House from the eighties - money pit?

The electrical system and the water/sewage pipes have not yet been addressed here. One question upfront: do you really want the house that badly? Does it have the perfect location or something? Because I am already relatively optimistic with the existing condition and confident in my own abilities, but from the way it sounds, I would have been one of the other interested parties and quickly walked away. The roof alone will probably soon cost around €50,000 including disposal and proper insulation. I also estimate the bathrooms at €10,000 each. The floors will probably need to be sanded and leveled after removing the carpet. I am currently dealing with that, and it’s neither cheap nor easy to do on the side. The windows will need at least new panes. I am now on my second renovation and can only say: don’t move onto a construction site. Always having dust and dirt around really wears you down, and when things drag on it gets extremely annoying. Where is the house located?

Take an expert (architect/civil engineer) with you who can (...) make an assessment of the condition and the renovation effort.

That would possibly have been the next step, because:

The electrical system and also the water/sewage pipes have not been addressed here yet.

From another homeowner in our town I know that a sewer renovation for the wastewater pipes was carried out until 2015. The owner of "our" house allegedly never heard anything about that...

A question beforehand: do you really want to have the house that much? Does it have the perfect location or something?

The location is great for us. Quiet, in the village, and the garden in the back is not fenced and leads directly into the large meadow of the water protection area.
Then there is the open fireplace in the living room; we already picture ourselves sitting there.
But of course, we are not so naive as to ignore everything else.
We don't want to have it at any price, we have already emotionally distanced ourselves from it.
It is also difficult for us to estimate how much we would ultimately pay for the house if it were offered to us cheaper. Would 140k be realistic?
We will tell the realtor that he can make us a new offer and see how he reacts. However, I don’t think we will ultimately come to an agreement.

At the beginning, we thought that because of this beautiful location and the other positive aspects, we could make some compromises with the appearance and simply leave the brown tiles in the entrance area (which is practically in the basement due to the slope) and in the living area. Just like the stairs and the outdated railing.
We realize that you don’t get a like-new house at that price. However, at the first viewing, we completely underestimated the renovation needs because the realtor only told us rubbish anyway. ("You only need 10k for the bathroom renovation, then you paint the walls yourself, and that’s enough.")

Your posts exactly support what my boyfriend told us: There are too many areas (roof, underfloor heating, windows, electrical system) that still work at the moment, even if they are not state of the art, but some of which will certainly HAVE TO be done in the next few years. And that’s exactly the crux of the matter: it is not foreseeable at all when what will become urgent.

Where is the house located?

In Fröndenberg in the Unna district, east of Dortmund.
The prices here look pretty good. My boyfriend comes from Bochum-Stiepel, where you easily pay four times as much for plots.
New building land is also regularly developed here, so we are simultaneously considering new construction.
As you can see, we are currently in the learning and orientation phase.
Your posts have already helped us a lot, thank you very much for that!

Even if it were "only" 100k, we could already get a prefab house including land here for 280k...

Even if you don't know how big the whole thing is supposed to be, and how much EL you intend, 280k including land is already more than ambitious.

How much does the land cost? And how big is the house supposed to be?

We have not chosen a specific plot of land yet, as we initially did not even consider building. I have the impression that many plots here are bought directly by the companies to then offer them with prefabricated houses as a complete package. In the village we are interested in, the benchmark according to Boris NRW is 100-110.

I have the impression that many plots are bought directly from companies here to then be offered as a complete package with prefabricated houses.

For some larger providers, these are often just pure bait offers... So the plot is always gone very quickly.

Also, the prices advertised for the rest are so far off (e.g. the ancillary building costs of 30-50K are not included anyway) from what will be stated at the bottom right in the end.

So, don’t be too euphoric that you will get a house with a garage and without pallets in front of the door for these prices.

There you go, off the cuff.

Your plot for 110*500 sqm? + purchase incidental costs = 60,000€
30-40K€ ancillary building costs
10K€ for painting work
10K€ for the most necessary outdoor facilities
10K€ for carport/prefab garage
1500-1600€/m² Energy Saving Ordinance house in standard equipment = 210,000 - 224,000 (140 sqm)
10-15K€ surcharge KFW 55
10-20K€ for sampling surcharges

= 350K - 389K
+ 25K buffer for contingencies (such as difficult soil conditions, etc.)
= 375K - 414K

Not yet included are things like kitchen, additional furniture/lamps, or moving costs.

Oh, ok. :-(
Thanks for the overview.
We haven't really dealt with the topic yet and have only seen the "lock-in offers" (213K incl. property).
We will get some advice and see what comes of it.

At the moment we are still exploring what we would have to pay for our requirements.
We would like a house with four rooms (if there are 5 and the rooms are smaller, that’s also okay), about 100 sqm.
It shouldn't be on a main road and should have a garden that is not just the terrace.
The age doesn't matter at first, we could definitely live with cosmetic flaws (old-fashioned tiles or doors, facade).
We wouldn’t really like a terraced middle house.
What’s important to us is not (only) the total amount, but that we have a certain security that we won’t have very large investments in the next 10 years. For that, of course, we would be willing to invest more at the beginning.