Is a basement in a single-family house useful or rather too expensive?

we have 450sqm, of which 84sqm go to the house, about 55 for the driveway/front garden strip, and about 54 (?) for the double garage with storage room. That leaves about 200sqm of garden. I had dreamed of more, but it was not an option to omit the storage room (~21sqm) and build a basement instead. No, the area has to be enough. What doesn't fit has to go. However, by now I am not so attached to material things anyway. But logically, as often noted before, no agreement will be reached anyway. And it doesn’t have to be.

As I said, I understand the "injustice" of the whole thing, but in cities like London, it has unfortunately been like that for a long time....

Anyone working in social professions there commutes at least 2 hours daily....

I also like to use the example of London when people tell me "the prices can't *possibly* go any higher"... Yes, they can.

Hello,

If I do it the way it’s often written here, then I have to make our garage 30 sqm bigger and the house itself must also have more area, and I have to plan for an attic which we currently do without. Aside from the fact that this doesn’t come for free, it would simply steal space on the plot, which unfortunately isn’t very big anyway.
One could say, then you should have just bought a bigger plot... sure, but as I said, first you have to get one, and then you also have to calculate that the extra sqm cost a lot.

Full agreement. The argument that you could buy a bigger plot for the same money and build a larger ground floor there is, in my opinion, somewhat flawed.

[*]First you have to find and get a bigger plot: we got 650 sqm in our desired area. Sure, 15 km further out in the countryside we probably could have bought two plots for the same money. But we just didn’t want to go there!
[*]Even if you have a bigger plot, the development plan must first allow a bigger house/garage/extension.
[*]Planning to use the garage as storage space is a somewhat critical idea. According to most fire safety regulations, nothing may be stored in a garage. In other words, only cars (with filled gas tanks!) but no bicycles are allowed inside. One can surely debate the sensibility of this rule, but it is the regulation for now. And if a spiteful neighbor reports you or an overly zealous firefighter notices this, you can start looking for storage space for your stuff. This has already happened here in town.

In this residential area, only a few built without a basement. And they honestly admit that they only gave up the basement due to lack of money and miss it dearly today.

I wouldn’t know how we would manage without a basement; we would have needed at least a 70 sqm extension on the ground floor. And whether that would really have been cheaper than the basement, I seriously doubt.

But to each their own...

Best regards,

Andreas

The rental and purchase price levels in Munich are already crazy. But you don’t have to live in Munich. And I also find the purchase price level elsewhere nowadays crazy. Of course, it has a lot to do with the Euro and refugee crisis. Because of the Euro crisis, many try to secure their money in Germany. And the refugees and poverty migrants also need housing. That of course drives the prices up. The financial crisis, in turn, has caused many to want to invest their money in real estate, and at the same time it has massively lowered interest rates, which also makes prices rise.

Where are the Munich nurses, hairdressers, caregivers, administrative employees, police officers, etc. all supposed to go? For several thousand of Munich’s social housing (!) the city employees already have a right of occupancy, but the existing stock is by far not enough. That is really a problem. And just because it’s even worse elsewhere doesn’t make it any better.

The purchase price level is currently crazy everywhere, you are absolutely right about that.

[*]Planning to use the garage as a storage space is a somewhat critical idea. According to most fire protection regulations, nothing may be stored in a garage. In other words, only cars (with filled fuel tanks!) are allowed inside, but no bicycles. One can certainly debate the sensibility of this rule, but it is a regulation for now. And if a spiteful neighbor rats you out or an overzealous firefighter finds out, you will have to look for storage space for your stuff. This has already happened here in town.

However, fire protection regulations only have to be observed if it is not a detached garage. And even if it is not a detached garage, at least those items belonging to the car may be stored there. For example, tires or roof racks.

But when I look around at the neighbors, nobody knows about these regulations. Some garages are so full that cars can no longer fit inside. The problem is simply that the more space you have, the more you use.

Hi,

Full agreement. The argument that you could buy a bigger plot of land for the same money and build a larger ground floor there is, in my opinion, somewhat flawed.

[*]First, find and acquire a bigger plot: We got 650 sqm in our desired area. Sure, 15 km further out in the countryside we probably could have bought two plots for the same money. But we simply did not want to live there!
[*]Even if you have a bigger plot, the zoning plan has to allow a bigger house/garage/extension first.
[*]Planning to use the garage as storage is a somewhat critical idea. According to most fire protection regulations, nothing may be stored in a garage. That means only cars (with full gas tanks!) but no bicycles. Whether this regulation makes sense is certainly debatable, but for now it is the rule. And if a spiteful neighbor reports you or an overzealous firefighter notices it, you’ll have to look for storage space for your stuff. This has already happened here in town.

Here in the residential area, only a few built without a basement. And they honestly admit that they only skipped the basement due to lack of money and now sorely miss it.

I also don’t know how we would manage without a basement; we would have needed at least a 70 sqm extension on the ground floor. And whether that really would have been cheaper than the basement, I highly doubt.

But each to their own...

Best regards,

Andreas

Of course, it is a question of money. But it is more of a trade-off consideration than a decision out of necessity. I would bet that you could well afford your dream house with a basement. I would have had to significantly downsize my dream house or go more into debt.