Construction Financing Options - Experiences / Recommendations

With your setup, you won't get 20 years term. With the rate, it takes a lot longer. I also calculated with about 1.1% interest and come to just under €1,200 with consistently high repayment.

Sorry, we misunderstood each other. What I meant were 20 years of fixed interest but about 30 years term. More than 20 years fixed interest wasn’t possible at the banks we visited so far.

Compared to the bank approach, you have very high living costs. There’s a lot of potential here (additional costs for the house are actually significantly lower, clothes/miscellaneous program/vacation are also €12k p.a.). With you it’s "complaining at an extremely high level."

That already reassures me a lot. As I said, we have little documentation and the values are rather conservatively estimated, especially in the miscellaneous category. Especially in clothes, miscellaneous and vacation, we have rather estimated higher.

But I didn’t think I overestimated the additional house costs? Am I seeing that wrong? (House probably 175 sqm on 460 sqm plot, the multiplier for the property tax of the municipality is rather low)

Did you mean to say that it shouldn’t actually be a problem with the "smaller loan"?

The bank has its own household budget. It applies "its" values. What you really spend, e.g. whether the three of you spend 300€ per month on clothes... your business. When it comes to leasing, on the other hand, you probably are not responsible for car repairs?

How about visiting an intermediary? They enter your income, etc., and then you find out in passing whether the household budget adds up. For example, I have an expensive hobby, but nobody asked about that. Income, other debts or ongoing expenses (your leasing, for example), how many people, childcare, that was the focus.
I also find the interest rates offered quite high, you already have 30% equity now, so there can’t be 1.9%. A better offer will easily come up during the visit - you can probably choose the financing partner.
Whether you can manage your (upscale) habits with the installment and additional house costs in the end is something you have to know yourself.

The bank has its own household budget. It uses "its" values. What you really spend, e.g. whether you three spend 300€ a month on clothes... your business. With leasing, on the other hand, you are probably not responsible for car repairs?

How about if you visit a broker. He enters your income etc. and then you find out in passing whether the household budget works out. For example, I have an expensive hobby, but no one asked about it. Income, other debts or ongoing items (your leasing, for example), how many people, childcare, that was the point. I also find the offered interest rates quite high, you already have 30% equity, so it can’t be 1.9%. A better offer easily comes up during the visit – you can probably choose the financing partner. Whether you can ultimately manage your (upscale) habits along with installment and ancillary house costs, you have to decide yourself.

And what do you think about option 2 with the smaller loan? Is that possible in my opinion?

As I said, we really don’t have many upscale habits. Probably just estimated too generously judging by your reactions to it.

Yes, with leasing there is always a maintenance contract included, in which no further costs arise from mounting and storing wheels after the season.

Regarding the additional house costs, I thought I hadn’t overestimated them too much? So am I wrong about that? (House probably 175 sqm on 460 sqm plot, the municipal multiplier for property tax is rather low)

Which additional costs do you mean? You have already listed electricity separately. Then there are still property tax, insurance and heating, garbage, water/sewage. Should be manageable - around 150-200€!?
Of course, you can start calculating reserves. But honestly, who actually does that and builds real reserves for the house? Especially since nothing should come up in the first 15 years with a new build anyway.

Did you mean to say that there actually shouldn’t be a problem with the "smaller loan"?

I consider that unproblematic. Every bank will be happy to have you as customers.

Which additional costs do you mean? You have already listed electricity separately. Then there remain property tax, insurance, heating, garbage, water/sewage. It should be manageable - around 150-200€!?
Of course, you can already calculate reserves. But honestly, who actually does that and builds real reserves for the house? Especially since nothing should incur in the first 15 years with new construction anyway.

I see that as uncritical. Every bank will be happy to have you as customers.

Thank you for your assessment. Basically, a bank actually has no risk with that, exaggeratedly speaking (60% equity ratio)? Or am I seeing that a bit naively?

For the additional costs, we had caught 3.24 - 4 € per sqm to be calculated monthly. Admittedly, as you said, telecommunications and electricity are included which we list separately. At 3€/sqm I still come to 510€ for 170 sqm?

Here is still the overview from Dr. Klein that I mean:

Property tax	37.50 €	450 €	public
Garbage fees	12.50 €	150 €	public
Street cleaning	25 €	300 €	public
Water (including sewage)	35 €	420 €	public
Heating	162.50 €	1,950 €	private
Heating maintenance	33 €	400 €	private
Electricity	100 €	1,200 €	public or private
Insurances	33.33 €	400 €	private
Gas			public or private
Telecommunications	30 €	360 €	private
Chimney sweep	6.66 €	80 €	private
Total	485.49 €	5,830 €	-
Cost per m²	3.24 €	38.86 €

P.S. And I have already seen that the heating costs in the example are probably a bit overestimated if you aim to use a heat pump system.

Yes, that is far too high. In my old building, I spend about €100/month on gas. A heat pump also does not require such expensive maintenance, and the chimney sweep is unnecessary as long as you don't have a fireplace.

You can simply try out insurances at Check24 for a realistic overview.