Houses: buy a private house or a summer cottage

Land documents: cadastral number, designated use and plot boundaries. The house may be registered while the land isn't — legalizing it later costs time and money.

Cracks in the foundation and corners, damp traces in the basement and attic, the age and material of the pipes. Ask about heating in numbers: what last season cost in hryvnias, not 'it's cheap'.

The land's designated use. You can live on garden-cooperative land, but residency registration is harder and infrastructure (roads, winter power) depends on the co-op. For permanent living, look for residential-construction land.

Insulation matters more than area: an insulated 120 m² house with a gas boiler costs about as much as a city three-room apartment; uninsulated — two to three times more. Ask for last winter's bills in hryvnias — the most honest specification a house has.

Municipal water means predictability and the utility's responsibility. A well means autonomy and zero monthly fees — but ask the depth, flow rate and drilling year, and test the water. The ideal setup is both: one primary, one backup.

The shell and foundation — everything else is replaceable. Straight crack-free walls, a dry basement and sound floor structures are 70% of the value. Rotten beams, stair-step facade cracks and basement damp turn a renovation into a from-scratch build at renovation prices.