When the plan does not match reality

Sometimes, as an estate agent, you experience things that make you smile - or shake your head - even years later. One such story occurred during the sale of a flat in the eighth district of Vienna played out in a prime location, in a beautiful Period building with high rooms, herringbone parquet flooring and a lot of history.

The flat was fantastic - almost 150 square metres according to the plan, freshly renovated, with impressive double doors and one of those kitchens you never forget: a custom-made Bulthaup kitchenwhich alone was worth the equivalent of a small car. The buyer was thrilled, we had several viewings, everything went smoothly - until the moment when he realised exactly what he wanted. remeasured has.

The buyer was determined to take the expensive kitchen with him. It was to be installed in his other flat later. When he was taking measurements, he noticed that something was missing. could not be right.
We then went through the flat together, measuring wall by wall - and sure enough: Two to three square metres were missing.

That doesn't sound like much at first glance, but with a price per square metre in the eighth district of over 10,000 euros this results in a Difference of around 20,000 to 30,000 euros. No mean feat - and a perfectly understandable reason for the buyer to reconsider the deal.

As it turned out later, the flat was empty after old as-built plans had been sold. Over the years, minor alterations, such as a thicker facing shell or new partition walls, had changed the actual area. This happens quite often - especially with Planned salesi.e. when a flat is offered according to plan but without exact measurements.

For us brokers, this is a good reminder of how important it is to actual usable area to be checkedbefore you advertise or buy a property. After all, a few missing square metres can end up decide on the entire sale.

In this case, by the way, it remained unsold - the buyer was too annoyed and the seller didn't want to adjust the price. It was a shame, because the flat really was a gem. But it showed me again: Accuracy pays off - especially when it comes to prices per square metre in the eighth district.