Consideration: Heritable Building Right vs. Property Purchase / Renovation

that you only sell after 40 or 50 years and then have a hard time finding a buyer,

In principle, it is pointless to discuss this because everyone brings different conditions with them. You have to see for yourself where you fit in. If you (no longer) have children, heritable building rights are really worthwhile. If you have several children and the attitude that the children themselves can't get anything done, you want to pass it on. Are you rich, are you poor? Can you financially renovate the house after 25 years so that further considerations make sense? Or do you end up with buyers who only want the land and have already ordered the demolition crane? Are you buying a plot in the commuter belt with the unexpected risk that a highway will be built in front of the plot? Or 250 meters of something else that really reduces the value? Everyone has to see for themselves how and what they do with their wishes and situation. Aren't you the woman with the small bungalow? Do you worry that the house will later have hardly any target group? No 2 children's rooms? Everything quite cheap... I don't want to devalue that, but everyone according to what they want and can do. Here we have NO other options than these heritable building right plots... the OP is about 40... that is exactly a situation where you can do something or not. End of story! If you don't see yourself here - then not. But you don't have to speak negatively about it now, because that brings nothing. With a good salary and low equity, you can build something here and sell it in 20 years when the children move away, and look for something else.

You are the woman with the small bungalow, right? Do you worry that the house will hardly have a target group later? No 2 children's rooms? Everything quite cheap... I don't want to disparage that, but everyone as they want and can.

Yes, I am. And yes, I do. Small is not the one with 107 sqm, but not huge either. Certainly not suitable for 2 kids, but perfect for a couple our age. So, why should there hardly be a target group for that? But you are right. I already wrote, it has to fit the concrete situation.

And of course, there is an alternative here: out to the countryside, where it is cheaper.

Certainly not suitable with 2 kids, but perfect for a couple our age.

Well, I’m also over 50, my husband is 10 years older. But your house would really be too small for us. We now have just under 135/140 (I don’t remember exactly...). Everything feels too cramped to me.
But whatever – this is about the OP’s problem :)

And of course, there is an alternative here: move to the countryside where it is cheaper.

Many have already had that idea, and the trend has been further reinforced by the home office spread anew thanks to Corona. Why live close to work if you only go to the office 1-2 days a week anyway? But you first have to find something in the countryside and then, as an outsider, gain access. From the initial post, I gather that country life is not particularly appealing to the OP anyway ("cow villages"). And that is the other point why one should not simply move to the countryside because it is cheap. Country life is not for everyone. The anonymity of the city is gone, and you also have to be aware that in the villages (not small towns) you spend a lot of time driving children around and otherwise always depend on a car.

But from the initial post I gather that country life isn’t particularly appealing to the OP anyway ("cow villages"). And that’s the other point why you shouldn’t just move to the countryside because it’s cheap. Country life isn’t for everyone. The anonymity of the city is gone and you also have to be aware that in villages (not small towns) you spend a lot of time driving the kids around and are otherwise always dependent on a car.

Yes and no. So let’s talk concretely. The nice place right now is called Eching and has about 15,000 inhabitants and is ideal for us because it offers all the infrastructure we want (or want to keep). Another place would first have to be able to offer this, or at least approximately. My job and my wife’s job are 100% possible working from home, but that also requires fast internet, which unfortunately isn’t always available in rural areas in Germany. That’s also a point we consider. But worst of all I would find leaving the familiar environment. Straubing, Tokyo or the moon... that would all be equally “foreign.” (I know... exaggerating, but I hope the idea is clear) PS: We actually once had the dream of living in Japan for some years... but that doesn’t matter here. Tomorrow there is a virtual information event held by the municipality, where some of the questions and details about the allocation procedure should be clarified. One more remark about the land price, because it’s constantly wrongly cited here as €420k. The basis is (unless something new is announced tomorrow?) the standard land value (including development) of €1,500 x 0.6 (40% discount) = €252,000 On top of that: + Notary and land registry entry (1.5%) 3,780 + Land transfer tax (3.50%) 8,820 = €264,600 total land purchase costs. That latter option is not 100% off the table (now it’s getting political) because the CSU, FDP and Free Voters have intervened and started a referendum that would give people who get the allocation a choice between purchase and hereditary building rights, just as was originally planned. Whether that will succeed is questionable, since in the following citizen vote (I think over 40% of citizens would have to agree?) That we’ll have to wait and see. Either way. Yes, I see the chance of building an affordable home in the familiar environment. The question is whether that is worth more to us compared to a possible financial advantage in 20, 30, or 40 years with a bought plot beyond the sticks. There are many pros and cons for both. And who knows... in the end we may not even get the allocation from the municipality because other applicants rank above us, then all considerations were for nothing. ;) Everything that comes after that the kids will decide, then I’ll be ashes anyway and hopefully traveling across the oceans with the Gulf Stream :)

One more note on the land price, because it is constantly incorrectly stated here as 420 k€. The basis is (unless something new is said tomorrow?) the standard land value (including development) of 1,500 €

The basis for an alternative = purchase is the standard land value. No other provider than the municipality offers a discount - and so far they only offer the unpopular heritable building right. So you have to calculate the alternative purchase of a comparable plot of land at 1,500€. Or are the streets adjacent to the development area so much cheaper? If the city offers you the purchase, of course it looks different. But that has not been up for debate so far.