Property in good condition financable?

It doesn't matter whether you consider the salary increase to be certain or not. As long as the bank doesn't expect it, you don't need to expect it yourself.

Honestly, I find the question of children difficult. At that age, I also didn't think I would ever become a father, and by now I know several people, especially women but also men, who suddenly develop the desire to have children in their mid to late 30s. Often with corresponding last-minute panic.

Why? The OP explicitly said that children are planned later

Of course, my wife plans to have children later,

Hello,


If I were you, I would reconsider whether a net household income of at least €6200 (or something like that) is realistically set for the next 10 years. I think it is extremely important that you carefully consider what happens if one salary completely drops out, even if it’s only for half a year. Even if you believe that won’t happen to you and that you’ll somehow manage, I would definitely plan for the worst case.

I am a nurse myself and have now been at home with my son for 2 years.

Now come a few fun facts from the life of a pregnant nurse working shifts, probably not interesting for everyone.

1. This sounds silly, but you can get pregnant at any time. Just so you know. You wouldn’t be the first to have a little accident. My friend is a full-time nurse with 2 (unplanned) toddlers at home. Both parents have to work full time and they are always stressed trying to somehow manage the children. The advantage is of course shift/weekend/holiday work, but they’re basically just passing the baton and have no time as a couple/as a family at all.

2. It obviously depends a lot on the employer, but often nurses are put on employment prohibition. That means that during her pregnancy your wife gets no shift allowances and falls back to the (sometimes meager) base salary.

3. If your wife does not go on employment prohibition, as a pregnant woman she may, among other things, no longer do night shifts. That also means fewer shift allowances again. If the side job in the nursing home consists of night shifts, she will no longer be allowed to do it or will have to reschedule.

4. In my case, I struggled extremely with vomiting and dizziness in intervals until delivery. If your wife is not on employment prohibition, she may also have to miss some time (sick pay?). A pregnant belly really takes a toll on your back and physically you’re no longer much help in the daily ward routine.

5. The maximum amount for parental allowance is €1800. However, I earned about €2800+ net until the end and still did not receive the full €1800. The parental allowance office adds up the last 12 salaries, divides by 12 for the average salary, and then somehow deducts taxes as a lump sum. And the shift allowances are somehow partially deducted. So I would not count on €1800 in that case.

6. I am very happy that so far we have no financial liabilities, so my husband as our main earner could also take 2 months parental leave. Maybe it will be our only child and you never get that first time back.

7. As a mother or father, staying at home for a certain period is (fortunately in Germany) a very individual decision. Some get cabin fever at home, others suddenly cannot imagine giving their child away. Sometimes your child also throws a wrench in the works because they are sick or have a very hard time settling in. Or the daycare is constantly closed due to staff shortages and emergency care. Every family is different. In our circle of friends, we have experienced everything. I also wouldn’t have thought I would stay at home for 2 years, but getting a childcare place isn’t that easy either.

8. Daycare is sometimes extremely expensive. (The above-mentioned friend paid €700/month for one child). Depending on how much you earn part-time in tax class 5, “it hardly pays off to give the child away.” (This varies from federal state to federal state and from city to city and/or is income-dependent.)

9. If you plan to have 2 or more children and your wife becomes pregnant quickly after the first child (this was often the case in our circle of friends), you should know that she will hardly get any parental allowance because she probably will not have worked full-time for a full year between the two children. They always calculate the last 12 months. If it was only parental allowance and a little part-time, there won’t be €1800 parental allowance with the second child.

That was probably too detailed now. These are our current experiences and I believe much of this is not very clear to you in your current life situation. It may be different for many and some just go through with it and that’s that. But I think you should take this topic seriously. Buying a house as a couple and taking out such a loan can put a lot of strain on your relationship. Personally, I would also be very unhappy if I were forced to work full time again as soon as possible with a child because of an expensive house purchase.

Best regards

I don’t really want to skim through the 12 pages here, but I want to briefly share how it was for us.
At the beginning of 2022, we signed the financing for our new build without significant equity (€10,000). Both of us were in our late 20s at the time.
Our salary back then:
He 2,900 € net (also IT), she 2,100 € net (educator). Purchase price including additional costs 550,000 €.

We didn’t hear from any bank that it wouldn’t be possible. However, interest rates have partly risen quite a lot. In the end, we signed with Volksbank at around 2.4%, with 2% repayment. That is now €1,970 per month. We split this into two loans, 50/50. Our bank advisor at Volksbank configured it like this because we wanted a 30-year fixed interest rate, which was only offered by our Volksbank at very high interest rates. So one half now has a 10-year fixed interest rate. The other half 30 years through another bank. We are quite happy with that.
Our bank advisor was really competent and had everything in view that I had googled and researched here in the forum back then. We talked about parental leave, sickness absences, etc. with him and thoroughly discussed and calculated everything, both based on our figures and their flat rates.
You can calculate for yourself how much money you have left with a €2,500 installment in the end. You can check what property tax, garbage, etc. costs in your municipality. Personally, I approached the whole thing like a work project and tried to keep as many emotions as possible out of it and calculated a pain threshold for the loan. Always neatly entered in Excel. We budgeted around €1,500 per month for leisure and food. I think that’s quite livable. I also created several columns in Excel back then (both working / parental leave she / unemployment benefit she / unemployment benefit he, etc.). If both lose their jobs, then presumably 90% here in the forum lose their house. That’s just how it is.
For us, that was a maximum €2,000 installment. You also want to be able to go on vacation at least once a year, etc.

By now it’s been two years and we live in the house. So far it’s all working out very well, and even the additional costs are much lower than expected in our case. I had calculated just under €500 back then; realistically we are more like €300 (we pay, for example, €9 property tax per month for almost 350 sqm. That’s cheaper than Netflix). In the two years, we both have also received several pay raises and overall we now have about €500 more net. I would definitely do it the same way again.

However, I agree with many comments here that I wouldn’t simply recommend this across the board, but as an IT professional you can at least not be stupid. Think it through and calculate well. Keep in mind that you probably won’t be able to go on vacation for the first 1-2 years after moving because a lot of money goes into the house at the beginning (furniture, garden, etc.). You also want to make it nice for yourself.

I signed for around 2.4% with 2% repayment.

but the interest rates are currently at 4% or even higher for a 100% financing

That is of course true, therefore my detailed explanation. Calculate the absolute pain threshold and then approach the banks to explore possible options. Always keep the truly absolute pain threshold in mind. If you then find a suitable loan, you can start the project. If not, then not.