Plot selection in the new development area for single-family house - ranking

I hope for you that with 2 children you are high up on the list.

However, in the marketing there is a clear distinction between plots for detached houses and semi-detached houses. [...] I’ll ask the city whether it is contractually stipulated for these plots that a detached house must be built. If it really were the case that a neighbor could theoretically be the first to obtain a building permit for a semi-detached house and thus set a precedent, that would be totally stupid. The more I think about it, I assume that something like that is contractually excluded.

I don’t think so, and that would probably be easy to overturn. The requirement of a team application would be the best way, but unfortunately it fits poorly organizationally into a procedure that is to be conducted in just one round and where it is allowed to register for both types of plots.

I hope for you that with 2 children you are far up on the list.

What is definitely important – this applies here to all questions of this "which one should we choose" genre! – is not to ask this question in isolation, but always in connection with the allocation procedure. What matters here is less to go into detail about which individual parameters (income, number of children, years of residency, local integration e.g., through volunteer fire brigade) have which point values. Rather, it is especially about how the procedure progresses at all: for example, may the highest-scoring / first-drawn choose first and for the next ones only nine / eight / seven little “Negerlein” [Note: this is a traditional German counting rhyme, neutral in the original context] remain in the selection; or does each plot go to the applicant with the most points and, in case of a tie, is decided by heads or tails? – without clarity on this, any strategy can be the wrong(est)!

The problem is that such procedures are usually hatched out in committees whose participants are organizing such a children’s party game for the first time and exchange too little with other municipalities about it. Then the applicants arrive, well prepared for the expectation that only “pot hitting” [the basis of the original rhyme reference] could be played, but suddenly it is about “musical chairs” or egg-and-spoon race. But if you go to a shootout, even the sharpest knife is of no use!

Almost all point systems I have heard of from acquaintances looked like this; Married 1 point Children 2 points per child 10 years living in the municipality/county 10 points 20 years living there 20 points Etc. I would assume it is handled the same way as in the company. I apply for position A and if they don't want me, they offer me C or F because there are no applicants for those. The municipality wants to turn the plots into money, and the demand at the current interest rates is not really that high anymore. And in the end, some also drop out because the bank doesn't grant any financing. The best approach in something like this is not to go in with the idea "plot 20, 22 or none at all" but rather be open, see what you get, and only then mentally plan the house...

The best approach in such cases is not to go in with the idea "plot 20, 22, or none at all" but rather to be open, see what you can get, and only then plan the house in your mind...

That is a good attitude if you basically want to move to this area. When we bought our terraced house, we were told that the corner houses were already taken. We bought a middle house. Later we realized that we were among the first buyers. The developer’s strategy was to sell the prime spots only when time started to run out. Smart for them, bad for us. Today I would have probed more closely and insisted. The market situation is no longer such that there are loads of applicants for a single plot.

The market situation is no longer such that there are lots of applicants for one plot of land.

"The market situation" actually refers to two different market conditions – a private one and a public one. For municipalities, the market situation is that they initially only have very limited resources to develop building areas and to engage in the land market there. The funds tied up in the acquisition of plots must also be turned around quickly. During the time it takes to develop such a building area, the demand situation also changes (towards increased demand pressure for semi-detached house plots, which often manifests itself in originally "E" designated areas being reclassified as "E/D"). Interested parties for the "E only" plots generally compete quite relaxed and with good chances of becoming successors – however, within this class, there are significantly different demand pressures between northern access / southern access (or in the case of hillside locations: upper slope access / lower slope access) and between corner, mid-row, and cul-de-sac plots. A good strategy is to "infer from oneself to others," i.e., to assume game-theoretically that the competition has the same criteria, and then deliberately distribute one’s tokens among the "nice," "so-so," and "better than nothing" plots. So, out of five wishes, two go to "jackpot," two to "so-so" plots, and one to a "consolation prize." Those who have freedom (for example, because they are not under pressure to have a residence in this school district) gamble with the fifth token as well and place it on "jackpot" or "so-so." Very rarely do many applicants compete for the spot next to the trash bins, because they expect little competition there. But, as said: don’t develop a strategy without having explored the rules of the game!

Several posts with questions about the allocation procedure have accumulated here, which I would be happy to address.

I hope for you that with 2 children you are high up on the list.

You never really know exactly because, in the allocation procedure, it ultimately depends on how many people apply and who they are. However, with two children and a fairly long time on the interested parties list (more on that below), we have quite good chances.

The municipality wants to turn the plots into money, and demand is not that great anymore with the current interest rates.

It probably always depends on where the municipality is located. Here, the demand is still high.

There is a non-binding interested parties list for building plots here, currently listing 1300 people/households. There has been almost no building land in recent years: the private market is quite empty and municipally there were last building plots on the market in 2019. All planned new development areas have been dragging on for years and just a few months ago, 13 plots were allocated again for the first time. Now this area with 28 plots follows and it is already clear that further plots will not be available before 2027 at the earliest.

The application procedure here is quite simple: anyone can apply and applications are not for specific plots. Points are then assigned to each applicant (per child +10 points, for homeownership within Bocholt -20 points). Within the individual classes (e.g., all applicants with 20 points), how long one has been on the interested parties list counts. This results in a clear order in which selection can then be made. Place 1 has full choice of all plots, then place 2 is called and can choose from the remaining ones, etc. Since you do not have several days of time to think when called, we want to establish a ranking of all plots for ourselves.

Regarding the number of applicants: For the 13 plots mentioned above at the beginning of the year, there were 240 applications, of which 12 applicants alone had 30 points or more. In the end, you never really know how great the interest will be for the specific building area. It is to be expected that applicants without children or applicants with one child will probably not succeed or at most will receive an offer for plots with little demand (for example, recently there were two towel plots with 9m width that hardly anyone wanted).