Is purchasing a house and complete renovation affordable?

At the latest since Corona, it should be clear to almost everyone that you also need enough space at home. At least 30 m2 living room and at least 8 m2 bathroom is the standard for four people. Anything else is really no longer nice.

And that is exactly why no one can manage a renovation for less than 400,000 anymore :cool:. Luxury is a must, it is indispensable.

Since there are no children yet, here is a completely different suggestion: First, with professional help (so it goes quickly), set up the infrastructure, meaning walls, roof, pipes, cables. Nothing has to look nice, nothing has to be plastered, not all sockets need to be installed, etc. Just simply: water in, wastewater out, roof keeps the rain out, there is one room with a shower & toilet, electricity goes into a central shaft and from there to a distribution point and then to one room. Then move into this one (1) room with minimal equipment and gradually work on the rest of the house. By the time you finish that, according to your plan, the children will be there too.

Since Corona, it should be clear to almost everyone that you also need enough space at home. At least 30 m2 living room and at least 8 m2 bathroom is standard for four people. Everything else just isn’t really nice anymore.

We have 26 sqm living room, even with a dining table inside, and we could still fit a fourth person on the sofa. So you can’t really say that in general. Ultimately, it depends on your own feeling of living – some find it cozy, others feel like in a sardine can. I do think it makes sense to realistically estimate costs, but sometimes real luxury features are regarded as standard. If you look at how most people in Germany (well) live, that’s rather the exception. If you want to renovate everything to new building standards, it will certainly be expensive, but there are also options in between. My parents bought an old house and you could still make improvements now, after more than 20 years. But it was always renovated and refurbished according to the current possibilities, and in the meantime, you can still live very well in it. Without underfloor heating, smart home and open living concept or walk-in shower and freestanding bathtub. But with a huge house and property that would be unaffordable if "new." You just have to be honest with yourself beforehand about what standard you want in the long run.

Since there are no children yet, here is a completely different suggestion: First, with professional help (to make it quick), do the infrastructure, meaning walls, roof, pipes, cables. Nothing has to look nice, nothing has to be plastered, not all sockets need to be installed, etc. Simply put: water in, wastewater out, roof keeps the rain off, there is a room with a shower & toilet, electricity goes into a central shaft and from there to a distribution and then into one room. Then move into this one (1) room with minimal equipment and gradually complete the rest of the house. By the time you are done with that, according to your plan, the children will also be there.

That is actually a good low-budget option for childless people. It definitely would have been an option for us - if we hadn't already had the children. When you live inside, you can also do a lot more work because you don't have to commute. For screed, you just move out for 2-3 days (we recently did it that way, it works!).

It’s a bit like the sliding puzzle / 15-game where you only have one gap and have to move everything else around. My father renovated one room after another back then, laid electrical wiring, heating pipes, blind plugs on the radiator connections. With every room that was finished, mobility in the house increased. Eventually, the last room for the time being was finished, the central heating was installed in the basement, and radiators were connected in all rooms. Of course, not everything can be done like that— for example, with wastewater it makes sense to lay it all at once. What is a huge advantage for me when you do it yourself: you already live in the apartment and can make many decisions based on experience of the room. Maybe you don’t want a TV in that spot because the sun always shines in there in the evening and reflects on it. And so on. What I did once and will never do again is make a deal with a tenant that he renovates the apartment and pays a contractually precisely specified reduced rent for a certain period. We really thought we had everything exactly set, but hey, at the premature end of the tenancy both sides felt massively bad about the solution. People say “if both sides feel equally bad, it’s fair” but I wouldn’t do it again.