Hello.
First a bit about me: I am a 25-year-old male, a certified master electrician, and I bought a house in Saarland in November 2015. Since I had very little equity at 23, it was important for me to keep everything as affordable as possible. The plan was to do everything myself. I didn’t have many practical skills except some basic electrical knowledge. So, at 21, I started looking for houses while also beginning my master craftsman training. After two years of searching and countless setbacks (the good houses always get sold quickly), I finally found the right property and bought it.
The Financing:
House price: €138,000 Negotiated down to €128,000
Renovation reserve: €42,000
Total loan amount: €170,000
Equity: approx. €20,000
Additional purchase costs: approx. €16,000
I obtained three bank offers (it was important for me to have an advisor locally, so no direct online banks). The local bank was awarded the loan.
Important for me was a low monthly payment and fixed interest rates over the entire term.
Building savings contract (Bausparvertrag): €120,000 with a 29-year term including pre-financing.
Interest during savings phase: 1.95% for 13 years
Interest after allocation: 2.95% for 16 years
Monthly payment: €470
KfW loan: €50,000
Interest rate: 1.7%
Outstanding balance after 10 years: €34,000
(This will be repaid with the saved amount)
Monthly payment: approx. €180
Total monthly payment: €650 + €20 for term life insurance
Each month I can still save between €500 and €1,000, which I put entirely into the renovation phase of the house.
The House:
Bungalow with approx. 142m² (about 1530 sq ft), of which 120m² (about 1290 sq ft) is on the ground floor.
Usable floor area approx. 116m² (about 1250 sq ft)
Plot size approx. 5600m² (about 1.38 acres)
The house is partially (one quarter) basemented.
There was an outbuilding and some stables, which have since been demolished.
Why am I writing this?
I have been reading this forum for a while and often see recommendations against doing work yourself. With my experience, I want to encourage some users to dare to take on DIY projects.
I also believe that doing your own work can save a lot of money compared to a turnkey house build or renovation done by professionals. The opinion here in the forum generally tends toward the other direction.
In my opinion, you only need a lot of time and perseverance, but it can save a significant amount of money.
The Renovation:
Initially, the plan was just to replace the roof, add some new paint to the walls, and do a few small things.
What it turned into:
- Roof replacement
- Bathroom renovations
- Completely new floor plan
- Electrical system renewal with home automation via Wago
- Water/sewage system
- Underfloor heating
- Windows
- Insulation
- Floor, wall, and ceiling coverings
- Everything else inside that was still needed
Old floor plan
New floor plan
Attic floor
Overall, I made the house more open.
For rooms 1 and 2, I removed the suspended ceiling, giving a room height of 4.5m (15 feet).
Since I replaced the roof and switched from bitumen shingles to tiles, I also had to reinforce the roof structure.
For this, I had a new structural calculation done and reinforced the main beams with steel, installed new posts, and doubled the rafters.
I was actually going to write more, but I’m feeling lazy, and pictures say more than a thousand words. Feel free to ask if you have any questions.
Some additional data:
Invested so far: €44,000 of which:
approx. €20,000 roof
approx. €8,000 windows with built-in roller shutters and motors (triple-glazed safety glass SK2)
€16,000 for the rest
Still available: approx. €22,000
What’s left to do:
Plastering
Floor + underfloor heating installation
Sanitary fixtures
Floor, wall, ceiling coverings
A few small drywall tasks
So far, everything has been done by myself, except for the roof, where I had help from a roofer.
Planned move-in date is autumn 2017.
According to the plan, the remaining funds should be sufficient for the rest of the work.
This post will be updated later.
First a bit about me: I am a 25-year-old male, a certified master electrician, and I bought a house in Saarland in November 2015. Since I had very little equity at 23, it was important for me to keep everything as affordable as possible. The plan was to do everything myself. I didn’t have many practical skills except some basic electrical knowledge. So, at 21, I started looking for houses while also beginning my master craftsman training. After two years of searching and countless setbacks (the good houses always get sold quickly), I finally found the right property and bought it.
The Financing:
House price: €138,000 Negotiated down to €128,000
Renovation reserve: €42,000
Total loan amount: €170,000
Equity: approx. €20,000
Additional purchase costs: approx. €16,000
I obtained three bank offers (it was important for me to have an advisor locally, so no direct online banks). The local bank was awarded the loan.
Important for me was a low monthly payment and fixed interest rates over the entire term.
Building savings contract (Bausparvertrag): €120,000 with a 29-year term including pre-financing.
