Sorry, I have to follow up once more:
- So you are research staff at the university. Contracts are "repeatedly" extended – with a completed degree, professional experience, and at the age of 28: what contract durations are we talking about here? "No risk" with fixed-term contracts at the university? Seriously? Ever heard of hiring freezes (which can happen with every new budget in NRW and then the contract extension is gone for now)?... do the loan installments still have to be paid then?
- Hopefully you are aware that according to the WissZeitVG (law on fixed-term contracts for research staff), your contracts may be limited to a maximum of 12 years of fixed-term employment, after which no further contract extension on permanent positions is possible.
- You can commute from Düsseldorf – yes, you can. It’s a lot of fun if you really want to spend 3 hours every day stuck in traffic. For example, Düsseldorf to Cologne is a martyrdom (I know this because I occasionally travel to Düsseldorf University for appointments). So why on earth would you want to tie yourself to an apartment that in a few years might be on exactly the wrong side of the city?
- If you expect inheritances – why not wait for them and then buy on a much more solid basis? In a few years you will probably want more space anyway – so why burn your powder now on such a small apartment without any savings effect?
- 850-900€ rent – that’s not expensive compared to the loan instalment mentioned here, which barely covers any repayment. Where do you build the necessary reserves (which are already included in cold rent because the landlord covers all property-related costs)? This calculation never works out in favor of ownership.
Sorry if this sounds a bit emotional — but since I myself am a "university person" and have lived with such fixed-term contracts for years, I really cannot understand why anyone would want to buy in this situation. You are young – enjoy the independence and don’t tie such a burden to yourself that might break you financially in the worst case.
That’s my well-meaning advice – ciao
I don’t quite see it that way. If it is a new build, no major repairs are to be expected in the first few years, and besides, the two have factored in the condominium fees, which usually also include reserves.
Otherwise, in 5 years they will have paid 50k € in rent, which could be invested here into ownership. In case of a temporary move, the apartment would probably even almost pay for itself through rental income.
So if the installment is similar to the cold rent, I would also rather buy, provided the apartment is resellable.
The employment situation is the only thing I don’t see as relaxed either. However, the university usually does not hire the 4.0 GPA candidates only, so they should also get a job in the private sector, and even there an employee can lose their job.
For example, in our contract, there is a kind of private unemployment insurance that pays the installment for one year if someone becomes unemployed.
