Granny flat / Semi-detached house advantages

In the end, (as can also be inferred from the title) I was only interested in the differences between a two-family house (single-family house with a granny flat) and a semi-detached house. I did not expect such a fundamental discussion to develop from this.

Ultimately, however, it is not purely a financial question, apart from the case that you have 2000 sqm and plenty of money and don't know what to do with it. On the one hand, with a granny flat, you become a landlord, with everything that entails. With exactly one property, you bring a considerable concentration of risk into your home. The desired additional repayment first has to materialize; the only certainty is that you have to take on significantly more debt to even build it. But that is still the financial aspect. The other aspect is that the granny flat does not come without compromises. If you build it in the basement, you pay for an expensive basement without really having a significant cellar, since it is rented out. If you build a fake semi-detached house, you give up a wall with windows; you are simply no longer detached. In addition, you always lose part of the plot for additional parking spaces, access paths, terrace, or light shafts, etc. In the end, you will design your floor plan differently just because of the granny flat, and for me, that is letting the tail wag the dog. And you always have a stranger on the property to whom you also have a power imbalance, as well as their guests. Nothing against renting as an investment, those who know their way around will certainly find a return. But mixing that with your own house sounds much better at first glance than at the second. In the end, the tenant of the granny flat will not be the one to pay off the mortgage for the house.

Don’t let all these posts discourage you! I know 3 very well-earning couples in my circle of acquaintances. Location: Regensburg. Some have the tenant living above them, others next door in the semi-detached house, and one in the basement apartment on the ground floor. I can only add that financially it’s a great idea: the tenant pays off your house/semi-detached house, and for one of them, the tenant even looks after the cat. The additional unit is urgently needed in Regensburg when the children grow up because finding something nearby will become increasingly difficult. Those are the advantages.

The disadvantage, and this would be the reason why I would never do it: I am building a single-family house to finally have the peace and freedom I want. Having someone else in the house would be contrary to that. But only you can answer that yourself.

Don’t let all the posts here discourage you! I know 3 very well-off couples personally. Location: Regensburg. One has the tenant upstairs, another next door in the semi-detached house, and one in the basement apartment on the ground floor. I can only add that financially it’s a great idea: the tenant pays off your house / semi-detached house and for one of them the tenant even takes care of the cat. You can definitely use the additional unit in Regensburg when the kids are grown up, because it will become increasingly difficult to find something nearby. Those are the advantages. The downside, and that would be the reason why I would never do it: I’m building a single-family house to finally have the peace and freedom I want. Having someone else in the house would go against that. But only you can answer that yourself.

Thank you very much for your contribution! Our long-term plans are quite similar. It will strongly depend on the creativity of the architect whether we decide to have someone join us in the house. If the balance between sufficient privacy and additional monthly income can be achieved, I think we will decide to do so. What I also hadn’t mentioned yet is that sooner or later the single-family house of the parents-in-law will be available to us anyway. For this reason, we wanted to make this compromise in order to possibly rent out the entire property later on.

I agree with the others, because without the garden share you cannot achieve a high rent. Anyone who rents for 12€ per m2 and then can only look onto the large garden from their balcony will think twice about whether they would rather move into a semi-detached house with their own garden for the same rent. Especially during the pandemic, having your own garden has gained enormous importance. And the return with 3000€ per m2 in construction costs and high interest rates is also rather suboptimal. Even if the plot of land is already available, the above-mentioned factors should also be taken into account.

Thank you for your comment! The goal is not to achieve a return, but as mentioned to reduce the monthly burden (this still needs to be precisely calculated again, but since we already have the plot of land, it currently looks good that the monthly repayment can mostly be covered by the income). As far as the monthly rental income is concerned, there is really no doubt about generating the hoped-for rent. We ourselves currently pay 12€ per sqm for an older property in a worse location and were only able to succeed against 20 other applicants through connections. No garden, no dedicated parking space!!

an additional monthly income

First of all, you have additional monthly expenses instead of income. But you can report back on how the final accounting goes in 5 years, for example.

Therefore, we wanted to make this compromise in order to possibly be able to rent out the entire property later.

But then be consistent and just make a proper multifamily house with the corresponding floor plan. No half measures like false duplexes and garden shares only for one half