Follow-up financing experiences. What has this brought upon you?

Hardly believe that most people plan a 10-15% buffer. That would be 30,000-45,000 euros in reserve for a house price of 300,000. Although floors, painting, landscaping, kitchen, and sanitary installations are already fully chosen and are not included in the buffer. Wanting to paint yourself and then calling a company because everything becomes too much is not what I call a buffer.

For me, a buffer is the amount that is still written down and reserved at the very end of the calculation when all foreseeable items have been taken care of. I regularly see a conflict of objectives between the buffer on the one hand and the minimal loan-to-value ratio on the other. In this respect, I would never leave 30,000 euros on the edge if I have to borrow money at a high interest rate. More like 5,000 euros.

That depends on the ratio. We targeted a clean 80%. Including the buffer at least mostly would not have broken the next magic threshold of 60%. If the buffer is not needed, it can be used for a special repayment, which has a positive effect on the loan costs, especially at the beginning of the loan.

With a buffer, you simply have less stress, no follow-up financing, the outdoor facilities are completed faster, a first large special repayment, a new car after the construction, ... whatever you want

How many euros or % of the house price did you budget as a pure buffer?

So for unforeseeable things?
(I don't mean the garden or the more expensive bathtub)

And have you managed with that?

5% ... was already gone with the foundation and removal of excavated earth ☹️ ... who would have guessed such costs [emoji33]

If the buffer is not needed, it can be used as a special repayment, which has a positive effect on the loan costs, especially at the beginning of the loan.

That’s true, of course! Well, we were at about 92% or so ... It probably would have been worth it to get down to 90% :P We didn’t have luxury problems like from 80 to 60 ...

Yep, in that situation I probably would have tried to reach 90%. But you can't work magic either