Financing Single-Family House 190 sqm - Loan Choice / Feasibility

(550 €/child/month)

I have a question: do you calculate child benefits at 550€ per child?

some colleagues even start working full-time again after 1 year of parental leave.

Second question: what about the year of parental leave?

[*]Land costs: 76K€ (already paid)
[*]Development costs: 17K€ (already paid)
[*]Acquisition incidental costs: 4K€ (already paid for the land)

That’s definitely a good start :)

Additional construction costs: This is because our civil engineer allocates the costs somewhat differently. The 487K€ construction costs already include about 35K€ for planning, surveying, building application, statics, building supervision, etc. Under incidental costs only land-related incidental costs (construction road, construction site setup, construction power, development on the land) are included.

That actually sounds even worse: If I assume that 450,000€ should be enough for 190 sqm living space, then we are at 2300€/sqm. That is too low. If I add the "mandatory" 20% calculation upgrade, owed to the calculation of an architect or engineer, on top, then about 2800€ for a cheap region like Saxony comes roughly close.
Whether you want to hear it or not:

Our civil engineer has hit two cost estimates almost perfectly within his circle of friends and acquaintances.

Our civil engineer has relatively good contacts with local trades, which is why he explains the prices.

The craftsmen’s contacts do not give away anything just because they are contacts. It may be that through a good network with the engineer they are more willing to find a gap, that is, rather favor one customer a bit so that the engineer’s customer, i.e. you, get the craftsman on the construction site faster, but what once was, regarding calculation and price, no longer applies since last year.

You seem to like the civil engineer and believe what he says. That is also a good basis. Nevertheless, other sources should also be included and strong differences calculated in.

What kind of technology is calculated for you? And what kind of equipment? That would be interesting.

Additional construction costs: 15K€

And where are the earthworks accounted for... in the 15,000? hmm... that’s slim, too.

And what about the rent of the condominium? That can also fail sometimes. Do you also have reserves there that you have to put aside for immediate repairs??

[*]Outdoor facilities: 15K€

With a >1000 sqm plot and 15,000€ outdoor facilities, I have to swallow.

Yes, you can do everything yourself and with 20€ paving, but with the kitchen wish of 23,000€ and the general statements, I doubt that you want that. Even double that won’t be enough. Double carport also means double the width of paving, etc...
We paid exactly these 15,000€ for the garden landscaper 8 years ago (the surface of the yard is gravel) plus the materials for the terrace and platform.

Overall, I find it hard to reconcile the salary, desire for children and the 190/250 sqm together.
I believe I remember that better overall salaries have been discussed recently, where the man earned more and the woman’s salary was lower, so that the parental leave was not such a big factor.
For example, here is a current thread that also deals with outdoor facilities.
https://www.hausbau-forum.de/threads/realistische-baukosten-finanzierungsplanung.43476/

If there is still so much left at the end of the fixed interest period, I would choose the 20 years. Then I would happily lean back for 20 years and sleep well. I agree with my predecessors that if I were you, I would take another look at the topic of parental leave, especially since a repayment change has given me security in the worst case ... illness, unemployment ... that can happen after all in 20 years.

My assessment and experiences on the topic of working with a small child: Our daughter is now 2 years old and has been in daycare since September. My wife works 25 hours, I work 40, and we have both been working from home for 2 years. Since September, we had a total of eight weeks in which our daughter was in daycare as planned for five days. In all other weeks, either the facility was completely or partially closed, or our child was sick for the entire week or individual days. The two of us working from home combined with grandma working part-time helped us to buffer this relatively well.

Therefore, my tip for you: It can work with more hours, but it doesn't have to. In any case, it requires a lot of understanding and agility from both parents and the employer...

On the subject, I can tell you from our experience: Since our child (soon to be 4) has been in kindergarten, after 14 months of parental leave, we both work full-time 40 hours (actually more due to the break regulation). This works because my wife is completely working from home and I leave for work early to usually pick him up. If I didn’t have the long commute (1:15 hours one way), full-time work for both of us would be no problem at all.

We use 9 hours of care time. By the way, we don’t work full-time because we are financially at our limit. But because my wife wants to buy the neighboring property and build a second house.

The daycare was only closed for us during the first lockdown. Our child is also rarely sick.

The thread starters are also still young (both 28) and childless. That is a plus. It offers the possibility to do a lot on your own.

We use 9 hours of childcare time. By the way, we do not work full-time because we are financially at the limit. But because my wife wants to buy the neighboring property and build a second house.

We would never do that, for example. Leaving a child for 9 hours. That’s not why we had the child. This is not a criticism, but our attitude. I have to say, though, that it is easier for us, even though the grandparents do not live nearby. My wife is a teacher, so she is home by 2 p.m. at the latest. I have flexitime and can work from home whenever I want. Thus, the little one was in daycare for a maximum of 5 hours daily.

On this topic, I can tell you from our experience: Since our child (who will soon be 4) has been in daycare, after 14 months of parental leave, we both work full-time 40 hours (actually more because of break regulations). This works because my wife is completely working from home and I leave for work early to usually pick him up. If I didn’t have the long commute (1:15 hours one way), working full-time for both of us would be no problem at all.

We use 9 hours of care time. By the way, we don’t work full-time because we are financially at our limit. But because my wife wants to buy the neighboring property and build a second house.

The daycare was only closed during the first lockdown for us. Our child is also rarely sick.

The thread starters are still young (both 28) and childless. That’s a plus. It offers the opportunity to do a lot yourself.

Sorry, but I honestly find that really extreme. Of course, everyone has to decide for themselves, but honestly, I don’t understand what the point of having a child is in that situation.

Sorry, but I really find that extreme. Of course everyone has to decide for themselves, but honestly, I don’t understand what you would have a child for in that case.

But there are regions where that is quite normal. A friend lives in France, where part-time work with children is apparently not so common either. And the OP is from Saxony. It’s probably similar there, if I remember correctly.