Buying a house/building a house: realistic or not?

hello everyone

i have been dealing with the topic of buying/building a house for a while.

i am 36 years young. i have never had a decent salary all my life, so i completed a second education (bachelor) late, which i finished three years ago. in the meantime, i have paid off training and tax debts. i now have savings of 10,000 in cash and 20,000 in the pension fund. i am single.
my current monthly net salary is 4100.- francs (after deduction of social and pension contributions, before tax) at 80% employment. salary will increase by about 150.- per year. my job is not necessarily secure in the long term, but i have a qualification with which i could find something new at any time (even better paid).

i am Swiss and have always lived in basel, practically on the border. since i moved into my first apartment (15 years ago), rents here have risen by a third, and for the second time i am being forced to move out due to a complete renovation of the house. furthermore, i constantly have structural problems because of my two red-eared slider turtles and am not allowed to use the garden. my net rent currently amounts to 1210.- francs. i would like to move to the countryside anyway and would like to keep chickens and goats. in short: i no longer want to be a tenant and i want to get out of the city.

now the thing is, existing buildings in northwest switzerland start at around 400,000 upwards - usually they are much too large and need renovation. a new 80 m2 bungalow with land and additional construction costs would be available from just under 500,000.-. that would hardly be feasible with my salary. alternatively, i would have to move to the canton of Jura, but then the commute would be too long...

so why not move across the border... (germany; france is not an option)
but even here: within reasonable distance existing buildings are either much too large and/or in poor condition. there is huge demand for the good properties. because of all the so-called "bait offers" on the real estate sites, i am wondering if a small new construction might be feasible.

following considerations:
i would like a small bungalow with a hipped roof (solid construction). 80 to 100 m2 living space (including utility room), without a cellar. either at construction or later, a heated conservatory (+- 20 m2) should be added. as a heating system, i would like a heat pump (i want to pursue energy self-sufficiency in the long term - that’s not possible with gas and oil) and a photovoltaic system. hot water preparation with heat recovery. the whole thing in Kfw standard 70 or better.
the house would have no bay windows or other frills. i don’t want a carport either (parking on grass pavers is perfectly fine) and only the bare minimum landscaping. the bungalow can/may have "standard exterior dimensions". i would like to define the interior layout myself.

my calculations:
* 108,000 - house 1,200.- per m2 Kfw70 per m2
* 28,000 - conservatory (20 m2 x 1,400.- arbitrary assumption)
* 30,000 - connections, additional construction costs and purchase incidental costs
* 10,000 - minimal landscaping
* 20,000 - reserve

= 196,000.- without land

developed building land is available in the southern black forest, less than 45 minutes driving time to basel, between 50,000.- and 150,000.-, depending on location, size, accessibility.

i would not want to set a budget above 250,000.- euros. so rather tight.
with 50,000.- equity (should be available in two years), i would have to take out a mortgage of 200,000.- euros.

there is also the possibility of doing some work myself (but i’m not excited about that), mainly painting and flooring; i want to do the garden landscaping myself anyway. that would probably save a few thousand...

at 1.5% interest and 3% amortization/repayment, that would result in a monthly burden of 750.- euros - the house would be paid off after 27 years. the 750.- euros correspond to about 830.- francs; so 380.- francs less than my current net rent. since i live in a "leaky" house, pay exorbitant caretaker costs etc., the additional costs would not increase in my own home. currently, i pay about 400.- francs per month for utilities and electricity...

i would now like to know from you whether it makes sense with the mentioned finances to acquire property? whether my calculation assumptions are realistic or rather somewhat unrealistic? have i forgotten something?
would you pursue this further and if so, how would you proceed?

thank you in advance for hopefully numerous replies.

regards,
samuel

monthly net salary currently amounts to 4100.- francs (after deduction of social and pension fund contributions, before tax)

I don't know the tax, but from the perspective of an ordinary German you have a princely income ;-). Switzerland is expensive ... In my opinion, your plan is feasible. You will then have to commute (have you taken these costs into account?).

hi!

yes, switzerland is so expensive that even with a good salary you can’t get anywhere...
taxes would be a bit higher in D than in CH - with this income it’s just about manageable - above that it gets bad ;-)

yes, there would be commuting costs (can be deducted from taxes in CH. not in D?). however, car costs (insurance, tax, purchase, repairs, service) would also decrease.

is my cost breakdown roughly realistic?

regards,
samuel

would have commuting costs (can be deducted from taxes in CH. not in D?)

Not everything, I would say, depending. The tax deduction usually does not fully cover the actual costs.