Is building a house realistic for us?

You cannot deduct anything for the mentioned own contributions, as painting work and outdoor facilities are usually not included anyway.

Sure, painting work and also own contributions for outdoor facilities can be included in the loan-to-value ratio. What is not possible is cleaning the construction site.

Depending on the bank, however, for a certain amount of own contributions (usually 10,000-15,000 or more), a confirmed statement from the architect/ certified construction engineer is required.

Of course, with the muscle mortgage, one should ensure in the calculation that enough is planned for materials, tools / machine rental.

Now we have the opportunity to buy a plot in a good location for €130,000.

Including approx. 12% additional costs? Otherwise, you’re already over €145,000.

Actually, we had imagined that we want to invest a maximum of €500,000 in the project, so about €360,000 for the house including additional costs.

We also imagined investing a maximum of €500,000 in the house project (It’s kind of a mindset you set for yourself). Unfortunately, it will be more. It always ends up being more than you plan, you should not forget that. There is a thread about that here.

€360,000 for the house should be enough for that size, especially since it has no basement. But then rather without a garage and exterior facilities.

We imagined about 160-180 sqm of living space, since a third child might still be planned. Is that too big?

I think it’s just right. I wouldn’t want it any smaller with 3 children.

We simply have too little equity

Yes. I always wonder how you can have so little equity with such a good income (I’ve read this here several times), unless you’ve only been working for about 3 years or so, but then you tend to have a lower income too.

I can say little about financial feasibility, but apparently you would have to borrow around €460,000. That would be too risky for me personally.

Hello, we, a family with 2 children, have 4500 euros net and are building for about 500,000 euros maybe 550,000! Our plot of land already cost 154,000 euros. It's doable, don’t stress yourselves. There are people who build with much less equity and less net income. You can philosophize about it, but sometimes you have to take risks. 6000 euros net is a great starting point......THUMBS UP

Best to get an agent involved ....

Regards

The banks hammer the family income into their software, which then spits out "possible installment xxxx,-€". But this has always been much too optimistic for our offers. Remember, building a house is one of the top reasons for divorce in Germany, and my own assumption is that it hits first those who miscalculate and the house (consciously and subconsciously) becomes a burden. Several years of sleepless nights because of the installment pressure, only a modest savings vacation each year that nobody really wants... that takes a toll.

Ask yourself about the installment whether in the last months and years there really was always that much money left over, where has it gone now? And whether you can do without all that.

Hello, we, a family with 2 children, have 4500 euros net and are building for about 500,000 euros, maybe 550,000! Our plot of land already cost 154,000 euros. It’s doable, don’t stress yourselves. There are people who build with much less equity and less net income. You can philosophize about it, but you also have to take some risk. 6000 euros net is a great starting position......THUMBS UP

Best to involve a broker ....

Regards

So what? Are you building or have you finished and have a 4-year credit history with car breakdowns, family vacations, etc.? Only then can you say whether it fits or not. Just based on the numbers, the bank will say: with you, the cash will always be tight after the build.

It always gets tight with the finances after the construction with you

What do you mean by that? For us, it looks very similar to Sturkopf86, and I don’t quite see how it will "always" be tight for us in the future. Sure, after the construction the account is empty at first, but if you have calculated sensibly, everything should be fine. The loan installments will hardly be higher than the rent. From a financial perspective, I therefore imagine life "after the construction" to be little different from now.