Build a house, buy a house, or...?

Thanks for the detailed answer. That helps me a lot. We live on the border to NRW.. but still in RLP. Conversely, one could also say we live near the Westerwald... We won’t need much furniture and will take a lot with us. A standard kitchen is sufficient for us anyway.. Our current one cost about 6000 euros and is definitely enough. We don’t have high demands. Just as an example..

By rough estimate, you have already listed most of the costs that will arise – I also have almost the same amounts in my calculations (except for garage/carport and additional connection costs). So you’re building on the border to NRW, i.e. more north than us (Blaues Ländchen; western Hintertaunus; close to the Hessian border).

You can spend a lot of money on technical "gadgets." If you focus on the essentials, I think the budget is manageable (with the 2000€/m2). At the moment, with the first quote, I’m actually above that. There is still room for optimization.

I’m curious how the more local frame house provider will price itself. The "location advantage" should become apparent in my opinion. I’m curious. After mid-April, I’ll know more as well.

Hello everyone,

I'm bringing up my thread from about a year ago. Not much has changed yet, but we are getting a bit more concrete in our considerations for building a house, so I’m updating my first post:

How old are you?
He: 33 years She: 30 years

Do you have children?
Yes, 1.5 years old

Are more children planned?
Yes, in the near future

What do you do for a living?
He: Teacher (A13, civil servant for life)
She: Physiotherapist (employee)

How many hours do you work?
He: Full time (Last year I worked part-time at 3/4 position, reason see below)
She: On parental leave

Income and asset situation:
What income do you have (gross/net)?
He: 2900 Euro net (CURRENTLY, from February approx. 3550€)
She: currently 400 Euro parental allowance (later part-time 800 - 1000€); but initially this remains until K2 is about 1 year old

How much child benefit do you receive?
204 Euro

How much equity do you have?
approx. 20,000 Euro
25,000 Euro additionally as a gift from the parents

Housing costs:
Rent: 270 Euro / month
Electricity: 70 Euro / month
Oil heating: approx. 100 Euro / month
Telephone, Internet, Mobile: 120 Euro / month

Mobility costs:
Insurance
Car 1: 42 Euro / month
Car 2: 46 Euro / month
Taxes:
together approx. 20 Euro / month
Fuel
Car 1: 100 Euro
Car 2: 30 Euro
Insurance costs:
Private health insurance
222 Euro / month

Occupational disability insurance with pension insurance
He: 104 Euro / month
She: 76 Euro / month

Household insurance:
8.25 Euro / month

Living costs:
Groceries
approx. 400€ / month
Restaurant costs
30 € / month
Care/Drugstore
60 € / month
Club dues
4€ / month
Netflix / Audible / Amazon
25€ / month

Additional expenses:
Account management fees (12 € for all accounts)

Savings:
250 € / daily allowance account
400 € / ETF savings plan
150 € / ETF for daughter

Total income and expenses:
Total income 3504 / month (salary + parental allowance + child benefit)
Total expenses 2539.25 € / month
Balance 964 / month
of which rent and dispensable savings total
1079 €

Construction or purchase costs:
Land costs
552 m² bought in October 2018 for a total of 53,000€ (including all costs, notary, court) (fully paid, no loan)

DESIRED costs for new build:
350,000€ including basement (without kitchen and furnishings)
~40,000€ incidental construction costs
TOTAL: 390,000€

That’s our current situation.

The reason I'm writing again is that we have a first appointment with a bank next week. I want to have calculated based on my future income from February (approx. 3550€ net) and the parental allowance (400€) + child benefit (204€) of my wife and the available equity of approx. 45,000 + purchased land (53,000€) which loan amount with which repayment we can actually afford.

In terms of our thinking, we are now somewhat clearer and want to build new. We have decided against the idea of buying grandma’s house, which might be available sometime in the next 10 years.

Why are we only thinking about it again now? I worked part-time for a year so that I would have the opportunity to be transferred near our home after this year. This leads to my commute being reduced from 120km per day to only 40km per day. Nevertheless, we managed to continue saving this year and have accumulated a small amount of equity.

We plan a second child sometime this/next year (if all goes well). Therefore, my wife’s income remains based on basic parental allowance + child benefit.

Additionally, maybe I haven’t mentioned... we are both in tax class IV and therefore get a higher tax refund annually. Last year about 5,000€, because I commuted a lot. This will be similar this year, then the amount will decrease.

