Construction start September 2021 - When to take care of financing?

Poker is not a game of chance. You play your hand (income, equity, equity/debt ratio, job, negotiated financings). And if the hand is good: Why not? Admittedly: If I were currently employed at a supplier or in aviation, I would (if at all) tend to prefer a bird in the hand rather than a pigeon on the roof.

Hi, hmm, I currently have a financing request running and work in aviation... however, we still have a (90% paid-off) rented terraced house and the building plot as collateral. Let's see what comes out of it. Regards Olli

A comparable question is currently bothering me as well. We have a notary appointment next Friday for a semi-detached house from the developer. However, there is still no building permit yet, and the start of construction will be around May/June, possibly only July. We have already made inquiries at the house bank and a broker; besides the offers, both said that we would have no problems obtaining financing. Nevertheless, the question now arises for me: should we secure the loan in the short term (even if that will probably only be finalized shortly after the notary appointment) and pay commitment interest later, or wait until closer to the start of construction? The building permit is a condition for payments, but if it is then granted, we would have to pay the first installment within 14 days, as the start of earthworks could possibly begin earlier. Also: Part of the financing is supposed to be through the KFW. The crucial point here is that the application must be made before the start of construction (so before the building permit?), did I understand that correctly?

I always thought a financing confirmation is given by the bank after signing the loan agreement? What else is such a letter worth?

Nothing. That document is overrated even more than Dieter Bohlen. Especially when rather "extreme" events happen, like a pandemic, it only shows its true value upon signing the loan agreement. At that time, the financing confirmation alone was too risky for me. We also concluded the contract with the contractor beforehand, as this allowed us to avoid a price increase. However, we had a clause inserted into the contract "subject to financing". If we hadn't been able to arrange anything with any bank, we would have had to pay the contractor only for the services provided up to that point and would have been out of the deal. We only mutually waived the clause once we had signed the contracts with the bank.

As the saying goes: "Therefore, test who binds themselves (almost) forever ..." Unfortunately, the Gentlemen’s Agreement is practically extinct.