House purchase with approximately 250,000 Euro equity

Hello everyone,

I would like to briefly introduce myself. My wife and I would like to buy a house. We come from Cologne and are looking for a property in the Cologne surrounding area. We are looking for a terraced house or semi-detached house with approx. 128m² living space with a garage and garden. We do not want to build, but rather buy a finished new build property. The risk of insolvency and other construction disruptions is too great for us. We have already viewed several properties. So far, the right one has not been among them; this was always due to the location not being optimal. We assume good infrastructure and a connection to public transport. We have approx. €250,000.00 in free funds that can be invested in the purchase. Another €20,000.00 is available for interior construction. Do you think our plans are realistically achievable? So far, we have only compared the offers and have not yet negotiated prices. That is why I am asking about your experiences, what discounts you were able to negotiate. I look forward to your experiences.

So in the Cologne surrounding area you won’t get anything for that price. Even in the outskirts (Brühl/Hürth/Lev) it doesn’t work. Since your wishes are not to build yourself, the choice is limited to the developer (even these you mostly pay according to construction progress, so no protection against insolvency) and you are even more restricted. My inspections are more in the range of 300k starting from there! Oh, and why should anyone give you a discount? You get that if at all with unseriously calculated offers, or the house is so unpopular that the company wants to get rid of it and would rather take a loss than have it forever (but this doesn’t happen, because usually it’s only built when a buyer is there and pays).

Hello perlemann,

first of all, thank you for your response. We do not want to build, not even with a developer, as we do not want to expose ourselves to the risk and the mental strain. For this reason, a finished house should be purchased. Such properties are available in the Cologne surrounding area, e.g. Grube Karl in Frechen or in Rommerskirchen. The price I mentioned of approx. €240,000.00 - €250,000.00 is indicated for these properties. We want to carry out painting and flooring work ourselves, or possibly partially or fully subcontracted depending on the offers. Since these are existing properties, my question was what experience you have had with the purchase of such properties and what is negotiable here.
If possible, the purchase should be made with own funds to immediately get into the profit zone.

Hello Markus,

well, I’m afraid I have to agree with Perlemann to some extent. I would also estimate that there are perhaps a few too many desired criteria. I myself once looked for a similar property with my wife. We didn’t find anything suitable right away either, which is why we relaxed our conditions. We first searched for 2 years and then decided to save for another 1.5 years in order to be able to afford a higher purchase price of €320,000.
Anyway, I wish you much success.
Best regards, Thomas

I don't think you can get it any cheaper. Did I understand correctly that you have 270k€ equity? Why not borrow a bit more then? I assume it is a terraced house in the middle? How many sqm of land does it include?

approximately 250m² it is a semi-detached house. I do not want to take out any money since the break-even point should be reached immediately. That means I want to save the rental costs right away to accumulate new capital.