Report: Building a house as retirement provision? No way!

We come from the area near Ansbach, Middle Franconia in Bavaria. We are building in a small community with just under 2000 inhabitants. I currently live in the neighboring community (5 km away) with a total of about 4500 inhabitants and we both grew up here. Kindergartens with KiTA, primary school, doctors, shopping facilities, etc. are all available. I can reach Ansbach in about 10 minutes. There is almost everything there, including a hospital, etc. I get to Nuremberg (workplace) in about 50-60 minutes. It is, of course, one of the top economic regions in Germany. Originally, we actually wanted to build in an even smaller village, but unfortunately, we did not get a building plot there.

On weekends, however, I am in Hessen visiting my relatives. Unfortunately, it looks completely different there. My grandmother lives in the Vogelsberg district. In that village, it feels like half of the houses are empty or completely run down, and it takes forever to get anywhere. I would never even think about putting a house out in the sticks there.

We come from the area near Ansbach, Middle Franconia in Bavaria. We are building in a small community with just under 2000 inhabitants. I currently live in the neighboring community (5km away) with a total of about 4500 inhabitants and also grew up here. Kindergartens with KiTA, primary school, doctors, shopping facilities, etc. are all available. I can reach Ansbach in about 10 minutes. There is practically everything there, including a hospital, etc. I get to Nuremberg (place of work) in about 50-60 minutes. This is, of course, one of the top economic regions in Germany.

On weekends, however, I am in Hesse with my relatives. Unfortunately, things look completely different there. My grandmother lives in the Vogelsberg district. In that village, it feels like half the houses are empty or completely run down, and it takes forever to get anywhere at all. I would never in my life think about putting a house out in the middle of nowhere there.

A coworker also built near Ansbach and always has to get out at the pyramid. So the commute is really tough. The time would really be too precious for me. But Cadolzburg or Langenzenn, in terms of prices, were also not an option for us. It’s crazy what is being asked for in the "metropolitan region," meaning the 30 km beetle around Nuremberg/ Erlangen/ Fürth. Our next-door neighbor built in Tuchenbach, €250 per square meter for the land. You could google it. I think there is only a KiTA and a bakery, nothing more.

My wife works on site as a teacher and can luckily drop the children off at [Kindergarten] on the way to work. The total distance for her is about 3-4 km.

I have been commuting for about 15 years, it doesn't bother me. But I do home office 1-2 times a week.

The old people in the film have provided for their pension, a nice house for them, and no rent—and their homeland. If they have to sell it, they are dead or one of them is in a home. So what, why should they care that the heirs are upset? - And one more thing: Anyone who looks at the Postbank or the LBS Immoatlas sees that there are indeed rural regions with rising or at least stable prices. In our town, the price for a condominium rose from 1800 to 3200 per sqm in the last 10 years. And Lübeck and Kiel are each 70 km away—Hamburg and Copenhagen are 150 to 170 km away. So, it works. Longing for the sea drives the prices here. Karsten

Communities should consider whether it makes sense to designate a new building area with so much vacancy or if there is not the possibility to combat vacancy. You can see what results in the contribution. Vacancy in the town A settlement that is also not livable and probably some would move away if they could.

Man oh man. Just recently, I was calculated an “eternal return” of 6.8% net on my own four walls when I repeated my mantra that owner-occupied property (with exceptions) is not the best retirement provision... is that untrue?

About Karsten: The heirs care because they have to pay for the nursing home if the place no longer brings much. And the former residents set out with the plan to create assets that provide security in old age. Against what exactly? Moving out of one’s own four walls is not the rule.