Interest during savings phase: 1.95% for 13 years
Interest after allocation: 2.95% for 16 years
Monthly payment: €470
KfW loan: €50,000
Interest rate: 1.7%
Outstanding balance after 10 years: €34,000
(This will be repaid with the saved amount)
Monthly payment: approx. €180
Total monthly payment: €650 + €20 for term life insurance
Each month I can still save between €500 and €1,000, which I put entirely into the renovation phase of the house.
The House:
Bungalow with approx. 142m² (about 1530 sq ft), of which 120m² (about 1290 sq ft) is on the ground floor.
Usable floor area approx. 116m² (about 1250 sq ft)
Plot size approx. 5600m² (about 1.38 acres)
The house is partially (one quarter) basemented.
There was an outbuilding and some stables, which have since been demolished.
Why am I writing this?
I have been reading this forum for a while and often see recommendations against doing work yourself. With my experience, I want to encourage some users to dare to take on DIY projects.
I also believe that doing your own work can save a lot of money compared to a turnkey house build or renovation done by professionals. The opinion here in the forum generally tends toward the other direction.
In my opinion, you only need a lot of time and perseverance, but it can save a significant amount of money.
The Renovation:
Initially, the plan was just to replace the roof, add some new paint to the walls, and do a few small things.
What it turned into:
- Roof replacement
- Bathroom renovations
- Completely new floor plan
- Electrical system renewal with home automation via Wago
- Water/sewage system
- Underfloor heating
- Windows
- Insulation
- Floor, wall, and ceiling coverings
- Everything else inside that was still needed
Old floor plan
New floor plan
Attic floor
Overall, I made the house more open.
For rooms 1 and 2, I removed the suspended ceiling, giving a room height of 4.5m (15 feet).
Since I replaced the roof and switched from bitumen shingles to tiles, I also had to reinforce the roof structure.
For this, I had a new structural calculation done and reinforced the main beams with steel, installed new posts, and doubled the rafters.
I was actually going to write more, but I’m feeling lazy, and pictures say more than a thousand words. Feel free to ask if you have any questions.
Some additional data:
Invested so far: €44,000 of which:
approx. €20,000 roof
approx. €8,000 windows with built-in roller shutters and motors (triple-glazed safety glass SK2)
€16,000 for the rest
Still available: approx. €22,000
What’s left to do:
Plastering
Floor + underfloor heating installation
Sanitary fixtures
Floor, wall, ceiling coverings
A few small drywall tasks
So far, everything has been done by myself, except for the roof, where I had help from a roofer.
Planned move-in date is autumn 2017.
According to the plan, the remaining funds should be sufficient for the rest of the work.
This post will be updated later.
saar2and schrieb:
We don’t see each other very often at the moment. Oh, I would have thought the opposite. In my view, this project is a cornucopia of helper tasks. Of course, the working hours also need to align.
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
Respect, great achievement. My cousin did something similar. He (now 28, without children) also bought an older, unrestored existing house for a low price and gradually renovated it almost entirely by himself. I don’t know exactly how much he invested, but I do know it was an extremely tough period for him, and more than once he was close to giving up. For nearly two years, he spent almost every free minute working on his house until it was finished (compared to the photos of your house, his was even more in need of renovation). Absolute respect! The interior turned out really well, and he is understandably very proud of his own home. The exterior still needs quite a bit of work, but he’s a real doer and always needs a project to stay occupied; otherwise, he quickly gets bored. He is also a tradesman by profession. For me, this whole thing would be absolutely out of the question—I prefer new builds, and we leave the vast majority of work to professionals. Even the “few” tasks we do ourselves (which are probably significantly more than what is common here on the forum) are more than enough for me. I live in an area where a lot of self-build or self-renovation work is common, and it’s not unusual for young people (including singles) under 30 to renovate their own house or almost completely build a new one by themselves. I think this is much less common in cities, but in our rural area it really isn’t rare. I have absolute admiration for such an achievement. I definitely couldn’t do it myself.
That sounds great, congratulations on the bargain and all your determination! We did something similar, buying an older and really ugly house at a very low price, and now it’s being renovated. A lot is already (almost) finished, but there’s still a lot to do. I would definitely do it the same way again, despite the tougher conditions: unfortunately, my husband doesn’t lift a finger, I’m not a tradesperson but a biologist, and basically had no clue about any of this... especially not that I would have to do it all completely on my own, since my husband believes his contribution is done by just working a job... The floors still aren’t finished after 5 years, so I don’t have a proper kitchen or larger furniture (for example, I don’t have a wardrobe). Well, what can you do, you get used to the camping stove. Luckily, I don’t have kids; that probably wouldn’t have worked. Now I have a job (before I was retired) and even less time.
Oh well, as long as it’s fun.
Oh well, as long as it’s fun.
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