Cheap homes around Bayreuth area: scam or real?

[bloang 4]

Hello,

I stumbled upon these ads on Immobilien Scout 24:

http://www.immobilienscout24.de/Suche/S-T/Wohnung-Kauf/Bayern/Bayreuth-Kreis/-/-/-/EURO--30000,00?enteredFrom=one_step_search

 

I was schocked by the prices: really? You can purchase these properties for only about 20000 euros? Is there any specific reason why

these homes are so cheap? Like, is the area an economically depressed one? Or the prices are affected by the vicinity of the Czech border?

 

Thank you for your answers!

[kato 3,556]

Can't really have a depressed economy if there is no economy in the area. That used to be different back in the 50s to 70s - back then there was some tourism in the area (mostly in winter), but the area lost out when people started going abroad on vacations in the 80s and to finish them off, the border area subsidies were cut by 1990 too.

 

Most of those ultra-cheap apartments seem to be Ferienwohnungen - vacation homes built as investment, to be rented out in part-time schemes etc to regular tourists. Most of them - haven't checked too many - were built around the time the above tourism was still a big thing, i.e. around 1980 if they're new. The area took its big economic dip immediately afterwards, with population numbers sinking by about 20% during the 1980s (to current levels).

 

These apartments are too small - usually only 40-50 m² - to be sold as regular homes on the market in a rural life context; they have extremely limited amenities regarding shopping etc since they're located right smack in the villages where the skiing areas in the mountains are. Most of the cheap apartments listed are in a single area, Mehlmeisel and Bischofsgrün, which are collections of tiny villages (clusters with 50-300 people) located in the middle of the mountains (near the Ochsenkopf).

[Smaug 5,842]

A couple are also attics (dachwohnungen). Probably the roofs are not insulated, which would make them almost uninhabitable in during hot, sunny weather and expensive to heat in the winter.

[yourkeau 7,002]

Mehlmeisel and Warmensteinach are important ski resorts in Fichtelgebirge. This is where I go skiing on weekends. During Cold War Mehmeisel/Warmensteinach was also a main skiing destination for West Berliners, this was the closest ski resort which they could reach by Autobahn A9. That's why many Berliners bought houses there. But after unification ski resorts in Saxony became available for Berliners, so they stopped going to Mehlmeisel.

 

The weather there is significantly colder than in Bayreuth, the area is mountainous and despite close location nobody who works in Bayreuth and area would live there. Price is absolutely reasonable but as other said you can't use it other than as Ferienwohnung.

 

In Bayreuth you can find 30k apartments as well (but not a lot of them). Yes, that's why Franconia is the best place to live in Bavaria (if you have a job).

 

 

That used to be different back in the 50s to 70s - back then there was some tourism in the area (mostly in winter), but the area lost out when people started going abroad on vacations in the 80s and to finish them off, the border area subsidies were cut by 1990 too.

For abroad you need time. If you have only one free day a week nothing beats Mehlmeisel. I can go there at 8am and come back at 13pm.

[2B_orNot2B 8,441]

I suggest you google Mietspiegel Bayreuth and Mietspegel Bayern and compare the official (Stadt and Freistaat) and market-driven (Immo or Boerse) website reports. According to Mietspiegel Bayreuth 2014: was mieten in Bayreuth kostet, for example, rental values in the district are from 10% below to ~5% above the national average but appear, over the last few years, to have fallen (in contrast to the state averages) and remain between 20 - 35% lower than the current average for Bavaria.

 

Prior to 2008/9 many German private investors used to invest in build-to-rent schemes some of which were designed to such a low standard so as to be notoriously hard to let out. In some towns there were more one room 25 - 30 m2 apartments than was required to meet demand in the area. Although Bayreuth itself is no poor city and does have a disproportionate student population it is no *major* industrial centre nor does it appear that there would be a great demand for commuter housing in the surrounding district. It's possibly a matter of over-supply vs current lack of interest from private German investors.

 

I'm not sure why the proximity to the Czech border would play a part but, since it may be a factor in some rural areas, you could google Polizei+Bayern+PKS and study the (reported, acted upon, convictions for) crime statistics for the Bezirk.

