Building a house or buying a condominium and then building a house later?

My tip on Saturday. Limited-time offers are often advertised to pressure customers into signing. However, you can always get these limited-time conditions whenever you want to get things done. This flexibility is common in the industry. Don’t let yourself be pressured; it is advantageous if you always first have them provide an offer with all services included and then have the personal contributions calculated separately. I have worked as an expert for 40 years and am happy to answer any questions you may have.

Jogger 84 is absolutely right with his opinion about the condominium

For personal contribution, banks usually recognize personal contribution as equity capital, also called muscle mortgage, at least 15%, but significantly more is also possible, purely a matter of negotiation

Many thanks for your answers.

I found the calculator and ran the numbers with the following values:

Purchase price: 210k€
Additional costs: 15k€
Equity: 20 of 30k will be used
Interest rate 2.3% / Repayment: 3.5%
Maintenance and management at 2.4k€.
I indicated a cost increase of 1% per year.
Rent increase 0%, since the rental contract states that there will be no increase for the next 10 years! Value increase also, in the worst case, 0%.

It turns out that after 5 years you have an advantage.

With a value increase of 1% of the property already in the third year.

Correct, that's why I'm considering how to handle it best and even ideally build up the rent as part of the equity (purchase of the apartment and later sale).

I would have calculated with 5 years now, but it's pure speculation with many IFs (will the property price stay the same or even increase?...)
The pure additional purchase costs of 7% (14,700€) would be covered by the elimination of the cold rent of 850€ in ~18 months. However, maintenance costs and other costs are not included then...

There is room for a child. Well... 85 sqm with 3 rooms. Own garden section.

Correct. It is a shell house. What is included in terms of materials is listed in my post above. The costs of 350k€ for the finished house is an estimate. Feel free to tell me if I am roughly right or completely wrong.

So if you don't expect any rent increase in the next 10 years and the apartment won't be too small for you with 2 kids in the first years, I don't understand the thought of HAVING TO buy this apartment.

Then I would just wait calmly, especially since there is the risk of selling the condominium at the desired price. If interest rates turn, you can't expect property prices to continue rising and/or stagnate. Moreover, your condominium will get "older" as well.

Better to continue building equity, for example with a home savings contract to secure the interest rates now.

Construction time means starting with the house assembly approx. 8-12 weeks until completion or handover for own work.

IMHO this is hardly relevant. What matters is the time period from signing the contract (where you also have to have the financing clear, especially with such a high loan-to-value ratio) until moving in. And in that regard, solid construction and prefabricated houses are not much different; in both cases, it takes more or less 1 year.

Buying within a time frame is economic nonsense.

The only rational consideration so far made about whether buying or renting is cheaper favored buying (since it is already cheaper than renting after five years). However, the tying up (!) of equity capital may not have been sufficiently taken into account in this consideration, so that the option of renting and saving "in cash" (i.e. short-term fixed deposit, overnight money) may be better, even if it is (somewhat) more expensive than buying the apartment.

I assume the calculation is correct or do I trust the Stiftung Warentest calculator here?!?

I also trust the calculation, what matters is to go in with the "right" assumptions. Since most of them concern the future, it is naturally a tricky matter...

Another piece of advice is always: Keep it simple. And if the desire for a house is big, then you don’t need to get bogged down in an apartment without good reason right now. That also costs time.

350,000 is realistic, but the available equity currently seems too low to me for that. I still clearly remember our bank advisor’s words that, on the one hand, the financing of the kitchen must be clarified and, on the other hand, a reserve of 5,000 euros per person must remain. I don’t know if that was already taken into account with the 30k € equity, but with your salaries and disciplined spending behavior, it should be possible for you to save the necessary remaining amount in the next 2 years. Then you would be just 31 and 28.

I would refrain from buying the condominium; you won’t get the additional costs back when selling, and the sale itself is not as easy as it currently is with a single-family house. That’s something I wouldn’t do.

Regarding the equity: Together we have 45k. Included is a BSP, which currently has a credit balance of 6k and can be paid off. (Savings amount "only" 10k). We have calculated with 30k because there should always be some reserves.

My tip on Saturday: often limited-time offers are used to pressure customers into signing. But you can always get these limited-time conditions if you want to get down to business. This leeway is common in the industry. Don’t let yourself be rushed; it is advantageous if you always first ask for an offer with all services and then have the own contributions deducted. I worked as an expert for 40 years and am happy to answer any questions that arise.

The seller has noted all our wishes and showed us a suitable floor plan from the portfolio. He also has access to plots of land and can broker them. This would be a big advantage for us, since there are very long waiting lists in the city and surrounding communities. The land is then purchased from a development company, so only the land acquisition tax is charged on the plot. However, it is binding that you also build with the construction company... logical. He is now preparing an offer for us, which we will receive at the beginning of next week. It will then include all work, i.e. turnkey. Of course, floor coverings and painting work are additional... This way we can deduct/strike the own contributions as you suggested. Clearly, you could tell he is the seller and tries to entice with things like “All costs are included with us” and “We currently have a promotion where we give away a kitchen” – yeah, right... By the way, in case anyone is interested, it is about Massa Haus.

Well, we are now waiting for the offer and will see. At least this way you get a feeling and some experience for upcoming discussions.

so if you don’t expect rent increases in the next 10 years and the apartment is not too small for you in the first years with 2 kids, I don’t understand the idea that you HAVE TO buy this apartment.

No, we DO NOT HAVE to buy the apartment. Sorry if that came across wrong. It was a consideration on our part how buying and later selling might possibly lead to more equity for the actual house purchase. To me, the basic idea sounded plausible at first and you get fixated on it. That’s why I wanted to get several opinions here in the forum. I received them with a clear tendency – no purchase but rather save equity for the project and thus remain more flexible.