Property / Financing amount / Insurance? Experiences

Hello everyone,

since I have been reading various discussions here for some time now, I am gathering all my courage and am writing/asking whether our project is even realistic.

First of all, we introduce ourselves (this is how I learned it from my parents ):

The family consists of:

[*]Wife Jenny (29 years old) - dental assistant - 50% working hours
[*]Daughter Emma (3 years old) - daughter - 100% working hours

[*]Myself, Stefan (33 years old) - HR clerk - 100% working hours

Income (net):

Jenny - €785.53
Emma - €184.00
Stefan [U]- €3,020.26 [/U]
Total - €3,989.79

Expenses:

Youth welfare office Emma - €336.00 (highest contribution in Essen and surroundings)
Car - €320.43 (until 11/16 - remaining debt approx. €8,000)
Car insurance - €54.31
Accident insurance - €50.55
Homeowners’ and liability insurance - €13.42
Legal protection insurance - €11.58
Health insurance Jenny - €5.39
Health insurance Stefan - €11.65
Disability insurance Stefan - €50.93
Pension insurance Jenny I - €5.00
Pension insurance Jenny II - €5.00
Pension insurance Stefan - €119.17
Membership fees - €13.42
Telekom landline including Sky - €55.21
Telekom mobile phone - €89.94
Household charge - €17.98
Living expenses - €1,000.00
Total expenses - €2,149.98

Remaining (= Income - Expenses) - €1,839.81

Regarding the matter:

We have been searching for a property for about 2 years with little “success” and decided at the end of 2014 to visit the model house park “Fertighauswelt” in Wuppertal just to take a look and get impressions. We visited various providers (among others Weberhaus, Bien-Zenker, Allkauf Haus, etc.) and received advice and took informational material. So far, we felt best taken care of by Allkauf Haus, as the saleswoman almost already advised us and asked about our wishes. Of course, that is her job, but with the others, we were not asked about our ideas at all and did not hear anything bad about others like with some other providers. On the way back, we were quite overwhelmed but decided to sleep on it for a night or two and then draw a conclusion.
At the second appointment, we were presented with 2-3 proposals and went very much into detail, so it was basically clear to us that we want to build with Allkauf Haus and that it should be the promotional house “Best Deal.”

The offer amounting to €143,999 includes, besides the 164 m² living area (1.5 floors), the following free special bonuses:

[*]Base slab
[*]Maxi dormer
[*]Wellness bathroom
[*]Brand kitchen
[*]Current Apple iPad 16 GB WiFi

We additionally added the following services or extras:

[*]Electrical work
[*]Screed work
[*]Sanitary, heating and ventilation work
[*]Underfloor heating on ground floor and upper floor

All other trades such as drywall, filling work, painting and flooring work, and tiling we will do ourselves.

This puts us at a total house price of €183,398 (including heating system (gas condensing boiler), building technology, sanitary objects, tiles, interior doors, flooring, wallpaper, paint, and €2,000 each as a buffer for material sampling and architect’s plan change fee).

Additional construction costs:

Earthworks - €15,000
Gas connection - €3,000
Water connection - €2,500
Sewage/sewer connection - €3,000
Electricity connection - €1,800
Telephone - €450
Garage including foundation grounding - €8,500
Construction site setup - €2,600
Foundation grounding - €500
Traffic safety crane assembly - €1,000
Outdoor facilities - €4,500
Buffer - €10,052
Total - €52,902

So overall, we are at a house price of €236,300.
We currently have €10,000 in equity, which we have saved over the last 2-3 years since our daughter was born. Before that, we lived quite well and celebrated a wonderful wedding.
Another €5,000 is available to us in cash as an additional buffer.

Since we do not yet have a plot of land, the question now arises for us how far (or not) we can go with the price of the plot.

Could you please take a look and tell us what loan amount is possible with our income and expenses given the (albeit small) equity?

Thank you very much in advance for your efforts (with this much text).

Regards

Family tottitom

I miss your monthly savings rates in your expenses, as well as water, electricity, and heating. For a house, property tax also comes up. And, very importantly, where is your rent? Or do you live rent-free?

