House purchase - Experiences with open bidding process?

Just because you live nicely doesn't mean it has to be expensive. In the end, no one can tell whether the tile cost €20 or €200.

Sure, but the point was that such high prices are paid for the property that there's no money left for tiles, to stick to your example. That's what I was referring to.

Exactly, it's about whether you even lay new tiles.

Here's an example from a random exposé 129075287 (purchase price €400,000):



New bathroom for x,000€, or a new toilet seat and shower curtain for €100?

Our soon-to-be bathroom from the year 2000. Bathtub and toilet are still in place, everything intact and okay. Terracotta tiles on the floor. A few nice pieces of furniture, a nice mirror, and some decorations, and it will still do for another 5-10 years. Most rental apartments probably hardly have better bathrooms.

Buy an even nicer, bigger sink (Ikea really has some usable ones for not too many euros), a new shower fixture with a large showerhead, and you already have almost a wellness oasis for little money.

Most rental apartments probably hardly have better bathrooms.

Mine even has almost exactly one like that. However, my friend Manni has connected a lamp above the bathroom mirror.

The examples are heading in the right direction – but only almost. The bathroom is in a modern condition, it just might not suit the taste. It’s clear here that the "polished faction" wants to renovate and therefore factor in €20,000, while the "roof-and-property-comes-first faction" just takes it as it is.

More fitting would be a bathroom with black-brown tiles from 1965 in poor condition – already cheaply botched by the previous owner. That is actually due for renovation. But after purchase, there will hardly be any money for it in the long term, because the oil heating, the electrical system, and the roof also require attention.