Hello everyone,
I have already taken over the construction cost thread quite a bit with this potential project. I'll show you a few things and hope for your input because we are still unsure whether we want to buy the property or not.
About the property: The house comes with a 2500 m² (27,000 sq ft) plot made up of 3 parcels. It is located in an area with poor infrastructure (but that’s where my family lives, and I grew up there, so we want to move there) in Rheinland-Pfalz. Boris says building plots in the area go for around 50€ per m² (approx. $5 per sq ft). The land consists of 3 parcels and is partly in a residential zone and partly adjoining garden land. There are also many older fruit trees on the garden areas, which we like.
The house on the plot was built in 1928, with an extension from the 1960s. The total living area was given by our realtor as 207 m² (2,230 sq ft), although I don’t fully trust the calculation. The expert who showed us around said that the attic should not be counted because the ceiling height is below 2.30 m (7.5 ft). The house has a basement.
What we like about the property is the large living area, the possibility to renovate the floor plan to a relatively modern standard (ground floor), the huge plot with good distance from neighbors, and the existing old trees. What we don’t like is the current layout on the upper floor (little hallway, extension only accessible through room 7).
What we want to change (structurally possible according to the initial impression of our expert):
- Ground floor: Dining area will become the kitchen, the door between dining (which will be kitchen) and living room should be widened, possibly with a sliding door, the old kitchen will become a pantry.
- Bathroom on the upper floor, either room 5 or 7 would be suitable.
- Door breakthrough in the hallway upstairs next to the stairs leading to the extension.
- Old bathroom in the basement: This will be my husband’s home gym. The bathroom will be removed completely except for the shower so that one can shower downstairs after working out (or after coming in dirty from the garden).
We would probably use the attic for “less frequently used” rooms because of the low ceiling height. Maybe for storage and a nice guest room.
On the upper floor, there should be space for a bathroom, bedroom, two children’s rooms, and a utility room for washing and drying.
On the ground floor, living, dining, kitchen + pantry, office, and possibly a shower-gym area should fit.
Heating should go in the basement (energy consultant recommends pellet heating). I’m not sure how good that is; we currently have the THZ504 air-to-water heat pump with ventilation and really like it. I would like to have the same again but don’t know if it is suitable to heat a house that probably won’t get better than KfW 85 standard.
I have already taken over the construction cost thread quite a bit with this potential project. I'll show you a few things and hope for your input because we are still unsure whether we want to buy the property or not.
About the property: The house comes with a 2500 m² (27,000 sq ft) plot made up of 3 parcels. It is located in an area with poor infrastructure (but that’s where my family lives, and I grew up there, so we want to move there) in Rheinland-Pfalz. Boris says building plots in the area go for around 50€ per m² (approx. $5 per sq ft). The land consists of 3 parcels and is partly in a residential zone and partly adjoining garden land. There are also many older fruit trees on the garden areas, which we like.
The house on the plot was built in 1928, with an extension from the 1960s. The total living area was given by our realtor as 207 m² (2,230 sq ft), although I don’t fully trust the calculation. The expert who showed us around said that the attic should not be counted because the ceiling height is below 2.30 m (7.5 ft). The house has a basement.
What we like about the property is the large living area, the possibility to renovate the floor plan to a relatively modern standard (ground floor), the huge plot with good distance from neighbors, and the existing old trees. What we don’t like is the current layout on the upper floor (little hallway, extension only accessible through room 7).
What we want to change (structurally possible according to the initial impression of our expert):
- Ground floor: Dining area will become the kitchen, the door between dining (which will be kitchen) and living room should be widened, possibly with a sliding door, the old kitchen will become a pantry.
- Bathroom on the upper floor, either room 5 or 7 would be suitable.
- Door breakthrough in the hallway upstairs next to the stairs leading to the extension.
- Old bathroom in the basement: This will be my husband’s home gym. The bathroom will be removed completely except for the shower so that one can shower downstairs after working out (or after coming in dirty from the garden).
We would probably use the attic for “less frequently used” rooms because of the low ceiling height. Maybe for storage and a nice guest room.
On the upper floor, there should be space for a bathroom, bedroom, two children’s rooms, and a utility room for washing and drying.
On the ground floor, living, dining, kitchen + pantry, office, and possibly a shower-gym area should fit.
