S
silverminer2 Nov 2020 01:22Hello everyone,
this is my first post, so I would like to briefly introduce myself/us.
We are a family of four (33, 30, 5, 1) currently living in a 95m² (1,022 sq ft) 4-room condominium with a private 100m² (1,076 sq ft) garden in Cologne.
While the size of our apartment is sufficient for us, it is becoming a bit tight now with our second child, especially since I actually need my own home office. With four rooms, that is not possible.
Besides, we want to have our own place. The topic of “new build” never really came up before because our entire social circle (family/friends/neighbors/colleagues) has always focused on existing properties, and certain prejudices (too time-consuming, too risky, too expensive, too complicated, etc.) also led us to only look for existing homes.
So we have been searching for a house (terraced house, semi-detached house, etc.) for about a year.
We quickly realized that even in the less expensive districts of Cologne, a reasonably acceptable house costs at least 400,000 euros, rather 500,000 euros. When you add purchasing incidental costs and renovation expenses, you end up with about 700,000 euros, which is well over our budget.
Also, the high additional purchase costs (around 50,000 euros) bother me. On the one hand, this is the amount banks expect as equity, and on the other, I don’t really feel these fees are deserved by most real estate agents; they just demand them in my opinion.
In the past few weeks, I happened to have a conversation with someone who recently built a new home with a modular house provider (Allkauf Haus), which got things rolling. The acquaintance had positive experiences and suggested I look into it as well. I was skeptical because I couldn’t really identify with modular houses “made of wood” (timber frame construction). However, the comparatively affordable prices sparked our interest. We thought this might be our chance to realize our (affordable) dream home.
We actually visited the modular home exhibition in Frechen near Cologne to get a proper introduction to modular homes. There were many impressive houses, but when we inquired about prices, the range was between 2,000 - 3,500 euros/m² (186 - 325 USD/sq ft), which quickly dampened our initial enthusiasm. At those prices, you could also build conventionally using solid construction without all the reservations about modular homes and timber frame construction.
The last house on the tour was also the Allkauf Haus. We gave their salespeople a chance to convince us, and I have to admit they did a very good job. The salesperson was available on short notice and advised us for about two hours, and—just as expected—everything sounded great, easy, and straightforward. They said we just had to sign quickly to secure some bonus offers, etc.
Of course, we don’t have a plot yet, but they wanted us to sign anyway. They said Allkauf Haus could help us find one, and if we didn’t find a suitable plot, we could cancel the contract without problems. Even now, I can’t understand why anyone would commit contractually to a provider and a modular home without a plot and therefore without a specific development plan, etc. I see the significant advantages of this approach only on the seller’s side.
Nevertheless, I must admit that Allkauf Haus is very competitively priced (at least at first glance) compared to other providers at the modular home exhibition. Of course, there must be reasons for this, but the question is whether the potential “downsides” would be relevant to us or not...
Now, a few more details:
We planned an Allkauf Haus KfW40 single-family house without a basement, including a granny flat on the upper floor, thus benefiting from double KfW subsidies. The yet-to-be-purchased plot was budgeted at 150,000 euros (up to 40 km (25 miles) from Cologne). The single-family house with the granny flat on the upper floor is planned to have about 200m² (2,153 sq ft) of living space and to cost around 225,000 euros excluding interior finishing but including materials. The interior finishing was deliberately omitted because we want to do a lot of it ourselves (sweat equity) and have many helpers and skilled craftsmen/friends available:
Plot: 150,000 euros
Plot incidental costs: 13,000 euros
Building incidental costs: 80,000 euros (e.g., foundation slab, civil engineering, connections, etc.)
Allkauf Haus Gen. 4 including materials for interior finishing: 225,000 euros
Labor for drywall + all trades: 30,000 euros
Outdoor facilities: 30,000 euros
TOTAL: approx. 530,000 euros; minus subsidies approx. 475,000 euros.
If I consider only the house costs, the price without subsidies comes to just over 1,800 euros/m² (167 USD/sq ft), which sounds affordable but not unrealistic. With subsidies, it’s even only 1,560 euros/m² (145 USD/sq ft), which of course sounds great at first.
Compared to an existing property, we see the following advantages:
- New build (new is really new...) with significantly less need for repairs
- Energy efficiency
- Floor plan planning
- Modern construction methods, appearance, and technology
- Subsidies and lower additional purchase costs
- Larger living space
Disadvantage: Location outside of Cologne
Please forgive me for these beginner questions, but I wanted to first explain our motivation and way of thinking, and then initiate the next steps with your advice.
