ᐅ Renovating a House Yourself

Hello everyone,

We have the opportunity to buy an old school building for around 110,000 EUR. No heritage protection or similar restrictions, with about 1,000 sqm (10,764 sq ft) of land included.

My wife has the following ideas:
1. Renovate the school, convert it into 4–6 apartments, and then rent them out. The structure is still sound, but the following would need renovation: floors, electrical system, roof, windows, repainting the facade, repainting the interior walls, installing bathrooms, and building partition walls of either 14 cm (5.5 inches) or 20 cm (8 inches).

I told her that at least 200,000 EUR would need to be invested here. Would that be enough?

2. Upgrade the building to a high-end standard, meaning a full professional renovation. An entrance area with a castle-style staircase, columns on both sides, a facade in Bauhaus or Gründerzeit style, possibly with sandstone decorations, a garden with a gazebo, a pond, etc. (just roughly), estimated costs 350,000 EUR.

3. Turn it into a hotel...? I don’t have experience with this option.

We can do quite a bit ourselves, with a planned timeline of 2 years.
The idea for both options: Many building materials can sometimes be acquired for free, or as second choice, surplus stock, or well-used items, such as parquet flooring, windows, exterior stones, topsoil for the garden, wood, etc. (Each apartment would need a tailored concept here, as it will be difficult to find the same building materials for all.)

What do you think? Is something like this feasible? We have to make a decision by next week.

Best regards,
David

Hello,

if this is your hobby, you can fully finance it with your own capital, and a possible failure wouldn’t harm you: go ahead.

Otherwise, get a professional expert, plan everything carefully, and don’t rush it!

I consider your cost estimates too low for a project of this scale in all cases.

As for your "technical" ideas, I’d better say nothing. This is a matter for specialists.

Best regards,

Michael

Almost anything is possible, but is it really what you want?

Basically, a building expert can assess the condition of the house and then calculate the costs to renovate it as a residential property. After that, there is the option of luxury finishing.

Regarding point 3: either you are experienced in hospitality, or you better avoid it. There are too many risks for career changers with the mindset of “let’s just try restaurant business…”

The building authority / planning office also has a say when it comes to residential construction or commercial conversions.

> We can do quite a bit ourselves; the planned timeframe is 2 years.
> The idea for both is that many building materials can be obtained partly for free, partly as second-grade stock, surplus, or in good second-hand condition, for example parquet flooring, windows, exterior bricks or stones, topsoil for the garden, wood, etc.

Reminds me a bit of bargain houses on RTL2 🙁

For extensive renovations like this, I would estimate at least 1,000 EUR per square meter (approximately 93 USD per square foot) (what about the heating system?). "Old school" also suggests a very large area. Whether you convert it into a multi-family house (change of use/building permit/planning permission?) or plan to use it yourself, since you probably have little experience with this subject, I would advise staying away from it.

... and then the idea of turning it into a hotel! ==> Do you have hotel and catering experience? Room fittings? Operator? Booking systems? Wellness hotel, business hotel, holiday hotel, bed and breakfast...? License/operating permit? etc.

Well, after the viewing, there’s quite a story to tell:

What is a building ruin? Exactly this property. I had seen a lot before, but even the toughest construction veterans would be shocked by this. From the outside, it’s a listed historic building, but inside it’s so dilapidated that renovation—according to the inspection—would generously cost around 750,000 EUR (about 820,000 USD). Adding the purchase price of 110,000 EUR (about 120,000 USD) plus the land acquisition, which due to a leasehold and church ownership amounts to 150,000 EUR (about 164,000 USD), we’re looking at a total of 1,000,000 EUR (about 1,090,000 USD)!

Accordingly, the maximum rent achievable is only 6 EUR per square meter (about 0.56 USD per square foot) net.

That results in roughly 30,000 EUR (about 33,000 USD) annual rental income, making it a completely useless investment.

What needs to be done? Everything… roof, basement at risk of collapse, all windows, all floors, interior insulation, simply everything...

Not even attempting a basic, low-cost renovation would be worthwhile here.

Thanks to the historic preservation requirements and the unfavorable location with low rents, this property will probably continue to decay and eventually collapse within the next 20 years. :-) It’s a shame and sad because it is beautiful overall, especially since under the carpets and linoleum there are some really nice solid wood floors and parquet.

Anyway. See you
David

That’s why the saying goes: Nothing is cheap for no reason!