House buying - No idea what one can afford

House prices for existing properties are basically negotiable.

Given the current market situation, rather in theory

Hello,

I don’t think anyone wants to lecture you, and it’s okay if you know where the money went. However, it is a debt trap if you don’t even have 10k left from your income for a great vacation. Academics or not. You can easily afford it, no question. A banker and his scoring machine will only enter/evaluate what is presented. A very good income with zero equity but loan debts and probably a bunch of 0% financing deals that lower the Schufa score.

With all due respect, going on vacation and then realizing you want a house does not show maturity either. Everything is different on vacation, you probably had a caretaker, a cleaner, maybe a cook there. Nobody here in Germany will accept that, even with 5k you don’t have your own employees.

I’m personally also an academic and treated my wife and myself to an awesome vacation and a great wedding, easily costing 30k. We also always had 2 amazing vacations. However, all from equity. When we started on a new build, we at least had equity for incidental costs and the kitchen, no debt. What will you do about interest during the construction period, etc.?

Sorry, but I get the impression that a house and financing are not for you. Surely you will find a bank, but whether you can then live frugally, I don’t know...

oh man, what's going on now... what's happening here? How clearly can I still make it clear that I currently just want to assess the current situation ... man man man.

What have I done to WHOM and what is this forum here for, if not to have such a discussion?

I simply don't know what is realistic, even if we were debt-free now, for example. Quite specifically, we have seen a dream house, which is listed at 399k by the Sparkasse, but from 1964, so there is certainly still a lot to do and will be later on. That means you would need about 450k just to get the thing. We wouldn't do anything inside at first, unless something is really urgent, but later on gradually. We would rather live with an older bathroom in favor of having a house earlier.

I also think it is too expensive, even if we were debt-free, but I just can't assess it. I can imagine spending around 2,000 euros in total on the house topic, i.e. loan, additional costs and reserves. Possibly also a bit more and first not taking any expensive vacations for a while, for example.

But I think I can forget about this house for now.

Another topic: Are such house prices still negotiable or is it all basically fixed if it goes through the brokers of the Sparkasse?

With a house from 1964, you would also do yourself a favor by having an expert take a look. However, that costs money.

Given the current market situation, rather in theory

The experiences from the circle of friends say otherwise. But negotiable does not always mean cheaper; I also know properties where the buyers drove the price up. It always depends on the attractiveness of the property.

You don't just get the regular income, but also holiday pay, Christmas bonus, etc.

No offense, but you're fooling yourself. Holiday and Christmas bonuses are just window dressing for the employee. I don't get that. Why? Because my salary is fundamentally higher than that, I beg your pardon, nonsense.

No offense, but you're fooling yourself there. Vacation and Christmas bonuses are a sham for the employee. I don't get those. Why? Because my salary is fundamentally higher than that kind of, I apologize, nonsense.

That was probably more referring to the fact that the €1500 monthly living expenses do not include savings rates for vacations, but these are financed through special payments. Whether this is the best employment contract or not is another matter and was not claimed either.