Build or save? What do you think?

What would those be ... besides drywall?

Exactly that, plus painting, plastering, flooring, sanitary fixtures, interior doors, and possibly also tiles. Everything is easier in new construction than in old buildings; of course, you must not have two left hands.

Outside, paving, rainwater drainage, and generally the garden. Here a euro, there a euro...

You're not serious ... are you?

Yes, but actually only for the sake of completeness. It now exists in both types of construction and not just in very cheap form. Few houses are built without it, so there are interested people somewhere. Most, however, vastly overestimate themselves...

Yes, we do want to contribute as much personal effort as possible, fortunately my husband is very skilled with handiwork. We just can't build forever because we still have to pay rent on the side...

Hello,

My husband is the sole earner since I am still on parental leave and yes, the second child is coming soon. Salary should increase well in the next few years since he has only 4 years of work experience after university.
So far, we have only been able to save €35,000 in equity.
The building plot would cost about €80,000 (including incidental costs).
We would build about 150m2 with a basement and double garage. What costs should we roughly expect?

This dream would cost you, including everything, around €380,000 - €400,000; depending on where in Bavaria you want to build and based on soil conditions. A lot of luxury - except for a KfW 70 efficiency house - is not yet included in this amount; but it is finished with own labor in terms of flooring, painting, and outdoor facilities.

Others can answer much better about financing options than I can; I don’t like to offer everything at once. But just on a gut feeling, I would say you should save more; that is healthier for you

Yes, we want to contribute as much own labor as possible; luckily my husband is very skilled with his hands. We just cannot build forever because we still have to pay rent on the side...

Own labor is of course possible, but you will not have the time at all to provide major own work. And – what is always often forgotten: you also have to buy the materials!

What you quickly forget is the self-build house section. Anyone who takes this on needs a bit more than "manual skills". Time is the crucial word here: for a layman, a self-build house means at least one year of construction time and that is already very fast. How do you want to manage this double burden? Also, many marriages come out "cracked" from this experience...

Save a little more; being able to call a house your own is not the most important thing in the world!

Edit:

I had little time just now to reply thoroughly; that’s why I’m adding more now.

If you waive the basement and the double garage, there are still costs of €320,000 to €340,000 that you have to manage. I always have considerable anxiety when I see that the desire to build a house pushes aside everything that Mother Nature actually gave us as common sense.

I do think you will find a financier who will go down this path with you – some are still not nasty about anything; maybe ÖMIs (real estate mediators) could also be the solution. Maybe the trust in the seller is not justified either, because after the loan amount is drawn, a lot of money still has to be raised but the cash register is empty. On the other hand: if it is "just about" feasible to live alongside the house financing, what happens when extraordinary expenses come your way? Let’s just think small: the washing machine breaks down, one of the children needs money for a longer school trip (today they no longer go to the North Sea or the Eifel; no, ski resorts are trendy ), etc.

Please don’t misunderstand me; I do not benefit in any way from whether you build or not. But I want you to understand what a high risk you are taking, ending up standing in front of a pile of rubble. The low interest rates should not lead you to careless actions or open doors wide for clever bankers/sellers. If the house-building adventure falls into the proverbial well, you stand there all alone and have to figure out what happens next. This risk would be definitely too high for me in your current situation

Rhenish greetings

You have already understood financial responsibility quite well.

I’ll pick up a few points you mentioned that haven’t been addressed yet:

The additional costs increase due to new insurances -> let’s say a total of about €400 per month (garbage and property tax are also still there), in addition to the loan and reserves (this was recently a topic, also in a "I wish for a house" thread). Of course, you can usually adjust the loan over the years if the salary has been adjusted, but you have to say upfront: more buffers are consumed before and during the construction than you think (the buffer is usually gone before getting to the details of what the buffer is actually supposed to serve). Additionally, most banks do not finance furniture, so not even the kitchen; commitment interest as well as double payments come into play, usually at a time when no one calculates anymore because they simply don’t want to know. Then you have to buy a lawn mower, new lamps for the house wall for example, mailbox, a privacy screen, etc.: usually from ongoing salary or retained equity, and this adds up to values in the multiple four-figure range. But if the salary doesn’t generate that much, then a house is no longer the dream you imagined. Maybe then the parents will support, but those are extras you don’t want to think about now.

Now to your wishes:

As I said, we don’t need big extras when building the house

I also don’t think we can manage €350,000, so the house would have to be cheaper—only where to save?

Hehe, basement, double garage, and living area of the house... I have already noticed: the attitude towards a basement has a north-south gradient in Germany. Strange though: where building a house is already comparatively very cheap, builders are more willing to forego the basement and rather build with more light.

Your wishes are already not small and not adjusted to your budget!
To the house calculation come the small "you-only-build-once" extras, then garden, driveway and incidental construction costs.

And I will also go back to work or take on a mini-job as soon as the kids are in kindergarten, but probably a third child is planned (that’s why the 150m2), so it could still take some time.

With three kids you clearly need living space.

however, in the village/area where we want to stay, there is almost nothing to buy

If you want so much, you shouldn’t limit yourself mentally to too narrow a local structure and draw boundaries.
I don’t know anyone who mentally restricts themselves to one village (whether for work or housing). Even if the infrastructure is good, it may be that the neighboring town with the same infrastructure is much cheaper. You should also look about 20 km further.
In the end, what matters to you is the supply, which is not available. You can’t change that.
But you can change your way of thinking.

Go to the bank and get a non-binding offer on how much money you can get.
And then take to heart again what I wrote above and all the advice of my predecessors.

Best regards, Yvonne

Yvonne put it very nicely and to the point.

Especially shortly before or after moving in, unexpected costs often arise.

We have now been living in the house for four weeks, and somehow, with a lack of discipline, you could spend money faster than it comes in.

It’s those little "gadgets" like outdoor lamps, mailbox, pump for the cistern, garden hose & sprinkler for the fresh lawn, here and there a small cabinet, which quickly eat a hole in your wallet and then suddenly there’s so much month left at the end of the money...

I therefore also advise you to have a non-binding conversation with your house bank – afterwards you can see much more clearly what’s possible and what’s not.

One small tip if things get really serious: Also inquire at the big life insurance companies about financing – they have had quite good offers lately and also offer long fixed interest rates (>20 years).

Regards,

Dirk

Thank you for your answers! I am curious to see how we decide...and what the bank says