New construction financing single-family house 150 - 160 sqm

1. A loan amount of €400,000 is "ridiculous" – at your age/income situation you could also finance a loan of €500,000 (depending on "saving behavior" and of course personal attitude) – I want to take the fear away from you. I actually don’t see a problem there. Calculate it up to retirement age – see how much repayment sum comes out with €400,000 and actually check how high your costs are. That is very doable. I can always only recommend negotiating the repayment sum monthly flexibly! Make sure that you can definitely repay maybe only 1% for one or the other year – that gives you security and with the current interest rate situation it doesn’t hurt either. 2. €2,500 / sqm is realistic --> However, I think you will come out a bit more expensive. I would rather calculate like this: €350,000 for the house + €20,000 for fittings €65,000 for the plot €15,000 for the kitchen €30,000 for the garage €30,000 for the ancillary building costs €20,000 for the outdoor facilities (of course strongly dependent on whether you do everything in EL or not) Then you are at €530,000 minus €100,000 equity = €430,000 financing amount – I think that is realistic. 3. Financing offer looks fair and proper so far – based on the data you provided

Well, it's not quite that comfortable now. Car? Vacation? Private retirement savings? Reserves for the house? Contributions and taxes, daycare, hobbies?

Well, it’s not quite that comfortable. Car? Vacation? Private pension provision? Savings for the house? Contributions and taxes, daycare, hobbies?

I would also see it very much in the long term – therefore absolutely with a flexible repayment rate or with a repayment rate change.

If the first child comes in 4 years, maybe the second child arrives in 7 years? Then there are still 3 years until the "10-year loan term from KfW" ends. Then a substantial monthly chunk disappears – meaning: the repayment amount automatically decreases. Here, you definitely need to check whether it might even be possible to fully repay the loan with a special repayment or similar?

How does it look with car 1 and car 2? Is it leasing or is there a loan running? I assume it will be paid off at some point? Or is that fuel costs? Where are your workplaces? Will that possibly change? Of course, you have to check all of that.

Every situation must be examined individually – no question.

For a general consideration, however, 400k is, in my opinion, no problem, because: decent income with about 5k net as a couple, not an excessively high monthly repayment amount, flexibility in the repayment rate possible, because of young age, and so on... I really find that quite solid.

Let's be honest: at that age, it’s not at all possible to take out a loan under 400k for a single-family house. You would have to have inherited a lot, or saved a ton of equity (in my opinion, it’s hardly possible to have more equity at that age than what the OP has saved) or you would already have a monthly income of over 7,000€ or so at that young age.

That’s all very, very solid. You can also expect a salary increase here and there – that’s the course of the economy and the development of personal income – completely normal!

And honestly: if you lose your job, 300€ more or less per month doesn’t matter anymore – you’ll have to find a different solution anyway.

Maybe I see it more critically as a woman. But I assume that you now earn about the same or are somewhere in the 2000/3000 net category. That is not rich. It is not poor, but also not the situation where, as a woman, you can comfortably settle into a life of part-time work as the holder of the unfavorable tax class. I would simply miss the income for a proper reserve in that case.
Then 400,000 euros of credit is indeed a large amount. And at such a young age, one should also consider an exit strategy in case of divorce, despite all optimism.
If my daughter came up with such a plan, I would promptly send her first to a pension advisor for women and then to visit my friends, who are in their mid-30s, fighting divorce battles and living with two children in 60 sqm apartments. The risk of poverty for women is real. And such plans are part of the problem. Financial advice should go beyond mere home financing during the planning phase - my experience.
(Due to a lack of afternoon childcare, I currently work only 70%, and we invest the difference to a 100% pension in, for example, ETFs and other investment options.)

Maybe I see it - as a woman - also more critically. But I assume that you now earn about the same or are somewhere in the 2000/3000 net category. That is not rich. That is not poor, but also not the situation where as a woman you should comfortably settle for a life in part-time employment as the holder of the bad tax class. I would simply miss the income for a veritable reserve. Then 400,000 euros in credit is indeed a chunk. And at such a young age, despite all optimism, one should at least think about an exit strategy in case of divorce. If my daughter came up with such a plan, I would promptly first send her to a pension advisor for women and then to visit my friends who are in the middle of divorce wars in their mid-30s and live with two children in 60 sqm apartments. The risk of poverty for women is real. And such plans are part of the problem. Financial advice should go beyond pure home financing during the planning phase - my experience. (Due to a lack of afternoon care, I currently only work 70%, and we put the difference to the pension at 100% and management position, for example, into ETFs and other investment options.)

I actually agree with you there and I also think that only in the rarest cases people really think about this. But let's be honest: Then you can count on one hand the people who can/should build a house at that age. Caution is definitely not a bad thing - but let's be honest: Does it really make sense to worry about every possible situation and clarify and try to eliminate every eventuality that ultimately is not even possible? If you do that, you will always come to the conclusion that: a) the money is not enough to build --> Honey, unfortunately we have to wait, let's see what happens in 5 years b) Honey, we can only fulfill our dream of a single-family house to a limited extent by cutting back so much that it is only enough for 100m² without a garage "only" because at the end of your 20s you were not sure if the marriage would last a lifetime, or because you wanted to insure yourself so that everything still more or less works even in case of divorce. If I start like that, then I might as well set up my house to be accessible for disabled people when I see how high the chance is of having a disabled child (sure, the divorce rate is significantly higher)… I just don’t know if these thoughts are always productive. But what if your child is so "disabled" that it requires full-day care by the mother? Then I can forget about such a 200k house, as presumably one income is never enough anyway? I am a person who plans everything and wants to clarify all eventualities, but sometimes I just think: "as long as it is within reason - just do it!!" Edit: but also this: Always depends on the person!! Everyone has to decide that for themselves. Personally, I would never base my relationship/marriage on a statistic either - I find that totally crazy :D But opinions are totally divided on this. You have to know for yourself how to deal with it and which risks you include and which you don’t. Ultimately, you also have to feel comfortable with the financing and the decision itself.

You can also start with a condominium in your mid-20s - as was quite common in the past. Or rent cheaply until the first child and save a lot. It’s not just the option of buying a property for 500,000 or renting for life. Children especially change couples in their relationship so drastically - after that, many things are no longer as you had imagined.