How much installment can we afford?

6200€ income and some say a 2500€ installment is not possible..

What is being calculated here again, madness!

May I briefly summarize based on the feedback from the OP:

Income: €6,450 + Bonus X
Cost of living: €1,800 + €400 for the (upcoming) child (€1,800 according to household budget kept for years)
Mobility: €250 (too low if you want to consider savings for a new car) - public transport additionally paid by employer
The rest is currently being saved
==> €4,000 surplus before housing
minus planned installment: €2,500
==> Surplus: €1,500 for ancillary costs (electricity, water, insurance, etc.), car savings, miscellaneous, reserves
==> €50k reserves after deployment of equity for the house already exist, so for new car, garden equipment, child equipment, etc.
==> Bonus on top and not considered

Have I missed anything that makes the calculation not work as planned by the OP? Can someone please tell me why you are so tense about the numbers and say that it can’t all add up?

With the numbers he presented and which we are supposed to assume, i.e. €1,000 per month for “miscellaneous” it doesn’t fit. Oh and €250 for 2 cars, that was also a sticking point.

Miscellaneous is defined as:

This category includes pretty much everything you can imagine. Visits to cafés, technical purchases, bicycles, coffee machine, furniture, dishwasher, theatre, hairdresser, subscriptions for Prime & Co, and

Wow, these are far more responses than expected! Thanks for that! I will also get back to some general points so it doesn't drag on.

My advice upfront: Don’t take all of this too seriously. It’s already interesting what kinds of fantasies can arise from a short text. But the same applies here: We don’t know each other at all. If you have questions, just ask! : )

He doesn’t want to hear a quick "Yeah, that works" or "Nah, let’s not".

CORRECT! Thanks again for the clarification!

The OP wants honest advice and he should get it. It’s not about criticizing him, but neutrally showing with which lifestyle he can afford what.

You summarized that very well! But just because some theorists are engineers doesn’t mean all engineers are theorists ; )
(But that doesn’t really matter, right? I took note of your remark)


General feedback:
Expenses
Regarding the numbers, I can reassure everyone – maybe also the silent readers like I once was:
The expenses per month per person are currently well under €2,000 per month. That includes everything(!). Housing, ongoing car costs, insurances, etc... EXCEPT... world trip budget or, for example, a new car.

And our consumption behavior will definitely change, as many expenses were incurred in recent years where we thought: "If not now, when then?". How it will change? We will see in the next few years. Right now, I’m more concerned with estimating approximately what range we could end up with for a payment. Depending on how interest rates develop, there will be different budgets (and different purchase prices, but that’s another topic..)


Child expenses
Thanks for the concerns here. I’m worst at estimating the expenses (explicitly daycare), but that will surely become clearer in the next years.


Car
Everyone surely has their opinion on this – here’s mine: A new car is a luxury good for us, and between a Polo and a Panamera there are still 200 other great cars. We definitely depend on having a car, but in my opinion, I could lease two new cars every two years for €500-700 each. We don’t need that. So: Yes, we will factor something in for it. No, it certainly won’t be €700. By the way, the fact that there is a new car standing in front of the door was one of the "If not now, when then?" decisions : )


Payment
I originally assumed a payment around €1,500 + a large special repayment. Whether something like that is even possible? No idea! My first step was to look for the forum here. That we’re now talking about €2,000-2,500 surprises me personally a bit, but in the end we will have to go over everything carefully again and will also have more precise data available.

As I have said 3 times now: Based on the data we are supposed to use:
It doesn’t fit.

As I asked before: What would fit from your point of view with the given parameters? €1,800?

Relatively simple: Mobility underestimated by 400 euros, childcare overlooked by 250 euros, insurance forgotten by 200 euros (occupational disability, dental supplementary insurance etc all x2, if not it will eventually show up in the consumption pot). Child 400 euros also doesn’t add up (except maybe in the first 2 years), because soon every vacation and restaurant visit will be 50 percent more expensive (from 2 to 3 people), the car will be bigger etc. Let's also add another 200 for buffer. Utility costs for the house will certainly rise as well (in the existing property probably by 200 euros). Consumption will also increase, because a house needs more furniture than an apartment etc. So another 200 euros. In total, 1450 euros in today’s consumption demand are misestimated. That leaves 50 bucks a month as reserves for the house.

