When is a house a villa? – Features & Definition

Are you interested in investing in a luxury property and would like to build or buy a villa? Then you will find a few useful tips on the subject here. Decide for yourself whether you want to renovate an old building to keep the charm or build a new building to design everything according to your ideas. Choose between a prefabricated house or a solid house because both have their advantages and disadvantages. More about this later.

You want to buy or build a house, but don’t know which one is right for you? Then take a look at our guide to house types from A – Z! Here you will find all house types, from bungalow to solid house to holiday home.

Features of a city villa: large and open

There are some characteristics to find out when a house is a villa. This starts with the plot of this property. This is usually square and has two to three floors. This is a particularly popular shape for newly built villas. Also with the roof form there are frequent similarities, because usually a villa has a flat roof or has a slight slope. Likewise, the facade of newly built houses is often based on a Mediterranean architectural style and you can find traditional elements such as columns or oriels. Villas are usually found in many cases in outer districts or villa districts. This is because there is usually no room for such a large property in the inner city. The large garden with a porch and upscale amenities are also among the features.

Criteria for a luxury property: checklist

Are you interested in luxury real estate, would you like to invest in it or live in it? We have summarized the most important criteria of a luxury property for you, so that you can quickly recognize such a property.

• Location: to be found in exclusive villa quarters and still centrally located
• Generosity: imposing house entrance, special facade, large rooms and large window fronts
• Threshold-free: All accesses should be without thresholds and barrier-free
• Glazing: large window fronts and glass walls appear costly
• Privacy: indoor/outdoor retreats are a luxury factor in popular neighborhoods
• Quality: use of noble building materials and special craftsmanship are required
• Freedom of design: new buildings should be tailored precisely to the customer’s needs

Tip: Learn all about luxury real estate agents here.

Advantages & disadvantages of a villa: price, area, plot and co.

A villa is probably the dream of many future homeowners, as it exudes luxury, elegance and wealth. Nevertheless, before making any investment, especially in a villa, you should consider the advantages and disadvantages of this type of house in advance to see if it suits you. We have summarized the most important advantages and disadvantages of a villa for you, so that you can make the right decision.

Advantages: timeless investment and lots of privacy

About the merits of a villa can talk for a long time. It is an ideal investment because this type of house is timeless. The large areas, the elegance and the mix of modern and traditional have been very popular for centuries and are built with pleasure. The central location in an exclusive villa district close to the city centre is also a big plus. You create distance to the neighbours due to the large plot, you have your privacy and yet you are not closed off. Another advantage is the freedom of design, because you can live out your creativity freely in a villa and in a new building you can furnish everything according to your wishes. You could also build an extension or convert the lower floor into office space.

• Timeless investment
• Mix of modern and traditional
• Central location (villa district)
• Privacy
• Design freedom
• Extension as office space

Disadvantages: high price for exclusive location

When building or buying a villa, the financial costs play a major role. Before you decide to make such a large investment, you should plan and calculate everything carefully. In most cases, the price of land is already extremely high, as land in the city centre is limited and villa districts are exclusive and expensive. In addition, due to the size of the floor plan, building in the middle of the city center is often not possible. In addition to the high cost of construction, you shouldn’t ignore the utilities and maintenance costs. For example, while you live in a villa, heating costs can be high because you have to heat a large property. Another point would be the maintenance of the large outdoor area, which is also time-consuming.

• High land price downtown
• Construction in central locations often not possible
• Higher construction costs
• Incidental maintenance costs
• Outdoor facilities are time consuming to maintain

Energy-efficient construction of a villa: save energy and reduce costs

Especially in this day and age, energy-efficient construction is an important part of new buildings. Certain requirements must be met in order to build and subsequently live as environmentally friendly as possible. Even when building a villa, these standards must not be ignored and this is even relatively easy with this type of building. Urban villas as a solid construction can be built energy efficient with a little effort. In particular young families profit from it, since one receives national privileges with the building and thereby the expenditures are minimized thereby. The resale value is also higher due to the efficient construction method.

Energy saving alignment of a villa

You can already do a lot right with the right orientation of your future villa. The sun can generate a lot of heat in the house, which is why it is recommended that the largest window fronts face south. In addition, the flat roof is ideal for photovoltaic systems and with good external insulation, only a little of the heat from the heating system can get outside. An air, water, heat pump also generates heat for water and heating in the house.

Would you like to learn more about energy-efficient building? Then take a look at our guide on this topic!

Important aspects when building a villa: construction, planning & costs

Whether you want to build a detached house or a villa, there are a few things to consider when planning so that nothing can go wrong. We present you here the most important tips, which you should consider when building your dream villa. From the special construction method, to the right interior design, to the renovation of a villa. Here you will learn everything worth knowing about this special and exclusive building type.

Construction: modern or Mediterranean?

