Purchase + renovation of an old house: pros and cons??

Forget about renovating a house with 1000 per month. Do you want to renovate for 10 years?
Forget also about the knowledge of your grandparents: back then, construction was different.. you can’t compare them!
Property tax will not change significantly, unless you substantially change the size... Property tax is actually insignificant...
Focus on the ongoing construction costs, which are not negligible... filling a hole for 10 won’t happen...
You are too naive!

nordanney: Property tax is clearly not as important as construction costs, but it’s also good to know how and when it changes, rather than not knowing, right?

Thanks for the info mycraft.

ypg: Not necessarily 10 years, but I have no problem with 3-4 years. My grandparents also helped my aunt and it’s a "current" house, i.e. from 10 years ago. Why shouldn’t one build like before (Who says the quality was worse before than today)? I don’t see any disadvantages, even advantages. My grandparents (from father and mother) didn’t have problems with mold, for example, my mother also said that she didn’t know anyone in the family who ever had that and they all built their own houses before, no one lived in an apartment. You are a bit too offensive with your choice of words, whether about me or my grandparents... it comes across as quite "attacking" to me right now... By the way, I know it’s not just a hole to be filled! So don’t talk to me as if I were a "moron"!

Why shouldn’t one build like in the past (Who says that quality was worse back then than it is today)?

Well, for example, I would. The question, of course, is what we are talking about. A solid house from the past - let's say about 100 years old - can only rarely keep up with today's energy standards. The only things that come to mind are villas with wall thicknesses of over 40-50 cm. They exist and are great. But if I think, for example, of the average house of my 90-year-old grandmother. That is an energy disaster. It is very small, so it’s still manageable. But the windows, the walls, the doors - heat literally escapes everywhere. The floor is also ice cold because that’s how they built back then. They just couldn’t do better or it was too expensive. Styrofoam simply hadn’t been invented yet (I think?). And in 100 years our grandchildren will again build themselves new and better houses.

I see no disadvantages, even advantages. My grandparents (on both my father’s and mother’s side) didn’t have mold problems back in the day, and my mother also said that she didn’t know anyone in the extended family who had that at all, and back then they all built their own houses; no one lived in an apartment.

What a misconception! On the contrary, poor families were specifically quartered in new houses for 2 years back then for “dry living.” Only after that did the real owners move in, or the house was sold. After 2 years of dry living, you wouldn’t have mold in today’s houses either, if we leave aside major construction errors.

kaho: Ok, energetically I can't judge it... Of course, windows, doors, such things are better by today's standards, I meant the substance, meaning the material of the walls, how the basements were built (they were nicely cold in every season because the heating pipes didn’t go through there + they were underground--> thus a refrigerator for the whole year). If I compare it, for example, with my current apartment: I had mold for years, in every room (exterior walls), at first I had to "pester" the landlord to get it fixed (this year, how it looks this winter remains to be seen), they tore off all the wallpaper and applied anti-mold paint. Furthermore, the basement is always way too warm, so you can’t even store sauerkraut there or simply potatoes (they immediately sprout roots down there).

As I said, all my relatives built their own houses, nothing with 2 years of drying out with other people before. Maybe that was the case in Germany, but my relatives all lived scattered across Russia and Kazakhstan... I only came to Germany at the age of 3.

I know that people used to make the materials for the walls themselves, for example, and also the paint for the walls. This way the walls could breathe and there was no mold. Today walls no longer "breathe" because of this concrete. However, they didn’t freeze in that house either, you couldn’t afford that with the terrible cold in winter (down to -50°C or even more....)... my father + his parents/relatives lived in Siberia in general.

So I think you can combine new and old knowledge...

No, you can’t compare Siberia with the houses here... there you order wood and coal for the winter and just heat with that... the houses were simply built differently than here... nobody cared then and probably still doesn’t care how much energy just gets blown out... through the "breathing" walls... by the way, such a thing doesn’t exist... so either a wall is tight or it’s not... there’s no breathing involved...

However, if you buy a house that possibly has moisture damage etc., is leaky, and so on, then the operating costs will break your neck... and then at some point you might also be one of those poor wretches who live in a ruin for years and have the building saviors come to your place...

What you always see on TV, bargain houses and so on, does not always reflect the truth... it’s made to get people in front of the TV... nothing more... and if something doesn’t fit, then something is tricked and sometimes false numbers are juggled, etc.

So if I were to buy a house, I would definitely have an expert come in beforehand and then probably also a house that is not older than 20 years or so... everything older is usually ready for demolition or in urgent need of renovation, and demolition is usually cheaper...

mycraft: There are "breathing" walls (this has nothing to do with leaks), you simply seem not to know this term and the specific materials for the whole thing. Also, when you say something like that doesn't exist, it's as if all my relatives/family are talking nonsense or lying. Sure, in the times of the grandparents and my parents' childhood, wood/coal was used for heating, but when my parents got married 30 years ago, they also had a house (bought + renovated) that was built similarly, except that there were already proper heaters (it was a very good house, one of the more expensive ones at that time). However, here in Germany my parents bought a new house... they didn't want to go through the renovation again. So, energetically speaking, I really can't say whether energy was wasted or not, I just have no information about that.

Yes, I don't watch TV, so honestly I don't know these shows.

Yes, probably it's a bit easier to buy a house that is generally good with few renovations but costs a bit more... you just have to save longer for the equity. Well, I still have time... I'm only 22 years old... even though I would like to have a house in 1-2 years (even if it would be a small and cheap one).... I guess I'll have to practice being patient.