Defensive offer, or have house prices become so expensive?

Styrofoam is cheap? XPS is 2-3 times more expensive than a year ago :D Styrofoam would probably be a bit too soft, unless you build a house with wooden frames on it

Oh yes - and of course it would be advantageous if you already know what the minimum amount must be so that you can build or buy your new home with a clear conscience.

I see it all very similarly to you and appreciate the tip about the "price at which you have a bit of a feeling of luck, but don’t yet feel uncomfortable." That is a good reference point. 550-570k was also my first gut feeling for the house. But it seems insanely high to me. However, if I learn today what I have to pay for a new house, then I ALMOST HAVE TO write it down.

Because here I see the problem a bit. We Northerners with our flat plots are making first acquaintance with a hillside plot. I learned from the seller that it is definitely "hilly" enough that with a simple basement you do not yet reach street level with the front door if you build Split-Level. So you would have to raise the ground. And with raising the ground comes securing and protecting from water damage and making sure it doesn’t sink, etc. I have no idea what something like that can cost, but my gut screams loudly "EXPENSIVE."
If I now assume 60,000 or so for that (laugh if that’s nonsense – without a soil report it’s just guessing), + the house costs which have become 100,000€ more expensive, we are missing about 160k euros in our desired budget.
A little more financing would certainly be possible with the income, but actually we don’t want a horrendously bigger payment.
My husband just said "if we could get 600k for this house we'd be fine," but I strongly doubt that.

Styrofoam is cheap? XPS is 2-3 times more expensive than a year ago :D and styrofoam would probably be a bit too soft, unless you build a house with wooden edges on it

Yes, a year ago all this was still cheaper. But now it’s no longer my problem ;) And yes, styrofoam is maybe the wrong word for XPS. But the point remains that it doesn’t make a big difference in the total costs if you take 5cm thicker XPS.

Because I see a bit of the problem there right now. We northerners with our flat plots are encountering a sloped plot for the first time. I learned from the seller that it is definitely "sloping" enough that with a simple basement you don’t reach street level with the front door if you build split-level. So you would have to build up. And with building up comes also securing it, protecting it from water damage, and making sure it doesn’t settle, etc. etc. I have no idea what that could cost, but my gut feeling is screaming “EXPENSIVE”.

How much exactly are we talking about? My recommendation would be to get a water level hose and measure the plot, in case you can’t find an official elevation profile. (One of my biggest mistakes so far was not doing this) And then consider whether the front door really has to be at street level or if there are other options. Our single-family house will be about 35-40cm below street level. The highest point (and you can take that quite literally here, the boundary stone really is the highest point) is still 10cm higher. The thoughts on water management are not quite final yet, but some time ago I had a thread on that, there you also have an excerpt from the site plan: PS: When I look out the window and it’s light, several neighbors have their front door significantly below street level. They’re currently on vacation in the mountains, so really true hillside location.

How much exactly is it about? My recommendation would be to get a hose level and measure the property, in case you can't find an official elevation profile. (One of my biggest mistakes so far was not doing that) And then consider whether the front door really has to be at street level or if there are other options. We will have the single-family house about 35-40cm below street level. The highest point (and that can definitely be taken literally here, the boundary stone is really the highest point) is 10cm higher than that. The thoughts on water management are not quite final yet, but I had a thread about this a while ago, where you also have an excerpt from the site plan:

PS: When I look out the window and it’s bright, I have several neighbors whose front doors are clearly below street level. We are currently on vacation in the mountains, so really a proper hillside location.

I don’t know exactly what we’re talking about yet, I’m eagerly waiting for the family to send me photos of the property over the weekend. They haven’t gotten around to it so far, and on the day they wanted to go it was pouring rain. They probably don’t have a hose level, and I don’t know if they’d dare use one. But it would probably be a good idea. Following a tip here in the forum, I looked at GIS Rheinland-Pfalz. But either I can’t figure it out at all, or there is no data. At least apart from the parcels, I found nothing that would allow conclusions about terrain elevations.

Which regional GU are you talking about? Where is your property? The jump from KfW 55 to 40 would also have been five figures for us.

GIS Rheinland-Pfalz checked.

At the top left there is a toolbar. Among other things, there is also a ruler. With it, you can measure lengths, and there is also a tool for height information.