Newly built condominium advice on construction description etc.

Hi Tolentino
thank you also for the input. Very nice, that makes me optimistic :)

We will receive the declaration of division together with the actual purchase contract, he also said that binding issues such as the completion date are regulated there. Also that the first administration is probably determined by the builder, or possibly also by the homeowners' association after the sale of all residential units. I didn't pay that much attention during the conversation.

The tip about the expert is a good one, I think I will look around here. Are there also grants available for that from the KFW or similar? The real estate agent is also a construction expert, but I don't know if he might be biased.

No, replacing your lack of expertise with purchasable know-how is your (very sensible) private amusement. Moreover, you can assume that all possible grants and subsidies have already been claimed by the client. The real estate agent is definitely too biased to represent your interests against his client in the property being evaluated. You should definitely find one for yourself. Possibly also a specialist lawyer to review the purchase contract.

Ok, I have no objections there. I also see it that one should take care of it, and if not, one must not cry afterwards.

The broker assured us that the funding can be applied for by the buyers and that it has not yet been claimed elsewhere. I would like to have a clause included in the purchase contract regarding this (also suggested by Kfw) since it’s about €37k that we are definitely counting on. I was not able to get any information about this from Kfw by phone; they told me to clarify it with the seller.

We have already planned to have the purchase contract reviewed by a lawyer or similar. Is there any experience with these online lawyers, or is it better to consult a local lawyer?

Oh unusual, but yes, then it works.
Regarding lawyer local or internet: there are great tulips and lousy zeros here and there.
If you don’t know anyone local, at least you can read reviews online. But it should also work with many local ones.

The semi-professional "construct" including the building standard in single-family house quality with solid brick interior walls is widespread in the "6-unit residential objects" league and in my opinion not a disadvantage. If your apartment suits your taste, you can't really care whether the other five are identical in size and (mirrored) layout. I only find the building specification "too thin" to the extent that it remains vague regarding the electrical installations: personally, I could live with a centrally located ceiling lamp outlet, but I still wouldn't like it for resale. I also do not want to have to add sockets myself—which according to your construction method here you might be able to do. If I ever build or buy a condominium, two triple sockets—one of them switchable—belong near the places for the toaster and coffee machine. Also clarify in advance that the washing machine and dryer can alternatively be placed in the basement or in the apartment. Besides a bedside lamp socket, an IPTV socket also "belongs" nowadays. So make sure that the general contractor does not build the six-family house too much according to the same plan as in 1978.

I would like to have a clause included in the purchase contract for this (also as suggested by the Kfw)

You are welcome to quote a portion of it here as a screenshot (Be careful, no links!).

Hello 11fant,

well, as far as the building materials are concerned, I really have no idea, the only thing to do is to read up and hopefully understand, and of course advice here :)

I completely left out the electrical part above because I was very lazy to write this morning. But now my fingers are more agile and I’m making up for it here. The real estate agent also said that as long as the concrete parts are not finished, we could still have additional recesses made everywhere, ceiling spots are no problem either. We just have to coordinate with the architect.

Electrical installation and grounding according to the VDE regulations valid at the time of contract signing. Basic installation/main distribution, surface-mounted meter cabinet, sub-distribution in each apartment, equipotential bonding, main cable from the house connection to the meter cabinet, broadband data communication distribution surface-mounted, preparation for photovoltaic and SAT system, smoke detectors according to state building regulations.

[*]Laundry room: 1 switch, 1 light point, 10 sockets
[*]Apartment cellar: 1 switch, 1 light point, 2 sockets
[*]Hallway, living, dining, kitchen: 1 cross switch, 2 switches, 4 light points, 14 sockets, 1 double CAT6LAN, 1 TV socket
[*]Bedroom: 1 cross switch, 1 light point, 5 sockets
[*]Bathroom: 1 switch, 2 light points, 3 sockets
[*]Balcony: 1 switch, 1 light point, 1 socket

I left out stairwell, storage room etc. What I notice is that the 2 children’s rooms are missing, one of them is supposed to become an office, in the other we want to have the wall planned away in order to create a larger living-dining-kitchen area. Also, we are still missing more network cabling.

What are your experiences regarding the sockets and ceiling outlets? Is that too few?