Cost estimate - simple single-family house according to kfW70

How much is your net income alone? Because if I read correctly: family growth.
I'm not supposed to write it, but it doesn't work. Today I'm going to be a party pooper :D

Okay, I'll try to justify it and maybe point out one or two errors in thinking:

You didn’t consider one fact:
low construction interest rates = high construction costs (craftsmen are fully booked and dictate the prices)
high interest rates = low construction costs (companies have to fight for customers again)
High interest rates also mean many forced auctions because many overestimate themselves during low-interest phases.

How did you imagine the child thing, that will cost quite a bit, especially since you have to reduce your work?

I see an income of €2600 and a loan of €260,000-300,000. Since there is no equity, you won’t get good interest rates. So your monthly rate will roughly be around €1300. 1% repayment means you will pay off the house for 40 years and the bank will have received about €800,000 from you.
If I take your cold rent: you will pay €250,000 rent over the next 40 years.
Just here, building is already twice as expensive as renting...

The numbers are roughly estimated but come close. And they assume that the interest rates stay constant, just like the rent... I can’t predict either :)

Now you have the option to increase the repayment. This lowers the total costs in favor of the house. But how do you want to increase the repayment... let’s say you can manage €1600, if both of you work, you have €1000 left for living. Out of that, you deduct €300, which are the ancillary costs for the house (garbage, taxes, electricity, gas, water, reserves)
that leaves €700 for everything else: insurance, car(s), mobile phone, kindergarten, clothing, food, vacation, gifts, and so on...
But your wife won’t work full time anymore, right? Or if she does, what does childcare cost?

There has already been a lot written about the house here in the forum, but you will have to cut some things.
- Fireplace stove
- Ventilation system
- Geothermal energy
- Cistern

These are expensive items that probably won’t fit the budget. Even then, it will be tight. But since you’re doing the electrics yourself, I think it can work. You’ll also have to do floors and walls yourselves. Companies usually charge hefty premiums for turnkey delivery. But that should be manageable. We managed it too and we are not craftsmen :)

Maybe what I wrote helps to reconsider one or the other thing again.

First of all, thank you for the constructive response.

When calculating future rent payments, one should take into account that the current apartment will soon become too small.

It might just still work with one child, but two to a maximum of three are planned... so at some point (within the next 5 years) it will have to be a bigger apartment and then the ratio looks quite different again (we are talking about a 140 - 150 m² house compared to the current 77 m² apartment).

Considering that (5 more years in the current apartment and then 35 years with 750€ cold rent), we are already at 340,000 and that does not yet include inflation or rent increases.

We could afford about 1150€ warm per month (500€ still freely available for saving / living / special repayments).

My salary is about 1500€.

If I assume a loan amount of 250,000€, 4% interest, 1% repayment, I come to about 1040€ monthly installment.

I would then pay 230,000€ interest in the next 10 years – rent during the same time would be about 250,000 and I don’t even think you get a 140-150 m² apartment for 750€ cold rent.

Afterwards, the interest payments will always be less than the rent, since interest payments decrease, but rents remain the same or even increase.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t enter 40 years in the repayment calculator, it only goes up to 30 years^^

Regarding renouncing... I don’t want to give up on geothermal and ventilation systems, because I think that will pay off at some point. Besides, without at least one of those, there is probably no KfW subsidy and thus even higher interest rates.

What interest rate do you consider realistic for my conditions including the KfW loan?

What if you pay the ancillary construction costs yourself and only finance the house + land value – how much better would the interest rates be then?

My wife (still girlfriend) will continue to work full time after the baby year.

How about the following consideration:

Thanks to inflation and adapting incomes, the loan amount compared to income becomes less and less ...

Example:

Rent (yearly + 2%): Now: 500€ - in 10 years: 609€ - in 20 years: 743€
Salary (yearly + 2%): Now: 1500€ - in 10 years: 1828€ - in 20 years: 2229€
Salary minus living expenses (including rent, yearly + 2% living costs): Now: 1100€ - in 10 years: 1340€ - in 20 years: 1635€

-> Of course purchasing power of money falls too, meaning living expenses, vacations, ... everything will get more expensive ... but also the part of the salary planned for loan repayment grows – unlike the loan, so over time I can increase the repayment without putting in more money (in terms of purchasing power).

4% interest - 2% inflation = effective 2% interest

If the bank only charged 2% interest, it would basically get back exactly what it lent out.

I know, you shouldn’t count on money you don’t have, but it is almost impossible that my salary will decrease – thanks to the corresponding shortage of skilled workers in IT, I would also have the opportunity at any time to take a comparable, better-paid job (just don’t want to because of the somewhat longer commute) – but my income is secure, and its future growth is almost 99% certain – at least thanks to inflation adjustments in our company.

My risk of unemployment is 0.0, and thanks to occupational disability insurance there can be no expected problems in this regard either.

Do you think the falling construction costs will offset the rising interest rates in the next years if most of the house has to be financed?

Once again on the topic of ventilation. A controlled residential ventilation system, everyone pretty much agrees, will probably never pay off. The heating cost savings are eaten up by loan interest, electricity costs, maintenance costs (filters, etc.). It is purely a gain in comfort, not having to ventilate several times a day for the same air quality, which is very difficult anyway with two working people. And a heat pump with geothermal energy would have quickly cost me 10K more.

We could afford about €1150 per month including utilities (€500 still freely available for saving / living / special repayments).

My salary is about €1500.

Sorry, but that doesn't add up. What if the second salary disappears because of more children? It's nice that your wife wants to continue working after parental allowance, but it rarely works at 100% and often not at all.

I wouldn't take on financing at that level.

However, I do see potential to cut back a bit on your wish list. Many people build well without geothermal energy and ventilation systems.

Ok, then let's take out the controlled residential ventilation ... so far it has also worked with normal ventilation.

Can controlled residential ventilation be prepared cost-effectively and retrofitted later?

What is an ecologically sensible alternative to geothermal energy?

Gas is stupid and probably only gets to KfW70 standard with solar heat, right? (Or is it possible to insulate more and do without solar?)

Air/water heat pumps are also supposed to not be so great in winter.

Possibly a wood pellet heating system? Then you could also kill two birds with one stone with the wood stove because a chimney is necessary anyway.

Well, what is supposed to happen if my little one wants to continue working after having the child? 1. The current employer would be stupid not to continue employing her, or rather, they are not allowed to fire her because of the child anyway. 2. At the current employer there is only a 40-hour week or none at all. 3. If unemployed, then money from the agency until she has a new job - those who want to work also get work.

A financing is always associated with a certain risk and you can always become unemployed - whether because of a child, illness or otherwise .... then you should never build a house -.-

I also don’t want to save until the end of my life just to build a nice house for my children - I wouldn't have much left for myself then.

Hello,

first of all, your ideas about equipment wishes are not exactly inexpensive. Even though the East is still cheaper, their craftsmen also have nothing to give away. So you have to either adjust your budget or your wishes to what is necessary. By the way - don’t be the spoilsport alone ;)

Kann man die Kontrollierte Wohnraumlüftung kostengünstig vorbereiten und später nachrüsten?

Not really, but you can retrofit decentralized systems at any time.

Gas ist blöd und bringts wohl nur mit Solarwärme auf KfW70 Standard, oder? (Oder geht auch mehr dämmen und dafür ohne Solar?)
Luft-/Wasser-Wärmepumpe soll ja auch nicht so der Hit sein im Winter.

Sorry, but that is silly rumor... read a bit here on the forum and you will very likely free yourself from many prejudices.


Best regards from the Rhineland