ptkptk91
2022-06-28 13:35:42
- #1
Hello dear forum members,
after having been a quiet reader for a long time (not even registered yet ;)), I would like to share my experiences with you. Maybe it will help some of you get an idea of what it means to buy and completely renovate an old house. If this is in the wrong section, feel free to move it.
I will take you along from the viewing to the planning, financing, the house purchase, and the subsequent complete renovation.
Since there has been little time to reflect in the last two years, I want to take this opportunity to document our project from the beginning to the end for myself and you. To be honest, we are not quite at the end yet and expect to move in around September/October 2022. But hey, you never really finish such a project anyway...
A short introduction to us:
Our small family consists of my girlfriend (31), our son (1), and me (31). We are both employed, my girlfriend is currently on parental leave, and our son was born last year.
Not too unskillful when it comes to handiwork, a bit of background in civil engineering (at least up to the preliminary diploma :p), but otherwise desk workers in finance and laboratory.
A short introduction to the house:
Built in east Leipzig around 1900, 110 sqm living space, partially basemented. Surrounded by a 1,100 sqm plot in second row as well as a solid 200 sqm outbuilding.
And otherwise: tiled stove and a small night storage heater as the only heat sources, dilapidated wooden windows, fully furnished in the GDR style, lead pipes everywhere, renovation backlog since the 1980s, and so on and so forth...
A lot of work!
A short introduction to the project:
We set ourselves the goal to do as much as possible in DIY and renovate the house to be habitable within one year. (Spoiler: it didn’t quite work out :))
A big advantage is that we can live rent-free and without time pressure during the renovation.
Another advantage: current apartment and the house are only 50m apart as the crow flies, perfect to go to the construction site anytime.
So, enough writing. Let’s get to the first point, the viewing.
Viewing:
We were just thinking about moving back to our hometown because of the upcoming baby and renting a nice apartment in east Leipzig.
The idea of buying a house was of course with us as well, but at that time a new build was hardly financially feasible and the market for existing properties was like swept clean.
As fate would have it, we got a tip from the chimney sweep that a plot two houses next to my parents was to be sold. So we didn’t hesitate long and made a viewing appointment with the owner for the following weekend. That was in August 2020.
The house had already been empty for several months at that time because the two previous owners (well over 90 years old) had moved to a nursing home. So the viewing appointment took place with their daughter.
Opening the front door, besides darkness, the smell of cat urine crawled into the nose. What a first impression!
The hallway was small and dark, the kitchen dirty and from GDR times (like the rest of the furnishings), the linoleum was peeling off the floor, and generally it looked as if two 90-year-olds had left the house overnight and packed only the necessities. And that was basically the case.
Before I write too much here, pictures can better illustrate this impression:
We slept on it, worked out first plans, thought a lot, and in the end decided that we wanted to buy the house. Location great, plot with lots of potential, an outbuilding for workshop and party room, and the living space can possibly be extended with an addition. Mature neighborhood, I know all neighbors from my childhood and proximity to parents/grandparents and family is unique. On the other hand, there is a lot of work, time, and nerves that will accompany us in the months to come.
Since it is hard as a layperson to assess the building fabric, for example, how to evaluate cracks in the masonry, whether the basement is damp, if the beams are fine, we made an appointment with a building surveyor who finally gave us the green light and created a first renovation plan with us.
New roof, new roof insulation, new windows, new heating, new supply lines, new electrics, underfloor heating installation, new screed on ground floor and basement, and much more. In the next three years also an external thermal insulation composite system.
At the end, the loan calculation stands as follows:
Cost for house + plot: 215k€
Renovation costs: 100k€
Additional purchase costs: 25k€
Equity capital: 35k€
And here we are now. Suddenly making the decision to buy a house, which until then was planned in about 5 years.
Our short-term available equity only covers the additional purchase costs, nothing more. That means it all comes down to 100% financing.
More on that later. It will definitely be exciting ;)
after having been a quiet reader for a long time (not even registered yet ;)), I would like to share my experiences with you. Maybe it will help some of you get an idea of what it means to buy and completely renovate an old house. If this is in the wrong section, feel free to move it.
I will take you along from the viewing to the planning, financing, the house purchase, and the subsequent complete renovation.
Since there has been little time to reflect in the last two years, I want to take this opportunity to document our project from the beginning to the end for myself and you. To be honest, we are not quite at the end yet and expect to move in around September/October 2022. But hey, you never really finish such a project anyway...
A short introduction to us:
Our small family consists of my girlfriend (31), our son (1), and me (31). We are both employed, my girlfriend is currently on parental leave, and our son was born last year.
Not too unskillful when it comes to handiwork, a bit of background in civil engineering (at least up to the preliminary diploma :p), but otherwise desk workers in finance and laboratory.
A short introduction to the house:
Built in east Leipzig around 1900, 110 sqm living space, partially basemented. Surrounded by a 1,100 sqm plot in second row as well as a solid 200 sqm outbuilding.
And otherwise: tiled stove and a small night storage heater as the only heat sources, dilapidated wooden windows, fully furnished in the GDR style, lead pipes everywhere, renovation backlog since the 1980s, and so on and so forth...
A lot of work!
A short introduction to the project:
We set ourselves the goal to do as much as possible in DIY and renovate the house to be habitable within one year. (Spoiler: it didn’t quite work out :))
A big advantage is that we can live rent-free and without time pressure during the renovation.
Another advantage: current apartment and the house are only 50m apart as the crow flies, perfect to go to the construction site anytime.
So, enough writing. Let’s get to the first point, the viewing.
Viewing:
We were just thinking about moving back to our hometown because of the upcoming baby and renting a nice apartment in east Leipzig.
The idea of buying a house was of course with us as well, but at that time a new build was hardly financially feasible and the market for existing properties was like swept clean.
As fate would have it, we got a tip from the chimney sweep that a plot two houses next to my parents was to be sold. So we didn’t hesitate long and made a viewing appointment with the owner for the following weekend. That was in August 2020.
The house had already been empty for several months at that time because the two previous owners (well over 90 years old) had moved to a nursing home. So the viewing appointment took place with their daughter.
Opening the front door, besides darkness, the smell of cat urine crawled into the nose. What a first impression!
The hallway was small and dark, the kitchen dirty and from GDR times (like the rest of the furnishings), the linoleum was peeling off the floor, and generally it looked as if two 90-year-olds had left the house overnight and packed only the necessities. And that was basically the case.
Before I write too much here, pictures can better illustrate this impression:
We slept on it, worked out first plans, thought a lot, and in the end decided that we wanted to buy the house. Location great, plot with lots of potential, an outbuilding for workshop and party room, and the living space can possibly be extended with an addition. Mature neighborhood, I know all neighbors from my childhood and proximity to parents/grandparents and family is unique. On the other hand, there is a lot of work, time, and nerves that will accompany us in the months to come.
Since it is hard as a layperson to assess the building fabric, for example, how to evaluate cracks in the masonry, whether the basement is damp, if the beams are fine, we made an appointment with a building surveyor who finally gave us the green light and created a first renovation plan with us.
New roof, new roof insulation, new windows, new heating, new supply lines, new electrics, underfloor heating installation, new screed on ground floor and basement, and much more. In the next three years also an external thermal insulation composite system.
At the end, the loan calculation stands as follows:
Cost for house + plot: 215k€
Renovation costs: 100k€
Additional purchase costs: 25k€
Equity capital: 35k€
And here we are now. Suddenly making the decision to buy a house, which until then was planned in about 5 years.
Our short-term available equity only covers the additional purchase costs, nothing more. That means it all comes down to 100% financing.
More on that later. It will definitely be exciting ;)