Financing a single-family house with land subdivision - risk or opportunity?

It only gets a bit tighter with children.

Good point, because for the assessment it would be important to know how the income is divided. With a 50:50 split, there would initially only be 3,900 plus a better tax class (or do you already have them unevenly distributed?) and child benefits. Sure, for one year there is still parental allowance, but you also want two to three children. If the income is divided differently and the higher earner continues to work, it looks different again.

I can basically understand that. If there is practically no building land available, you have to make compromises. And for the still quite a lot of money, you then want a detached house. Having a basement usually makes sense with a hillside property.

But try to mark out a free garden area in the garden of your parents/friends who will have one in the future. Plan everything on the computer beforehand. Also take into account the required distance from the property boundary (in NRW, keep 3m in mind). There are tons of free web tools for that. And then seriously ask yourself if that is enough.

Do you already have a buyer for the other half of the plot? You also have to find people who think like you and want a detached house on the small plot.

We have 362 sqm and a detached house. On one side, we have a 3-meter distance and to the path a 1.5-meter distance because the path, at least in NRW, can be counted as half in the setback area. Our house is 120 sqm but quite narrow due to the width of the plot. We do not have a garage. It could only stand on the meadow anyway. Our plot is more long than wide. So it also depends on how the plot is shaped. But with us, we could not have built the way you would have liked.

After living here for several years, I have to say I would have liked more space to the path. It feels like half the neighborhood passes by our living room. Having space from other people should not be underestimated.

Thank you for your feedback. It really helps a lot!!! Of course, the plot is small, but the question is: what is the alternative? In 12 months of active land searching, this is the first one that meets all the criteria and is within budget. Of course, we would be happy about 400sqm field edge location with 160sqm single-family house. But for both of us, it is rather unrealistic that we would have a chance to get something like that.

Basically, we think that for the following reasons, it is not so bad to build a single-family house on the plot:

[*]We have a similar situation as Shenja: One side of the plot boundary adjoins a public path, so we do not have to maintain a 2.5 m distance
[*]Due to the slope, we are building three stories. This reduces the footprint of the house proportionally compared to a detached single-family house with the same sqm on e.g. 400sqm plot
[*]Because of the slope, the garage roof is used as a terrace and filled up there, which at least gives the impression that there is some space available.

Now to your many comments:

or habt Ihr die jetzt schon ungleich verteilt

Yes. Ratio 55:45 (partner: me)

Da gibt's zig kostenlose Webtools.

We drew everything in Sketchup once, at least as far as possible since there was no exact architect’s plan yet.

Habt ihr für die andere Grundstückshälfte denn schon nen Käufer?

No, we would only list the offer after the purchase.

The wish was to build a semi-detached house to counter the supposed space problem. As it seems, however, the building authority will only allow an open development even after the division.

... since here the interface "front" (approx. 3-4 m deep) is added, which is omitted in a semi-detached house ...

How is this statement meant in detail? With a semi-detached house, I also cannot directly reach the street.

No, we would only set up the offer after the purchase.

Just as a tip: if you have a general contractor or a provider like Bien-Zenker, offer them the other half of the plot right away. They have contacts and if both are building with the same provider, the logistics are simplified, because you don't have much space for cranes, earthworks, etc. anyway.

Possibly also an alternative if the building authority does not allow a semi-detached house: legally build a two-family house, but divide it vertically, so it appears as a semi-detached house from the outside. Then it’s divided according to the WEG. A general contractor could also realize this for you, build the second half, and then sell it on their own account.