New construction on a new plot without a child - how do we approach it?

Hello first a brief introduction

we (my better half and main breadwinner^^ 52 and me 44) are facing a new challenge.

due to a likely upcoming job change (within the same company, so no new probation period etc) we will change again in about 3 years.

the child will then have almost finished studying and will be standing on his own feet. He will probably stay in our region for the time being since he is studying in a practice network and then has a job prospect.

We already "built" once in 1996/1997, a small prefabricated house at a sensational price. There was a great promotion for families with a big bank and a regional prefabricated house manufacturer. We were able to buy the plot from the municipality quite cheaply at that time. Due to the relatively high interest rates (compared to now^^) we are now just about finished paying off.

We would be finished with the "restart" quite exactly.

The current house has a great layout and with 107m2, due to little hallway and good room division, we had more than enough space with one child.

There were few defects back then, overall we were very very satisfied with the decision to build a prefabricated house. A bit of luck was involved as well, because the company went "bankrupt" 3 years after we moved in.

about our plans now:

Land prices in the region where it will probably go lie at about 40-45€/m2 fully developed. We do NOT want a huge garden because we can see from our parents now that at a certain age you just can’t keep everything as you want. 600m2, if the layout is good so that a bungalow fits, would be more than enough for our needs.

we plan about 110-115m2 living space, on one level (we are not getting any younger ;-) ) with a partly covered terrace, possibly garage or carport, and if the price is reasonable maybe partially basement. A basement is not absolutely necessary, we don’t have one at the moment either, and get along with our "crawl space". You don’t learn to keep everything ;-)

Bedroom, possibly with dressing area, bathroom with bathtub AND shower, a guest room/office - guest WC possibly with shower additionally. Depending on whether with cellar or without, maybe even the option of a sauna (sigh... I’ve always wanted that^^)

Open area (living room, dining room, kitchen) is being considered.

now of course I have started browsing... and I was almost overwhelmed... in our time back then, there were a handful of prefabricated house companies that you knew by name, a few of them actually still exist ^^

how should we best approach this? I have no clue about current energy standards, what is possible, what is necessary, how this may affect the corresponding loans (we are calculating with about €150,000 equity including through the sale of the current house, if it goes well) Kfw 40/55/70?? Passive house, geothermal energy, ... all of this were absolute new "words" for me until last week, where I now start to read up. but how deeply do I need to get into this??

Planned move would possibly be mid 2018, so plenty of time first to plan, inform, etc.

much of what we gradually added in the current house we would of course like to have again. For example, large covered terrace with automatic sun protection. Solar for hot water preparation, level shower. Electric roller shutters, possibly with sun sensors etc.

We would prefer to have everything from one source, since we don’t have much time. Since we can’t always be on site either (distance about 300km between current residence and new one) we need someone we can rely on 100% (I know, that’s utopia ;-) )

how would you approach this situation??

Thank you very much in advance, and hope for one or the other tip regarding planning and implementation

dat Baujulchen :-)

Good morning,

Distance approx. 300km between current residence and new one

Where would the new fixed point be? Construction prices vary greatly by region, hence my question ;)

Rhenish greetings

towards the North Sea, also Lower Saxony :)

therefore apparently also the relatively low property prices. Nobody wants to go there.

We already paid that in 1996.

completely OT sorry: but I would also like to go there, it's just not feasible work-wise unfortunately. That's maybe also why you are all like that about retirement *cough ;) Otherwise, you will certainly get more expert tips from the others here than from me ;) Oh, and the sauna, of course it goes into the bathroom, that's almost "standard" nowadays.

towards the North Sea, also Lower Saxony :)

apparently also because of the relatively low land prices ^^ nobody wants to go there

let’s put it this way: few families want to go there because there are hardly any jobs.

If your husband is 52 and has to move there for work in 3 years, then the question is whether you even want to stay living there when you retire. Your roots don’t seem to come from there.
It is not uncommon for the ties to the roots to be cut at the beginning of retirement. At some point, you want to be close to your son/daughter and grandchildren again...
In this respect, I would consider whether renting a property for about 10 years might be more suitable. Used properties in “such” areas are usually bargains... Whether you rent out or sell your own house is then another decision.

Regards, Yvonne

Hi
: thanks for your thoughts :-)

explaining everything would get very personal now and that’s not what this is about :-)
the fact is: we WANT to head towards the coast - we always wanted to once we retire, that now this might come up because of the job is simply a happy coincidence for us.
roots or not... :cool:
we definitely won’t stay in our current town in retirement, so the step now just goes north :-)
I would choose my place of residence totally differently than 20 years ago :-) and back then I really thought it would be forever. Well, you can be so wrong :rolleyes:

: I’ve meanwhile discovered saunas in bathrooms in various layouts. You can tell I haven’t dealt with the topic at all for 20 years :-)
so that would also be an option!
yes, we love the coast and that’s why we were so surprised that the land prices are relatively low. Even in the “city” the prices are around 55-60€/m2 - 10-20km outside in rural areas at the prices I mentioned above.

Despite everything I just need an approach on how to tackle the topic...

do I first deal with all the new regulations? What kind of heating, where is anything even possible? Do I first get flooded with catalogs from different house construction companies? Do I first see what the bank says? we also don’t want to pay for a house forever again, now that we are almost done.

Help, this is a difficult topic and you approach everything now with much more pondering. In your mid-20s that was really more relaxed ;)
If we build again, then please “perfect” (I know that’s not possible^^)

LG and thanks to everyone