Heating should go in the basement (energy consultant recommends pellet heating). I’m not sure how good that is; we currently have the THZ504 air-to-water heat pump with ventilation and really like it. I would like to have the same again but don’t know if it is suitable to heat a house that probably won’t get better than KfW 85 standard.
Please excuse the blunt words, but are you sure you really like this, or are you just convincing yourselves? I see an old building right by the street beneath a tangle of overhead wires, with fairly close neighboring buildings and a rather questionable extension. In a suburb of Munich, this might be fine, but in a structurally weak region, you might as well just burn the money.
Hangman schrieb:
Please excuse my direct words, but are you sure you like it, Actually, yes. 😀
The bay window is nice, it offers plenty of space, the roof shape is attractive, and for such an old building, it’s quite bright inside. I also like the staircase, and it has a full basement plus a garage facing the street with an electric door. Building a new house with a full basement and a garage quickly blows the budget, even in areas with weaker economic conditions.
If we were to build new, it would probably be a simple, practical gable roof house with about 150m² (1,615 sq ft), no basement, and a carport instead. That way everything would be straightforward and up to the latest standards.
The neighbors are actually quite far away.
We also like the plot because it is reasonably level and has fiber optic internet available.
Another option would be to just take the property, demolish the existing building, and build new, but that would be quite expensive.
S
Stefan00116 Jan 2022 12:24Have you ever stood quietly on the plot of land?
Everyone should be silent for 5 minutes, and then you pay attention to the hum of the overhead power line.
It doesn’t have to bother you, but you should make a conscious decision about it.
That’s something I think would bother me.
Everyone should be silent for 5 minutes, and then you pay attention to the hum of the overhead power line.
It doesn’t have to bother you, but you should make a conscious decision about it.
That’s something I think would bother me.
H
Hausbautraum2016 Jan 2022 12:42So here are my personal thoughts (just my very subjective opinion):
Amazing!
How can anyone seriously move from such a beautiful new build into such a “fixer-upper” and see that as an improvement?
Of course, if you have no other option, the house might be okay, and I also find the bay window quite charming. But compared to your current home, I see it as a major downgrade.
I haven’t read everything in detail, but how much does the house cost? Would it be possible to consider demolishing and building new instead?
Amazing!
How can anyone seriously move from such a beautiful new build into such a “fixer-upper” and see that as an improvement?
Of course, if you have no other option, the house might be okay, and I also find the bay window quite charming. But compared to your current home, I see it as a major downgrade.
I haven’t read everything in detail, but how much does the house cost? Would it be possible to consider demolishing and building new instead?
Stefan001 schrieb:
Have you taken some time to stand quietly on the plot of land?
Everyone should stay silent for about 5 minutes and then listen carefully to the hum of the overhead power lines.
It doesn’t have to bother you, but you should make a conscious decision about it.
That’s something that I think would probably bother me. I actually tried to pay attention to any noise from the overhead power lines since they run directly over the roof. I stood in the next room by the window trying to hear anything. I can’t hear a thing—no humming or anything else.
Is it necessary for those lines to hum? I was honestly surprised that there was no noise at all. (?)
Hausbautraum20 schrieb:
So, just my personal thoughts (really just my subjective opinion):
Wow!
How can someone seriously move from such a beautiful new build into a place like that and call it an upgrade?
And sure, if you have nothing else, the house might be okay; I also find the bay window cute. But compared to your current house, I see it as a massive downgrade.
I haven’t read everything in detail, but how much does the house cost? Have you considered tearing it down and building new? Yes, we are considering that.
But this is really about a major renovation, which I probably should have mentioned. The house as it stands now is just the building we plan to renovate. As it is right now, I would definitely see it as a downgrade, too. 😀
Maybe I should have noted that in the title.
Edit: I should also mention that we want to move to this area for very personal reasons, and unfortunately, we can’t take our beautiful new build with us. We could, of course, build new down there as well, which is still an option. However, we haven’t found a suitable plot yet. Also, a fiber optic internet connection is very important to us, and availability is still quite limited in Germany.
We could theoretically buy this property, demolish it, and build new on the land. But I find it a bit expensive for that, and it would be a shame to lose the basement and the living space.
Similar topics