Pre-Purchase Advisory — before you sign

For most buyers, a property is the single biggest investment of their lives. The energy-related substance is the item that is least transparent in the listing — and at the same time, it can amount to a six-figure sum if it is overlooked. A pre-purchase advisory closes exactly this gap: between the seller's marketing wording and the actual technical reality of the building.

First reason: hidden refurbishment costs. A GEG-compliant heating system, thermal protection for the roof and outer walls, controlled ventilation, hazardous substances (asbestos, MMVF (Man-Made Vitreous Fibres), PAH (Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons)), an aged heating-oil tank — such items rarely show up in the listing, yet they quickly add up to figures that substantially affect the purchase price. Anyone who knows this before signing negotiates with arguments rather than gut feeling.

Second reason: GEG obligations on change of ownership. With the purchase, obligations take effect that the previous owner often avoided for decades — replacement obligation for old constant-temperature heating boilers over 30 years old, insulation obligation for the top-floor ceiling, hydraulic balancing. These obligations typically apply within a few years after change of ownership and are not negotiable.

Third reason: funding strategy is decisive for the purchase. Anyone who has the individual refurbishment roadmap (iSFP) drawn up before the purchase can strategically use the 5 percent iSFP bonus on BEG individual measures and additionally examine the FKG track within the City of Munich. If the iSFP is only drawn up after purchase, part of the optimisation opportunity is lost because certain measures have already been commissioned. We examine funding options on a case-by-case basis — and plan the right entry point with you.

The central deliverable is a written, bankable DOCX report, typically twelve to twenty pages long. Bankable means: the report is structured and documented in such a way that it is recognised as a reliable decision foundation in financing discussions with your house bank or KfW — relevant if refurbishment funds are to be co-financed.

In the report, you will find a 12-point assessment matrix with a risk traffic light: each of the twelve points from the checklist is classified as green, amber or red, with a brief justification. At a glance, you see where the critical points of the property lie — and which topics are currently rather uncritical.

The estimate of refurbishment costs is divided into three scenarios: minimum (only what is legally required under the GEG), obligation plus sensible additions (economically reasonable standard) and efficiency-house standard (ambitious full refurbishment with maximum access to funding). This way, you see the bandwidth and can choose the strategy that fits you.

Added to this: a funding-strategy outline (which programmes make sense in which sequence — we examine funding options on a case-by-case basis), a refurbishment roadmap with a time horizon of zero to three, three to ten and ten years and more, a negotiation memo (which items are concretely suitable as arguments for a price reduction), a forecast of the likely energy class after refurbishment and complete image and photo documentation of the site visit.

What distinguishes our pre-purchase advisory from a classic surveyor's report: Marc Strassner is himself a property investor. He knows the negotiation and purchase dynamics not only theoretically from textbooks, but from his own practice — the mix of time pressure, gut feeling, agent arguments, financing questions and the worry of having overlooked something essential. It is precisely this buyer's perspective that shapes our reports: they are not only technically correct, but tailored to the decision you actually have to make.

We are listed on the dena expert register for federal funding. This means two things: first, our report is bankable, i.e. reliable enough for financing discussions with your house bank, savings bank or KfW. Second, after the pre-purchase advisory — if you buy — we can transition without a break into the BAFA-funded energy advisory and into the iSFP, with all the funding options that depend on it.

Independent position means: we have no craftsman commission interest, no estate-agent mandate, no hidden link to the seller. Our recommendation to you is exactly that — a recommendation in your interest, free of incentives to favour a particular product or measure.

Regional experience: we assess properties in southern Munich, the Five Lakes region and Upper Bavaria. We know the building stock of the region — Wilhelminian-era, the 1950s to 1970s, the 1980s, farmhouses, lakeside villas — and know which weak points are typical. Our locations in Grünwald and Utting on Lake Ammersee mean short journeys within the region, typically twenty to forty-five minutes to the site visit.