Home financing: Buy cheaper from parents, maintain compensation

Thank you very much for your opinions. You help me a lot. I had a vague feeling all along that it didn't fit. Your objections have made it clearer to me what bothers me. We will set a price for ourselves that the house is worth to us. Either you sell it to us for this price, or you try to sell it on the open market. If we get it for that price, we don't want any obligations in the future. Then it is clearly separated. We prefer to pay more now "than we would have to" but then there are no outstanding items that have to be considered in the future.

Yepppppp, that is a good decision and I understand that one does not see that right away. It is neither a matter of mistrust nor negative thinking, but of long-term clarity and independence.

Would it not be possible, for example, to conclude a purchase agreement for 650,000 EUR (actual value of the house) and at the same time enter into a loan agreement with the parents for 150,000 EUR, so that initially only 500,000 must be paid. The loan would be interest-free and parts could be forgiven, for example, within the framework of a gift or an early inheritance. When the inheritance occurs and a remaining amount exists, the brother would have the right to receive half or something similar. This way, interest could be avoided and the brother would not be left empty-handed.

Agree now on a final price, and absolutely no long-term contracts.

I wouldn't do that. The knot is untied: clear conditions, since the interest savings are not worth discord or conflict. But you say yourself: compromises must/should be made. However, no lazy ones: without a garden, a house is not worth much for children, but that would be the argument for a house. So will you be happy with the house? Is that why you want to change your living situation? Or rather rain/gutter? The parents should sell their house well/better on the market. Then they can support you financially, brother and brother alike.

Would it not, for example, be possible to conclude a purchase contract for EUR 650,000 (actual value of the house) and at the same time conclude a loan agreement with the parents for EUR 150,000, so that initially only EUR 500,000 have to be paid.

In BaWü, for these official extra 150k, there would already be €7,500 more in real estate transfer tax to pay. A loan agreement, if it is actually meant seriously, would also have to be secured, which would be difficult again. Without security, the brother might end up empty-handed again or at least have to expect that.

When the inheritance occurs and a remainder remains, the brother would have a claim to half the payout or something like that.

... it remains with the mentioned "something like that," which can/will be unpleasant for the brother and is not clearly and calculably regulated.

This way one could avoid interest

... but which FREEs one from family constraints and risks and must also be weighed against notary fees for contracts etc. as well as the higher tax. Why all this? To supposedly save a few euros? I come from your region and therefore additionally believe that something might be found if you go a few kilometers further northeast of the region. Maybe not the current dream, but the parents' house is not the dream either and additionally this time bomb.....

Real estate transfer tax does not apply to direct relatives. Notary fees are higher and the subsequent property tax is based on 650 instead of 500k€ purchase price. I don't know why you want to make everything so complicated and include the 80k€ residual debt and the appreciation in value. Have the house appraised; it doesn't have to be an official appraisal (which takes time and costs money), and your purchase price at this value is a gift. How it is balanced with the brother is your parents' matter. Gifts of any kind have the characteristic that the donor no longer has any influence.

Real estate transfer tax does not apply to direct relatives.

Ok thank you, I was not aware of that, but as you write, other things simply increase.

Gifts of any kind have the characteristic that the donor no longer has any influence.

You are absolutely right factually; unfortunately, such things are often not called by their name in the euphoria and then much later still become the seed of family dramas.

How the brother is compensated is a matter for your parents.

That is also absolutely correct from a purely factual point of view, but especially within the family, emotions tend to be much stronger because often expectations are connected to it.....each side different.
Money or asset shifts within the family are known to be problematic. Added to that is the fact that it is much easier to divide €100 among each other than €100,000.