"Construction project with a 'special' initial situation"

Just talk to your bank. Everything depends on how your existing property is valued, and no one in this forum can give you a reliable answer on that. It may be that your bank doesn't (like to) deal with such bridge financing; sometimes it depends on the bank, which kinds of deals they are familiar with and whether they will get involved (at acceptable costs) or not. You should get two to three offers.

Of course, you can also determine the situation yourself by effectively selling your existing property, moving into a rental property, and then going to the bank. Then you know your equity, have it liquid, and are more or less unbound – of course this costs you an extra move and rent for period x.

These (estimated) costs (and the additional time/effort/stress!) can be compared to the costs of bridge financing, then you know whether it pays off.

Best regards
Dirk Grafe

Hello, free yourself from the thought of being able to solve the problem "optimally." From my own experience, I can recommend handling things one after the other. We sold our house, moved into a rental apartment, and from there we started the search for a new property. After three years of searching, we found the right house for us and bought it with the help of the bank. With the money from the house sale, we paid off the remaining financing including the prepayment penalty, and parked the rest in the account. To save yourself the prepayment penalty and the second move, you need optimal conditions. These occur only rarely in life. And if they do, you quickly become overwhelmed.

Hello,

we have now had a few discussions to finally get things moving:
Again to the initial situation:
End terrace house in ownership, remaining debt approx. 100K€ (with VFZ approx. 115K), market value currently according to assessment/inspection by real estate agent approx. 230,000€; very secure amount to be achieved due to sought-after location; means „sleeping“ approx. 100-115K € net profit in the house when selling
both of us in the public service, combined net income 4500 monthly, tendency rather rising than falling, 2 children, no other loans
We have already been urgently advised several times to quickly secure a plot of land free from developers, which is already almost impossible in northern Berlin/ the commuter belt anyway. In addition, I do not want any developer binding and also want to pay only land transfer tax for the plot, not for the entire project.
Scenario 1: list the house, find a buyer who pays the purchase price and is willing to move in at time X. We stay in the house initially either renting or compensating the buyer in another way. Old credit is repaid and we have the actual equity available for, for example, land purchase.

Scenario 2: look for interim financing of e.g. 100,000€ and start with that to buy and fully pay for the land. Begin planning the construction and list the house so that sale and move-in coincide. Paid land should replace equity. House sales proceeds repay the interim financing.

Scenario 3: neither sale (for the time being) nor interim financing, remain in the house, new loan only for the land but without equity (incidental costs would have to be financed), interim financing of 50,000€ to get the loan for the building, the remaining 50,000 cash on hand upon sale, possibly combine individual loan for land with the building loan.

I hope I have put this into reasonably understandable words. Maybe you have more or other/better suggestions/scenarios.

All well summarized. Since real estate is currently in high demand, I would choose option 1 (we also did it that way, about 1.5 years between sale and move - during that time we were tenants). That works without any problems, as the seller is in a better position than the buyer (at least for the time being and in reasonable locations). Above all, you then have certainty for your financing planning if you don't get the expected sale price (unfortunately, most property owners think very subjectively about a purchase price).

It's all a matter of personal preference. You have probably received enough pros and cons in the collected postings.

What do you think about the scenario of looking for a plot of land and taking out a new loan for it, to be repaid separately. Would we even get that if another loan of about €100,000 is still outstanding? With the monthly creditworthiness, it would be easy to manage. Construction would be later, as would the house sale. The background is that I also want to see some of the potential profit from the house sale in "cash". Or does this put any obstacles in the way? I have trouble practically grasping the whole thing mentally… :(

What do you think about the scenario of looking for a plot of land and taking out a new loan for it and repaying it separately? Would we even get that if another loan of about €100,000 is still outstanding? With the monthly creditworthiness, it would be easy to manage. Development would happen only later, as would the house sale. The background is that I would also like to see some of the potential profit from the house sale in "cash". Or does this put any obstacles in the way? I'm having trouble grasping the whole thing practically in my mind... :(

That's the option 3 you mentioned, isn't it, or am I misunderstanding?