In the case of houses that were purchased as an investment and generated a return by renting them out, a sale without speculation tax is only possible if you have owned the house for at least 10 years. In the case of privately used real estate, on the other hand, you can collect the sales proceeds tax-free, provided you meet the following criteria.

• All about: Taxes and costs

Special tax regime for owner-occupied real estate

The speculation period for real estate is 10 years. As an owner-occupier, you are not subject to this time limit, so you can also sell before the end of the speculation period and not have to pay tax. The basis for a tax-free sale is based on partial or complete owner-occupation for residential purposes. The best prerequisite for a speculation tax-free sale of the house is if you have lived in the property with your family since the time of construction or purchase.

You can also sell tax-free if you can prove owner-occupation in at least the year of sale and the two preceding calendar years. You receive this benefit for your house, but also for holiday homes and second homes. It is not possible to sell undeveloped land tax-free. You cannot provide proof of use for residential purposes, as an undeveloped plot of land does not provide any opportunity for living and therefore does not constitute a basis for owner-occupation in terms of tax exemption.

Read more about:

• Sole heir and estate
• Pre-heir and post-heir
• Conflict in the community of heirs
• Sell

More information about selling a house:

There are various reasons that make you think about selling a property. Many of our clients already own their own house or condo when they inherit their parents’ home and don’t know what to do with the inheritance now. Are you facing this question or have another reason for selling your house? Our professional online real estate agents will assist you and help to get the best price for the property and not put a long wait on the agenda in the course of the sale. While you can sell privately if you are the sole owner, a house or apartment owned by a community of heirs presents greater challenges.

Checklist when selling a house

Should you offer your property privately or rather hire an estate agent? Every owner who wants to sell or rent is faced with this question. Those who have experience and a lot of time can carry out the numerous tasks themselves and let their property privately.

But without sufficient know-how, the sale becomes a big challenge and can “quickly grow over your head”. A professional estate agent brings you some advantages and ensures that you have no stress in the entire process up to the handover of the property. You can find out how to recognise a good estate agent and what you should look out for in the checklist.

• Click here for the home sale checklist.

Divorce – selling a house? What you need to consider

A jointly occupied and financed house is usually the focus of a divorce. If neither partner wants or is able to keep the house, in most cases it comes down to a property sale. There are several solutions you can consider and contrast. Most divorcing couples choose to sell the house to a third party, as this method results in the fewest disputes. You part with existing debts together and exclude the need to continue paying off a home loan together.

• Learn more about selling a house after a divorce here.

Smart Home – Control your home directly from your smartphone

The three most important aspects that unite a smart home are comfort, energy saving and security. In these three areas, the systems should support us and stand by our side. For this, however, not much technology is needed, as one or the other might think at first, because smart homes can be set up quite easily and they include already known things, such as wireless sockets, smoke detectors or dimmers. The only new thing is that all these things are networked with each other and with the smartphone or tablet and can therefore be controlled. For example, a smart home system makes it possible for the dishwasher to stay in contact with the smartphone via radio and send a message as soon as the dishes are clean.

More comfort – this is how intelligent houses work

Smart home systems include a number of components. These include wireless sockets, window sensors, smoke detectors, LED lights or dimmers. These are controlled via a central unit and are also networked with each other. Time control and individual scenarios are made possible via WLAN.

So it is not only possible to control your house from the comfort of your sofa and, for example, to turn up the heating when your feet get cold or to lower the shutters when the TV is switched on, but it is also possible to adjust your house to time sequences. The individual lighting mood can be determined automatically according to the time of day and the incidence of light, or the front door or the garage door can be opened when you come home from work and drive up in your car. It gets even more exciting when the individual systems are linked together and run via software. This way, the house not only thinks with you, but even ahead of you. On a hot summer day, the awning is extended thanks to the heat sensor, the lawn sprinkler is started and the air conditioning in the house ensures a pleasant temperature for you. So your comfort is increased enormously by a smart home and you enjoy in their own four walls as many conveniences as never before.

The installation – how your house changes with Smart Home

Anyone who is now worried about large costs, conversion measures or the like should be warned, because this is no longer necessary. A few years ago, a smart home was only possible in new buildings or with large conversion measures in old buildings. Cables had to be laid and prices quickly reached several thousand euros. Today, smart homes are fortunately very easy to install, even in rented apartments. This is made possible by the current module solutions, which connect by radio in the close range or via the power grid as a data line over distance and make their home quite uncomplicated Intelligenter. However, you do not have to purchase the complete package directly. For those who want to start slowly, there are starter packages that are tailored to different areas. Whether wireless sockets and LED lights to be able to control the light via app or wireless thermostats and window sensors to regulate the heating in an energy-saving way. If you are convinced by the system, you can easily expand the starter sets and make your home smart bit by bit.

Saving energy – how to go green with smart home

Energy saving is one of the most important aspects of the smart home, besides comfort. So you can inform yourself about the power consumption of all devices in the house via your smartphone and also switch them ON and OFF. If you have a solar system on your roof, you can even get information about the energy produced. So with just one tap, you can turn off all appliances when you leave the house, or just the ones that use the most energy. After all, the best way to save energy is to turn off appliances that don’t use energy unnecessarily while you’re not even in the house. But this is not the only way to save energy; you can also regulate gas consumption via heating controls. Wireless sensors on windows register when and how they are opened, forward the information directly to the control centre and the software automatically regulates that the heating thermostats go down. The heat does not escape to the outside and energy is not wasted unnecessarily. This is also handy if you forget to switch off appliances or turn down the heating before you go on holiday. You can easily do this via your smartphone and save energy.

Advantages & disadvantages – Smart Home in the test

Of course, a smart home also has advantages and disadvantages. Making your home a smart home is a decision that should be well thought out, because such an intelligent house is far from being for everyone. You have to completely change your habits and get used to the new way of living.

Advantages of a smart home – comfort, energy efficiency, security

The advantages of comfort and energy efficiency have probably already become very clear, but there is another aspect that forms a major advantage of smart homes. The security. Because a smart home can make your home safer. Whether it is playing through various lighting scenarios in holiday mode or a WLAN connected camera at the front door can detect a break-in. The smart home provides security and can even protect against fire or water damage. Thanks to the wireless connection, you can switch off the forgotten iron or the cooker while you are on the move, but water detectors can also detect a burst water hose, even if the water level is only 1.5 millimetres. You will immediately receive a message on your mobile phone and can react immediately and prevent worse damage. Investing in a smart home can not only protect you and your home, but also your wallet.

Disadvantages of a smart home – committed to one manufacturer

However, the systems of the intelligent house still have one disadvantage today. The individual systems of different manufacturers are not compatible with each other. This is mainly because the manufacturers use different transmission paths. Some rely on Bluetooth, others on land and still others use power lines. So it’s no wonder that the systems can’t cooperate with each other. Fortunately, more and more manufacturers see the need to make their devices more compatible and are therefore working together. So there is a ray of hope in sight to finally eliminate the last flaw of smart homes.