Financial situation:
- 4,600 euros monthly income (currently 1 income) plus 2 child benefits
- 15,000 euros equity (yes, very little; invested elsewhere)
- Budget: 530,000 euros including ALL COSTS
What we will NOT do upfront:
- Sign a contract with Allkauf Haus without first having a plot and without comparing prices with other modular home providers and regional general contractors!
What we plan to do:
- Gather information and compare offers from modular home providers suitable for us
- Obtain and compare offers for solid (masonry) construction
What bothers us about our current condominium:
- Living room is too narrow and dark at 6.10 m x 3.78 m (20 ft x 12 ft) (ground floor, area built up around us, 2 windows, southeast orientation)
- No laundry room
- No home office
What we want:
- Our own spacious detached single-family house with granny flat
- Large living/dining area (approx. 45-50m² (484 - 538 sq ft)) plus kitchen
- Bright rooms (floor-to-ceiling windows, southwest orientation of living room and garden)
- Larger entrance/reception area with gallery (open ceiling)
- Bedroom, 2 children’s rooms, laundry room, dressing room, office, guest room (combining possible)
- 2 garages
- At least 200m² (2,153 sq ft) garden
Our questions:
1. What are general experiences with Allkauf Haus (including reliability)?
2. What is the difference compared to Massa Haus (Okal Haus, Allkauf Haus, Massa Haus basically belong together)?
3. Depending on the answer to 2), would Massa Haus be a better choice if we plan to do all interior finishing ourselves?
4. Can you confirm that Allkauf Haus and Massa Haus are the most affordable modular home providers on the market?
5. Would it be possible to build a new solid construction house within the same budget?
6. If yes to 5): Does this also apply to building a KfW40 house to benefit from subsidies and with 200m² of living space?
7. Is it possible to realize the room requirements mentioned above with, for example, 150m² (1,615 sq ft) of living space instead of 200m²?
8. Do you agree with the arguments in favor of a new build?
9. In your opinion, is our budget/income sufficient to realize our wishes?
Thank you very much to everyone!
Best regards
silverminer
this is my first post, so I would like to briefly introduce myself/us.
We are a family of four (33, 30, 5, 1) currently living in a 95m² (1,022 sq ft) 4-room condominium with a private 100m² (1,076 sq ft) garden in Cologne.
While the size of our apartment is sufficient for us, it is becoming a bit tight now with our second child, especially since I actually need my own home office. With four rooms, that is not possible.
Besides, we want to have our own place. The topic of “new build” never really came up before because our entire social circle (family/friends/neighbors/colleagues) has always focused on existing properties, and certain prejudices (too time-consuming, too risky, too expensive, too complicated, etc.) also led us to only look for existing homes.
So we have been searching for a house (terraced house, semi-detached house, etc.) for about a year.
We quickly realized that even in the less expensive districts of Cologne, a reasonably acceptable house costs at least 400,000 euros, rather 500,000 euros. When you add purchasing incidental costs and renovation expenses, you end up with about 700,000 euros, which is well over our budget.
Also, the high additional purchase costs (around 50,000 euros) bother me. On the one hand, this is the amount banks expect as equity, and on the other, I don’t really feel these fees are deserved by most real estate agents; they just demand them in my opinion.
In the past few weeks, I happened to have a conversation with someone who recently built a new home with a modular house provider (Allkauf Haus), which got things rolling. The acquaintance had positive experiences and suggested I look into it as well. I was skeptical because I couldn’t really identify with modular houses “made of wood” (timber frame construction). However, the comparatively affordable prices sparked our interest. We thought this might be our chance to realize our (affordable) dream home.
We actually visited the modular home exhibition in Frechen near Cologne to get a proper introduction to modular homes. There were many impressive houses, but when we inquired about prices, the range was between 2,000 - 3,500 euros/m² (186 - 325 USD/sq ft), which quickly dampened our initial enthusiasm. At those prices, you could also build conventionally using solid construction without all the reservations about modular homes and timber frame construction.
The last house on the tour was also the Allkauf Haus. We gave their salespeople a chance to convince us, and I have to admit they did a very good job. The salesperson was available on short notice and advised us for about two hours, and—just as expected—everything sounded great, easy, and straightforward. They said we just had to sign quickly to secure some bonus offers, etc.
