Property with adjacent private forest area

Sorry, but the area marked in red is not "forest" to me, it's just a few trees.

Is it officially designated as a forest property?

The forest is located within the town. Sooner or later, building will be possible there, especially so close to an urban area. See it as an investment. If not for you, then for your children or grandchildren.

I would buy the forest as well. Especially if I only had a small plot of 650m²..

A daring thesis...

How is the area designated in the land use plan?

... without having looked at the land use plan beforehand.

If the area is not designated as building land, then it is initially forest area. A clear indication of this is the price of ~26€, because if it were already building land, more than the asking 26€ would be demanded and also paid. Or the seller would be ignorant, and you would have to buy the piece immediately for 40,000€.

The agent is presumably setting the price here for anticipated building land, which would roughly fit – but the question is whether the area can actually be classified as anticipated building land. It could just as well appear as a protected area (biotope or similar) in the land use plans, etc.

Assuming it really is forest, you would have to wait for a change in the land use plan as well as the development plan. You can’t enforce or sue for this, so you either have to consider it a total gamble or you have to convince the politicians.

I would buy it at most for 10-15€/sqm, i.e., garden land price – including the huts and a cool barbecue area, you might be able to amortize the sum over 30 years.

A quick check can also be done via the property taxes. The tax office will levy a higher charge if it is building land. If only the low rate is charged, it is forest – the state is reluctant to voluntarily forgo taxes.

Regards
Dirk Grafe

Hello everyone,

thanks in advance for the tips and information!

So I went to the property again today and had a very nice conversation there with the owner of the property.

The thing is, it is definitely registered as forest. It was probably once a residential area, but the municipality then (without informing the owners) converted it into forest. However, this goes back quite a while. There are a total of three properties (approx. 5000m² + 1500m² + 1000m²) which are divided among the three neighbors (one each to the right and left of the mentioned property). The owner also assumes that it will become building land again in at most 10 years. Currently, there is apparently a legal change regarding the boundary development of the forest. The blue-marked new development area is already quite built up, meaning that most houses are already clad. The green strip at the forest boundary may not currently be built on, as it must be preserved as protection for the "forest." This is apparently currently being changed in the guidelines or laws so that building plots can still be created there. I used my "paint skills" and sketched how it currently looks. Black is the street, red the houses (as far as I remember?), and yellow the "protection strip." So sooner or later the forest will also become "attractive" for construction companies, according to the owner.

Contrary to the statement (and the exposé) from the realtor, the owner only wants to sell the property together with the forest. So we almost have no choice but to take the forest as well. He would still "make some concessions" on the price. So in total, it would come to €145,000...a meager €4,000.

Now it is necessary to check whether the overall project is financially feasible! And what else must be considered with a forest!

Now that changes the situation somewhat. You should find out how much work the forest will require in the next 10-15 years. I think you mentioned old maple and beech. It would be unfortunate if they are so old that they are no longer allowed to be felled (if there is such a rule, which I wouldn't rule out). The advantage is that trees of this kind generally do not become a hazard potential very quickly. At most, you might have to prune a few branches, but even here you have to assess the situation on site. However, if it does actually become building land and you sell the area, then of course you can clear it. On the one hand, old beech and maple, provided the wood quality is good, bring in more money than a boring spruce, and then there is of course the new price per m². I believe the root system of beech is also interesting, for example, because in luxury cars some dashboard trim pieces are made from it. But it could also have been oak :) Maybe you should consider equipping your house with a wood heating system and ask the municipality what they actually plan to do with the properties in the next few years. Real estate agents and owners usually pull together on the sales rope at first ;)

I would be careful with the dollar signs in your eyes. For many plots of land, especially those not designated as building land, the municipality at least has a right of first refusal, and if it is not designated as a building area, you won’t get much for it without the municipality’s assurance that the plot will be developed. My parents-in-law have the same problem. They have a plot of about 1000m², like two other neighbors, while the other two next to them each have 1500m². All of it is currently garden land. However, the plots are located between a new development area and the old village center, so the municipality wants to buy the plots to develop building land there. They offered the owners (since it is currently not building land) €10/m² (the standard land value for building land is €150/m²). They, of course, declined (for about five years now, repeatedly), because they don’t want to sell either. One neighbor tried to develop it himself once, but the municipality did not grant permission for that. I would be very cautious, so you don’t end up getting only €25,000 back from the municipality out of your €40,000 in the end. Clearing an entire plot is also not a walk in the park and not free either.

That's right! There is a lot of speculation and basically we do not necessarily want to buy the forest property. However, the seller only wants to sell it with the forest. So we have almost no choice. If it should eventually become building land, I assume that I will at least get the purchase price back.

I will call the municipality today and inquire about the plans for the future.

As far as the seller could tell me, there is no significant tree protection ordinance in the town. At least the first three larger maple trees still standing on the building plot he sees as easy to cut down (can you phrase it like that?). Then there are two larger oaks, which probably cannot be felled without further ado. But I have already inquired about that as well.