On his YouTube channel, the interior designer Abel de González shares tricks and ideas to improve the way we live. In one of his last videos, talk with The architect Lucía Bravo, founder of LB Architectureto reflect on the domestic environment and how we relate to it. Beyond the common places of the real estate market, Lucía raises something that may seem paradoxical, but it has a lot of logic and wisdom: To buy house, you have to start at the end. “If I wanted to buy a house right now, the crab method would follow,” he says. What if, instead of looking for square meters, new locations or promotions, would we start with ourselves?
Buy or reform, according to the architect Lucía Bravo
Lucia is clear: “There is little market offer And many people buy something that is not what I wanted. ”And he says it with knowledge of cause. He see more and more cases of people who acquire a new home, just to end up reforming it.“ In the end, you pay the price of the new and you have to rebuild spaces. That makes everything more expensive. ”
The key is, according to her, in know from the beginning what is needed. It is not a matter of meters or finishes, but of adaptation. “A renovated house may make more sense if you know what you are looking for: More meters, a better distribution Or, simply, a kitchen with windows, ”he explains. Often, a second -hand house with a strategic reform is not only more economical, but also more adjusted to what is really needed.
What is the crab method? Lucia Bravo explains it
Lucia calls it that because, like crustacean, walks back. “You start at the end: how do you want to live?How many are you? What budget do you have? What spaces do you need? ”From there, it goes back. The minimum meters, priorities, concessions are defined. Only then do you start looking. “Thus you avoid frustrating yourself with houses that do not fit. You go to the grain,” he says.
In this way, the crab method is not just a mental trick, it is a specific tool to focus the search clearly. And it works: “Filters for price and useful metersand you already reduce the realistic fan. The rest, you value it later. ”
What to look at a house to reform
Bravo insists that not everything can be transformed. Therefore, before being carried away by the photos, you have to Look at the state of the building, the existing distribution and, above all, the structure. “If you can’t move walls, you will only take advantage of 30% of what you wanted. So, don’t compensate.”
Another essential point: Natural light. “If there are not at least four windows, I do not follow. I do not compensate for very pretty that the reform is,” he says. It also recommends consulting the Property Registry and the last technical inspection of the building. Only then is it really known what can be done.
Reform with head: budget, VAT and financing
On the cost of reforming, Lucía is clear: “Calculate about € 1,100 per m², plus 21% VAT. 10% only apply if the materials do not exceed 40% of the total, and that is rarely fulfilled.” And he adds: “If the bank finances up to 30% extra on the value of the house, you can consider a reform without emptying your savings.”
In your experience, the new loses fast charm. The reformed, on the other hand, adapts. “You decide where each window is going, what materials you use, how the light flows. That is the difference between inhabiting a space or adapting to it.”
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