Land purchase: What urgently needs to be considered? Tips?

So we just spoke on the phone.

We need to clarify the development plan with the city. She absolutely cannot imagine what could speak against a new building. The house was previously inhabited, so the recreational property should be waived.

We are meeting today. To be honest, it seemed that the real estate agent did not really know the details.

I don’t feel any smarter than before.

What is the building window? No

The following questions are still open:

Is there a development plan?
If yes, does it allow what we want to build?
Is there a positive building inquiry decision?
What about contaminants?
How was the property used before?
Could the soil be contaminated?
What do the neighbors say about the soil?

So we just talked on the phone.

We have to clarify the development plan with the city. She absolutely cannot imagine what could speak against a new building. The house was previously inhabited, so the recreational property should be excluded.

We are meeting today. To be honest, it seemed that the realtor didn’t really know what was going on.

I don’t feel any smarter than before.

What is the building window? No

The following questions are still open:

Is there a development plan?
If yes, does it allow what we want to build?
Is there a positive responded building inquiry?
What about contamination?
How was the property used before?
Could the soil be contaminated?
What do the neighbors say about the soil?

Realtor worse than broker. O,0 ignorant. Clarify with the building authority

Yes, we will see her later, let's see what she says afterwards. The appointment is probably at 2:30 PM, I can likely write feedback around 4:30 PM.

I would definitely do my own research as well. Real estate agents promise you the moon and can't be held accountable afterwards.

I'm curious to see the feedback. I just looked at the listing and wonder why the house is referred to as a garden house... overall, it wouldn't have been a listing that caught my interest.

We are back home and the matter is settled.

About the procedure:

We arrive, the real estate agent is 5 minutes late, which is okay, things happen.

First she asked if we had sturdy footwear, then we went up to the property with her through the underbrush.

She couldn’t exactly tell us where the property boundaries are. We have a natural property boundary marked by a stream (very, very low water level) and a field.

Then she talked a lot about herself and how beautiful the surroundings are. Afterwards, she offered us to use the informal "you" and brought up the property price on her own. She immediately told us how high her commission is gross and net and how little remains from the gross in the end.

She offered to negotiate the price of the property down with the owner and asked us to pay her double her commission in cash (in an envelope) in return...

We told her our concerns about the outer development zone – she explained to us how great it is because we are at the end of a road. She probably doesn’t know what an outer development zone means.

We explained to her that we want to build a bungalow; she said that’s totally okay, no problem, even though there is currently a house with a gabled roof on the property which has to be torn down.

We told her that we want a written confirmation that we are allowed to build a bungalow here without building restrictions and without a development plan. She mentioned that this wouldn’t happen so quickly within two weeks. But she gets along well with the mayor and would talk to him. However, we can’t get anything in writing, only a verbal statement if at all...

Then she asked again whether paying the money in cash would be okay for us.

When she noticed that we hesitated, she brought up the second interested party again...

Meanwhile, an older man came along the street and walked in our direction. I asked if that was the owner because the owner supposedly owns and lives on an adjacent property.

She denied it, laughed, and said probably a hiker, she’ll check it out and went to the man.

Then they talked for about 5 minutes and the "hiker" walked away again.

She came back to us and told us she also happens to know 4 demolition companies who would do the demolition for little money and an envelope. The residential house is not a garden shed as stated in the ad... faux pas...

She mentioned that the property has water and electricity – fiber optic is currently being laid but we would have to build a sewage treatment plant.

We walked back from the property; she promised she would talk to the mayor on Tuesday. We said goodbye.

We went to the car and on the neighboring property stood the "hiker" and his wife. They spoke to us friendly, asking if we want to buy the property? We said yes and asked about known problems?

They told us to be careful:

Flooding is an issue and the soil is contaminated because the previous occupant dumped rubbish underground.

Also, the soil is damp, which is why the natural boundary, the stream, is almost dry.

All in all... we drive for an hour... hardly sleep because of excitement and then we get this from a real estate agent who probably completed a crash course in whatever.

We are disappointed and have the feeling that they want to take advantage of us...