With us, 10% special repayments are included, and at that time it was also the cheapest loan at Interhyp. In comparison, others only had 5% and were more expensive. I think it strongly depends on the lender.
Even if the rate is tight at the beginning, one should keep in mind that from 8,000 net, it will become at least 9,000 euros within 5 years due to inflation-related wage increases and at least 10,000 euros after 10 years. In this respect, a rate that is borderline at the beginning becomes significantly less critical over time because the rate remains constant.
That is a very dangerous calculation. Suddenly you get outsourced, the company is bought... and then the salary goes down instead of up.
You should always calculate with what you have in hand, not with what you might have in 10 years.
Because of the monthly installment, I recommend a loan with the possibility to change the repayment over time. We have the luxury to switch annually. But even two or three free switches over the 25 years can be worth their weight in gold if a bottleneck arises. Then you can also start with a higher rate in the loan.
That’s a good point I hadn’t considered before. Thanks for the tip!
I understand you want to have a buffer as a safety net in case unplanned expenses arise. However, the special repayments are usually not free of charge at most banks, so you end up paying more again. Have you compared offers to see if there might be a middle ground?
The surcharge for special repayments is usually not very high. At the same time, part of my salary is not constant and depends on performance and the economy. Therefore, I want to factor that into the house financing, but if possible not in the rate that must be paid consistently.
Fortunately, we also have a pretty good net income. Since we pay everything by card, I have had a very good overview of our expenses for years and was able to create a very precise household budget. In the end, with the current expenses, we could pay a rate of 2300 EUR. Anything above that would mean that we would somehow have to restrict ourselves and there would be no buffer left. And assuming that the house would not cause more additional costs than our current apartment, which is probably very unrealistic. Large plot purchased cheaply at around 100K EUR, paid with equity. Another 100K EUR equity for the house plus 450K EUR loan. With the current interest rates of about 4%, that already puts us at a rate of 2250 EUR. And a house for 550K EUR at about 150 sqm for a family of four means that everything must be finished at about 3600 EUR/sqm. From everything I read, that is already tight, and then I definitely have the smallest house in the neighborhood. I don’t know where I am calculating wrong, but I thought I had quite comfortable conditions. I would not see it that way anymore now.
You describe our situation and the questions we ask ourselves very precisely. Including "stretching financial possibilities to the point where it starts to hurt if something changes" and at the same time "it’s already quite a small house for the financial effort I get". The only difference: our plot costs 250K EUR :-]