 

Don't ignore all the basic rule of common sense (Caveat Empor) when considering buying property.

 

There's tons of good advice already available on this site. Read the TT Wiki >top>More... left on blue bar >Wiki, scroll down and click on the relevant words. Put 2 - 3 key words in the search box (top right) to find thread topic titles and use the search feature's google-powered site search option to pull individual posts.

 

2B

 

Edit *major* clarification inserted in response to yourkeau's comment below. As a local resident he's surely correct.

[yourkeau 7,002]

 

it is no industrial centre

it is. A small one, but there is a lot of industry here. For example, British American Tobacco has the largest European factory in Bayreuth. Also Grundig (almost bakrupt but still works), Siemens and a lot of Mittelstand. There is also a small innovation centre for New Materials research linking the university and startup industries.

 

Of course, all this is smaller and less important than Erlangen/Nuremberg but something is going on here, that's not a village in the desert.

 

Regarding Mietspiegel: prices are different for Bayreuth Stadt and Bayreuth Land, significantly. And in Bayreuth Land prices also differ between "Berg" (Fichtelgebirge, Franconian Switzerland) and "Tal", the latter more expensive.

 

It's strange but these three parts of Bayreuth Land are poorly connected with each other, so it's like living in two different Bundeslands!

[kato 3,556]

 

that's not a village in the desert.

 

That area is over half an hour from Bayreuth, that makes it the desert by urban German standards. You'd actually be about as fast going to the Czech border as going to Bayreuth from these villages.

 

It's a desert if by the size of the apartments your possible tenants would generally be either students or senior citizens. People who have a job - and possibly a family - and want to live in a rural area don't rent 40 m² apartments (and by rural in this area i would define anything that's not at least connected by bus to Bayreuth's main public transport hub).

[bloang 4]

Some cheap homes can still be found:

https://www.immobilienscout24.de/Suche/de/bayern/wohnung-kaufen?price=-40000.0&enteredFrom=result_list

but I feel that most prices have generally gone up since I originally started this thread 6 years ago...

[bloang 4]

What do you guys think about this apartment:

https://www.immobilienscout24.de/expose/127117298?referrer=RESULT_LIST_LISTING&navigationServiceUrl=%2FSuche%2Fcontroller%2FexposeNavigation%2Fnavigate.go%3FsearchUrl%3D%2FSuche%2Fde%2Fbayern%2Fwohnung-kaufen%3Fprice%253D-40000.0%2526pagenumber%253D2%26exposeId%3D127117298&navigationHasPrev=true&navigationHasNext=true&navigationBarType=RESULT_LIST&searchId=ddc0a0df-8545-33a8-b4a0-fe3072f4de89&searchType=district#/

 

 

it's only 19000 EUR

the apartment is small (37mq) but seems nice... could it have some hidden costs or it just lays in a low-cost area? 

[lunasuenos 60]

The listing says holiday house. You would need to verify if it could be registered as a full time residence or not. I would guess not for the price. Also house money is fairly high for a small unit. There was a beautiful detached holiday home near me..but not allowed to register as a perimary address or live permanently. Dont know the area so not sure how much affect that has. In my town in the harz there are 45sqm apartments with pool sauna etc that you can live full time. Buy for 15k but house money is almost 550 a month. And area has little work.

[fraufruit 36,281]

You've been posting here since 2014. Have you not bought anything yet?

[LeonG 13,695]

When you are buying a flat, make sure you check the building.  Is the basement leaking, roof neds to be done, balconies replaced or something.  Then ask how much they have in their repair fund.  If they are planning big renovations and not enough money in the fund, they can charge each owner to pay the excess.  High wohngeld also looks like they are trying to save up for something.

[jeba 3,649]

15 hours ago, lunasuenos said:

Also house money is fairly high for a small unit.

That - and before buying  I´d like to know whether there are outstanding debts to the community of owners which may never be paid. Which might mean the remaining owners could find themselves holding the bag.