Missing costs or the real opportunity of financing

What you have completely overlooked in your calculation is the interior furnishing of the house: e.g. kitchen, lamps, furniture, small items, ... What is also completely missing is the outdoor area, e.g. path to the front door, terrace, garden fence, garage/carport, garden planting, outdoor lights, ....

My tip: improve your income situation and increase your equity. If you meet both, then you can look for a property. If I were you, I would still look at existing properties and possibly consider a condominium.

For the conditions in this forum, you earn too little. But of course, that doesn’t have to mean anything. Still, you have to be aware that you are in a phase where construction and land prices are at their maximum. At the same time, you are at the beginning of your life together. Having a "own" house would be great, but if you look at the statistics, many families are currently building/buying much later – because of career, building equity, starting a family, and not least, the very high costs.

Currently, you are DINKs – no children, both full-time. Calculate your parental allowance, and your household income with part-time work. Then look at what 1/3 of that is – you can definitely manage that installment. Don’t forget job security either; whether the golden years before Corona will return that quickly remains to be seen. Rental prices don’t rise like construction/purchase prices. So it is quite a strategy to rent cheaply and save capital for equity building. You will need a lot of that. And you have time to see what happens in the next 5-10 years.

Regarding the price – I would realistically calculate at least 20% on top of your 300,000 as a buffer. As mentioned – buy land without building obligation, pay off, save and wait. Look for a good rental apartment with a garden and 4 rooms (you have time), and then take care of the desired children.

We are in no hurry to build/purchase, but we would like to determine an approximate saving period, or even the statement that it is not possible with the salary. Two children are planned, but they still have 3-5 years.

You are on the right track. Not being in a hurry is already very good. Early engagement with the dream as well. So far, the income is such that one or the other sleepless night is pre-programmed if you start now. I have made such harakiri decisions in the past and have fallen flat on my face several times and succeeded several times. It makes life more exciting than it sometimes has to be. I would recommend my children to proceed more solidly.

I am about your age and have also only recently joined this forum, and I can tell you that by registering here you have already made a very good decision. There is a lot to learn here, things that are important, that you should know, and good advice, completely free and objective.

Otherwise, I can only agree with my predecessors. Work a bit more on your career, build up equity, and if there is ever a "cheap" plot of land (without building obligation), you might be able to strike and thus lay the first cornerstone.

And as already mentioned, as a rough rule of thumb, 1/3 of the income can be used as the rate for the house, and my advisor at the bank gave me another big rule of thumb: for every 330€ of disposable income, about 100k can be financed. (of course, this depends on the current interest rate as well as age, etc.) But as a rough first orientation, quite helpful.

Alternatively, try looking for "affordable" developer projects. I think of the Deutsche Reihenhaus or Traumhäuser. It is a small, ready-made home - but easy to calculate and affordable.

Hello,

we thank you for your quick and detailed replies.
So it seems that for us, it will also first be a matter of continuing to save, also over the years. During this time, we might still come across one or the other offer, probably more likely on existing properties. Depending on the condition and price, we might be able to start just with paid incidental purchase costs. Some remaining equity for fittings, in case modernizations have already taken place.
The income is unlikely to increase significantly, especially also due to losses during parental leave.
The installment should at least be manageable, also with enough buffer for the rest of life.
I have not yet discovered any developer projects in our area, not even with Deutsche Reihenhaus or Traumhaus. But that would definitely be worth keeping an eye on during the saving phase.