Construction costs are currently skyrocketing

Tell me, Pinkiponk, how long do you plan to keep trying?

It will still take a few days; we are waiting for the offer from the bank that gave us the loan for the land and are researching online in parallel.

Can you explain why you haven't had to pay for the land yet?

The sellers of the land have received the money for their (previous) land. However, the land itself has not yet been paid for because we took out a loan for it, and we are now trying to secure a forward loan for it. By the way, I learned about the forward loan here in the house building forum. A big thank you to all of you. :)

You’ve been planning to be on that land for 1-2 years already – whose land is it?

I can’t really say. Ours or the bank’s? What is the usual practice? We are listed in the land register.

My forward loan is done with 0.0% surcharge…

I’m happy for you. Our situation looks like this: "Additionally, for the lead time (today until 09/30/2024), there is a surcharge of about 0.02% per month for 2½ years, so around 0.60%."

Now I "had to" register as a silent reader...
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Welcome and thank you for your first post. :)

[QUOTE="44quattrosport, post: 571502, member: 58898"]
The pictures are still from the first viewing 12 months ago.

Exactly because of a house like that, my husband and I would have preferred to buy an existing house instead of building one ourselves. These older houses simply have so many lovely details that "one"/we cannot afford in a newly built house. We miss some of those lovely details in our new house but will also be happy living in it.[/QUOTE]

Besides, unfortunately, there are no real alternatives for us (sorry if I’m repeating myself). With pets, it’s simply impossible to find an apartment in our area that’s big enough for four people and ideally also has a garden.

That sounds like you’re on a good path :)
We’re just about 10 steps ahead. A year ago, I approached this forum with the question of how people save up their equity (how long, where do they keep it, etc.), and let’s just say we’ve come further in that year than we originally thought, but we’re still very much at the beginning. The feeling that we somehow missed the best time (FOMO, basically...) is there, but on the other hand, there are plenty of good reasons why our plan from the start was to build only in a few years (no equity; currently our living situation fits our life very well: we would have built way too big for where we stand now (we’re planning kids but don’t have any yet – everything has to work out first anyway); we didn’t really know what we wanted yet, even though that’s getting better; and first, we lack the land to build on – you can tell it’s a completely different situation than yours).
We could have said now that we intensify the search really hard and then rush into 100-110% financing... but especially in the current situation with the steep price increases and seeing how quickly people’s buffer evaporates ;) , I think sticking roughly to our original plan isn’t a bad idea. If suddenly a good opportunity arises unexpectedly, we probably won’t run away from it, but there’s no need to rush either. We probably can’t effectively save against the increases, but having a bit more buffer and better sleep is worth a lot too.

It always depends. Some are "lucky" and come from the countryside, where the family is, and also want to build there – then maybe you still have home office and such and get around quite well. Some are also lucky and come from the city, where the family might already own real estate and can sponsor a bit of equity, and then maybe it works out at least with the condominium or a little house on the family's property. Everything is highly individual.

We are also both the first in the family who studied and earn good money – we also moved close to a very big city to work there. Both employers now allow 100% home office and that was the jackpot – bought a cheap plot of land in our home countryside, finally back home where you have clubs, friends, family, etc. I basically only get job offers with 100% home office on LinkedIn and so on, meaning even with a change of employer that’s safe. If push comes to shove, I just commute 35 minutes to the next big city again.

Thanks to our DINK status in the last 3-4 years and extreme frugality, we were of course able to build up very good equity. During our construction phase, we continue to save 60% of our income. The child is now born, and 1800 euros is quite a decent amount of money you get in Germany plus child benefit, etc. Look around in other countries, there you can run back to work 4 weeks after birth. Due to tax progression it’s also cool if you work part-time, e.g. 60%, because you don’t lose 40% but maybe only 30%.

Everything is extremely individual and depends on the lifestyle of the people. We as a small family are happy with family, friends, clubs – without expensive cars, brand clothes, 5 vacations a year, etc. If I were still renting, I would continue living like this and save a lot for the future, but also treat myself well when I want. Then there wouldn’t be any saving ;)

I’m curious what else is coming – the shell including embankments, retaining walls, etc. is done and now the interior work begins; so far we haven’t been affected by price increases. But it’s already expensive enough; if necessary, you just make the occasional "downgrades". I can think of lots of things you don’t need at first but you still pay off your home every month with a very good feeling instead of continuing to throw money to the landlord. They would probably evict us for personal use in 3-4 years because the daughter is slowly at the point of needing a house with her husband ;) And then I’d have to look for something with a child in 2025 to rent? Oh boy, that’s going to be cheap.

It always has to be the desired dream house at the desired location, no matter what. Compromises are rarely accepted.

When it comes to the house, we do make compromises (130 sqm, no basement, no garage, no frills). But if we were to make concessions on the location, then we wouldn’t even bother building. Here in this area, you really have to go very far out before it gets cheaper. Then we might pay 300 euros less per month, but we’d be far away from everything and accordingly spend a lot more time in the car or just have to accept that the leisure/education offerings there are worse, etc. And for me, quality of life suffers more from that than from having 300 euros less per month and therefore going to restaurants less often, etc.

But I’m happy for you that you now feel relieved. And I don’t think 5000 euros is much either. If I lived in an area where the rental market is less tense, I might also be less eager to build. But since people here already pay 2,500/month for a semi-detached house, I don’t want to know how high rents will be in five or ten years.

That sounds like you’re on a good path :) We’re about 10 steps ahead. A year ago, I came across here with the question of how people save their own capital (how long, where does it sit, etc.), and let’s just say, we’ve come further in that year than we originally thought, but we’re still very much at the beginning. The feeling that we somehow missed the best time (FOMO, you know...) is there, but on the other hand, there are quite a few good reasons why our plan from the start was to build in a few years (no equity; our current living situation fits our life perfectly right now: we would have built way too big for where we currently stand (kids planned but not yet here – everything has to work out first); we didn’t even know what we wanted back then, although that’s improving; also, we don’t have the land yet – you can tell, it’s a completely different situation than yours). We could have said now, we’ll intensify the search a lot and then rush into a 100-110% financing... but especially in the current situation with the huge price increases and seeing how quickly people’s buffer disappears ;), I think sticking roughly to our original plan is not wrong. If suddenly a good opportunity arises unexpectedly sooner, we probably won’t run away from it, but we don’t have to rush either. We probably can’t really save effectively against the increases, but a bit more buffer and better sleep are worth a lot.

In your case, I’d probably do exactly the same. Without much equity or land, we simply couldn’t manage it. And if you’re happy with your current living situation, you’re not under any stress. Saving against inflation can unfortunately be very frustrating, but if you’re more risk-tolerant than we are, you could look into stocks and cryptocurrencies (although that also requires a lot of time again).

Leisure and educational offerings. What is bad about that in rural areas? Apart from clubs and bars. And what is actually used of it?

you really hit the jackpot there. Congratulations

Are you still remodeling or what brings you to us?