Exploring financing options

Yes, that's right, you then pay for it through the fees. Also not a wrong way. We pay ourselves and also feel good about it. It was settled as a flat rate, which was overall fair since we set up a financial plan overall. When we paid I have already written above. I will not name amounts, but compared to the included fees in other products, we did not come off worse. By the way, I am also a consumer. And you do not pay a fee directly, but closing fees etc., which are paid out as a commission to the broker/seller. So everyone pays the advisor in one way or another. We just do it directly. I consider that fair and a good way. But that is just my opinion. If you have a different one, that is justified. Do you also want to know the concrete process, how it went? I’d be happy to answer.

We are also currently taking care of financing and have noticed that the big brokers in the industry all offer the same thing. As I have heard by now, they all use the same tool anyway. The advantage of these brokers so far: little effort and quick initial figures. A 30-60 minute phone call and you have a first indication of where the journey is going. If you sit with one of them in the office, it’s worth looking over their shoulder to see offers that are cheaper but have a red = rejected status. Note them down and contact them yourself to talk to a person, suddenly quite a lot is possible that the automatic system initially rejects.

I’ve had at least a dozen conversations and am currently at the point that it will either be a local VR Bank, which has special conditions for our construction area, or a large insurance company whose 30-year terms are identical to what the brokers squeeze out of their tools for 20 years. By the way, another insight with brokers is that they cannot do longer than 20 years very well; apparently, mainly banks are in the system and no insurances. We wanted 20 years, but if 30 years is available for the same price... with insurance companies, however, longer application processes are to be expected and many have strict knockout criteria, e.g. some do not do KFW or only lend up to 80%, etc.

Our [Programm] called up several banks and simultaneously inquired at the local Sparkasse and Volksbank. By the way, it was the Sparkasse. But this is soon going way off-topic and probably doesn't bother the others anymore...

I would be interested to know whether banks always insist on cost estimates from companies when it comes to renovating an old building?

I have calculated and listed our trades to be renovated through weeks of meticulous work, mostly using the factors that architects also use. However, this was too vague for the bank advisors, so now I am chasing after every craft company to get written cost estimates. We have been waiting for the electrician for over 4 weeks now, and a roofer has been supposed to come for a measurement for over 6 weeks...

By the time we finish waiting, it will probably be Christmas. Luckily, the house is already transferred to us (from family ownership) and the payment of the small purchase price can wait; the renovations also only start from 2018. But how do people do it who want to buy a used house where the competition is quite high and you have to act quickly? Rarely do people move into these houses immediately; usually, some more or less renovations are done here and there. Do prospective buyers also wait 4 months for the offers from the companies?? I hardly believe that.

By now, we are at the point of hiring an architect to take over our cost calculation and approve it under his name, or to correct the costs.

The cost calculation of an architect is obviously accepted immediately by the bank.

But how do people who want to buy a used house do that,

Estimates or as you yourself say ...

By now we are at the point of commissioning an architect to take over our cost breakdown and endorse it under his name, or he is supposed to correct the costs.

Exactly like that

The bank obviously accepts the cost breakdown from an architect immediately.

Yeah, because it’s done by a professional and not by an amateur.
How else is the banker, who is also an amateur, supposed to know whether your breakdown is realistic?
Both a significantly too low cost estimate (=additional financing; in the worst case the forced sale of a partially renovated old property) and a too high one (=excess money might, in the worst case, go into consumption instead of the building. But then there is no collateral value to secure the real estate financing) are undesirable for the bank.

So we haven't made much progress yet. However, we are now tending towards a volume of 330,000-350,000 with a monthly cost of €1300. But that would also be plus energy with solar and storage.