When building a villa, one basically decides between two construction styles. You choose either a modern or Mediterranean style. If you choose a modern style, a cube-shaped body, straight lines and large windows or fully glazed walls are typical features. The façade is usually painted in a white colour, but colours such as red, yellow or blue are rarely used. If you choose a Mediterranean style, materials such as natural stone or brick elements are often used to resemble country houses. The plastering is often in an earth colour and in the entrance area you will find columns and doors with round arches.

Interior design: use the free space

Since you will have a lot of space in your villa, you can give free rein to your creativity in the design. Typically, the private rooms such as bedrooms or bathrooms are located on the first floor and the living rooms are on the ground floor. Often, the living and dining areas are connected so that there is a lot of open space and the generous window fronts can accentuate this. The mostly rectangular floor plan is ideal for this. If your property has three floors or an extension, you could consider whether a mix of living and working space would be something for you by creating office space on the ground floor. This combination is also very popular.

Renovation of a city villa: keep the charm

Especially with villas, building can cost a lot of time, energy and most importantly, money. Therefore, you should consider renovating and building out an old house. This would save you a lot of time and money. Many construction companies offer finishing houses and you can choose for yourself how much more you want to put in. If you want to renovate an old villa, you have the opportunity to keep much of the charm and traditional elements of the house. Be aware, however, that if you want to renovate on your own, you need to have some manual skills. Otherwise, there will be additional costs.

Tip! Read more about house building here: prices, costs, planning, property tax & Co.

City villa as prefabricated house or solid house?

Especially if you decide to build a villa, this involves a large investment for the builder or the customer. You have the choice between a prefabricated house or a solid house. Here we present the most important advantages and disadvantages of these two types of houses, so that you can make the right decision.

Prefabricated house: fast, simple, cheap

A prefabricated house is usually faster and less expensive than a solid house. The individual parts of the building are manufactured in advance in a hall and then assembled on the construction site. This usually takes only a few days. Another advantage of this method is the low waste of material, because everything is measured exactly beforehand.

With the disadvantages you have to include the low quality. The villa will usually be worse insulated and is also not as durable as a solid house. Since prefabricated houses always correspond to a certain model house, you can also not change much in the house / room design.

• Prefabricated house

Solid house: quality and durability

A solid house is high quality and very durable because of the materials used. With this construction, it is easy to build the villa energy efficient and you will have the opportunity to plan a lot with and design everything according to your ideas.

With this option, you should not ignore the time required and especially the financial costs. Building a villa as a solid house is more expensive than a prefabricated house and you have to put a lot of energy into the planning of such a house.

• Massive house

Villa as an ideal capital investment: purchase, sale or rent

A villa is a particularly good capital investment and usually serves only incidentally as a place to live. Due to the high demand for an investment in this type of property, prices have risen sharply in recent years. Often villas are also located in southern countries and are rented out as a vacation property. This provides the owner with additional income.

Are you interested in investing in real estate? Then take a look here and learn more about buying a property!

Rent a villa: make money from the purchase of your dream villa

If you decide to buy a villa, you have the possibility to rent it out to get additional income and to get back some of your investment costs. For example, you can buy a villa in the south and by the sea to get tourists as potential tenants. Especially properties in such a location are extremely popular and many people would pay a lot of money to spend their relaxing holidays in a luxurious environment.

Buying or selling a villa? Tips on the process, taxes, investment & Co.

Are you interested in buying luxury real estate and want to learn more about the topic? Here you can find out everything about buying a villa, the process, financing and get lots of useful tips and information.

• Villa Purchase

Are you interested in selling luxury real estate? In this article you will get insight into the most important information about the sale of a villa, the costs, speculation tax & Co. Here you will learn what all must be taken into account and get important tips!

• Sell villa

Selling real estate, designing exposés: Focus sales arguments

How the exposés, or advertisements, on the major real estate portals look, everyone knows. That’s exactly what I want to get at today. Everyone presents an exposé differently, the important thing is:

An exposé combines in a focussed way, all (at first sight) relevant information about a property.

What exactly must be in the exposé, you have already learned in the guide real estate sale. This article is specifically about the visual, i.e. optical preparation of real estate advertisements.

Design possibilities for exposés: Sales price increase

But what design options are there for exposés? The higher the quality of the property, the more detailed the description of the object. Accordingly, it is not enough to simply place an ad in a real estate portal, as many simple brokers do. The higher the quality of the presentation, the higher the sales price that can ultimately be achieved.

For every type of property, the investment is worthwhile, since the basic design is done relatively quickly. Of course, you do not need such a real estate exposé for a simple condominium, for 100,000 €. Whereby, perhaps nevertheless? As already in the councellor real estate sales learned, one can increase the value of a real estate only by the professional appearance, up to 20%, even 30% (by the increase of the potential buyers, sometimes even Bieter Gefechte). The full 20% is not only the result of the real estate exposé, but also of different aspects, e.g. real estate preparation. Here you can read more about this in the article ” Ratgeber Immobilien Verkauf“.

