Is purchasing a house and complete renovation affordable?

That sounds good so far – the house is in the family, meaning there should be enough time for planning. So go through it with your two experts and consider a rough renovation plan. You need an approximate figure for the bank. Have you already been to a financing advisor in parallel and checked what the banks would currently offer you? Regarding the new build – I think that buying, demolishing, and rebuilding is no longer financially feasible.

We have several bank appointments coming up soon. From what I hear around, I assume an interest rate of 4 percent, plus or minus 0.1 percent.

That would be the step for the house purchase at 350,000 euros. I also don’t know how much equity I should provide for the house purchase. For the renovation, I might receive subsidies, etc. But hopefully the bank advisors can tell me that.

Then I would like to talk to the architect and also to the energy consultant to get a rough estimate of the renovation costs. Maybe the energy consultant can also tell us to what extent such a project is subsidized (better interest rates, etc.).

In the end, I will have two expert assessments from two specialists and can then consider whether it is financially feasible.

That sounds like a good plan

I am a big fan and advocate of doing your own work. We had a similar project (Kernsanierung), a house that we tore down to the exterior walls. It only became affordable through massive own effort (about 9000 hours) over several years. Fortunately, I remained really stable, but it is stressful and you need a suitable environment and support. You really can’t count much on friends; they might come around two afternoons a year. So: demolition work, civil engineering, masonry (with professional guidance), painting, insulation, flooring, drywall, timber construction – that is feasible as a talented amateur. You just have to make time and be uncompromising about it.

We recently also bought a house (built in 1960) and completely renovated it - everything except the foundation walls was removed and completely redone. So, you should definitely budget around 250K for that. We did the demolition work ourselves as well as all the painting + various other things (partly laid the parquet ourselves and installed all the baseboards, built the foundation for the heat pump, bricked up heating niches, etc.). Anything more would not have been possible time-wise or mentally.

I am a big fan and advocate of doing it yourself. We had a similar project (complete renovation), a house that we tore down to the outer walls. It only became affordable through massive own work (about 9000 hours) over several years. Fortunately, I stayed really consistent, but it is stressful and you need a suitable environment and support. You really can’t count much on friends; they might come by two afternoons a year. So: demolition work, civil engineering, masonry (with professional guidance), painting, insulation, floors, drywall, timber construction – that’s doable as a talented amateur. You just have to make time for it and be uncompromising about that.

That’s exactly the crucial point. You really have to want it. By now, we can do almost everything ourselves and you really have to be uncompromising. Not constantly "oh, I’d rather have Sunday off" or just a few hours on weekends. You have to stick with it over a long period. We sometimes get help from friends, also relatively regularly from family, but in the end you do 90% yourself and are on your own.

Oh yes... the help from acquaintances is massively overrated. In my case, during 10 weeks of interior construction, basically only friends/relatives were there for a few hours at a time. When else? They all have jobs, families, their house, the garden, etc. And even then, there are different types: One wants to finish everything quickly because he actually has no time and botches it... that's why my first interior door is crooked and doesn't close properly... The other has no idea and needs every step explained, he's no help. Those to whom you give a task, let them work, and the result convinces... those are rare. Even friends who are craftsmen rarely put much effort into their free time. In the end, you're 95% on your own and working hard. And give us, and yourself, a brief assessment of your handicraft skills and physical conditions. Ever assembled furniture yourself? Hung pictures? Mounted a cabinet on the wall? You laugh, many can't do that. Is your health all right? Demolition work, civil engineering, foundations, masonry, plastering... that's hard labor. And all that besides work... Have fun and shovel gravel for 2 hours. Then you'll be wiped out. As I said, don't underestimate it.