Yes, with 50k in reserve that certainly works. But it only works if you can really work as much as intended and the jobs are secure. Otherwise, you have to significantly reduce your current consumption level.

So yes, 2500 works with the current lifestyle, but it is borderline. Theoretically, with a frugalist lifestyle, 4000 or even more is possible. But is that the question?

I maintain that new construction is more predictable and above all less time-consuming for the one-child family. There are really enough small turnkey houses available and if the plot is not 700m2 but only 350m2, then that should be affordable in rural NRW with the income and equity. Why anyone wants to take the arduous path into existing properties – I don’t know. Working almost full-time twice and renovating an existing property is a bad combination. Even if all that is outsourced, the organizational effort and required presence are enormous. Better to have something built turnkey.

Relatively simple: mobility was underestimated by 400 euros, childcare overlooked by 250 euros, insurances forgotten by 200 euros (disability insurance, dental supplementary insurance, etc. all times 2, otherwise it will eventually appear in the consumption pot). Child 400 euros also doesn’t add up (except maybe in the first 2 years), because soon every vacation and restaurant visit will increase by about 50 percent (from 2 to 3 people), the car will be bigger, etc. Let’s also take another 200 euros as buffer. Ancillary costs for the house will certainly rise as well (in existing properties probably by 200 euros). Consumption will also increase because a house needs more furniture than an apartment, etc. So another 200 euros. In total, 1450 euros were underestimated at today’s consumption level. That leaves 50 bucks a month as reserves for the house.

Mobility: Possibly agreed Childcare: is that so? Depending on the federal state, possibly zero euros. We ourselves have not paid that much for all three children together even in the expensive NRW. Insurances: the OP deliberately did not take out any. So please deduct the 200 euros again. Child: 400 euros are not enough? What do you actually spend per month on a child? Vacation/restaurant visits: From my experience, I see rather decreasing than increasing costs. Simple vacation with baby, cheap vacation during daycare times, it only gets more expensive starting school, but adult vacations to the USA/South Africa/Caribbean cease. Eating out decreases massively with baby/toddler. The candlelight dinner almost completely disappears and if it happens, we “normally” go out to eat. Ancillary costs house: Can rise, but don’t have to. Alone the property tax in another municipality can lead to ancillary costs in the house being lower than in the apartment. But yes, tendentially somewhat higher – electricity, water, garbage remain almost unchanged. Consumption: House needs more furniture? If you want to fill it up completely, yes. But that also has nothing to do with living expenses, those are one-time expenses from the buffer. Otherwise the OP has already consumed quite a bit (“bicycles, coffee machine, furniture, dishwasher”). Why should consumption expenses increase further? After the third coffee machine and the seventh bicycle at the latest, saturation sets in. No, from my own experience and from 25 years of real estate financing experience, I can say that the OP is in a solid position. Also with a house. Whether the right property is affordable with a 2,500€ rate is another question. Every, really every bank would want him as a customer with open arms. The framework data roughly reflects the top 20% range.

We currently pay in NRW 326 for 35h childcare (income-dependent and set by the respective city) plus 80 for meals. If a second child is also cared for, it is free for us, as well as for the last two years before school.

I wouldn’t worry either. Just estimate with a 2,000 rate first, save a lot in the next few years, and it will work out.

My wife and I also earn quite well and yet still got almost everything for the child second-hand (flea market, Vinted, etc.). I would never buy a stroller new again… Just because we are building new doesn’t mean you can’t also have a simpler lifestyle when it comes to consumption. That’s the only way we can afford the house (equity of 200,000 saved in the last 5 years).

We haven’t really bought new clothes since the child was born either. For us, priorities have really shifted quite a bit. Consumption is really secondary.

But like with many things, all people are different, have different preferences, as you can see from the opinions here.

Depending on income, there are also options like the NRW home ownership promotion.