Buy land - keep the house.. how to proceed best?

Yes, that’s what I meant earlier. That only works if people pay their rent and don’t break anything. And if there are always tenants and the necessary rent is also achieved.

You should only rent out if you are not reliant on the rent. You don’t want to have a tenant who quickly stops making payments – by the time they are out, it usually takes at least a year. And afterwards, there is usually a lot of repair work needed.

Based on your numbers, though, it doesn’t look too bad, in my opinion. The 40k you still need for the land will be paid off in 2-3 years. If you really want to keep the house, I would grit my teeth now and put every euro into paying off the land – and only build the house once the loan is repaid.

How much do you want to pay off the new house for? Mathematically, you could actually pay off the loan for both the new house and the loan for the old house quite well. And even if worst comes to worst, you can always sell the old house. When I see what some others start doing, where everything is tight – no, you are well and, in my opinion, quite securely positioned.

Do you then have 2 properties in the same location?

Yes, both properties would be close together.

Where would I go? Where my old loan is running. First there. They would be given my plans openly and should then suggest something good for me, where they make money and I am not ripped off.

Currently we are with the Sparkasse. I also called yesterday regarding an appointment. We were assigned a new advisor who immediately offered to take a look at everything and he did.

His statement: something could be done regarding the repayment for the house in case of a rental (currently we repay 5%) and thus significantly reduce the rate, which would be more advantageous in case of rental.

With a repayment of 2%, the rate would drop to just under 600 euros and that could also be borne in case of rental default.

His conclusion: at first glance, we would do that with you.

Everything else or more detailed then at our appointment.

Not to forget rental risk

That is of course true. Even though I am 100% sure that our house would never be vacant, because there are so few rental houses here and the others have been rented out for many years already. Nevertheless, we will of course not take this lightly!

From your numbers, it doesn't look so bad at all, in my opinion. The 40k you still need for the land, you will have paid off in 2-3 years. If you really want to keep the house, I would grit my teeth now and put every euro into paying off the land – and only build the house once the loan is fully repaid.

Our current plan is to pay for 2 years and save up the remaining debt by then and fully repay the loan. My husband's additional income would make that possible.

How much do you want to pay off the new house then? Mathematically, you could actually pay off the loan for the new house and the loan for the old house quite well. And even if everything goes wrong, you can always sell the old house. When I see what some others start doing, where everything is tight – no, you are well and, in my opinion, quite safely positioned.

For the new house, we have imagined 1700-1800 euros.

And that is exactly the point our friends also strongly recommend to us. If everything goes wrong, you can always sell.

I have also seen support here for significantly higher amounts with similar income, but better to think multiple times than to get stuck in the end.

You have a good income, but I still find the remaining debt on the house quite "high" to simultaneously finance a second house plus the land parcel.

The remaining debt is decreasing quite well, as we are currently repaying 5% (even almost 9% relative to the remaining debt).

The plan is to first buy the land and pay it off within 2 years. Since planning and implementing the house construction takes quite a long time, as has often been read here.

So initially "only" the burden of the current house and the land.

And if you always have tenants and get the necessary rent.

Of course, I have no experience with that either, I have never been a landlord. But I assume that only people who can afford a property will apply for it.

I have an acquaintance; she is a landlord multiple times over and manages rental properties including tenant selection etc. I would hand it over to her and of course pay if it makes things less stressful for me!

Would you keep it under these circumstances and rent it out

No! Renting out causes work that is simply pointless. Put your energy and joy of life (and the money earned) into the future.