Dream house found by chance. Is financing possible?

The bank does not participate in a pledge swap from 1.9% to 4.5-5%.

Uh, why not? The bank earns a margin X on the 1.9% loan and exactly the same margin on a 5% loan. Just because the interest rates are higher, the yield is not higher – refinancing has become just as expensive.
We would of course do the pledge swap. It only costs a processing fee.

I would probably target the neighboring semi-detached house. You can then rent out the house and build some equity with it. And choose tenants who are nice.

I would first put my own semi-detached house on the market to see if it can be sold at the intended price.

The 950k is surely still without additional costs. The property is an old building. There is certainly room for negotiation. ;)

I would first put my own semi-detached house on the market to see if it can be sold at the intended price.

Yep. Our old bank said about property swaps: “Property swaps are possible, but first sell. Then we’ll see.” However, that means there are two semi-detached houses on the market.

There is surely room for negotiation. ;)

Maybe one should first simply compare the key data. Plot size, location, energy efficiency, living space, age of the buildings. To see if it’s even worth thinking further. As one could read, the user currently has a commute of 500 meters. You don’t even need a car for that.

Because you have 500m to work, you don't have a car? That's a creative perspective.

Hello everyone,

first of all, thank you for the many contributions so far.
I will try to address everything a bit without responding to each post individually.

To start, maybe a brief info about the other semi-detached house. It is hardly comparable to ours. It is divided into 3 individual apartments of 60m2 each and in a condition like our half before the major renovation. I’m just saying night storage heaters and bathrooms from the 70s. Price-wise completely crazy, currently asking 450k Euro sales price here with at least the same renovation needs as our half, if not more (3x bathrooms, 3x kitchens, etc.) without considering the significantly increased prices. That is why the seller also refers to the bank’s valuation report from 2022 for our half. Buying the other half is not being considered.

Maybe for assessment, here are the key data of our house.
Living area approx. 170m2, 2 bathrooms, 6 rooms. Fully renovated and completely insulated, heated with a gas boiler. Otherwise, some features like wooden floorboards, smart home, and electric shutters. The plot is 300m2, no garage or carport, but two parking spaces. The garden is in good condition but nothing special.

The object of desire is a house from 1992 with oil heating combined with a solar thermal system from 2016. That means eventually a switch to pellets or similar would be necessary. Besides that, the house has 145m2 with 2 bathrooms and 5 rooms on an 800m2 plot. The garden here is partly in very good, partly in poor condition. A double garage with an electric gate is also available. The main selling point, however, is the location with an unobstructable view over the entire city from the whole plot.

Now maybe a brief look at our expense situation. Of course, we have also done some things for ourselves like vacations, etc. But the really main expense was our recreational property, which we redesigned during the corona period with 3 huts (living, dishes, and shed) and also needed corresponding equipment to maintain the approx. 5000m2 plot (tractor, flail mower, etc.). Quite a sum adds up, but we can’t specify the exact amount, yet certainly a mid-five-digit sum. The property is not for sale as it has been in family ownership since 1910 :).

So much for the framework conditions.
The suggestion to list our house and wait for the response is of course simple and correct and will be considered to get a feel for the market. Thanks for that :).

What I have read so far about the loans makes me cautiously optimistic, and in the end, it will anyway only be a conversation with our bank. That is, of course, clear. However, before we approach them, we wanted to have a first assessment from here.

Best regards mozelcaer