Own house with a large garden – which option is the best?

Hello everyone,

I just signed up here because my partner and I are currently working hard on our future plans. This also includes home ownership.

So that it’s not too much text for you, I’ll try to present our situation in bullet points.

Currently:

Place of residence: quiet small town in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (30,000 inhabitants)

Living situation: Moved into an 85m² apartment here in the middle of last year (690 € rent/all utilities), previously lived in a 50m² apartment

He (30) works in the IT sector and I (28) work part-time in finance. Not married, no children (nor a desire for children). Both have degrees, both employed.

Other: We maintain a small allotment garden, have a shared car, and two rabbits J

That’s it for now. Recently, the desire for our own little house has increasingly come to the fore.

Why build?
Above all, we want a large garden where we can do whatever we want. A larger living area isn’t really important; we manage very well with little space.

At the moment, we have 3 options in our close selection:

1. The grandparents’ house
My partner’s grandparents own a relatively large semi-detached house here in town. The house itself is very nice, but a lot would have to be done: decluttering, rewiring, probably the heating as well. My mother-in-law has already said she has no interest in the inheritance. When we asked the grandparents, who are quite stingy, what they want to do with their house, they just said: “I don’t want the house to stay in the family. I want as much money as possible for it.” So that pretty much settled the matter for us. Of course, we could “officially” express interest, but we don’t want any family disputes over the money…

2. Solid prefabricated house
If we build ourselves, we would choose a small bungalow between 60 and 80 m². Why? I only want to build once in my life and therefore want to avoid stairs that we might not be able to climb later. Also, we think a small house is cheaper to maintain, can be sold later due to demographic developments (although it’s not planned, but you never know), and of course cheaper to build.

3. A modular house
There are cheap and less cheap models here. However, we are drawn by the idea that the construction goes very, very fast, produces almost no waste, and the solution in general sounds very exciting. Unfortunately, there are hardly any reviews about this…

Since we haven’t saved much money yet, we are currently figuring out how much we need to save and whether it’s even worthwhile anymore. I’ve already heard from some that we should have started a long time ago. But our motivation to save right now is quite high and we also have endurance J

I would be interested in how you see the whole thing:

Which of the options is the best?

How does it look financially? How much money should we have saved?

So far, we estimate 100,000-120,000 € for land and house together. Unfortunately, we have no sense yet of what additional building-related costs we have to expect. Can you give an approximate percentage of what would be added on top (depending on the option)?

Many thanks to all

Your Ringelblume

PS: It ended up being quite a lot of text after all... Sorry...

Hello, even if the property probably costs an arm and a leg for you, I find 100k - 120k ambitious.

How big is the house supposed to be?

How firm is the desire to be childless?

Hello, even if the property probably costs a penny for you, I think 100k -120k is ambitious.

How big is the house supposed to be?

How firm is the childless wish?

Hello,

we had planned a bungalow with 60-80m² of living space.

The childless wish is quite firm :)

Best regards
Ringelblume

Now 85 m² apartment plus heating, which is somewhere in the multi-family house, plus probably a basement room and plus possibly a laundry/drying room.

60 to 80 sqm bungalows are rather not enough for that. Because the technology also has to be accommodated there. Then you should also think about everything that is in the allotment garden in the hut there .. that should also be properly accommodated on your own property.

And, 100 to 120 k .. even with a small bungalow I consider that unrealistic. If it is supposed to be inexpensive, calculate around 1600 Eur/sqm plus land for the house as a rough estimate. That could possibly work out. Although I think it will rather be a 100 sqm bungalow. Just take a look at floor plans from house construction companies on the internet. Then you slowly get a feel for the realistic sizes.

Now 85 m² apartment plus heating, which is somewhere in the multi-family house, plus probably a basement room and possibly a laundry/drying room.

60 to 80 sqm bungalows are rather not enough for that. Because the technology has to be accommodated there as well. Then you should also think about everything that is in the shed of the allotment garden .. that too should be properly accommodated on your own property.

The heating is in the basement, that's true. We have a basement but don't use it because it is quite damp. There is no laundry or drying room. The washing machine and dryer are in the bathroom. We only moved into the bigger apartment because the layout of the old apartment was difficult. We have a relatively large rabbit enclosure in the apartment and after my partner moved in with me, it became a bit tight. In a house with its own land, the animals would be in the garden and no longer in the apartment. By the way, in the new apartment we have a room that we hardly use at all. There is a shelf and my yoga mat there ;) And in the allotment garden there is not much that we would take with us. Except, of course, the gardening tools, but for that you would need a separate shed anyway.

And, 100 to 120k .. even for a small bungalow I consider that unrealistic. If it should be affordable, for the house you should roughly calculate 1600 EUR/sqm plus the land. That might work out. Although I think it will rather be a 100sqm bungalow. Just take a look at floor plans at house construction companies on the internet. Then you gradually get a feel for the realistic sizes.

We have already looked at floor plans. According to what we like, we come out between 90 and 110k with prefabricated house providers. 1600€/m² is definitely a good guideline!

Yes, costs with the prefab house provider. There are quite a few additional costs. Helpful could be
.

In general, finances, but also overviews of what construction costs need to be taken into account.