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

Of course, it can also be that prices remain as high as they are now if much less new construction takes place. But I have only one tip for you: Be much more flexible locally and lower your expectations if the desire for the house remains very strong. Because a radius of 10km is of course very small. You will find rather little there regardless of the market situation. Everyone I know who has searched within a radius of 30km of their workplace has also found something. Then it wasn’t 5km away in the neighboring town but the plot 45km from the original search location (by the way, also as you say in a “Kaff,” which I find highly presumptuous. Because life is very good there too). You have to be able to make compromises then and move to such a small town or consequently not move into the house if you don’t want less than 2000 inhabitants, no farther than 10km away, and preferably still affordable. All these three factors together cause you to search for so long and continue to find nothing. Because you then either have to take the small town with the cheaper prices or look 20-30km away from the original location to have more selection. If you don’t do that, you shouldn’t be surprised if it doesn’t work out with the house. Everyone I know had to make compromises there, otherwise they wouldn’t be living in their house today. So it is not always the others’ or the market’s fault but often also your own.

The prefabricated house was built in 1977, 160m² living space, 650m² plot. [...] Purchase price €365,000

That's roughly about 560 euros per square meter, including a slightly oversized shell. Would the plot at least be divisible and still allow for another building site?

Almost everything here is sold privately. On the usual online portals, there hasn’t been anything for years comparable in price and location to the current offer. We’re only getting this house because of a former classmate. It’s not listed online. Therefore, within a radius of 10-15km (we don’t want to go further), nothing can be found.

Your willingness to buy off-market is a good basis and can be expanded. And this approach also works the other way around; you don’t have to depend on classmate coincidences. I wouldn’t only avoid widening the radius but would even narrow it down (sounds illogical, but you’re not looking for logic, you want a home). That way, the handbrake

Unfortunately, we are not members of any club, on the municipal council, or similar.

can be resolved much more easily (I coach people searching for plots and just haven’t gotten around to putting my Barthel tips into book form yet – however, some can be found in this forum with the search term “11ant Barthel”). A prefabricated house – unfortunately, even now after returning from my Sunday hike, I don’t read at least once which manufacturer is involved here – from this construction year is basically to be considered as shell economically and thus is value-neutral. Only a house half a decade younger would already be of a completely different “generation” of “prefab” houses. On the other hand, it’s not so old that (which is not dependent on age but the model generation) the house would have to be considered a contamination of the plot. In the end, it’s simply an almost value-neutral factor. My “more precise” commercial calculation would be: purchase price of the plot including the house minus the price of a new full basement (of a needs-appropriate, say 120 sqm house) results in the effective price of the plot. Now you can calculate for yourselves whether the price is sufficiently “palatable” for you. Regarding the expected efforts of an “renovation” of this house (don’t dream, so to the standard around 2010, not 2023!), you can read up in the existing threads here, which as mentioned can be found with the search terms "Kampa" or "Okal Haus".

Hello everyone,

thank you very much for the information so far.
We visited the place again today and were shown all the documents related to the house.
I will try to list them:

[*]The house was built in timber frame construction in September 1976 by the company "Neue Heimat Baden-Württemberg". In Wikipedia I find: "Die Neue Heimat (NH) was a German construction and headquartered in Hamburg, which belonged to the (DGB). Including its predecessor companies, it existed from 1926 to 1990."
[*]Energy certificate according to the Energy Saving Ordinance of 18.11.2013 Primary energy demand actual value 175.9 kWh/(m²a), energy quality of the building envelope actual value 0.64 W/(m²K), procedure according to DIN V 4108-6 and DIN V 4701-10, final energy demand of the building 158 kWh/(m²a)
[*]Market price determination by broker €288,000 - selling price €365,000 (!)
[*]In 2018 estimated by KSK at €280,000 + €60,000 after renovation of heating
[*]The attic was converted in 1988 (not insulated)
[*]Electricity and water pipes not renewed (what does something like that approximately cost?)
[*]Bathroom renewed in 2003
[*]The house stands on strip foundation Bn150, exterior walls of the basement Bn150, ground floor timber frame construction on both sides with special panel cladding
[*]Partition walls in basement made of pumice, fully basemented with fully insulated hobby room, basement about 100m²
[*]Basement reinforced concrete ceiling, ground floor wooden beam ceiling
[*]Rafter roof 30° spruce wood, covered with concrete roof tiles (first roof)
[*]Living area 166.6m², 957 cbm enclosed space
[*]Gas central heating new in 2017 (previously probably electric)
[*]Built in 1976 for 145,000 Marks

