Fundamental question: Acquire land as a reserve?

Good day!

First some background information: Twenty years ago, I built a house on my parents' property in a suburban district of Berlin. So there are two houses on the property: the old one where my parents live, and mine. The property is quite large and requires a lot of work. This work is mainly done by my parents. However, they are not getting any younger and no one knows how long they will remain fit enough to take care of the property and their house. So this form of living together will not work forever. Additionally, road traffic has increased significantly, and the property therefore no longer meets my requirements for quiet and relaxing living. In short: the problems will tend to get bigger.

Therefore, I have come to the conclusion that it would probably be quite good to look for a building plot in a quieter area, which could then maybe be developed with a new house in five to ten years. My approach is as follows: the plot should be located within the Berlin autobahn ring, be about 900 to 1,200 square meters in size, and allow open construction with two full floors. Ideally under §34, to be as free as possible from any textual restrictions of any development plans. A good public transport connection is very important to me because it would restrict me too much if every trip to the Berlin city center had to be made by car. So there should be a regional express stop within walking distance. I consider this a very important location factor. Then overall it should be a historically grown local image, and not a new development area with some boring flat tent-roof cubes. The standard land value should be below 200 EUR.

I really like the Potsdam area, but prices have already risen too much there. Caputh would be great and is also associated by people with Einstein’s summer house, but there seems to be (at least currently) no rail-bound local transport there anymore. Golm would also be an option, but I have not seen any suitable plots there.

I would also find the southeastern area quite nice, for example Erkner, but there you have the problem that existing buildings are partly very simple. So you don’t find the local view that I find attractive there.

I might be able to find something in Finkenkrug, a district of Falkensee. There is regional transport every half hour, and there are still some free plots within walking distance to the station, where otherwise relatively high-quality residential development exists. However, the plots are only about 800 square meters, which is rather tight for my future plans.

Putting that aside: how would you proceed? How does one get into conversation with owners? It could also be about "building gaps," where perhaps only a "dacha" stands that people can continue to use for several more years before replacing it with a proper house.

In my opinion, prices in the Berlin area will continue to rise, so one should take care of this topic sooner rather than later.

Matthias

First of all, I would consult the land value map and cross out all areas with an [BRW] greater than 200 €. Your preferred plots - quiet, with train connection, 2 full floors, larger than 1000 m² - you will probably find it difficult to get below that price.

That's exactly what I did, and it really seems that only Finkenkrug comes into question. I consider the area there quite good, but ultimately I have no experience with living outside the gates of Berlin. Just now I checked how the internet connection looks there, and it seems there is a fiber optic cable. How it is with natural gas is probably not something you can find out online. The provision of state security infrastructure (fire department, police) is likely quite decent in Falkensee (unlike in the rest of Havelland), although not as good as in Berlin. But since there are certainly far fewer problematic people there, you probably won’t need the police as often as in Berlin.

How would one approach the owners? Is proof of purchase interest sufficient to gain access to the land register?

Matthias

Is proof of purchase interest sufficient for inspection of the land register?

No. Although there are reportedly employees who classify purchase interest as a legitimate interest and release the owner data, in case of a complaint by an affected party, there would likely be a warning. Given your demands and conditions, personal contact with the neighbors would be better anyway.

Yes, I would do that first anyway. Because a good relationship with the neighbors is important to me anyway. If you notice right from the start that there is some friction, you should definitely stay away from it.

Matthias

The market is completely empty here - you have exactly the same criteria as everyone else. I believe you will have to pay significantly more if you find anything at all.