Financing Single-family house 520TE current market situation / year-end business banks?

For example, she was able to take out two loans with different conditions (e.g. different durations of availability interest, special repayments), was more flexible in repayment (the broker could only offer the Commerzbank loan with 2% repayment, which made no sense for the rented property), could "manipulate" the valuation a bit, etc.

Actually, a broker should be able to do that too, but I guess it depends a bit? At least we had offers in that direction from a broker (but maybe not with the Commerzbank). But of course, it can also be that it’s not always possible "ad hoc" when you’re in conversation, which they from the bank itself might also be able to do immediately.

I think overall we thoroughly grilled our broker and had him run through various scenarios. If we had had a reasonable offer from a local bank right away, I probably would have gone with that too, but the basis was useless for us and overall we had a good feeling about the broker, so we let him work and didn’t go around on our own anymore. But we bombarded him with questions until I was more than embarrassed (but ultimately he is the expert). Starting with 20 variants, which in the end only meant changing a few variables in his tool ("what if we put in less/more equity," "what if we repay more/less," "what if we want more/less fixed interest period," "what about the combination of more equity but less repayment," "what if we want/don’t want a special repayment option" – for some things he gave his own assessment whether he thought it made sense or not, and sometimes we overruled him, sometimes not) up to more fundamental questions ("how does follow-up financing actually work if there are several components with different fixed interest periods," "what would be the next steps," "I still haven’t understood the process, WHAT exactly has to happen next?" "what if the contract with our developer is further delayed?"). I also partly asked things again just to be safe, where I was pretty sure I already knew the answer...

But ultimately my impression was that they do have possibilities to change things beyond what the initial wipe in the comparison tool shows. But I think you have to clarify that case by case. In the end, our broker also clarified a few things directly with the developer (with our consent) and put some pressure on for us (there were a few delays with the developer contract). Of course, you have to decide yourself on a few variants that seem promising. No broker will pursue 20 variants with 20 banks. But we used him quite extensively to first get a rough overview of what’s possible and then later to go into detail on one variant (and then tweak 1-2 smaller details again). Ultimately, we also talked about whether it’s possible to negotiate special conditions anywhere (and which bank might do that), but in the end we didn’t need or use that. (This was about extending the right of withdrawal in the financing due to delays with the developer contract.)

In the end, you can also use such a broker just for a one-time comparison with a few standard parameters, and that is probably enough for many cases to get a decent offer out. But that doesn’t mean they couldn’t do more if necessary.

Ultimately, you can also use such a broker for a one-time comparison with a few standard parameters, and that is probably enough for quite a few cases to get a decent offer. But that does not mean that they couldn’t do more if necessary.

The more standard, the better a broker is. A good broker knows which bank currently has special conditions. The local banks have more leeway for this and you can negotiate. And yes, unfortunately, you might have to check out two or three of them. Usually, one banking group is particularly strong in the region. Sometimes the Volksbank, sometimes the Sparkasse. If you really just want general conditions, you can even use these comparison portals on the internet. You do get a personal contact person to talk to on the phone, but they are under time pressure and don’t talk endlessly like the classic brokers.

After 2 intermediary consultations and discussions with 2 local banks, we ended up through the intermediary at a "quasi-local" bank - a savings bank 50km from here. Our local savings bank excluded everything with >10 years fixed interest, the local cooperative bank was slightly worse than our choice. However, I could also imagine that this was due to the negotiation order, as when we went to the second intermediary, we already had a good offer and simply asked if he could offer better.

So, going local can always be worthwhile. The DKB would have been the choice of intermediary 1, but they would have been 0.3% worse.

After 2 broker consultations and talks with 2 local banks, we ended up through the broker at a "near-local" bank – a Sparkasse 50 km from here. Our local Sparkasse excluded everything with >10 years fixed interest rates, the local Volksbank was slightly worse than our choice. However, I could also imagine that this was due to the negotiation order, as we already went to the second broker with a good offer and simply asked if they could offer better.

So, local can always be worthwhile. The DKB would have been the choice of broker 1, but they would have been 0.3% worse.

Did you always present the best offer and try to push the price down that way?
One of our brokers said he wouldn’t do that (he supposedly offered the best interest rates due to the system).

We did it that way, yes (but exactly once per bank/broker). In the end, we got down to 2.6% with Interhyp, at the same bank that could only go down to 2.8% at Dr. Klein, because "otherwise no one would earn anything" (aka absolute lowest interest). No idea what Dr. Klein internally charges the brokers, but the Interhyp person received a 7,200€ brokerage fee – I can't imagine that 0€ of that would have gone to the Dr. Klein lady...

Two options have now emerged as favorites, or rather these are our best offers.
Perhaps you would be so kind as to take a critical look:
1) 30-year annuity loan at 3.6%, 1.2 repayment (we would make special repayments here) in combination with [KFW Dahrlehn (124 Programm)]
Outstanding loan 150K
Outstanding [KfW] 30K
(Calculated to be paid off after about 39 years)

2) Annuity loan in combination with savings contract, rate predictable until the end
(Calculated to be paid off after 33 years)

I also looked at the total costs here, i.e. interest payments, costs, etc. - would be almost identical for both

What to do? I would have liked to have a "cheap" 20-year annuity loan, unfortunately hardly any interest advantage