Financing single-family house 1964, 145k equity, 582k loan, 6k equity

For me, that is already a lot of money. However, my wife would only start working full-time again in a few years. But we have not taken that into account. Do you have any more suggestions regarding banks that offer 20 years and enable on-site support? The Mannheim metropolitan area is sought. Thanks for your comments. Regards, Hank

I would also recommend BW-Bank (LBBW) and Allianz.

Thank you all for your numerous comments and for sharing your own experiences. We will expand the circle of inquiries a bit and also involve a consultant.

As for the timeframe, we are still wavering between 15 and 20 years of duration. Both lines of argument are plausible to us and there is probably no "right or wrong." We will now wait for the conditions and see how large the delta between the two durations is. I will report.

I have read the Focus article. Not particularly enlightening. Banks/investors can only call due or auction if installments have been missed. Or after the end of the fixed interest period. It is clearly regulated by law how many installments need to be overdue for how long before this is even possible. Being a little late once is not enough. Terminating the contract is not possible over minor issues, like forgotten information to the bank. Unfortunately, immediate termination is possible in the case of imminent insolvency of the borrower, but that is all very abstract. Here, Focus could have written more than just general blah blah. I am very interested in this, can you elaborate? What exactly happened, why was the contract terminated, and why couldn't they find follow-up financing? Was there perhaps unemployment, massive depreciation or other catastrophes?

This whole thing was probably 10 years ago with the neighbors, they were with the P** bank which then passed on the loan, let's call it that. This investor then sits in first rank in the land register, which is why it was so difficult to find a new bank. If the new bank can only get second rank, they won't offer you top conditions... I don't know the reason why PSD Bank or the investor called the loan due, but the whole case deeply shook me and therefore I tried to avoid this structure in my financing.

Yes, wait a moment, the first rank will be released as part of the follow-up financing, since the investor receives their money. Refinancing with a second bank is a common standard transaction. And in this context, the new bank will of course take the first rank.

Sorry but I haven’t asked the neighbors about such specific topics now …

But actually everything is there in the article:

Between the bank and the customer it is agreed that the bank may only foreclose if it has a due claim against the customer. This can be the case, for example, with an expiring fixed interest agreement or if the bank terminates the loan.

They can terminate it if significant facts have changed between the contract conclusion and the disbursement… this also includes that you indicate you now earn less or something like that.

Falling property values or that the new investor finds your loan unprofitable also belongs to that!

Then your loan is called due and you can look to get a new one within two weeks because you then have to repay the remaining loan.

And it also says why it is difficult to find a new bank: "If the investor acquires the claim, he has the mortgage registered in his name in the land register. If the customer now looks for follow-up financing at another bank, a bank can become alert if it sees the names of well-known investors or buyers. Whether a follow-up loan will work out is uncertain."

Enough about that now. Let everyone finance as they like.

I consider the story and also the article to be sensationalist and lacking transparency. There is a valid contract that can only be terminated under certain conditions. Unprofitable does not count. This "I heard, but know no details" does not help anyone, it only creates uncertainty.