Oetti
2019-10-08 15:21:47
- #1
Nearly a year has passed in which I have read a lot in this forum but written nothing. So here is a brief overview of how things have progressed:
We did not buy the house last year because the developer did not play with open cards and was not honest either. At all corners and ends there were additional costs for the turnkey house, some of which were also not comprehensible in terms of price. Ultimately, we would have ended up somewhere in the range of 330 - 340 K, without a guaranteed completion date and without any guarantee that this would be the final price. That somehow didn’t feel quite right to us. Many thanks once again at this point to all forum members who gave very good tips and were very critical!
What happened afterwards? On the one hand, we improved our income situation and on the other hand, we continued to save equity. Recently, we found a relatively young condominium that we like and bought it. The move is coming up soon. The apartment has a few square meters less than the house, but is better equipped and significantly. The monthly burden is now slightly lower than with the house due to higher repayments.
I can only recommend to anyone not to rush a real estate purchase or construction, but to take plenty of time and above all listen to the critical voices. The bank would have granted us a loan of up to 500 K, but honestly we wouldn’t be able to sleep any better with that. The bank did not point out anything like having children or parental leave and what happens if the wife only works part-time after parental leave...
The "additional costs" that a move brings are not to be underestimated either! Here a new lamp, there a new faucet, there a curtain rod, etc. and suddenly 5000 euros are gone so quickly you don’t even notice. Always plan reserves here and have something in reserve. And yes, these items add up faster than you can look.
And to restrict yourself or give up something because of a property? I know many people write that here, especially when the financing is tight. But do you really do that? And if yes, for how long? Sure, that works for a few weeks or even months, but eventually it just gets annoying and then argue with your partner about money because the neighbors go on vacation and you have to stay home? We are very lucky that with our monthly burden for the loan + incidental costs for the apartment, we are at a level where we don’t have to restrict ourselves (the monthly savings rate is a bit smaller). And I have to say that relaxes and takes a lot of pressure off.
So once again: Many thanks to all the critical voices here in the forum!
We did not buy the house last year because the developer did not play with open cards and was not honest either. At all corners and ends there were additional costs for the turnkey house, some of which were also not comprehensible in terms of price. Ultimately, we would have ended up somewhere in the range of 330 - 340 K, without a guaranteed completion date and without any guarantee that this would be the final price. That somehow didn’t feel quite right to us. Many thanks once again at this point to all forum members who gave very good tips and were very critical!
What happened afterwards? On the one hand, we improved our income situation and on the other hand, we continued to save equity. Recently, we found a relatively young condominium that we like and bought it. The move is coming up soon. The apartment has a few square meters less than the house, but is better equipped and significantly. The monthly burden is now slightly lower than with the house due to higher repayments.
I can only recommend to anyone not to rush a real estate purchase or construction, but to take plenty of time and above all listen to the critical voices. The bank would have granted us a loan of up to 500 K, but honestly we wouldn’t be able to sleep any better with that. The bank did not point out anything like having children or parental leave and what happens if the wife only works part-time after parental leave...
The "additional costs" that a move brings are not to be underestimated either! Here a new lamp, there a new faucet, there a curtain rod, etc. and suddenly 5000 euros are gone so quickly you don’t even notice. Always plan reserves here and have something in reserve. And yes, these items add up faster than you can look.
And to restrict yourself or give up something because of a property? I know many people write that here, especially when the financing is tight. But do you really do that? And if yes, for how long? Sure, that works for a few weeks or even months, but eventually it just gets annoying and then argue with your partner about money because the neighbors go on vacation and you have to stay home? We are very lucky that with our monthly burden for the loan + incidental costs for the apartment, we are at a level where we don’t have to restrict ourselves (the monthly savings rate is a bit smaller). And I have to say that relaxes and takes a lot of pressure off.
So once again: Many thanks to all the critical voices here in the forum!