3. Market price determined by broker €288,000 - sale price €365,000 (!) 4. Estimated by KSK in 2018 at €280,000 + €60,000 after heating renovation 13. New gas central heating in 2017 (previously probably electric)

365 compared to 288 is unfortunately not an unusual "goodwill" markup on the market nowadays – financing often fails because the banks of the prospective buyers do not agree to this delta. You said the heating was from 2019 at the beginning, now 2017. This is significant because the year of the KSK estimate, 2018, lies in between and we now have to guess whether the market price determined by the broker includes or excludes the new heating. What I have not quite figured out yet is: do you actually only want the building plot in this location and reluctantly accept the somewhat oversized house under the condition that the renovation effort won’t break your neck, or do you like the house? As I said, paraphrasing the Bremen Town Musicians: you can also find something better than a sour apple, even in this town or nearby. The market is not nearly as hopeless as it seems to long-term seekers.

Hello 11ant,

that is hard to answer.
Put simply: On a scale from 1 to 10, considering all aspects, the house is a solid 6.

PRO:

[*]The floor plans are great. There is enough space on the upper and ground floors for an office, children's room, etc. Only the wall between the kitchen and living room still needs to go.
[*]The basement is great too. Unfortunately "only" 2 meters ceiling height but well...
[*]The plot is good as well – sufficiently large (wish was, at the start of the search, an unrealistic 1000m²) for the kids to play and for growing fruit, vegetables, etc., and it is flat.
[*]The location is good in that the grandparents live next door and the village has everything we need for living. We do not want to drive 10 km for shopping, the doctor, the pharmacy, etc. The children should be able to find friends in the village, go to school there, etc. Such things..

CONTRA:

[*]When I read that prefab houses have a lifespan of 50-90 years, I get a stomach ache because we have to consider the lower end since the year of construction is 1977. My parents built with Weberhaus in 1980, which to this day still has the original roof, the original pipes, the original insulation, and even the original plaster etc. The difference in condition (for me as a layman) is incomparable. We would have preferred to buy a masonry house or a higher quality newer prefab house.
[*]Therefore, we assume – God willing and if our life plan works out somewhat – that in 30-40 years we will get no more than the land value for the house (according to an appraisal 300€, as it is a partial settlement of the main village with 495€ in the newest building area) and the secure investment for retirement – which for a single-family house from, for example, the 2000s would certainly be given – exists only to a limited extent. One child would have to demolish the house and build maximally on the basement. (Yes, I know – they will move away anyway.)
[*]Energy consumption – that is probably high and cannot be reduced without appropriate financial effort – so:
[*]The fear of the renovation effort that you mentioned. We are planning a little more than 100,000€ for the roof including insulation (through roofing brother), windows, floors by own work, water pipes etc. – with the effort required this will be tight.

I find the statement about the search interesting.
In recent years we have spent several hundred euros on search ads in newspapers. Even ads with a 5000€ finder’s fee for purchase prices up to 500,000€ were unsuccessful. We have been in about 50 houses so far and always come to at least 600,000€ after renovation.

It is and remains, I think, a question of standards. We would have had a house with 100m² living space and 200m² plot a long time ago. We would also have had a house in a small village (the word "Kaff" was not meant disrespectfully) a long time ago. In other federal states anyway. But a house in this area in the 10,000 inhabitants village and quiet and sunny location built after 1980 with >150m² living space and >600m² plot for <500,000€ – but not.
We fail because of our standards and will continue to do so and have to keep living in a rental house for currently 1500€, as we are not willing to reduce these standards.

The property is also good - sufficiently large (the wish at the start of the search was the utopian 1000m²) for the kids to romp around and for growing fruit, vegetables, etc., and it is level.

1000sqm is quite a lot to have. If you really want to go for proper (partial) self-sufficiency, okay. The children use the garden less than one usually imagines. It’s a phase of a few years (especially in the younger years) and then not much more. It reads a bit like Bullerbü when you write it that way. Maybe you need the space for different reasons, maybe it’s more of an idyllic idea.