ᐅ House Photos Discussion Corner – Share Your Home Pictures!

We bought just in time; now there’s nothing available below 250,000, and those houses are smaller, older, and on smaller plots. It’s incredible how expensive everything has suddenly become! We were also lucky with the property transfer tax, paying only 3.5%. I think it’s 6% now. Yes, we were fortunate, also with the location. Our house is the second to last on the street, right at the top of the hill, with only two neighbors on either side, and fields plus endless forest behind us. Everything just came together perfectly, and I’m really happy, even though the house is still a construction site and I’m proud of everything we have managed ourselves.
I come from a family of renters and I’m the first one to own a house in the family, which is simply amazing.

Wow Elina, that is an amazing view, just like being on vacation.

The house has turned out really great, nothing like before. It looks like a modern new build.

Thanks for the compliments. I’m also very proud of the house. Unfortunately, the interior is still a bit ugly (built in 1976, and you can tell), and the garden could still use quite a bit of care... but you can’t do everything at once, and that would be a shame anyway.

Just from the first house picture in this thread, you can clearly see how beautiful and brand new a house can look after renovation! Really top quality!

Teyla schrieb:
Looks like a stylish new build

just much more charming

Elina schrieb:
Thanks for the compliments. I’m really proud of the house too. Unfortunately, the interior is still a bit ugly (built in 1976, and you can see it), and the garden could use some love... but you can’t do everything at once, and that wouldn’t be good anyway.
If you look at the first house photo in this thread, I think you can also see how beautifully and completely new a house can look after renovation! Really top-notch!

Off-topic post.
Well, especially houses built between 1970 and 1985 show quite a few features that reflect the styles and tastes of that era, which often contradict today’s standards.

My former "Aufheim-I" was built in September 1978 (move-in).
Back then: super modern—even today it practically meets KFW100 (high energy efficiency) standards. It has Gisoton bricks and much more. My father (now well over 80) did a great job. And already at that time with an air-to-water heat pump (!) (which was noisy back then, and caused some conflicts with neighbors, which was quite annoying).

At that time: Developed building land cost an incredible 27 Deutsche Marks per square meter. Let’s just say about 15 Euros for simplicity. A plot larger than 1000 sqm (10,764 sq ft): considered almost tiny back then.
In 1992, in the same area (Aufheim-II): 800 Marks = 400 Euros.
Today: Let’s not mention prices anymore—you’d be shocked per square meter. 800 (Euros) +xxxx.

I saved Aufheim-I exactly 23.5 years ago—3 days before a forced auction.
As a very young man, I firmly opposed the great irresponsibility of my divorcing parents (people going through divorces often behave irrationally), and found a buyer. To this day, I stay in good contact with that buyer family because I like Aufheim-I and the people who bought it. Every time I’m there, I stop by the house (and go inside). The workmanship still holds up extremely well. Kitchen: like new, though from 1978 (amazing). All bathrooms: original and well maintained—even the mirrors. Incredible.

Well... the kitchen is white and timeless. What’s truly impressive is the quality—really like brand new!!!

Bathrooms: well... honestly… “pure horror.” Even at 13 years old, I didn’t want those tile colors and combinations (---> argument with my parents, they won). Orange. Green. Yellow. Brown. Ochre. Terrible and enough to make you run away.
And how on earth can you install such dark interior doors in a small house? And forget that a hallway also needs natural daylight (the architect was actually okay and competent, but he must have had some off days! Luckily, I didn’t make those mistakes in Velbert-I).

How can people come up with wood ceilings styled like from 1965? I don’t know. It will never make sense to me.

Fortunately, wallpaper doesn’t last forever... the current owners have done a lot (plastering, very cool). Back then, there were 17 types of wallpaper stuck on 5 rooms. Including those fabric wallpapers. I will never forget: parents away at a health retreat, me with my best friend at the time in the house. New Year’s Eve idea: blank cartridge pistol shot in the coffee? Great idea. Let’s see what happens (we were 14). The effect was brilliant. Cleaning the wallpaper took 4 hours, and the hairdryer was still running when the parents came back. Laughs.

Is all of that old-fashioned stuff ugly?
Nooooooooo. Definitely not.

Some things from that time are so bold (colors) that they almost have a charm of their own. A lot of that stuff is starting to have a certain appeal again.

And back then, quality was built. Very good quality.

So I always get tears in my eyes when I see Aufheim-I.

What you find ugly in your house: just replace it step by step. There’s enough time for that.

You can do it.

Best regards,
Thorsten

PPS: It should also be mentioned that around 1980, building financing with an interest rate of nearly 10% and comparatively lower incomes was anything but easy.

And now: more house pictures.

Please include contributions not only from people who built these typical modern houses (like me), but also definitely those charming older homes. Thank you.