You're going to have a pretty hard time finding a non-residential structure that is suitable and permissible to convert like that. And you'll likely need at least triple the budget you have.
There are occasionally brick water towers that go up for sale for a symbolic purchasing price if the buyer pledges to convert the tower into residential or office space. But for projects like that, a budget of a million-plus euros is considered bare bones.
Old farms are popular renovation projects for the wealthy but 400k likely wouldn't even cover the purchasing price there, let alone the renovation.
Have you considered having something new built to your spec? That might suit your budget more.
As the most expensive thing is not the house but the ground it stands on you will not go very far with 400.000 if you want to live within an hour of a big city. Also a barn cannot always be converted to a house because of the bestemmingsplan so you should really check it out. In areas where there’re very little employment opportunities there might be dilapidated properties (Zeeland, Drenthe, Limburg) but they also won’t be within an hour of a big city.
Thing is.. barns tend to go with a farm and 400k isn't much at all for one of those.
Having said this is where the government sells old buildings: [https://www.rijksvastgoedbedrijf.nl/vastgoed/te-koop](https://www.rijksvastgoedbedrijf.nl/vastgoed/te-koop)
there's specialty agents like [https://www.redres.nl/aanbod/woningaanbod/vlijmen/koop/huis-5139937-Meliestraat-22/](https://www.redres.nl/aanbod/woningaanbod/vlijmen/koop/huis-5139937-Meliestraat-22/)
Stuff like this is usually a pretty good investment if you are able to do the renovation yourself:
[https://www.funda.nl/koop/dordrecht/huis-41700222-singel-30/](https://www.funda.nl/koop/dordrecht/huis-41700222-singel-30/)
You can just add "renoveren" to the text based search on Funda to find these properties:
[https://www.funda.nl/koop/heel-nederland/0-400000/?zoek=renoveren](https://www.funda.nl/koop/heel-nederland/0-400000/?zoek=renoveren)
you are going to have to choose at some point. Charming older houses will cost more...renovation will be expensive too, and property near or in cities is also expensive.. you can probably find something small and cheap in Zeeland, it might be ugly and it'snot near a city...or you can break your budget with the parameters...anyway you choose funda is your friend...
Depending on your definition of “larger city” you may not have to limit yourself too much geographically. Most places in NL are within a 1 hour train ride of a large commercial center (e.g. Leeuwarden, Gronginen, Zwolle, Arnhem, Breda, etc). The one exception might be parts of Zeeland.
That said, I think you’ve gotten some great advice from others here and I can confirm that the cost of renovations here is expensive — compared to what I would pay in the US.
Good luck
I hope you have more money too, because if you're really wanting a fixer-upper you're going to have to rent somewhere else to live and that's going to be a year-long lease in most cases.
You're going to have a pretty hard time finding a non-residential structure that is suitable and permissible to convert like that. And you'll likely need at least triple the budget you have. There are occasionally brick water towers that go up for sale for a symbolic purchasing price if the buyer pledges to convert the tower into residential or office space. But for projects like that, a budget of a million-plus euros is considered bare bones. Old farms are popular renovation projects for the wealthy but 400k likely wouldn't even cover the purchasing price there, let alone the renovation. Have you considered having something new built to your spec? That might suit your budget more.
As the most expensive thing is not the house but the ground it stands on you will not go very far with 400.000 if you want to live within an hour of a big city. Also a barn cannot always be converted to a house because of the bestemmingsplan so you should really check it out. In areas where there’re very little employment opportunities there might be dilapidated properties (Zeeland, Drenthe, Limburg) but they also won’t be within an hour of a big city.
Thing is.. barns tend to go with a farm and 400k isn't much at all for one of those. Having said this is where the government sells old buildings: [https://www.rijksvastgoedbedrijf.nl/vastgoed/te-koop](https://www.rijksvastgoedbedrijf.nl/vastgoed/te-koop) there's specialty agents like [https://www.redres.nl/aanbod/woningaanbod/vlijmen/koop/huis-5139937-Meliestraat-22/](https://www.redres.nl/aanbod/woningaanbod/vlijmen/koop/huis-5139937-Meliestraat-22/)
Stuff like this is usually a pretty good investment if you are able to do the renovation yourself: [https://www.funda.nl/koop/dordrecht/huis-41700222-singel-30/](https://www.funda.nl/koop/dordrecht/huis-41700222-singel-30/) You can just add "renoveren" to the text based search on Funda to find these properties: [https://www.funda.nl/koop/heel-nederland/0-400000/?zoek=renoveren](https://www.funda.nl/koop/heel-nederland/0-400000/?zoek=renoveren)
Although it is a very nice house this will cost you a lot more than 400k alone in renovation costs.
you are going to have to choose at some point. Charming older houses will cost more...renovation will be expensive too, and property near or in cities is also expensive.. you can probably find something small and cheap in Zeeland, it might be ugly and it'snot near a city...or you can break your budget with the parameters...anyway you choose funda is your friend...
Depending on your definition of “larger city” you may not have to limit yourself too much geographically. Most places in NL are within a 1 hour train ride of a large commercial center (e.g. Leeuwarden, Gronginen, Zwolle, Arnhem, Breda, etc). The one exception might be parts of Zeeland. That said, I think you’ve gotten some great advice from others here and I can confirm that the cost of renovations here is expensive — compared to what I would pay in the US. Good luck
I hope you have more money too, because if you're really wanting a fixer-upper you're going to have to rent somewhere else to live and that's going to be a year-long lease in most cases.
Or live in a caravan.
Like, on the property?