House buying - No idea what one can afford

yeah...okay...thanks for the tips...

Does anyone have an idea of how much money you can save on which interior construction work if you do it yourself? Like...

Insulation = 5k material + 2k labor, so theoretically you could save 2k...

Then you could still decide what is worth what to you. I know many people who almost completely renovate themselves, for them a shell house would be a luxury starting point compared to everything they had to do

How much help you can then get from whom is of course another matter and also has to be very well planned, with a lot of buffer etc.. because everything can still go wrong, so that you end up having to get it done by someone else after all... that is clear to me as well.

With your time-intensive job it’s unrealistic that you can do much yourself. And are you also that skilled with crafts? It probably makes more sense if your wife does some extra shifts at the hospital or something like that.

Well... when it comes to a house, the priorities regarding time are naturally a bit different... taking vacation, after work, possibly working part-time for a month, on weekends... you can get quite a bit done.

The question is more how much longer you still need your rental apartment in parallel, then the calculation is quickly made.

That it is a lot of work is clear

If a basement weren't so practical, I would almost leave it out...

Looking at existing properties is definitely a good idea, although the market currently looks somewhat swept clean. But rented apartments in the house, I would think carefully about that, especially if you also want to live there yourself. We had also looked at a multi-family house back then, it was very tempting with the rental income (4 apartments, 1 would have been for us). The house would have paid for itself plus a surplus. The tenants were also all super nice, but I could count on three fingers that there would have been problems. They had been allowed by the previous owner to use part of the garden for themselves, without it being contractually regulated, and we would definitely have claimed the garden. And they had several large dogs, that was a no-go for us. So keep looking further. But even aside from that, the risk that there would eventually be problems with the tenants would have been too high for me, I can see it now with my father-in-law and his tenants. You are not in their shoes.

Are you skilled with your hands? Chiseling slots, laying tiles, and so on. Maybe taking down a ceiling and rebuilding it with drywall. Incredible mess. Removing old parquet flooring. Or knocking out an old bathroom with a Hilti. Possible. It can even be fun. I was glad it was done by someone else; carrying the debris down the stairs alone would have driven me crazy.....

Sometimes it’s better and cheaper to pay people for it. Unless you need it as a form of balance.

With us: Gutting of a house from 1938:

11 tons of debris produced with the Hilti during the demolition of 2 old bathrooms, 2 old kitchens, 3 pre-wall installations, and an old electrical, heating, and plumbing installation.
All done as own work alongside 12 hours of daily working time.

Conclusion: Very satisfying to take possession of the house this way. But please not again so soon.

And how long did you renovate?