Financing single-family home - land available

My problem, as already described, is rather the thought that if something goes wrong, for example someone becomes unemployed, and the whole thing cannot be borne by one person.

Then you can always still sell the house if it absolutely doesn’t work. The house isn’t tied to you unconditionally for life. I also stick to the opinion of many others here: if not you, who else should be able to manage financing of nearly €600,000? In which fields do you both actually work, that the topic of unemployment troubles you so much?

Describe the situation that would take this worry away from you. Any partner with 5000€ net, then you would be calm? Well, then you will probably never own property. Or if you both had 2x5000€, you would probably buy a more expensive house and the dilemma would start all over again.

Yes indeed, that would probably calm me down. 5000 EUR plus child benefit would probably be enough. Maybe my worry also comes from our previous circumstances. We have only both been working for a relatively short time. We have not had the salary and the great distribution of 70 and 80% for long. Until the end of parental leave of child 1, I was the sole earner because my husband was still doing a second degree. After his second degree, my husband took another 6 months of parental leave and I returned to full-time work. Then I was quite quickly on parental leave with child 2 (9 months after I re-entered work after child 1), but then my husband was working full-time again after his second degree/parental leave. After the parental leave of child 2 (that is 9 months after birth) I did not return to work, also because at that time my husband could not reduce his hours yet. I only re-entered work shortly before child 2’s second birthday, but at that time with lower pay. At the same time, my husband reduced to 80%. Seven months ago I was then promoted and only since then has our salary been as described above. But I also know other times.

Although I would already find it problematic if, in the worst case, a 400 EUR higher installment would break our neck. Then the construct would probably be stitched too tightly.

That's what the 20Y interest rates are for, so you eliminate this risk. Your 2000€ installment results in a remaining debt of 188K€, so there is practically no more interest rate risk. And you still have more than enough time until retirement.

If 400€ more or less doesn't bother you, you are far ahead in this society, even if this forum bubble sometimes suggests a different picture.

Then you can still sell the house if it simply doesn't work out. The house is not unconditionally tied to you for life. I also stick to the opinion of many others here: if not you, then who should be able to handle financing of nearly €600,000? In which fields do you both actually work that unemployment worries you so much?

Both finance sector (Big 4 and risk management AIFM) Unemployment is not such a big concern. For me, returning to work (different employer and a somewhat different field) after the (long 2-year) parental leave worked surprisingly well. I also seriously worried that I had already shot myself in the foot career-wise. Maybe worrying just suits me :eek:. My husband would at least confirm that. But maybe it fits the job profile ;) I can’t feel any effects of Corona at my employer, and for my husband the bonus might have been a bit lower, but he was promoted anyway. If one of us were to be laid off, we could surely find something comparable, but then probably not part-time. That would be the problem.

Yes, indeed, that would probably reassure me. 5000 EUR plus child benefit would probably be enough. Maybe my worry also stems from our previous circumstances. We have only been working for a relatively short time. We haven’t had the salary and the great division of 70 and 80 % for long. Until the end of parental leave for K1, I was the sole earner because my husband was still completing a second degree. After his second degree, my husband took 6 months parental leave and I went back to work full-time. Then I was on parental leave with K2 quite quickly (9 months after I returned to work after K1), but after his second degree/parental leave, my husband worked full-time again. After K2’s parental leave (9 months after birth), I did not return to work, partly because at that time my husband could not reduce his hours yet. I only returned to work shortly before K2’s 2nd birthday, but back then I was paid less. At the same time, my husband reduced to 80%. Seven months ago, I was promoted, and only since then has our salary been as described above. But I also know other times.

It sounds like everything is just moving a bit too fast for you. A phase of stability might be nice? With house building and K3 in the pipeline, that prospect is currently not given, of course. Maybe build a year later – the plot won’t run away, but building might become more expensive.

Afraid of refinancing? Most people first tap their buffer, if existent, or cut back on the garden budget, if existent. Or delay the garage. Or buy at a fixed price. You can also sell the plot and instead rent an existing property to avoid the risks of new construction.

I know it as house rich but cash poor. It can actually happen to us. Especially when only one person is working. Or shortly during parental leave. Although I would honestly say that with 2 salaries as before and 3 children with a rate of 2000 EUR and thus 4,900 EUR cash for living and saving, I would not consider that cash poor. That would be quite exaggerated.

Exactly - of course it only works today with two incomes. Although there is occasionally someone who earns 6000€ - 8000€ net alone. But those are then absolute top earners. You have good conditions, you can start with that. The third-rule is important - you have to make sure that housing costs remain at 30%-33% of the household net income. You can manage that. Still, one should of course not forget about repayment, so ~3% repayment would surely be good.