Home financing ever possible? Probably not!

Of course, it is nice as a teacher to be able to stay at home, especially with younger children, but then you go back to the desk in the evening. That makes the days long.

I love how in this forum there is regularly civil servant bashing with a special focus on teachers

Me too. It’s just a nice topic where everyone can join in. Everyone was once a student, most have children, many have teachers in their family and circle of friends. Perfect.
For the forum, teachers are also good examples of the middle class: building a house is simply doable here. Maybe not as a sole earner, but otherwise it works very smoothly.

First of all, sorry for only now responding to the topic after the thread has died down. I still want to contribute something to the debate, as the author of the thread expresses the fears and concerns of the declining middle class (to which I also belong, by the way) quite well.

Why do people pursue a profession? Why do they complete a proper vocational training? Why do they become a functioning cog in the system? In Germany, this is not driven by pure necessity to survive, but by a promise of prosperity. If I do everything right, then someday I will be better off than my parents or at least enough for a cozy little house. This promise of prosperity. The American Dream of the Biedermeier is currently fading away completely. Whether the author now needs a house or not is another matter. Obviously, certain life goals can no longer be realized as they used to be. The dream of broad-based prosperity is over. As I said: I am in a similar situation. Surely we could still realize building a house and since we have children and still want more, that would at least still be conceivable, but the luxury our parents surely enjoyed when building can be forgotten by us. Therefore, for us, at present, the rational decision is naturally to buy future prosperity and look for used properties.

A few more words about the real estate market. When I drove yesterday with open eyes through the small villages in affluent BW, I noticed the extremely poor building condition of almost all houses along the streets. At least externally, time has stood still there for decades. I don't see the golden era of construction in recent decades here. Rather, the construction industry has made a fortune on single-family houses and residential complexes. In my opinion, this is a central problem. It's not about meeting people's demand for affordable and pleasant living space, but about making as much profit as possible.

I personally live in a former single-family house that was converted into a multi-family house with three rental units. At least two of the three tenants would like to buy their own property. Across the street an elderly lady has been living alone in an almost identical house for 20 years and spends all day trying to prevent her house from decaying. The likely outcome is that the tenants will go into debt over decades to buy or build something for themselves or remain renters. The old lady will eventually die. The heirs will sell the house at the highest price. Neither the tenants nor the old lady have gained from this situation. For the real estate market, however, it is good business.

And now to my personal opinion: The market economy is a great instrument for price finding if the buyer can at any time withdraw from the market through alternative actions. In existential areas (mobility, communication, housing, health) this is not possible. Accordingly, there will never be a fair price finding here. In my opinion, the market has no place here, as it only works one-sidedly to the detriment of the buyer.

Obviously, certain life goals can no longer be realized the way they used to be. The dream of widespread prosperity is over. As I said: I am in a similar situation. Surely we could still manage a build, and since we have children and still want more, that would at least still be conceivable, but the luxury that our parents surely allowed themselves when building, we can safely forget. Therefore, for us, as of now, the rational decision is obviously to buy future prosperity and look for used properties.

I hear that quite often and still don’t understand it. What luxury did the parents really allow themselves? Today, houses of the lowest standard are sometimes better than the luxury of back then!? The problem isn’t comparing yourself to the parent generation, but to others of the same generation. If you compared yourself to the parent generation, you would soberly have to admit that you often started off much better. THAT is the reason why big progress is more difficult: We were partly born with it and then can no longer make it ourselves. My parents also believe that I should be better off than they are. They got that from their parents, the first post-war generation. My parents have a perfectly sized terraced house for them (which we have meanwhile bought from them), a motorhome, and the time to vacation several times a year wherever they like. Plus friends, a stable environment, and more possibilities to shape their free time than they can manage timewise. Nevertheless, they say, as their parents did before them: "Son, you should be better off than us once!" WTF? How? What room is there for improvement? What do I have to do for that? Do I even want to do that? And my parents are workers, I am the first academic in the family. Does that mean I am better off because of that? Can it get any better at all? They believe it has to be that way because "we've always thought so." The problem is that our dreams, our happiness in life, our search for meaning depend on making progress in life, getting somewhere, achieving goals. That’s obviously difficult if you are born only after many goals have already been reached. So, as a compensation, consumption takes place, including houses—bigger and bigger, more and more technology, cooler and cooler, all set up and ready-made if possible. And then people wonder how hard it is to achieve THAT. Yes! Really? The conclusion that it is therefore worse or will get worse is wrong. Obviously, upon sober consideration. ————— Sorry for the rant, it’s because of the topic, please don’t take it personally! But in my environment, there’s hardly any other topic right now than “decline,” because when furnishing, you have to forego the 60€/sqm laminate due to the current situation, the kitchen countertop suddenly can’t be the “dream countertop,” or suddenly unplanned DIY work is needed. I withdraw then because I have the enormous urge to eventually shout: “Cry quieter!” The life dreams of the generation that is better off than any before are the right floorboards matching the right countertop in spacious rooms. It’s supposed to be better than before. “Forget the climate and fly to developing countries and then come back grounded!” I don’t dare to say that either… I’m 36, no idea what number my generation is. But somehow I’m alienated from it right now.

The market economy is a great instrument for price discovery when the buyer can withdraw from the market at any time through alternative actions. However, in existential areas (mobility, communication, housing, health), this is not possible. Accordingly, there will never be fair price determination here. In my opinion, the market has no place here, as it is only one-sidedly at the expense of the buyer.

There is some truth to that, but the question is whether housing now means a single-family house with a 600m² garden and 50m² living space per person, a walk-in shower, and a bubble bath, or simply a rental apartment with running water, electricity, heating, and sufficient space (about 25m² living space per person).
The first is simply not possible for the majority of the population (at least not in terms of space).

My parents gave us the definition that "doing better than us" mainly means more time, more freedom in shaping work. Old hippies. :) When I tell my family in the USA how much vacation and parental leave I have, it's unimaginable for them.

My parents gave us the definition that "doing better than us" mainly means more time, more room for maneuver at work. Old hippies. :) When I tell my family in the USA how much vacation and parental protection I have, that's unimaginable to them.

Sometimes I would also like to have more hippie in my parents. But then I wouldn't have become me, so all good :)

In the USA, freedom from something is often equated with freedom for something. Which then leads to such surprise – how well "socialism" actually performs.