House purchase single-family house built in 77 how to assess?

I think that is an important point from . I would also keep the offer personal and not just provide a number with a few matter-of-fact lines to differentiate myself from the other interested parties. Although, in the end, no one has anything to give away, when several offers are of a similar magnitude, it often comes down to likeability.

When we sold our first house, I had a bad feeling about two interested couples; I wouldn’t have wanted to sell to them as long as I had a choice. In the end, we sold to my second preferred candidates because we could reach a straightforward agreement with them and they started gathering the documents on the same day, while the first preferred candidates still wanted to discuss this and that, which eventually became too exhausting for us.

He says that given the price, you should definitely wait. In the next 5 years, an incredible number of elderly people will pass away and the supply will increase significantly again.
Assessment of the building condition, consultation and cost estimation for renovation on site verbally depending on the package 400€ - 850€, but it is invoiced with the seller, who usually negotiates about 20-30% purchase cost reduction for the buyer. I did not quite understand the billing.

The market is no longer such that sellers can pick and choose buyers everywhere. In my opinion, those times are over for now.

I also think that more offers will come onto the market in the future. For many, the expiring financing will be the breaking point. There are probably fewer buyers because the cost of financing has also risen extremely.

Yes, charging the cost of the appraisal to the seller is, in my opinion, a fair solution. Because then he knows what his property is really worth and you don’t benefit if he then sells to someone else.

I would also, as others have already said, make an offer that corresponds to my expectations and then justify the reduction of the offer clearly. You can combine that with the personal letter.

Good luck.

The house now is a simple wooden shell construction without any insulation. That means insulation has to be added on top from the outside.
[...] That’s probably it then. Once again.

Just make an offer with your price expectation, they can do nothing but reject it. And even if they reject it now, it doesn’t mean they won’t come back to you eventually.

The professional assessment surprises me and I consider it nonsense. Improving insulation is possible with timber frame houses not only by adding more, but also by replacing the existing integral insulation (which can be reused in the roof). I deliberately referred to the threads of so you can see that the snake in front of the rabbit is not that long. Not a piece of cake, but also no Sahara expedition. Build awareness respectfully among the sellers about the effort involved for you to keep the house technically up to date so that it once again represents a solid value in today’s harsh reality, just as they have perceived it so far. Make them allies – awaken in them the desire to let the house become a home for you just as it once was for themselves. In such a way that they recognize it is not just some sour, mean bargain hunting. But the fact is the house no longer has a fresh value, and old oil and rancid butter need to be disposed of, even if they look like a proud stockpile in the tank or as a cupboard full of packages. What do the sellers actually want with the money: just to get it so they don’t feel “stupid” as sellers selling below value, or a world trip or ... maybe they also like a life annuity ...?

Making a counteroffer to them is good. Explain as described above. Nicely, without “pressure,” but still not indefinitely. They have to understand that you also need planning security. Therefore, no “someday.”

That’s why you can secure a good price-performance ratio without the internet, but also through the realtor (provided he has you on his radar as a good customer), if you are the only interested party, since you might already know each other from the volunteer fire department, etc., and it sometimes matters more to the seller to sell within the same circle (committed members of the village community) than to complete strangers.

A bit of social engineering is very helpful. Of course, the best is if you manage to step into the sellers’ hearts almost in place of the grandchildren for whom they had “put the property in the closet,” or at least if you remind them of “themselves when they were young” ;-)

I find the argument so funny that soon many old people will die and then the houses would come on the market. Currently, many choose to live in grandma's old house themselves rather than having no house at all. I estimate that in the near future only the worst junk properties will actually come onto the market, the good ones will already find interested parties within the family. At the moment, I know of two houses where the heirs are bitterly fighting over who gets them and who has to be paid off.

These are probably more (local) isolated cases – grandma’s little house is rarely located where the educated (50% of a cohort today) grandchildren work today. The large cohorts are soon demographically gone – increasingly (somewhat unpoetically) pushed out at the top of the population pyramid. The direct heirs are often Boomers, who themselves own houses, and their children are now 40-45 and often already settled. The children of the third generation were born very late and will probably not need a house in the next five years. There are nice calculations showing why the situation will change for demographic reasons – then it will also become clearer why politics tries its favorite strategy of sitting it out.. ;)

...and in the next 5 years probably won't need a house. There are some nice calculations about why the situation will change for demographic reasons...

The original poster has already wasted 5 years and now is supposed to wait another 5 years? And that is only vague hope. Whether offers in that town will increase or just continue to be sold under the table, in my opinion depends more on the location than on demographics. I rather see it that owning a home within the desired 10km radius is not financially feasible.

We still can't let go of the house...

In a final report of a research project from 1984, I found something about the manufacturer: "From 1976, NEUE HEIMAT offered prefabricated houses, which were produced by the prefabricated house companies KNÖDLER, HANSA, and later Streif Haus (row houses)."

In the meantime, an acquaintance has offered to officially repair the roof by invoice (he has run a company for 10 years) including insulation and 4 roof windows for €36,000, which is of course an absolute bargain price here in the area. We would also get the other windows from him through wholesale at cost price. However, he lives 300 km away. Whether he will really keep the promise is questionable... some friends doubt it, some do not...
Roof including photovoltaics, windows, laminate, repainting walls, kitchen and breakthrough... should stay under €100,000.

We would like to leave the insulation of the house wall, water pipes, and electrical system as they are for the time being, for 5-10 years...

Slightly optimistic this evening... probably devastated again tomorrow...
Rollercoaster of feelings and thoughts...