Is financing feasible or are we overextending ourselves?

You will have to stretch yourselves quite a bit! Is there much vacation left in that? Probably not!

I don't understand why the income-to-installment ratio is being criticized. After the installment + additional costs, €2,900 per month remain for living expenses plus Christmas bonus/bonus (if I count the Christmas bonus as one month's income, it's even €3,300 per month). What is wrong with that? What income does someone need who wants to pay an installment of €1,500? Despite five pages of comments, no one has answered that yet. Everyone says "That's tight." When is it not tight? The topic of equity is another matter, but liquidity is more than sufficient.

I see it the same way as . I often had the impression here that about 100 times the net income is considered a moral limit for the loan amount. This is adhered to here, although not comfortably.

However, there should still be an overview of where the money is going! Keep a household book, note everything meticulously. And then answer the question of why no equity has accumulated yet. I have been doing this for 20 years, so I have a very precise idea of what I spend my money on. Therefore, I also know better than the bank what I can afford.

What incidental purchase costs in cash are to be expected? Real estate transfer tax, notary, broker?

so, I’ll try to address everything

since both cars are financed

The Octavia is paid off and cars are not an investment for me. The Octavia still has to last a few years ^^ And whether we have to finance the second one, I don’t know yet. Maybe we’ll get the second car from my father-in-law. But yes, we definitely have to plan for costs for the second one.

Don’t fool yourself, you’ve already backtracked with "from big to small".

Well, I only backtracked from "must be new" to "I’m satisfied with our Octavia".

Your 10 km can easily be covered by bike

Here I will actually use the moped in good weather and temperatures above 10 degrees.

with a general contractor unfortunately hardly possible

We have a local construction company that works with local craftsmen. The owner’s contributions have already been clarified and can be realized that way. At least that’s what we were promised.

What is the remaining debt then?
And are you sure you’ll manage with 300 € additional costs?
Is the fact that your wife finds a new job in the city wishful thinking or safe?

I have an appointment at the bank when all offers are available. We have a fixed maximum budget for land + house and either it works or we pass. What I’ve heard so far from people who own houses, the additional costs should be enough.
No, the job in the city is not safe but prospective. Currently, my wife would have to commute (therefore part-time 35h to absorb the travel time). I definitely plan to go 40h, but I don’t know yet if I’ll get that approved. The last years there have been always 2.5-4% salary increases. But I can’t count on that now, I know that.

On top of that, one or two more children are planned, the wife wants to change employer (income secured?), and the equity is unfortunately somewhat low.

Unfortunately, that’s the starting situation and unchangeable.
About us: My wife is 26 and I turned 30. Just so you can estimate the timeline we have left.

looking for an existing property (even in range significantly under 400,000).

That’s really rare in the Dresden area and certainly not under 400k. Near us, 4-room apartments are currently being built. 125 sqm = 790,000 euros...

Two cars on credit also only limitedly indicates that you have saved a lot.

I graduated 5 years ago. In between we had our wedding (10k), my student loan (36k) and our Octavia (27k) that all had to be paid. Plus the 30k that’s left. And we lived well too. But you can’t say we “wasted” the money.

Provisions for repairs

I really have to sit down again and calculate how much is needed there.

You get used to the money you have and develop some habits on how to spend it, also on “goodies” that might not be really necessary. But giving these up is hard...

Here we sat down and really wrote down how much money goes where and what we can save / give up. We were able to save quite a bit without worsening our situation. We are also very aware that with a house, there won’t be big leaps anymore. But a vacation at Lake Garda or something similar should still be possible. We are not overseas vacation people anyway.

What’s wrong with that? What income does someone need to cover a €1,500 installment?

I want to answer that as well as possible for us in this thread. I try to present the numbers as honestly as possible.

plus Christmas bonus/bonus

13th salary wife (wage + unemployment money) + 13th (wage + unemployment money) + 14th (profit distribution) for me.

And then answer the question why no equity has accumulated yet.

I answered that above. Without wedding, car and student loan, we would have saved ~73k in 5 years now. But even if we had some foresight to a certain extent, the student loan has to be repaid and you only get married once. Yes, the car could have been cheaper and we lived well, I admit that.

Thanks first of all for your input. Currently, what I take away is that it’s tight but it could work. We’ll try to keep the loan amount as low as possible and weigh benefits/costs with every expense.

--> in general: we still have ~37 years until retirement. What if, for example, the financing is set to ~1250-1300 euros over 35 years? The remaining 200-250 euros saved for repairs?

I see it this way: if I don’t build, I have to rent. 4 rooms in Dresden are over 1000 euros cold rent. And I have to pay rent until retirement or even after. So why not set up the financing that way? You can always make special repayments of a certain amount when salaries have increased.

I see it this way: if I don't build, I have to rent. 4 rooms in DD cost over 1000 euros cold rent. And I have to pay rent until retirement and even after that. So why not structure the financing accordingly?

Yep! A 30-year term is nothing bad; there are plenty of options to fully secure the interest rates. That is not the case with rent...

So having paid off the student loan, wedding, and car is already something different! You should simply make a detailed list to see what actually remains at the end of the month or better yet look at where you spend money and where savings might be possible.

If more children are planned, then you have to expect further "cuts" in the salary. That should be taken into account. To me, the numbers sounded like too much money was going out. But the student loan etc. already explains that and the first child also costs something.

However, I think it is important that you take another close look at what/where money is spent and where you can save. And what is important to you about the house!