Construction costs are currently skyrocketing

It's crazy how expensive the vacation is getting. Doesn't Turkey have immense inflation? I think I heard something about that. With all the bad news, you lose track.

We booked in Germany. After Corona messed things up for me two years ago at great expense. Maybe we'll go to Finland or Sweden over New Year's. We'll see.

We experienced the same thing, the hotel accepted bookings even though they hadn't opened yet. They were hoping the travel warnings to Turkey would come out earlier. We postponed the booking by two weeks. But the stress with vacation days at work was annoying.

Otherwise, they have an inflation of 40%-50%. I have acquaintances there and it's no longer fun. Electricity and gas are billed monthly based on consumption, and there are no price caps; those were very tough months in winter. Sometimes 2000-2500 lira (minimum wage 4500) was paid just for electricity and gas. Politically, there's a lot going on too; other parties are gaining a lot of support at the moment. Prices for food, fuel, etc. are rising daily (1L cooking oil costs 30 lira, 1KG mountain lettuce 20 lira, tomatoes 15 lira).

Phew, based on 500K volume (which probably won't even be enough), you pay that much in interest in one year as we do over the entire term. A crazy idea to me... hopefully they don't massively overextend themselves, especially if no equity has been built up so far.

And now just imagine you have a reason (divorce, job relocation, construction project becoming too expensive and therefore pulling the emergency brake...) to have to sell after a short time. I would call that a hefty prepayment penalty for the bank: 3.92% over 30 years..... whoa whoa whoa :eek:

Yes, for me that would be absolutely nothing. Although I am basically a gambler too, it is only within a framework in which I can afford to lose. Maybe someone will argue that interest rates used to be significantly higher and people still managed to pay off their houses. To that, I would immediately counter that people used to forgo vacations for years and instead worked with their own hands day and night, and back then maybe they borrowed 200,000 DM and not over half a million euros. Whether I pay 10% on 200,000 DM or 3.92% on 500,000 € makes roughly the same monthly interest cost in the first year (ignoring the currency), but my remaining debt after the fixed interest period is many times lower in the first case. If I have to pay over 1600€ interest monthly and have never managed to save equity before, how am I supposed to even remotely reduce the remaining debt until retirement so that in case of an (emergency) sale there is still something left to live on.

And now just imagine you have a reason (divorce, job relocation, construction project becoming too expensive and therefore pulling the ripcord...) to have to sell after a short time. I call that a hefty prepayment penalty for the bank: 3.92% over 30 years.....ooh ooh ooh:eek:

It was like that until 2012/14 as well...interest rates between 4-9%. The last 2-3 years were an extreme exception and inflation forces interest rates up. Anyone who was so foolish in the last 2-3 years not to lock in the lowest interest rates for 20-30 years will still be surprised by the loan amounts taken out. We only sold 10-year fixed interest rates on explicit request and documented in writing. 90% and more have agreed on fixed interest rates over the entire term. Sure, 0.85% in the 10-year range sounded sexier than 1.63% for 30 years, and with 0.85% the loan amount was also easier to handle than with 1.63%. But I often said: better build 10-20sqm smaller and save costs and secure a higher interest rate over the entire term instead

I was granted a 100% financing (105% loan-to-value) today with a 30-year fixed interest rate at 3.92%. The 10-year fixed interest rates are at 2.35% for an 80% loan-to-value ratio. From now on, home financing with the current interest rate conditions and property/construction prices will no longer be feasible for some.

And 1.5 years ago, I had very tough negotiations because the bank only wanted to give me a 15 basis point discount for my KfW components. (0.8% interest)

Phew, starting from 500K volume (which probably won't even be enough) paying that much in interest in one year as we do over the entire term. A crazy idea for me... hopefully they don't take on too much if no equity has been built up so far.

It was €170,000 for a semi-detached house including partial modernization (village in Saxony-Anhalt). Couple together for one year with just over 3K net household income. The risk is limited and the man could also service the loan alone in case of separation.