Purchase of land - Request for your help regarding the selection

No. 9 would be absolutely no option for me for the reasons already mentioned, especially since you are very exposed there (driveway for many properties located to the east). No. 24 to 33 are in my opinion quite small. What speaks against No. 11 to 15? Nicely straight, southwest orientation, slightly larger, you basically look over the southern neighbor into the landscape. Does an additional southern neighbor bother you?

So No. 9 is definitely out as well. The plots you mentioned, No. 24 to 33, are also out because the neighbor to the south actually bothers us. Additionally, they are priced €10 per m² higher, and we don’t want to look at a house wall with our garden. Therefore, basically only the plots at the very bottom (25 - 31) and one row above (23 - 18) are still an option.

The question I am also asking myself is: how many m² of land do we really need... I find that hard to estimate. We have always assumed 500 m² as a wish. I’m now wondering whether 419 m² might be a bit too little. Especially since we want to build about 180 m² of living space. With the permitted floor area ratio of 0.35, it should still work out.

What I don’t understand and what worries us is: how do we now make the best decision based on the plan regarding the buildability of the plot. I am reading such a plan for the first time and unfortunately, we don’t have a friendly architect either. We have to submit our application by the end of the week.

Do you have any tips regarding the selection of the plot in general and especially here? Thanks in advance.

Hello Stefan,

we only know the elevation conditions exactly since our surveyor was there for the first time - we are building on a plot in an "old" residential area that hasn't seen a surveyor in a long time.

For you, of course, it is not really an option to have all potential plots surveyed first.

In your position, I would ask the municipality / city whether the green dashed lines in the "colorful" site plan are really contour lines and what elevation difference one line represents. That would give you a rough idea.

Since it is a new development area, the elevation differences were surely documented during the surveying.

Regards,

Dirk

The question I am also asking myself on the side is: how many square meters of land do we actually need... I find it hard to estimate. We have always assumed 500m² as a wish. I am just wondering if 419m² is perhaps a bit too little. Especially since we plan to build about 180m² of living space. With the permitted floor-area ratio of 0.35, it should still work out.

Just as a reference: Our plot has "only" 369 sqm. Still, around 190 sqm of living space, two garages, and a nice terrace fit on it. Well, not much garden is left then, but that was not really a criterion for us since we also have a nice garden property.

Regards,

Dirk

Interesting. Thanks Dirk.

The question I’m asking myself on the side is: how many m² of land do we actually need… I find it hard to estimate. We’ve always assumed 500m² as a wish. I’m wondering now if 419m² might be a bit too little. Especially since we are building about 180m² of living space. With the allowed floor area ratio of 0.35, it should still work.

Ask 10 people and you’ll get 10 different answers. In the end, everyone has to decide for themselves and according to their preferences. If, besides space for the house, garage/carport and driveway, a terrace and maybe a small flower bed are enough for you, then a small property is certainly sufficient. But if you want, for example, additional green space (children love having room to run and play), space for a greenhouse and/or a garden shed (interesting if you build without a basement), then 419 m² might already be tight.

Just draw different plots on a sheet of paper and place the house with terrace, carport/garage + possibly a parking space and other things to scale (note: building boundaries/setbacks must be observed). Then at least you’ll know roughly how much "open space" remains and can consider if that’s enough.

In any case, you should make a decision at some point. It is possible that (No. 9 and) No. 29 are already reserved for others, so you can no longer get them. That happens faster than you think. Keep in mind, you are not the only ones who want to build ;) Therefore, one should not be open to only 100%, somehow (almost) every property has advantages and disadvantages.