400k house estimated - became a 470k house / an experience report

Car? Twingo. 12-2013, 7300 with registration and all-season tires, runs and runs. Only what the grandchildren giggle about is that we crank the windows with a handle.
No leasing tops that.

Reminds me of "Being stingy is cool," you could definitely do advertising for Saturn .... meant positively!

We don’t need more. A car. We prefer to treat ourselves to the ship instead.

I know that I will probably not find a sympathetic audience here in the forum, but you must not sugarcoat anything. A property used by oneself is not an investment; it is pure consumption paid for with taxed income. The situation looks different if rented out to others,... but that's not really the point here overall. But please always remember. Investment properties are different.

I know that I will probably not find open ears here in the forum, but one should not sugarcoat anything. A self-used property is not an investment; it is pure consumption paid for from taxed income. The situation looks different if rented out to others,... but that is not what this is about overall. But please always keep that in mind. Capital investment is different.

Otherwise, I generally agreed with that. But I no longer do. At least there are limitations. It cannot be pure consumption anyway, because a house is not consumed. It usually does not lose value. And it can become an investment if the value after all repayments to the bank exceeds purchase/construction price + interest costs + maintenance + inflation. Whether that is actually the case over a period of 30 years remains to be seen. What you at least do is save. And that for people who often cannot afford rent + a high savings rate. If I had adequate money available, I would buy 2-3 room apartments and rent them out. In cities up to maybe 60,000 inhabitants. However, I lack the equity for that.

I think: 20% equity, then a financing amount that I can manage in 15-20 years - that would be healthy.

Yesterday I happened to come across an article that gave guidelines on how much one should approximately spend on which area of life. It listed the well-known 33% for housing including ancillary costs, it also said a car should not cost more than six net salaries and the property at most three annual salaries (also net). According to that, I have a too expensive car, well... The originally intended used one would have been just right. Well, and the house... Then I had to laugh out loud: for the amount that would have come out, I might have been able to get a two-room apartment with luck. After all, the third for installment and ancillary costs is quite about right. Leasing is simply a pure usage fee, you own nothing. The purchased car belongs to me eventually. And then I can keep using it.

I have generally agreed with that before. But I don't anymore. At least there are restrictions. Pure consumption can't be the case because a house is not consumed.

But it is. The legislator even invented the mechanism of depreciation for that. In an appraisal of a property, you will always find two values. The value of the land and the value of the building depreciated by age plus maintenance, which can reduce the calculated age of a property. But you are of course right. It is undoubtedly better to invest in your own house than to lease an Audi Q7 to impress the neighbor you don't even particularly like. Whether I consider the forced savings rate an advantage, I am undecided. A responsible citizen should have a basic understanding of our money-based society. I doubt the argument that this brings people into ownership who cannot afford rent and savings. The balance of capital service + reasonable maintenance reserve for a single-family house is probably much worse than for a rented 3-room apartment. If you instead start early with small amounts to make money work for you on the capital market, you probably end up with more money in the long term. I ignore quality of life here, because then we are back to the consumer good. This was my purely financial argument. I'm not that averse, I am building too.