In the district of Esslingen, there is a house for sale for one euro - and nobody wants it
Created: 11/28/2022, 2:22 p.m
By: Julia Hawener
The building in the Unterboihingen district of Wendling (Esslingen district) is being sold for one euro.
© Julia Hawener
A house in Wendlingen (Esslingen district) is for sale for one euro.
But that doesn't get you very far.
Because before you can move in, you have to invest more money.
And the city is making demands.
Wendlingen - A bottle of water, a pretzel at the bakery or a chocolate bar - you can't get much more for one euro in Germany.
And certainly not in times of high inflation rates.
The situation is different in Wendlingen in the Esslingen district, because a complete house is currently being sold there for just one euro, as reported by BW24.
It sounds like a cheap scam, although there are more expensive and cheaper regions in Baden-Württemberg.
But the one-euro house is actually an offer officially advertised by the city of Wendlingen.
She has been looking for a suitable buyer for the building at Kirchstraße 21 in the Unterboihingen district for some time now.
So far, however, in vain.
The city of Wendlingen in Baden-Württemberg is not the first to sell a building for the price of a bag of crisps.
In Heidenheim, for example, a house was offered at a ridiculous price.
And as early as 2019, Italian villages made headlines because they "sold" several houses for just one euro each.
However, it quickly became clear that there was a reason for the bargain offer: On the one hand, the villages were running out of residents, but above all the properties were in dire need of renovation.
They looked more like ruins than houses and some were even in danger of collapsing.
The house in the district of Esslingen is not in such a dramatic state, but manual work is needed here as well.
And what's more, the city makes certain demands on the future owner.
City in the district of Esslingen sells house for one euro - "renovation in line with monument protection" demanded
Until shortly before her death in 2017, Mathilde Großmann lived in the house, which was previously a listed building.
That's why the building is also known locally as the "Großmann'sches Haus" or "s'Mathilde-Haus".
Since the woman from Unterboihingen had no children, she bequeathed the semi-detached house, including the part of the barn, to the town of Wendlingen.
Since then it has been uninhabited.
As the city itself writes on its website, the former Widdumhof is one of the oldest buildings in the area and has been a "local building" in a central location for several centuries.
However, it is no longer listed as a monument due to numerous previous changes.
Nevertheless, according to the city, it is demanding “renovation in line with monument protection”.
For a potential buyer, this means in concrete terms: The external appearance "should look 'old' and blend in well with the surrounding buildings," explains Jens Fritz, who is responsible for marketing the building, to the
Stuttgarter Nachrichten (StN).
The city would like, for example, that the old half-timbered building, which has currently disappeared under a rather dreary facade, would be uncovered again.
The interior, on the other hand, would have more freedom and it could also be designed in a more modern way.
However, as the city explains in the offer, anyone interested in renovating the building must already submit a detailed plan.
The statics and condition of the building should be taken into account, among other things.
So a rough draft is not enough.
House is for sale for one euro – “Financially, this is a bottomless pit”
In the end, the municipal council decides which renovation concept will be awarded the contract.
According to
StN
, about a dozen interested parties have visited the building in the past few weeks.
"There were very different visitors," says Jens Fritz.
But so far there has been no buyer.
Some users on the Internet are not surprised that there hasn't been a big rush for the one-euro house so far.
"Renovation in accordance with monument regulations prescribed.
It's a bottomless pit financially," writes one user on Facebook.
"All the hiccups and the approval of the authorities is probably the decisive factor here that nobody wants the castle," agrees another user and suspects that such a renovation can easily "cost a million euros".
No one can say for sure how much money will actually have to be invested in the building before it is habitable again.
But Jens Fritz also assumes at least 200,000 euros, like the
StN
to report.
Other users do not see the financial problem in the property, but for them the building would make more sense as a place to stay for refugees.
"I can't understand the city, so many Ukrainian people are coming into the country and looking for accommodation.
No matter how, the main thing is accommodation,” writes a user on Facebook.
The need for housing for refugees did not simply pass the city by, as Jens Fritz says.
However, living space for the refugees is needed as quickly as possible and renovation takes some time.
In addition, the building is not big enough.
However, if no buyer can be found in the near future, this option may come up again.