Value enhancement: Factor visuals and design

In this guide on the subject of real estate exposés, I want to draw your attention to two aspects in particular.

1. Picture material – before and after comparison
2. Exposé design – high quality design

In the following we will put our focus on these two points: Visuals and Design.

Let’s start with practical examples, on the subject of real estate photography. Here I like to draw the comparison to the car trade. The neater, the cleaner a car for sale is, the higher the quality of the presentation, the higher the selling price can be set. It’s the same with real estate. It starts in the preparation. From cleaning to removing visual defects, upgrading is worthwhile for any type of property.

Property type: For all types of apartments / houses

The following examples in the points real estate photography and exposé design help them with all these property types:

• Single-family house (and apartment building)
• Terraced house
• Semi-detached house
• Urban villa
• Villa
• Designer House
• Country house
• Half-timbered house
• Bauhaus / Cube
• Mediterranean house
• More special (captain’s house, Frisian house, pent roof house, Swedish house or bungalow)

Excerpt: Designing a real estate exposé for sale

Here is an excerpt from my guidebook: Selling Property.

You have now already learned a lot about selling real estate. Now it’s time to apply the first knowledge by creating the real estate exposé.

In the real estate exposé you will find the most important information about the property. These are in particular pictures, facts about the object, from year of construction, to the size of the property, to the living space calculation and also here the infrastructure, where is the property located and what is in the immediate vicinity?

All this is summarized in the real estate exposé and gives interested parties a first insight. Before time-consuming viewing appointments have to be organised, potential buyers can quickly and easily see the most important information and, in case of doubt, also compare it with other offers.

As already learned before, the visual preparation of the real estate exposé is a big factor for the final sales price. Because, here better unstructured the processing, the more prospective buyers with purchasing power will be interested in your property.

Documents for a detailed real estate exposé – checklist

Documents for the real estate exposé:

1. Year of manufacture
2. Size of the plot
3. Living space calculation
4. Floor plan
5. Building specification
6. Energy values and energy certificate
7. Photos from inside and outside
8. Infrastructure of the surroundings
9. Extras (underfloor heating, balcony, pool, carport, etc.)

Last but not least, what many forget, good visuals!

In fact, many exposés we receive as real estate agents are “very basic” in appearance. The images are blurry, not really sharp, the light settings are not right, everything is dark, making the rooms look gloomy and small. In addition, information is squashed or too little, too much, the font is playful, etc.

Again, it is best to draw the simple comparison to the car trade, whether VW, Bentley or Lamborghini. If the advertising material and PR work does not create the right images, people will not demand the product. So, in the end, real estate retailing is also always about creating demand. However, it is not about quantitative quantity in demand but qualitative quantity in demand. Keyword credit rating and creditworthiness.

Real estate photos before / after: 5 examples

First, let’s get to the most important part, the photos and images of your property! It doesn’t matter if it’s a luxurious villa, a condo in the city center or a single-family home on the outskirts of town. Here I want to show you a few standard mistakes with examples.

1. Villa from the outside: Error picture detail
2. Villa from outside: Error image noise
3. Detached house from the outside: blurred and overexposed
4. Condo from the inside: Detail and color
5. Condo from the inside: Poor exposure

Villa from the outside: Error picture detail

Condo before.

Condo after.

Villa from outside: Error image noise

Condo before.

Condo after.

Single-family house from the outside: blurred and overexposed

Condo before.

Condo after.

Condo from the inside: Detail and color

Condo before.

Condo after.

Condo from the inside: Poor exposure

Condo before.

Condo after.

Exposé design: 5 examples

In the following three examples you can see three design options for real estate exposés. Feel free to use them as a source of inspiration.

Due to the high-quality design of the documents, many more prospective buyers will become aware of the property and, accordingly, the inquiries will increase. Through the higher number of inquiries, and remains a larger, qualitative amount of potential buyers. This increases the chance of a quick sale and a profitable sale.

Exposé example 1

Exposé example 2

Exposé example 3

Exposé example 4

Exposé Example 5 – Color Accent A

Exposé Example 5 – Color Accent B

Reading Tip! Drones photos and videos

Believe me, there are only a few ways and possibilities to showcase real estate as spectacularly as with drones. Photographs and video recordings from drones show properties, as well as their location and infrastructure, in an unprecedented comprehensiveness. With video recording, you are no longer dependent on the conditions of the property, the free space above the property offers enough opportunities to clearly highlight the advantages of the property.

In this article I will introduce you to one particular drone, the DJI Mini 2. The big advantage of this drone, it weighs under 250 grams and can be flown without a license. This increases the possibilities of use and possibilities enormously. Read more about the review here:

• DJI Drone: Test

Overview of dual activity

• Dual activity relates to brokers
• Broker may act for seller and buyer at the same time
• Impartiality of the real estate agent is a prerequisite
• Real estate agent for both parties as a proving agent or for one party as a proving agent and for the other as an intermediary agent
• Buyer/seller must be informed about dual activity

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