Of course, we don’t have a plot yet, but they wanted us to sign anyway. They said Allkauf Haus could help us find one, and if we didn’t find a suitable plot, we could cancel the contract without problems. Even now, I can’t understand why anyone would commit contractually to a provider and a modular home without a plot and therefore without a specific development plan, etc. I see the significant advantages of this approach only on the seller’s side.
Nevertheless, I must admit that Allkauf Haus is very competitively priced (at least at first glance) compared to other providers at the modular home exhibition. Of course, there must be reasons for this, but the question is whether the potential “downsides” would be relevant to us or not...
Now, a few more details:
We planned an Allkauf Haus KfW40 single-family house without a basement, including a granny flat on the upper floor, thus benefiting from double KfW subsidies. The yet-to-be-purchased plot was budgeted at 150,000 euros (up to 40 km (25 miles) from Cologne). The single-family house with the granny flat on the upper floor is planned to have about 200m² (2,153 sq ft) of living space and to cost around 225,000 euros excluding interior finishing but including materials. The interior finishing was deliberately omitted because we want to do a lot of it ourselves (sweat equity) and have many helpers and skilled craftsmen/friends available:
Plot: 150,000 euros
Plot incidental costs: 13,000 euros
Building incidental costs: 80,000 euros (e.g., foundation slab, civil engineering, connections, etc.)
Allkauf Haus Gen. 4 including materials for interior finishing: 225,000 euros
Labor for drywall + all trades: 30,000 euros
Outdoor facilities: 30,000 euros
TOTAL: approx. 530,000 euros; minus subsidies approx. 475,000 euros.
If I consider only the house costs, the price without subsidies comes to just over 1,800 euros/m² (167 USD/sq ft), which sounds affordable but not unrealistic. With subsidies, it’s even only 1,560 euros/m² (145 USD/sq ft), which of course sounds great at first.
Compared to an existing property, we see the following advantages:
- New build (new is really new...) with significantly less need for repairs
- Energy efficiency
- Floor plan planning
- Modern construction methods, appearance, and technology
- Subsidies and lower additional purchase costs
- Larger living space
Disadvantage: Location outside of Cologne
Please forgive me for these beginner questions, but I wanted to first explain our motivation and way of thinking, and then initiate the next steps with your advice.
Financial situation:
- 4,600 euros monthly income (currently 1 income) plus 2 child benefits
- 15,000 euros equity (yes, very little; invested elsewhere)
- Budget: 530,000 euros including ALL COSTS
What we will NOT do upfront:
- Sign a contract with Allkauf Haus without first having a plot and without comparing prices with other modular home providers and regional general contractors!
What we plan to do:
- Gather information and compare offers from modular home providers suitable for us
- Obtain and compare offers for solid (masonry) construction
What bothers us about our current condominium:
- Living room is too narrow and dark at 6.10 m x 3.78 m (20 ft x 12 ft) (ground floor, area built up around us, 2 windows, southeast orientation)
- No laundry room
- No home office
What we want:
- Our own spacious detached single-family house with granny flat
- Large living/dining area (approx. 45-50m² (484 - 538 sq ft)) plus kitchen
- Bright rooms (floor-to-ceiling windows, southwest orientation of living room and garden)
- Larger entrance/reception area with gallery (open ceiling)
- Bedroom, 2 children’s rooms, laundry room, dressing room, office, guest room (combining possible)
- 2 garages
- At least 200m² (2,153 sq ft) garden
Our questions:
1. What are general experiences with Allkauf Haus (including reliability)?
2. What is the difference compared to Massa Haus (Okal Haus, Allkauf Haus, Massa Haus basically belong together)?
3. Depending on the answer to 2), would Massa Haus be a better choice if we plan to do all interior finishing ourselves?
4. Can you confirm that Allkauf Haus and Massa Haus are the most affordable modular home providers on the market?
5. Would it be possible to build a new solid construction house within the same budget?
6. If yes to 5): Does this also apply to building a KfW40 house to benefit from subsidies and with 200m² of living space?
7. Is it possible to realize the room requirements mentioned above with, for example, 150m² (1,615 sq ft) of living space instead of 200m²?
8. Do you agree with the arguments in favor of a new build?
9. In your opinion, is our budget/income sufficient to realize our wishes?
Thank you very much to everyone!
