Buying a house without a mortgage loan

The housing market here is catastrophic. For an adequately sized apartment, we pay at least €1000, more likely even more. And I am not willing to pay that for a rental apartment. Because then I save less and the dream of owning a house will remain just a dream. Because if we are both over 40, the bank will not cooperate anymore anyway. And then we don’t even need it anymore. We would have paid off a house well by retirement age, but we definitely cannot afford a rental apartment in retirement.

I seriously wonder why there is always such incredulous reaction.

Because it is extremely difficult to sustainably change habits. Whether it is about money or body weight.

The housing market here is catastrophic.

And for 125k, a ruin fits better than a somewhat livable house. Whether on the railway line or not

You also have to keep in mind here in the forum that many people want to build or have built. We live in comfortable, underfloor heated, airtight luxury villas - there’s no other way to put it - and that is by no means affordable for everyone. But just because you can’t have the ultimate "new build," doesn’t mean you have to completely give up on ownership.
You can live perfectly well in an older house too.
You have much more drive and desire to do some work yourself in your own four walls. And your current living situation sounds more than miserable. Especially having a little garden for the kids is so valuable in the summer. Detached, own garden, and ownership are three factors that provide a certain intrinsic value regardless of the age of the property, if that is important to you.
My sister took over our parents’ house. They renovate gradually because they can - but also much less than they financially could - because the house is inhabited and furnished, and tearing everything up is not a very appealing thought. And life there isn’t so bad now. The house is from the 70s, they heat with a heat pump and radiators. The radiators have been modernized in some rooms, that doesn’t cost the earth. I think the heating system had to be renewed because the old oil heating didn’t really work anymore, and for ideological reasons it became a heat pump. That naturally costs a lot of electricity in winter, and they don’t heat their house to 24°, but you don’t have to, that’s what cardigans and slippers are for.
Long story short: Just because a new build isn’t possible, doesn’t mean an older home has to be bad. I have had various living situations and would always prefer an older home to a rented apartment by far.

Why is the house a ruin? I have seen so many bad houses by now, this one is still a true gem. The house is absolutely habitable, even warmer than my apartment and probably more modern in every way than our apartment, which was last renovated certainly 20 years ago (okay, in 2019 there was a gas central heating).

You also have to keep in mind here in the forum that many people want to build or have built here. We are sitting in comfortable, underfloor heated, airtight luxury villas – there’s no other way to put it – and that is by no means affordable for everyone. But just because you can’t have the ultimate "new build," that doesn’t mean you have to completely give up on ownership. You can also live perfectly well in an older house.

Sorry Kati, but you’re heading in the wrong direction there. You can live well in older houses, but not everything adds up here. If an apartment costs at least 1000€ rent, a comparably sized house in reasonably decent condition can’t go for 125k hands down. It just doesn’t add up, because the rental yield on the house would be well over 5%. Such yields don’t exist with current interest rates for a new purchase. This only works out if the seller has absolutely no idea about the business and is off by a large factor. But I wouldn’t base my calculations for a home on that without thoroughly checking the house beforehand. No one here begrudges anyone fulfilling their dream of ownership with an existing property. But it is simply much more likely that the house will become a money pit than that it’s a bargain. If something sounds too good to be true, it almost always is.

That's all nonsense. I now live in a place where rents cost 1000€ and more. Houses are at least 300k and often still need expensive renovations. But 50km in the other direction, away from BaWü, more towards Saarland, you get houses thrown at you because the old people die, and people move to the big city for work. There is nothing in the village. Only a train station and a primary school, 1600 residents. It's clear that the house doesn't cost 600000k there. In the neighboring village, we could have had a fully renovated, modernized house for 250k if it had come with a decent-sized plot.