3 mistakes when buying a tenement from the city
Tenders in the Toruń City Hall tempt with low starting prices, but it is often just a smoke screen. Before you pay the deposit, you must know that old walls, new profits is a real scenario only for those who can count every meter and are not afraid to look deep into the foundations.
Mistake 1: Ignoring the technical condition of foundations
Most buyers look at the roof and facade because they are visible to the naked eye. However, in Toruń, the real problem often lies underground. Our city lies close to the Vistula, and the groundwater level can change drastically over 12 months. We saw a tenement on Mostowa Street where the foundations required pressure injection for PLN 86,000, which the city forgot to mention in the announcement. Without checking the moisture level in July and March, you risk purchasing a floating time bomb.
The brick doesn't lie if you know how to read it. Capillary moisture can destroy the ground floor in 3 heating seasons. At Monetra, we always take a moisture meter and a thermal imaging camera for inspections. Thanks to this, 11 of our clients avoided buying ruins whose cost of rescue would have exceeded the market value by nearly 23%. We look for a second bottom where others see only a cheap investment opportunity.
Foundations are the foundation of your wallet. If they crack, profits escape into the ground.
Mistake 2: Underestimating costs under conservation supervision
Investing in history is a sport for the patient and the rich. When you buy a facility from the office, you get conservation guidelines that are sacred. You can't just hire the first better crew from an ad. You need professionals with permits to work on monuments, and their rates are 47% higher than ordinary builders. We count every meter of renovation plaster, which costs 4 times as much as ordinary gypsum.
I remember a project from 2022 at Łazienna Street. The investor assumed a renovation budget of PLN 2,400 per square meter. After the conservator's first visit and the discovery of polychromes on the ceiling, costs jumped to PLN 3,850 per meter. Old walls, new profits will only appear when your cost estimate includes a margin of error of 15-18%. We help realistically value these works even before signing the notarial deed.
Mistake 3: Lack of investment absorption analysis
The city sells buildings as shells, but you buy rental space. Often, staircases in old tenements occupy up to 24% of the total square footage. If you don't check if you can separate 6 independent units instead of 4, your return rate will drop from the assumed 8% to barely 4.2%. In Toruń, monument protection regulations often prohibit the installation of external elevators, which drastically lowers the value of apartments on the 3rd floor.
We analyze every wall for load-bearing capacity and the possibility of moving sewage stacks. In one of the tenements on Szeroka Street, we managed to recover 14 square meters of usable space just by changing the layout of corridors, which at the rental rate in Toruń gives an additional PLN 8,400 in annual income. These are specific numbers that decide whether an investment makes sense or is just an expensive hobby.
In a monument, you don't buy floor meters, but the possibility of their sensible development.
How to prepare for a tender in 4 steps
Start with the analysis of the appraisal report provided by the city. Usually, it is done 6-9 months before the tender, so material prices may already be outdated. Next, check the land and mortgage register – look for mentions of claims by former owners. Even if the city claims the case is clean, it's worth spending 3 hours on a visit to the state archive to confirm the ownership history from the 1940s.
The third step is a local vision with an engineer, not a real estate agent. An engineer will tell you how much it costs to replace a ceiling, while an agent will admire the view of the Town Hall. Finally, submit an application for building conditions if you plan to change the use, e.g., from offices to short-term apartments. The response from the office takes an average of 34 days, so start acting at least two months before the auction deadline.
Monetra supports investors at each of these stages. For 12 years, we have been operating on the local market and we know the specifics of every street in the Old Town. Our team of 5 experts has already helped close 156 transactions, most of which bring stable income today. By transparency: we do not take orders in which we see a risk of capital loss by the client. If a tenement is a ruin with no chance of profit, we will tell you straight to your face.
