Question regarding the feasibility of financing

Erlangen is formally a large city because Höchstadt belongs to it, but it feels more like a small town.

Höchstadt belongs to the district of Erlangen, but not to the city.

I myself grew up in a town with 40,000 inhabitants. So a small town is enough. But there really aren't any here or the square meter prices don't even come close to the range you mentioned. So in this case you have to weigh whether you want to save 200€/sqm but then have to commute 1-1.5 hours daily each or not. If there was a town within <30min distance that has a lot of nature, at least 20,000 inhabitants, and the square meter price would be <500€ (still a lot, but quite affordable), I would seriously consider it. As far as I know, that doesn't exist.

Hirschaid is not a city, but from there you can be in Erlangen a Hugo or in Bruck in 5 minutes by train (or A73). For 12,000 inhabitants quite nice and in 10 minutes you are with the train in Bamberg.

And why should I take care of my parents in Poland when we have all been living in Germany for 30 years? I'm curious about the reasoning...

Whether Poland or somewhere else in Germany doesn't matter, that has nothing to do with Poland.
From Berlin to Poland is closer than from us to Rostock...
Personally, anything over 10-20km would be too much to drive daily (multiple times?).

Why should I live in an apartment when I would rather live in a house and we can afford it?
But yes, of course, that is otherwise an alternative if it is not possible otherwise.
In our case, we would then stay in our beautiful 100sqm in the parental home, even if that is hard for some to understand.

Whether Poland or somewhere else in Germany doesn't matter, that has nothing to do with Poland. From Berlin to Poland is closer than from us to Rostock... Personally, anything over 10-20 km would be too much to drive daily (multiple times?). Why should I live in an apartment if I prefer to live in a house and it is financially possible for us? But yes, of course, that is otherwise an alternative if it is not possible otherwise. In our case, we would stay in our beautiful 100sqm in the parental home, even if that is hard for some to understand

You brought the country Poland into the discussion; if it were not important, you wouldn't have mentioned it... As long as it is possible for you and not you + your parents, it's completely okay. As I said, these are two different points of view. For me personally, I don't want my child to take on the burden of caring for me. Visiting in a nursing or retirement home gladly, but not caregiving.

Why does "seeing something of the world" always mean needing long-haul flights somewhere? Have you already seen everything within a radius of 1000km?

Well, quite simply: Because the "world" certainly doesn't end after 1000km, and there are actually people who are interested, for example, in countries and cultures that lie further away than 1000km. There are also really beautiful beaches, for example in the Caribbean or SEA. I could go on for pages... I actually just wanted to express that something like this is fundamentally difficult to implement with a relatively low income if you are already planning property at the limit of your financial possibilities. You have to necessarily be satisfied with the small radius, even if you would like to go further away sometimes.

But that is a matter of attitude. People who feel poor with 5,000€ come from families where money often didn't play a role or are part of a generation of inheritance... We are happy and with that I just wanted to say that with our income we were able to afford an apartment for 380,000€ and we still don't have that much money. Most probably drive fancy cars, have several loans running, etc...

I believe you don't want to understand me. Your condominium is definitely not located in one of the cities I mentioned, right? There you would probably have paid twice as much, which is absolutely impossible to afford for people with your income. And yes, in Frankfurt, already in 2016 as double earners with 5k net income, one was BELOW the median. That means that 50% earned more than the aforementioned 5k. Thus, with that income one was not a high earner in Frankfurt even 4 years ago and with 100% certainty will not become one.

I think you don’t want to understand me. Your condominium is definitely not located in one of the cities I mentioned, right? There you would probably have paid twice as much, which is absolutely impossible to afford for people with your income. And yes, in Frankfurt in 2016, as a dual earner with a net income of 5k, you were UNDER the median. That means that 50% earned more than the said 5k. So, with that income, you were not a high earner in Frankfurt even 4 years ago and with 100% certainty you will not become one.

My condolences. No, we live near Freiburg.