Rent a house or buy/build? How did you decide?

In Germany, homeownership is always a luxury. At least in the Germany where I live and especially here in the East. Walk through the country and ask the "normal" workers if they rent and if so, why do you think that is?

That is because especially in rural areas the rents are (still) cheap. With rising rents, the desire for ownership increases. And luxury is defined differently by everyone. Our new condominium is by no means a luxury.

At the end of the day, homeownership is a luxury and not an investment (except for the appreciation of land value). Just one example: I was at the hardware store at least 5 times last week and definitely spent >1000 EUR...for a bit of gardening. On top of that, there's the 2000 EUR Husqvarna for the lawn. I probably wouldn't have these costs in a rental apartment. There, I would have invested the 3000 EUR in the stock market and held it for more than 7 years. 7 years is the statistical threshold after which you would always (at least in the past) have achieved >2% annual return.

You wouldn’t have that in a rental apartment because you wouldn’t have a garden either, and if you did, the landlord wouldn’t cover it. In the apartment, you have a standard setup; everything else you’d also have to pay for out of your own pocket.

Rising rents are the reason why we are building a house. And we are building because existing houses (some older ones) are ridiculously expensive and they also sell within a few weeks. In fact, the resale value has actually doubled. It depends on where you build, but in our region (the Frankfurt area), prices will never drop, simply because there is too little space available.

t. It depends on where you build, but in our region (Frankfurt area) prices will never fall in a million years because there is simply too little space available.

Never say never. How prices can collapse in a very short time has been seen in the USA or Spain. Just let the two big German banks in Frankfurt go bankrupt (how well they are doing can be seen in their stock prices) and then a few other foreign institutions move away, then prices in Frankfurt should also tumble.

For us, the question did not arise.

There are no rental apartments or they are more than rare. Those who are lucky enough to snag one pay very, very little rent. There are no houses for rent. Old buildings are traded for a price that makes you wonder where the gold vein or the oil source is. Renovate parents-in-law’s house. A lot of money is needed, living with parents-in-law in the house (although I have the best mother-in-law), no daycare place anymore, double commute.

My sister in Cologne pays for her apartment pretty much exactly what we pay monthly for interest and repayment for our house. OK, in addition, we certainly have higher utility costs and we have an annual special repayment. But for that, we will be debt-free in 16 years and will only have utility costs + maintenance.

I dispute that gardening costs differ significantly between home ownership and tenancy. Basic initial installation is of course excluded and naturally only within comparable forms of housing. As always, if you want luxury, you have to pay for it. In any case, I have never met a landlord who provides a Husqvarna(-robot?). If they provide a lawnmower at all, it’s more likely the Aldi device. Moreover, as an owner you have much more freedom in your maintenance investments. There is quite a bit of time between "you might want to replace it, it’s no longer optimal" and "it’s seriously broken, must be replaced NOW," during which you are either at the mercy of your landlord’s will or can decide for yourself.

I dispute that garden costs differ significantly between home ownership and rental. Basic initial installation is of course excluded and obviously only within comparable types of housing. As always, if you want luxury, you have to pay for it. I certainly haven't met a landlord who puts a Husqvarna (robot?) there. If they even provide a lawnmower, it's more likely the Aldi device. In addition, when you own, you are much freer in your maintenance investments. Considerable time can pass between "you might replace it sometime, it's no longer optimal" and "it's seriously broken, must be replaced NOW," during which you are at the mercy of your landlord's arbitrariness. Or you can decide yourself.

People... are you really making such a fuss or what? Of course I do not claim that the garden in the rental apartment is more expensive than in the house. IN THE RENTAL APARTMENT you USUALLY HAVE NO GARDEN!!! Houses without gardens are rather the exception!!! Man!!