A small request: Do you have any advice for us?

Just by the way: 180,000 for the house, do you have a basis for the price? I’m just asking because it seems very low to me, or rather, last year realistic construction costs (building + incidental construction costs, excluding land) were in the range of 1850€ per square meter of living space (at least in our construction area in Hessen, over 2000€ was also easily achievable).

The amount is about right if you fully insure yourself. Talks about €2900 monthly from the insurance.

In this case, I would simply forgo the disability insurance.... at least in an academic profession.

With a 1% repayment over 20 years with fixed interest, these €155 easily amount to €50-60k less principal remaining if I put them into repayment...

At least I would rather insure myself with concessions (only €2000 instead of €2900, only until 55 instead of 60, etc.) to significantly reduce the premium...

Are these €2900 actually with lsk3? Because then your wife would have to have lsk5 and €1600 net as an educator sounds somewhat unrealistic.

Hello Christoph,

We expect the following costs:
-Land: 600sqm at €150/sqm = €90,000 (fully developed)
(There is a municipal subsidy program: You receive a €5,000 discount on the land price per child)

-House (including foundation slab): €180,000
-Additional construction costs: €50,000
Total approximately: €320,000

You should clarify your possible financing with an independent financing advisor on site; the internet cannot help you with this, as there are too many individual parameters to consider.

As for the above house price: how many square meters do you want? For the price mentioned here, you get a maximum of 120 sqm/living area in the Rhineland ... in Bavaria it will probably be somewhat less, because prices are higher there.

Kind regards

1600 net in part-time as an early childhood educator? Wow, I know this number as a full-time gross salary for this profession. With regard to parental allowance, you probably mean full-time.

With a 1% repayment over 20 years interest fixed, these 155€ easily account for 50-60k€ less remaining debt if I invest them in repayment... At least I would rather secure myself with reductions (only 2000 instead of 2900, only until 55 instead of 60 etc.) to reduce the premium significantly... are these 2900 actually with tax class 3? Because then your wife would have to have tax class 5 and 1600 net as an early childhood educator sounds somewhat utopian.

Sure, my mistake. Sorry. Many thanks for reading carefully!
My wife earned 1600€ net/full-time -> in tax class 4! Now she is in tax class 5 and I in tax class 3.

If she works again later (which is her explicit wish) we will go back to the 4/4 split.
Full-time with tax class 4: 2450€/gross (S8 in Bavaria) = 1600€/net
Part-time with tax class 4: approx. 1900€/gross = 1200€/net
Part-time with tax class 5: approx. 1900€/gross = 850€/net

Just as a side note: 180,000 for the house, do you have a basis for that price? I ask only because this seems very low to me, or realistic construction costs (building + ancillary construction costs, excluding the land) last year were around 1850€ per square meter of living space (at least in our building area in Hesse, over 2000€ was also easily achievable).

a bit optimistic, especially when I read: A house for 5-6 people for 180k turnkey? Kids also need space, and space costs!

I have the offer of a prefabricated house company here, which breaks down as follows:

Promotional house "A": 161m² living space, 127,500€, knee wall 1.30m
Offer "B": 150m², 147,900€, two full floors – hip roof
The price includes each: turnkey house including gas with solar technology or alternatively geothermal heat pump, excluding painting/wallpapering and carpet/laminate from top of floor slab/basement ceiling.

For the promotional house, I calculate an additional 20,000€ which will come up during the sampling and adjustments for the 1st floor. (We want the parents’ bedroom on the ground floor and on the 1st floor four equally sized rooms and one bathroom.)
Offer "B" as it is equipped as a standard is okay for us. About 5,000€ should be sufficient for the sampling.

The remaining 30,000€ each should be enough for the floor slab. I calculate 200€/m² floor slab.
House "A" footprint: 11.6m x 9.8m = 114m² ≈ 23,000 €
House "B" footprint: 10.6m x 8.6m = 91.2m² ≈ 19,000€
Therefore my indication of 180,000€ for the house. In your opinion, should I add a bigger buffer? How would you perform the calculation?

In this case, I would simply do without disability insurance... at least in an academic profession.

By the way, 155€/month for occupational disability seems a bit much to me... or are you in a "risky" job with heavy physical work etc.?

I pay 155€ monthly for my occupational disability insurance (without abstract reference), which pays me 2100€ monthly as a pension. This insurance is important to me. I want to be able to maintain my standard of living even in the case of occupational disability. I am not an academic but a skilled worker. I produce food. I mainly work on the computer.

I would also like to add something to my information:
- In 10 and 12 years, two life insurance policies will pay out to us. Amount: 15,000€ each.
- My salary will increase by about 500€ within the next three years due to some further training. Due to my union membership, my salary also increases annually by about 1-4%.

Forget about the life insurance... at best those are special repayments, at worst the first renovation work. You can also ignore salary increases for now, unless you have them contractually guaranteed. It's nice if they come, but it has to work without them.

The house price is really way too low. What are they building the house from? Cardboard?

We are building a prefabricated house with 145 sqm living space without a basement, with gas/solar ventilation system and fireplace, no big frills for €225,000 plus the material costs for floors and wallpaper, which we will do ourselves.
Additional construction costs for us are almost €40,000, of which about €18,000 are foundation and development costs.

So the house alone with everything that comes with it costs almost €250,000 + land + furnishings (kitchen etc.).

Our provider is not a cheapo, but we chose them deliberately because quality is installed. I think if you want to decide, you have to look at both sides. We also asked a cheaper provider, but were convinced neither by the staff nor by the quality of the houses.
Important to know about prefabricated houses: banks lump them all together. Our prefab house is in no way inferior to a solid house, but is rated massively worse.

Auction house "A": 161m² living space, €127,500, knee wall 1.30m
Offer "B": 150m², €147,900, two full floors - hipped roof
Included in the price: turnkey house including gas with solar technology or alternatively geothermal heat pump, excluding painting/wallpapering work and carpet/laminate from the top of the base plate/cellar ceiling.

These prices will hardly hold up in reality...

If you want about 150m² of living space, you will hardly get away with less than 220k in the end... even if you forgo luxury...

and "small things" like carport and landscaping are also quickly underestimated.

Full-time with LSK4: €2450/gross (S8 in Bavaria) = €1600/net
Part-time with LSK4: approx. €1900/gross = €1200/net
Part-time with LSK5: approx. €1900/gross = €850/net

I would at best calculate with a 50% position from the time the kids are in kindergarten/school.

Or how have you planned this after parental leave? If your wife starts again with at least 70% right away?
Is there appropriate childcare available locally? What does it cost?

This insurance is important to me. I also want to be able to maintain my standard of living in case of occupational disability. I am not an academic but a skilled worker. I produce foodstuffs. I mainly work at the computer.

I don't want to say that disability insurance is pointless... but in general, you have to be careful with insurance not to accumulate too many too expensive insurances... and €155/month seems relatively high for €2100 coverage for a computer job...