Home financing with a low salary?!

What do you mean by that?

Financing 120,000 at 2.4% means monthly 240€ + 2% repayment = 440€ cold rent. That is manageable. At your age, a high repayment is not necessarily required, but then a long fixed interest period or repayment adjustment options (if you earn more someday) are needed.
Also keep in mind that your life standards may increase someday. That requires money. The same applies to children (childcare, clothes, birthdays, etc.)

Now to the house price: There is a reason why higher price per square meter for houses is always talked about. Are you really getting a complete house, just as you imagine it, or are you still considering improving the quality? Who pays for additional costs? Passive house? Water-guided fireplace as sole heating? Photovoltaic system for your own electricity? Floor slab included? Earthworks included? House connection costs considered (sewage, electricity)? Additional construction costs in general? Etc.

Many questions you have to ask yourselves, which can make or break the project.

How do you assess this? My partner is very undecided, but we are paying so much rent for nothing at the moment.

No, not for nothing. You have (almost) absolute security at the lowest level.
I live very cheaply!

A Scanhaus Marlow Marlow.

I am already amazed here by the horrendous prices for plots and houses – madness what some people spend.

That is because, when you subtract the land costs, most homebuilders here plan and build a good standard.
If you spend over 100,000 (or sometimes 200,000 €) on a plot, then the house is not supposed to be just cheap. That is a demand you as the builder impose on yourself.

I also dealt once with Scanhaus Marlow Marlow (back then, at the very start of our house build): cheap house, no extras, everything costs extra.

Read up about additional building costs. Even though MP is a cheaper building area, you also have to cover these costs.

With SH (prefab house), the foundation slab would also be added. The kitchen also costs something (even Ikea doesn’t give anything away for free) and the materials you want to use also cost money.

Also, is quite interesting for you.

Even if you think that the monthly electricity costs will disappear, other costs come to you: property tax, building insurance, waste and sewage...

Make a cost breakdown with it.

Therefore, it is advisable to listen to the conservative bank and take a few more years to save at least 30,000 for the additional building costs and have more job security.

Last but not least: enjoy your independence: a property makes you immobile – also regarding further career opportunities, which mostly only align with local flexibility.

Regards, Yvonne

To say it once again very clearly: Your calculation can never ever work!

30,000€ for the land -> OK
120,000€ house turnkey + 120 sqm -> Never!
+ Additional costs (utility connections, notary, taxes, earthworks, etc.)
+ Outdoor facilities
+ Kitchen / interior design

And as a previous poster already wrote: A passive house is priced in a completely different league! For your price, you get the cheapest of the cheapest equipment, no technology at all, possibly not even - nowadays absolutely normal things - like exterior blinds.

The Sparkasse did not hesitate at all and that actually only makes me suspicious. They would give us a loan of €120,000, monthly installments amount to about €620 plus €200 for additional costs (insurance, water). The house produces its own electricity.

But you need more!

I'll do a rough calculation with a blunt pencil:
€0 land (is gifted)
€2,000 purchase incidental costs
€90,000 shell house including base slab
no idea what will be installed now, but I'll draw a parallel to the €120,000 prefabricated house, namely
€30,000 materials
€10,000 laminate, DIY store paint and other things for finishing
€30,000 construction incidental costs
€10,000 kitchen and lamps
€8,000 terrace, driveway, outdoor area and garden shed

€180,000 financing requirement, which at 2.5% means €675 repayment

That makes €1,000 per month including additional living costs for a house without extras and without the possibility to look elsewhere (in your mid-20s you see the world differently than in your early 30s and may regret having taken hasty steps)

I doubt it’s a passive house, there are probably false promises being made or something is misunderstood. Passive houses have additional requirements, and the costs generally do not pay off proportionally in a mid-range house build. Many forgo it because they can’t afford it with a property around ±€400,000, even though the monthly repayment would still be relatively manageable... with a zero-budget financing however the passive house project shoots the financing into the realm of unreality - my opinion.

Regards, Yvonne

Good evening,

He, 26, monthly.
She, 24, monthly.

What we have chosen now would cost €30,000 including connection. We have looked at several shell houses and have already obtained several offers. We would be around €100,000-120,000. But then turnkey; as a shell house we would be at around €90,000.

We would like to pay no more than €800-900 monthly because we are building a passive house; the additional costs are limited, but we would like to save something aside for possible special payments.

How do you estimate that?

You are still very young; in my opinion far too young to read or to understand the many pitfalls of a construction specification (BB) or a contract for work. That only comes with increasing age and corresponding accumulation of negative experiences in all areas of life; we older ones have all been through that.

If it were possible to build a complete passive house (PH) for €120,000, the order books of the provider you favor would be filled for decades. I want to go one step further - there would be "only" this provider.

But since we do not live in a "wish for something" world, but in reality, get professional help and have the BB and contract checked with its help; I suspect you would not believe the users here anyway. Your focus is too much on the desired house and the tempting number at the bottom right. Unfortunately, you already fail to realize that as a tenant, you are not the fool here.

I further suspect - you have not yet provided information that a 130 sqm house is intended. Realistically, costs for the turnkey and solid variant are around €188,500 for a KfW 70 efficiency house. Since you are interested in a prefab house, the costs will be roughly comparable, probably higher (due to production); if and insofar as your focus is on quality. In this respect - even Scanhaus Marlow Marlow® has nothing to give away - there has to be a catch. This catch is probably in the terminology, like the depths of the BB; therefore, the €120,000 probably refers to a shell house: closed shell and sanitary as well as electrical rough installation including screed. The rest (not really little) then lies in your hands. For €120,000 I would guess a closed shell; that still roughly fits the figure mentioned.

The step to a real passive house (PH) will probably incur costs of about €45,000-65,000 - whether solid or prefab; for ventilation, additional insulation and photovoltaics including storage.

I am rather appalled that the banks you approached have not advised you against the project; have not shared any experience with the desired provider. The "language" of the competition no longer surprises me, however. Before you even think about signing a piece of paper: get professional help (expert, VpB, BHSB, lawyer, etc.). And internalize this: very cheap always means very expensive in the end.

Rhenish regards

When I read all of this here, we have to let go of our wish, or rather plan differently and build up some equity for a few more years. We're not so young anymore (28/27) and earn more (€4600 net) but actually, we didn't want to borrow more than €300k. Children are also planned for the next few years. But none of this fits at all, reading through the forum here...