Construction prices keep rising, so we plan to build within the next 2 years.
My desired concept remains:
Approx. 150 m2 (2000€ / m2) + basement (approx. 50,000€), gable roof

Houses that appeal to us externally and regarding floor plan would be, for example, the Büdenbender Fortuna house.

From a planning perspective, we will first go to the bank next week and then visit a nearby construction company that builds solid houses. I would also arrange a consultation appointment with Büdenbender.

What do you think, is it completely unrealistic on the basis of approx.:

4200€ net income (my salary + basic parental allowance + child benefit) in the next two years (after that more when wife goes to part-time work and earns approx. 1000€ net) to tackle this project, given that we would have almost 50,000€ equity and additionally the land?

Still, a sum of about 340,000€ would need to be financed. The construction costs are only estimated and you will probably bring me back down to earth.

Thanks to you all!
Best regards

The reason I'm writing again is that we have our first appointment at a bank next week. I want to calculate, based on my future income from February (about €3550 net) and the parental allowance (€400) + child benefit (€204) for my wife, plus the existing equity of about €45,000 and the acquired plot of land (€53,000), what loan amount with which repayment we can actually afford.

You don’t need a bank appointment for that. With your equity + the sold or given plot of land, they will give you whatever you want anyway.
Also, you can find that out yourself with various calculators. For €100k, you pay about €300 with 20 years fixed interest rate and just over 2% repayment.
That would mean slightly less than €1000 monthly repayment + reserves + ancillary costs. We have estimated about €600 for reserves, garbage, insurance, etc. for that.

Additionally, I may not have mentioned... we are both in tax class IV and therefore receive a higher amount in tax refunds annually. Last year about €5000, because I commuted a lot. This will be similar this year, then the amount will decrease.

But only €130 monthly for fuel costs? I myself commuted for a while a distance of 60 km each way daily and was able to refuel weekly. 2.0 TDI engine...

Construction prices keep rising and we plan to build within the next 2 years.
My desired plan is still:
About 150m2 (€2000 / m2) + basement (about €50,000), gable roof

I find basements are mostly quite an overpriced storage room. €50,000 won’t be enough for that either. I estimate more like €70/80k or even more if your soil on the plot is poor. And that doesn’t include anything yet... Better build the house a bit bigger, plan a proper storage room, utility room, pantry and you’ll get more out of it. The prices for the basement aren’t even “complete,” because there are still missing any painting, flooring, and possibly sanitary facilities or others... which means the whole thing quickly goes over €100k.
Better a converted attic with one less zero, so to speak.
The €40k additional costs are also quite sporty.. that can easily be five figures higher.

Houses that appeal to us externally and in terms of layout would be, for example, the Büdenbender house Fortuna.

[QUOTE="Anmacatili, post: 371183, member: 48035"]
In terms of planning, we’ll first go to the bank next week and would subsequently visit a nearby construction company that builds solid (masonry). I would also make an appointment for advice at Büdenbender.

First go to the bank and get an offer. You’ll have to check at least 2-3 others anyway to get the best conditions. But it will be roughly around €1000.

What do you say, is it completely unrealistic based on about:

€4200 net income (my salary + basic parental allowance + child benefit) in the next two years (afterwards more if my wife works part-time and earns about €1000 net) to tackle this project, considering we have just under €50,000 equity and additionally the plot of land?

I find it quite doable. In the next years it will partly be a bit tighter, but for that you have your own home. I would have calculated about €400k all inclusive.
After deducting all costs for the house, (as of now) about €2000 would still be available. I think that is definitely enough and there is potential to increase when your wife starts working again.[/QUOTE]

Thank you for the feedback. Apparently, I received a warning for the link, sorry about that. When I’m back home and can edit it, I will remove it. The fuel costs are calculated from February. Currently 150 euros more. I will respond more thoroughly from home and will then also try to adhere to the forum rules.

Since your last inventory, nearly a year has passed. What was the saved money spent on?

Almost a year has passed since your last statement. What was the savings spent on?

The equity a year ago was about €10,000 after the land purchase. My parents were going to gift us another €10,000, so it was listed as €20,000.
Now we have saved about €10,000 over the year and my parents would contribute €25,000. Therefore, it is now listed as €20,000 and a €25,000 gift from the parents. That should be correct and this is the current status. We have no ongoing loans or similar. The cars and also the land are paid off!

My wife is now already more in favor of building without a basement (due to the costs).
So this will be taken into consideration. I can post the key data on the development plan and the land in another post shortly. Many thanks so far.