Best regards
silverminer
Nobody, absolutely nobody, in the construction industry gives anything away or expects to be seen as a hero for affordable housing projects—they are not part of any charity organization. A shell home (partial finish house) naturally seems cheaper at first, but it targets a specific group: the “all-around handy person with Polish relatives.” This means that the average DIY enthusiast (with average free time) inevitably ends up purchasing additional specialized services, often to an underestimated extent, until the price difference compared to a fully finished turnkey home disappears entirely.
The “shell home” model is simply not as systematically offered by traditional masonry builders, but basically, “structural shell plus” options do exist there as well and function in the same way.
KfW40 or other efficiency standards exceeding the norm are products for homebuyers who see themselves as part of an eco-sustainable elite and are mostly financially able to justify them. The dream of a better conscience that almost pays for itself for the average buyer—forget about it. The same applies to starting a career as a small-scale landlord, aka renting out a granny flat: this also rarely makes financial sense for average earners. Being a landlord with just one rental unit is at best a self-sustaining hobby (and no, it is not retirement provision—that’s just silly financial advisor talk). Apart from more commission for your mortgage broker, it doesn’t bring any benefits.
Considering these needs and circumstances, I see you living in a typical family home without a granny flat. So take a look in the threads where others like MeiermüllerSchulze discuss their 140 to 160 square meter (1500 to 1700 square feet) family houses.
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
The “shell home” model is simply not as systematically offered by traditional masonry builders, but basically, “structural shell plus” options do exist there as well and function in the same way.
KfW40 or other efficiency standards exceeding the norm are products for homebuyers who see themselves as part of an eco-sustainable elite and are mostly financially able to justify them. The dream of a better conscience that almost pays for itself for the average buyer—forget about it. The same applies to starting a career as a small-scale landlord, aka renting out a granny flat: this also rarely makes financial sense for average earners. Being a landlord with just one rental unit is at best a self-sustaining hobby (and no, it is not retirement provision—that’s just silly financial advisor talk). Apart from more commission for your mortgage broker, it doesn’t bring any benefits.
Considering these needs and circumstances, I see you living in a typical family home without a granny flat. So take a look in the threads where others like MeiermüllerSchulze discuss their 140 to 160 square meter (1500 to 1700 square feet) family houses.
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
Ötzi Ötztaler2 Nov 2020 06:33
If a seller wants a buyer to sign a construction contract without a specific plot of land that has been inspected and legally secured by a notary at the latest at the same time... What do you think, is that trustworthy?
Guys, I thought the "grandchild scam" was audacious. But here, it’s completely legal. Instead of pretending to be the missing grandchild, they pretend to have the dreamed-of piece of land. The only problem is, nobody gets to see it.
Guys, I thought the "grandchild scam" was audacious. But here, it’s completely legal. Instead of pretending to be the missing grandchild, they pretend to have the dreamed-of piece of land. The only problem is, nobody gets to see it.
H
HilfeHilfe2 Nov 2020 06:44Hello,
this is typical bait-and-switch. The land isn’t included, and only the shell is being sold. But the shell won’t just disappear. It’s like someone selling you a car without tires. Later on, tires might appear that fit a Fiat but not your Opel.
Additionally, I see that the income doesn’t match the size, nor does it fit the Allkauf house. Especially since you will also have higher commuting costs the farther you move away.
this is typical bait-and-switch. The land isn’t included, and only the shell is being sold. But the shell won’t just disappear. It’s like someone selling you a car without tires. Later on, tires might appear that fit a Fiat but not your Opel.
Additionally, I see that the income doesn’t match the size, nor does it fit the Allkauf house. Especially since you will also have higher commuting costs the farther you move away.
K
knalltüte2 Nov 2020 08:2811ant schrieb:
... KfW40 or other standard exceedances are a product for builders who see themselves as part of the eco-sustainability avant-garde and at best make financial sense for committed higher earners. The dream of a better conscience even for the average person, which almost pays for itself, you can forget that... I have to strongly disagree with you. I can’t provide complete figures yet, but based on the data so far and my gut feeling, I would say the additional cost for KfW40(+) is less than the amount of the subsidy. Especially with a secondary unit, when there are two 25% subsidies for roughly 200m² (2150 sq ft). However, I don’t know the conditions for the secondary unit, for example if you plan to use it yourself as a home office (and only build the unit to get more funding). It also definitely depends on how else you would build. Standard construction to energy-saving regulations and everything cheap, or something somewhat more high-quality anyway?
T
T_im_Norden2 Nov 2020 08:34That mainly depends on the prices in the region. If the price level is low, the additional cost might be less than the subsidy; if it is high, the situation looks different.
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