Planning a single-family house

Hello dear forum,

my partner and I, both 26 years old (+child), are currently starting to consider a possible house purchase. For this purpose, we have obtained various catalogs of prefabricated houses and solid houses. We can also imagine building through an architectural firm.

We are absolute beginners and quite inexperienced in this field. Here are a few key data about the desired house:

Single-family house, plot approx. 500m², living space approx. 120-135m², at least 3 bedrooms, no bungalow style, basement possibly, underfloor heating at least in the lower area, kitchen island, Kfw at least 70. These are the rough ideas for now.

We want to build in a village with 5000 inhabitants in Saxony-Anhalt, developed plots cost about 30,000 EUR here.

With how much total costs do we have to roughly reckon? Is a house construction with equity capital of only 25,000 EUR and 3,500 EUR net income (total) even possible? Currently we pay 650 EUR warm for our apartment.

We would be very grateful for tips and advice!

Hello Alex1304,

Bauexperte will surely be able to tell you more about the total costs. Saxony-Anhalt is still a bit cheaper than "the rest of the world" ;). €30,000 for a plot of about 500 sqm in a village with 5,000 inhabitants is already quite a lot in my opinion. But never mind. For the house, with the above-mentioned ideas, you will certainly come in under €200k (without additional building costs and without a basement and without "luxury"), then there are the additional building costs, outdoor facilities, and special requests. As I said, others can probably tell you more precisely about the total costs.

In principle, financing is certainly feasible from the figures. The equity will probably hardly be enough for the incidental costs and necessary additional purchases that are not financed (furniture, kitchen, lamps, and all the little things), so it would presumably be at least a 100% financing. That is basically possible as well, you just have to be aware of the risk if something goes wrong. But the question is (as written in many other threads – read up on that a bit) not what the bank would give you, but what you are willing and personally able to manage financially. Questions should arise for you like: Family planning completed – if not, how much can you afford if one income is at least partially/temporarily lost? How is your household budget – how much do you realistically spend per month? (including things that only occur yearly or very rarely including savings for vacation/new car/new furniture etc...) Based on that: how much can you save monthly? Also think about the usually higher incidental costs that arise with a house. Also think about reserves that need to be formed to be able to pay for later renovations/repairs. Children also grow and become more expensive. How secure are your jobs? What happens if one becomes unemployed/sick/unable to work? ...

You don't have to answer these to us either, the important thing is that you think about them.

Thank you very much for the detailed response.

The plot of land might possibly only cost 25,000, there are indeed smaller fluctuations. How much more would a basement cost?

What would you rather recommend, a prefabricated house or a solid house? I have certainly read some pros and cons, but I haven't really become any wiser.

When talking about 100% financing, does that mean house + land = 100% or just the house?

Yes, I've also read about that in several threads. We are already able, or it is possible for us, to pay between 800 and 900 EUR for the loan so that we hardly have to restrict ourselves. Would that be okay in that range and would it not lead to paying it off over 50 years? Our jobs are both very secure and of course permanent. I simply assume that we are both well qualified to get a new job in case of job loss. How much additional monthly costs for the house would be added to the loan payments (electricity, water, gas, garbage, etc.)?

From a financial point of view, would it be better to save more equity now and build only in 2 years?

Hello,

Single-family house, plot approx. 500m² - approx. 30,000 EUR, living space approx. 120-135m², at least 3 bedrooms, no bungalow style, basement possibly, underfloor heating at least in the lower area, kitchen island, Kfw at least 70 These are the rough ideas for now. How much total cost should we roughly expect?

This should be roughly within the following range (construction prices will increase as of January 1st):

Plot: TEUR 30 Single-family house, 130 sqm according to Kfw 70: TEUR 182 Usable basement: TEUR 38 Prefabricated garage 3 x 6: TEUR 6.5 (incl. electric sectional door and strip foundations) Additional construction costs: TEUR 35-40 Painting work & floor coverings included: TEUR 20 Outdoor facilities: TEUR 10 (only the absolute necessities) Reserves for extras: TEUR 10

All in estimated: TEUR 336.5

If you want to build according to Kfw 55, additional costs will arise for a controlled residential ventilation system with heat recovery, better bricks, more insulation and an external expert.

Rhenish greetings

Wow, that definitely exceeds my expectations. A basement costs nearly 40 TEUR?! How do you arrive at the price for the single-family house, what assumptions have you made?

What Bauexperte wrote there is certainly quite something and, given the hardly noteworthy equity and income, probably a bit too much of a good thing.

And I don’t like to contradict Bauexperte ;), but I think that the item for incidental construction costs in Saxony-Anhalt will probably be lower (similar to Saxony). We had significantly less incidental construction costs all-in (around €20,000, however without additional foundation costs) and I think that you would get quite far with that. Also, painting and flooring work (if no luxury is desired) is possible well under €20,000, for us in total €10,000, and that even though parts of the flooring and parts of the painting work were done by professional companies.

Regarding the house costs, you can trust Bauexperte there, she has years/decades of experience and based on her own experiences, her projected prices can quite reasonably be regarded as realistic. The basement at €38,000 is not oversized, I also think that you will probably have to scratch that.

Overall, I believe it will probably be possible, if you maybe leave out the garage at first, scratch the basement, and don’t want the best solid wood parquet, to reduce the price quite a bit, but somewhere between €250,000 and €300,000 (more towards €300,000) you will definitely end up in total.

Which would generally be recommended, prefabricated house or solid house?

Nobody here will probably be able to tell you that. Because, as you’ve probably already noticed, it (like many other things) is ultimately a personal decision. Quality-wise, these days with a reputable provider, a prefabricated house is no worse than a solid house. There are also several threads about this here.

How much additional incidental costs for the house will be added to the loan rates (electricity, water, gas, trash, etc.)?

That, of course, always depends on how much you consume ;). If you calculate about €300 (+/- of course), that’s already quite good. Because to your normal incidental costs (which you have in the rental apartment) you will naturally have to add property tax and at least one residential building insurance.

Would it be financially better now to save up more equity and build only in two years?

More equity is of course always good. The question is, of course, how much saving potential is available in those two years, because construction prices also rise. In the end, that is also a personal decision. Nowadays you can also finance with little equity. The advantage of higher equity is that the loan-to-value ratio decreases, you get better interest rates for the home financing, and in case you have to sell the house (should that ever happen), the chance is higher to come out of the whole thing with a profit or at least break-even and not end up with debts despite the sale. But that’s simply the matter of risk.