Purchase or construction in Berlin / surrounding areas, realistic?

Hello everyone,
I wasn't quite sure where to put this topic because we are currently still exploring options. Since ultimately money is always the deciding factor, I think I'm best placed in this section of the forum.

I’ll first post the current situation and then our specific thoughts and questions.

General information about you:

[*
Who are you? C + E, couple, unmarried (if necessary, this can be changed quickly, but currently not planned)
[*]How old are you? 28
[*]Are there children? no
[*]Are children planned? no
[*]What do you do professionally? She is an IT product manager, he is a software developer
[*]Are you employed, self-employed, retired, housewife, househusband, etc...? Both full-time employees, well past probation period
[*]How many hours do you work? 40h


Income and asset situation:



[*]What income do you have (gross/net)? He: 1800 / She: 2300 (net, rounded per month)
[*]How much child benefit do you receive? 0
[*]Other transfer payments such as parental allowance, sick pay, etc...? 0
[*]How much equity do you have? around 60,000 possibly could borrow something from family if needed
[*]How much equity do you want to put into the house project? The financial advisor calculated about €40,000, my gut feeling says more might be possible, but I wouldn’t want to calculate too tight now.


Expenditure situation:
Expenses that are already included in other items can of course be left out. This list is not exhaustive and can be expanded or summarized as desired. Please make sure to state all costs monthly, even if they only occur annually!

Housing costs (monthly)



[*]Rent: €750
[*]Electricity: €78 (calculated from annual amount)
[*]Additional costs: €100 (calculated from annual amount)
[*]Phone, Internet, mobile phone: €40



Other:



[*]Monthly ticket for bus and train (also for the children!): already deducted directly from the salary above
[*]Car loan (or savings rate for a new car): /
[*]Car insurance + tax etc + workshop: €150
[*]Miscellaneous (insurance, mobile phone, private expenses last year, etc)
[LIST]
[*]He: €193
[*]She: €330

Living costs:

[*]Groceries/drugstore/clothing etc: €580

Savings contributions:

[*]Already included above

Other expenses:

[*]Broadcasting contribution: €18.36

Income and expenditure totals:

[*]Total income: €4100 per month (+- achievement bonuses etc. but these are neither fixed nor significantly above one monthly salary, so negligible)
[*]Total expenses: 2239
[*]Balance: 1861
[*]of which total cold rent and dispensable savings contributions (e.g., savings rate for house): 750

General information about the property:

Originally, we had decided on purchasing an existing property, among other things so that we can get out of renting quickly. Now we want to at least explore all possibilities. We have not yet found THE house/land, so below are just a few key data points of what we would imagine. Any input on how best to realize our dream of homeownership is of course welcome.

Key data:
(or also "dream wishes")
Single-family house, in the east/northeast area of Berlin/surroundings, approx. 120 m², basement, rather no bungalow, detached, larger plot (or lots of "garden area"), inside we can do quite a lot ourselves, also in the garden, only the structure should be sound, as we cannot contribute much ourselves there.

According to the first calculation with a financial advisor, we should look for existing properties in the range of €400,000 - €450,000. However, in our search area, there are hardly any properties in this range. At most foreclosures, but I just don’t know if we can handle something like that (and the bid would also have to stay within that range).
We have been advised to increase equity (possibly borrow within the family, which we will pursue further) and search privately. Without broker commission (we had hypothetically calculated 7.1%), properties up to €500,000 or more would also be possible (because then other loans become available again).

I am now a bit at a loss as to how we should proceed. Is it worth looking in the area of land and new construction, or better focus only on existing properties? As you can see, the lack of equity is a bit of a setback for us. But the problem does not get any smaller with existing properties because a lot of money might have to be invested in renovation/repairs. Especially regarding the roof/heating/insulation etc...

I am hoping for some exchange and of course further ideas or things that we may not have considered yet.

Thank you very much
C

Hi first of all, as a fellow Berliner, I have to say that in the current calculation it is rather unlikely that you will catch something in the catchment area, let alone afford it. But I also have to say that your salaries seem a bit low to me for your jobs, even in Berlin. The IT industry is booming in Berlin at the moment, so a quick job change with up to a 20% salary increase should be possible. Sure, you start over during the probation period, but that gives you the opportunity to save more equity again (although you probably can't keep up with the increase in construction costs). Then the question would be whether you shouldn't rather look for a condominium in the outskirts, so just still B or even C. There are also ground floor apartments with garden shares. Or even a condominium and then a community garden? Those are sometimes quite cheap in the villages. Not in Berlin, you can forget about that.

Meal time,

I also think that you should considerably expand your radius if you want to strike with your price expectations. It’s already tough in the immediate metropolitan area of [Berlin]. Acquiring an existing property would be a very big coincidence and luck. Nevertheless, I wish you much success and a lucky hand in your search for land and property.

Hello fellow Berliners!
Thanks first of all for the feedback, that’s what we thought too, which is why our first step was to go to a financial advisor to even see what would be feasible.

My boyfriend is definitely very poorly paid, but he also doesn’t do the "fancy programming," i.e. no web stuff. Whether he wants to change jobs is unclear, we have already talked about it, especially because his work might also exist in other industries – automotive, for example..
My salary is certainly not great either, but I will get an adjustment next year, it just hasn’t been negotiated yet. I don’t currently want to change jobs, I enjoy my other privileges with this job too much for that. We’ve really only been in the job for 3 years anyway.

We currently live in "grade noch B/C," ideally we would like to live further out. As far as I’m concerned, much further is fine, but I also work (and will continue to work for the most part) from home. We haven’t looked into ETWs yet, in my mind the purchase prices for ETWs are already around 400k, maybe we’re even better off renting there?
A allotment garden is absolutely out of the question, we’re just not the right type of people for that :)

Well, you might still get a condo for 400K EUR (in the less desirable area and probably smaller), but definitely not a single-family house.
Regarding rent vs ownership: you're always paying off the house/apartment. The question is just whose...
If thanks to [HO] you can also move far out, try the district of Elbe-Elster, Prignitz, or Uckermark.
They should still be reasonably affordable. But there is usually a need for renovation and more and more Berliners are slowly discovering the province and come loaded with a lot of startup bonuses.
Maybe you even have to move further to Saxony or Saxony-Anhalt.

Hold on, I may have phrased that incorrectly: I have a home office option, but unfortunately that is naturally not possible for him. That means we would have to stay roughly in the area around Werneuchen/ Strausberg/ Rüderdorf.

We have family in the EE district, Spreewald, etc., but that would be too far for daily commuting.

With a renovation backlog, the question is of course what exactly needs to be done. If the building fabric is still okay, quite a bit could probably still be done. (we are not that old yet)

The tenor here is quite sobering, basically the tenor is going in the direction of: definitely no building, maybe buying, but only very far out or no house?