Hello tbb76,

first of all, thank you for the quick response.

We are currently saving about €450. After the house construction, probably not quite that much at first. It is clear that we are saving, but we want to see how everything develops first.

Since I do not yet know where we will build the house, I cannot really calculate the property tax yet, or am I wrong?

We are currently paying rent of €500 plus €90 for electricity. That would no longer apply. The above-mentioned €1,839.81 remains to cover the installment (including land), maintenance costs, water, electricity, heating, building insurance, and garbage collection. After that, we want to see what is left at the end of the day and set a savings rate. Is that the wrong approach?

For me, your list raises some questions or I would have concerns about some things:

1. You write that your surplus is about €1800. So why are you currently only saving €450 if the rent is €600? What about the remaining nearly €800?
2. What is the family planning situation? Is it finished or could one or more children still come? What about your wife’s income then?
3. Are you sure that everything is included in the house price? €180,000 for a 164 m² house seems very, very low to me, even if you want to exclude some trades.
4. Are you sure that you can actually perform the planned own work (dry construction, tiles...)? And even if so, at least the materials cost something.
5. Take another look at the incidental construction costs: earthworks cannot be assessed without the land and soil survey, so it may fit or may be completely different. I find the garage price at least ambitious (but it also depends on the size). The budget for the outdoor facilities is very tight – topsoil, lawn, plants, possibly fence, paving... etc... all that costs quite a bit of money.

The above-mentioned €1,839.81 remains to cover the installment (including land), maintenance costs, water, electricity, heating, building insurance and waste disposal. After that, we want to see what is left at the end of the day and set a savings rate. Is that the wrong approach?

I think you should rather do it the other way around. So decide how much you want to save (as reserves for everyday life, for vacation, reserves for the house...), then roughly subtract the incidental costs and then you will know what installment you can afford. With that you can then plan what the house and land may cost (don’t forget security, both in the budget and in the monthly reserves!).

1. You write that your surplus is about €1800. Why are you currently only saving €450 if the rent is €600? What about the remaining nearly €800?

I received a significant salary increase as of 01.04.2015 (of course in writing), which I have already taken into account in the income, but not in the savings rate.

2. What does the family planning look like? Completed or could there still be one or more children? What about your wife's income then?

We want a maximum of one more child. With parental allowance (plus child benefit), that would make a total difference of €30 less.
However, since the child will not arrive before 2016 and at that time the leasing contract will expire and then be fully paid off, we would have a little over €300 more available, which will probably be "eaten up" by the second child.
After the year of parental leave, my wife will return to work, so there will be a little more money "left over" there as well.

3. Are you sure everything is included in the house price? €180,000 for a 164 m² house seems very, very low to me, even if you want to exclude some trades.
4. Are you sure you can actually carry out the planned own contributions (drywall, tiles...)? And even if so, at least the materials also cost something.

Overall, we are at a house price of €236,300 (incl. additional costs). This price also includes all the material, so no further costs are to be expected there. Unless we upgrade, but even then we have included a small buffer.
Since I have a very large circle of acquaintances due to football and my father is "Bob the Builder," I worry less and am realistic that we can manage it, albeit not at the pace of professionals.

5. Look at the additional construction costs again: earthworks cannot be assessed without property and soil surveys, so it may be okay, but it can also be completely different. I consider the garage price at least ambitious (but that also depends on the size). The budget for the exterior facilities is very tight – topsoil, lawn, plants, possibly fences, paving… etc. … it can get quite expensive.

I will talk to the house seller again...

Thanks anyway!

My cousin also built a house with Allkauf. In the end, including the land and the basement, it was around 300k euros. And there was no luxury equipment included, painting, tiling, wallpapering, laminate flooring done by themselves, exterior work just the essentials. Neither garage, carport, nor paved driveway. I have often read that with more expensive providers you usually get higher quality equipment included and the final offer often does not differ much in price. But the newly built homeowners can probably tell you more about that.