Is owning a home feasible for us or too much of a risk?

Thanks in advance for the advice. The car would be paid off in 2-3 years. Finding land is difficult for us anyway. You could move further outside, but in our opinion, that doesn’t make sense. We have all relatives and family in the city or nearby surroundings, and work is also in the city (as a note, we are from Kassel). So it doesn’t have to be directly in the city. But the nearby surroundings are optimal. Of course, the equity is poor; we will save a little in 1-2 years but also not much. We still have the option to use a certain amount from my parents’ home as security for the bank. I have to honestly say that I am somewhat surprised. A standard house + land costs around €300,000. Without including kitchen or flooring, etc. As I understand it, I can only get €200,000 with our income. How much does one have to earn for a standard house then? We would also buy used and renovate, but so far I haven’t found anything on the market where you don’t have to put €300,000 on the table including renovation.

How much do you have to earn for a standard house then, please?

If you have inherited or the land is free, 3,000 net like you have can be enough. A new build is a luxury, why should "everyone" be able to afford it, with a 35-hour job and half a second job, plus children, Sky, and a fitness center?

Thanks already for the tips. The car would be paid off in 2-3 years. Finding land is difficult for us anyway. We could move further outside, but in our opinion that doesn’t make sense. All acquaintances and family are in the city or nearby surroundings, and the job is also in the city (as a hint, we come from Kassel). So it doesn’t have to be directly in the city, but the nearby surroundings are optimal. Of course, the equity is poor, we will save something in 1-2 years but not much. We still have the option to use a certain amount from my parents’ home as collateral for the bank. I have to honestly say I am a bit puzzled. A standard house + land has to cost around €300,000. Without kitchen or flooring etc. included. As I understand it, I just get around €200,000 with our income. How much does one have to earn for a standard house then? We would also buy used and renovate, but so far I haven’t found anything on the market where you don’t have to put €300,000 on the table including renovation.

Many people feel like this when they start dealing with the topic of building a house. You live so nicely in your dream world and suddenly you wake up and there are the harsh, realistic facts. We all experienced that too.

Unfortunately, the facts look like this:

€300,000 today for a house + land + incidental construction costs is probably the lower end, if that’s even realistic (rather not!). In most regions, it rather starts at €400k+. And we are still talking about “standard.” Have a look around this forum.. there are plenty of figures. We pay about €450k for 225 sqm without land, without incidental construction costs, without exterior landscaping, without kitchen, without gimmicks like KNX, fireplace, etc. Just for the pure house and that is far from luxury.

€4000 net monthly income might be the federal average.. but for builders, that’s not “the world.” I would only build with that if I had a lot of equity.. at least 30% + incidental construction costs + exterior + etc. + and + and + and… so we’re talking about equity in the range of €150k..€200k.

First building the house and then children… is nice, but very few manage that. Why so early? When we move in.. I am “almost” 40. That’s enough, isn’t it?

Regards, Steffen

: As a good guideline often mentioned for an average detached house:

30-40K€ additional construction costs
10K€ for painting work
10K€ for essential outdoor facilities
10K€ for carport/prefabricated garage
1500-1600€/m² Energy Saving Ordinance house in standard equipment = 195,000 - 208,000 (130 sqm)
10-15K€ surcharge KFW 55
10-20K€ for sample selection surcharges

+ land (and incidental purchase costs for this).

Not yet included are things like kitchen, furniture, moving costs, but also buffer for difficult land conditions.

It doesn't matter whether prefab house or solid construction.

You just shouldn't be fooled by the brochure prices in prefab house parks and on the internet. Those are often just starting prices for a very bare house.

At first, I thought 250,000 for everything would be enough, now I’m a bit wiser. It was still a shock though. We didn’t want anything big, about 120-140 sqm, and we had already ruled out the basement.
It doesn’t necessarily have to be a new build, is a used one cheaper? I also looked around a bit, and halfway decent houses started at 200,000. Where, as far as I can tell, you’d have to invest at least 50-60,000€ to adjust the rooms/electrics, etc. Used is definitely hard to find but would definitely be an option for us.
It’s a shame about the dream space, I’m just not a flat person. We just thought about an early home ownership to avoid unnecessary rent costs.

One small addition:

Even with the current expenses, you haven't considered quite a few things yet.
- There is no reserve for car repairs/maintenance/tires yet.
- Surely you don't want to give up vacations for 20 years either.
- As you correctly said, the €250 car installment will stop, but €250 is not enough as a reserve for 2 cars.
- If the wife wants to go back to work, childcare costs will also arise in return.

This probably only works if the wife goes back to work full-time or almost full-time relatively quickly. With €4000, the whole thing looks completely different than with €3000.