Construction financing for house building in Brandenburg with difficulties

One more update:

Today the appraisal from ING finally arrived. They are currently very busy, so the appraisal was delayed by a good 7 days. Fortunately, the appraisal was decided in our favor, although I don’t know the exact amount, so ING has already approved the financing in full today.

My learning: even though we were always led to believe that the financing would be absolutely no problem, in the end it turned out to be quite a nail-biter. Now we have the problem of having lost three weeks during which we could already have started construction. Therefore my plea: it’s better to finalize the financing two or three weeks earlier rather than later.

We now have the financing settled and I can share my experience. I find it interesting how much leeway the banks still have and what interest rate was initially offered to us. The general conditions were identical everywhere. We then took the offers from one bank to another and politely asked if they would match them. We were initially with both major financial brokers and had them provide offers (all offers with a 10-year fixed interest rate). When I read this here, somehow the same banks keep appearing: 1) ING - 0.85% 2) Gladbacher Bank - 0.8x% 3) Regional bank offering services nationwide - 0.90% Application submitted to ING -> Rejected without explanation. As mentioned, ING is currently reviewing much more strictly. Application submitted to Gladbacher Bank -> Rejected because the property value was assessed significantly lower Application submitted to the regional bank -> Approved We then also went to the local Sparkasse and another regional bank. With both banks, we had a very good personal consultation. Both banks checked in advance whether financing was feasible and confirmed this positively before the appointments took place. First offer: 0.78% After negotiation: 0.72% Went to Bank 2 with Bank 1’s offer: 0.62% Went back to Bank 1 with Bank 2’s offer and closed: 0.58% That is almost 0.3% less than the initial ING offer. We were also initially skeptical about the local banks, but we were proven wrong. And with some negotiation skills, there was still significant room in the interest rate.

Wow, that is really a good interest rate.

We think so too :cool:

Just to clarify: this is the interest rate of the bank loan. We still have the KfW 153 share (KfW55), where the interest rate is fixed at 0.95%. Therefore, the mixed interest rate is somewhat higher. But there is also a repayment grant, so in the end the mixed interest rate is negligible again.

Actually very good. And ten years would indeed be too insecure for the amount. 15 years at the Sparkasse for 0.88 would also have been good for us. Now it is 20 years for 1.18 %. Certainly, it can be better, but in the end we are just happy to be able to start now.

My learning: even though we were always led to believe that financing would be absolutely no problem, in the end it turned out to be quite a nail-biter. Now we have the problem of having lost three weeks during which we could have already started construction. Therefore, my plea: it’s better to finalize financing two or three weeks earlier rather than later.

For us, the review at ING took a total of 4 weeks in July. WITHOUT an appraiser! That also messed up our entire schedule. (Not to mention the 12 weeks we are now waiting for the priority notice of conveyance for the land)