House construction 2024, affordable with little equity?

I think we are taking some kind of middle way. We built cheaply, mind you cheaply, not cheap, and had a decent amount of equity. So we only had to take out loans for 220K. Since 2015/16, we still owe about 124K. If I continue paying 1200€ per month, I would be finished a little over 9 years from now at age 49 and would have paid about 26,000€ in interest and fees. Now, however, I am considering increasing the payment to 1500€. This would mean I would be finished a bit more than 2 years earlier and would have paid just over 19,000€ in interest and fees. Then I would be "free" at 47 and could build more equity. With today's prices, this is hardly possible anymore, unless you earn an incredible amount of money and pay high installments back. Because prices will remain high/continue to rise. Today, you can hardly build a house for which you pay so little interest. We were just incredibly lucky to build at a time when interest rates were already low and construction costs were still low. The thought of paying off your house well into retirement makes me very uneasy. Sure, you still have a house in the background that represents a certain value, but you may have to severely restrict yourself until then and maybe have paid several 100K in interest and fees. It can definitely be worth living cheaply in a rental, living well, and building wealth in ETFs. In the end, it is up to each individual to decide what is important to them and what they feel comfortable with. Everyone is different. I currently find building extremely risky because it is hardly calculable, but maybe I am just too much of a scaredy-cat or a fuddy-duddy.

Then please write right away that your retirement provision is already taken care of with you. That changes the whole situation. So you belong to the people who live their life and then use up their parents' inheritance. Of course, it's chill not to have to take care of it yourself - but be careful: will surely explain to you why that then becomes a problem.

Now that’s enough. I had to organize my life very early because I became a mother at 20. Nothing was given to me except a warm nest; I come from a normal working-class family. Apart from 6 months of parental leave, I have been employed full-time since I was 18 and supported our family during my husband’s studies. I find your statement very disrespectful.

Mea culpa for forgetting to mention that I will inherit at some point. But that will still take a while; my mother is only 55 :p

OT: who do you turn to if you want independent advice on investment opportunities?

Inform yourself thoroughly. Unfortunately, there are almost no genuine advisors; most are just financial product sellers. Even fee-based advisors are usually very narrowly specialized in one area (e.g., insurance), but you need to look at your assets in the overall context: house, statutory pension, company pension, self-invested money, etc. I personally find the websites and the YouTube channel of Finanztip quite good. Ultimately, building wealth is like losing weight. There are many paths promoted, but the decisive factors are mainly input and output. As high an income as possible and not too high costs so that something remains. Investing correctly is also important, but secondary. And whether you do this with real estate, stocks, or something else is ultimately a matter of character and taste.

oh yes, everyone always calculates that salaries will increase with age. That is correct. Does anyone also consider the opposite? For example, my husband works in a pretty niche area and doesn’t find it so easy to get a (well-paying) job again. What if, God forbid, one of us is out of work and the financing is tight. We are done with planning children, but what if one slips through? Our firstborn was also unplanned, then again parental leave with financial losses and high expenses, since you need a car in the countryside, especially as a new mom who often has to go to the doctor.

You will never be able to prepare for every eventuality. But if your husband loses his job and can’t find a new one, you could always just sell the house again (hopefully even at a profit).

Besides, it will probably be difficult with significantly less income to afford a rental apartment in Berlin and at the same time cover the loan for the vacation home, right? And if you have another child, that will also make the search for a suitable – and above all affordable – rental apartment more difficult.

But please don’t take this the wrong way, I also think the solution with the vacation home is cool and you seem very happy with the decision, which is the most important thing anyway. I just wanted to say that something unforeseen can always happen that throws everything into disarray, whether you rent or own a home.

But please don’t get me wrong, I also think the solution with the holiday home is cool and you seem very happy with the decision, which is the most important thing anyway.

Well, the decision was taken out of our hands due to the current loan interest situation and construction prices.

We would have liked to build, don’t get me wrong. But we can’t afford it, or only with very big concessions on the building project and on life itself. Hats off to everyone who still do it and are so disciplined. I find restrictions incredibly difficult in the long run?

just look it up online yourself..

I find it difficult to "get into" such a topic myself.

Inform yourself thoroughly on your own.

Thanks, let's see if I can make sense of the videos.

I'm a bit struggling with such topics.

But just leaving the money in the daily savings account is not sensible either.