like to eventually put a new covering on it, but it’s not urgent.
- New kitchen in a new room, so lines need to be laid in the basement.

There is not much façade, because on the south side it is mainly the two large windows, and on the north side a large front door and 2 windows and to the side the neighbors. So the roof is naturally the biggest package.
The outdoor areas are very well maintained and nicely laid out; we would not need to do anything here. Possibly create a bit more space in front of the house for the heat pump.
These are our current considerations and maybe the measures could work with the planned budget.

If that works for you and the budget is sufficient, why not. We also bought an old building and only did the essentials and have been building here and there for 6 years. As finances allow. That made the house affordable. Whether it's worth it to you is something you have to decide. So much money for a compromise with little comfort - you have to think that through carefully. And things like underfloor heating, etc. are not something you just install afterward.

There are also ceiling heaters! Recently been in such a house and found it pleasant.