Sell the parents' apartment and buy a house with the parents

Hello dear house-building forum members.

We are currently in an unfavorable situation. We live in an apartment that I really can’t stand much longer, but simply can’t find another apartment because a) we have pets and b) we are not an elderly couple. In addition, the parents of my partner own a condominium, which is currently being paid off with a monthly installment of around €200. Since neither of them works full-time anymore (she can no longer work and he works part-time on a €400 basis on the side), they cannot even afford the €200 installment. So we are paying it at the moment. This is not ideal for us, since we have not found an apartment (for 3 years), we wanted to save up for a house. Our idea now was to sell the parents’ apartment (worth about €70,000 minus €15,000 outstanding debt) and, with my building society savings contract (€8,000 + loan, soon to be full and also soon to be allocated) and some additional savings (another €3,000), buy a house with a granny flat. This is not going to be an action like being in the house tomorrow... However, since we are still quite young ourselves, we don’t know if this is feasible, who can advise us, where we can turn to... It just can’t go on like this... We have water stains all over the apartment and the landlord says; just paint over them!! Also, the apartment is too small, not to mention that the kitchen and bathroom together are not even 10 sqm and we cannot put a washing machine in. Many thanks for your help bluebell

You can get some help here, or you can go to an independent financial advisor. He can calculate for you what you can afford.

But from your information, I estimate that your income is low, otherwise there would be more than €3000 in savings.
You are probably not aware of how much building a house costs, especially if an [Einliegerwohnung] is included.

By the way, you are building the house alone since the parents-in-law are not financially capable. The bank will not consider them as co-buyers.

If you state something about your financial resources and wishes here, you can get an approximate price of what the whole thing could cost you.

So, thanks first of all. We earn a net (about) 1700€ (+13 + 14 salary) + 1450€ (+13th). The father additionally receives just under 1000€ pension and 400€ from a side job, the mother NOTHING! We actually had saved significantly more, 7000€, but unfortunately some things came up and we had to dip into the savings. But we actually want to buy rather than build... it doesn’t have to be new, the only important thing is a decent ceiling height (tall man) and a good basic structure. I have an electrician in the family... For that we need a not quite small house... for us there should be a bedroom + 3 "children's rooms". The parents need a living room and a bedroom...

I can give a very rough answer, I am not a financial expert or advisor.

When I see your income, I think that your property should definitely not exceed €250,000. You can use the apartment to pay for necessary renovations. I don’t know how it is with you, but here you only get dilapidated places and ruins for €250,000. Then you have at least €100,000 on the renovation bill.
You won’t manage more than €1000 monthly financing rate that way. Don’t count the 13th and 14th monthly salaries, because they are often cut by employers in bad times.
How much do your parents-in-law want to pay as "rent"? Or can they, if they already can’t pay the €200 now?

Keyword children’s room: If children are planned, I unfortunately see black for you with house purchase. His salary is not enough to compensate for everything.

Ok, and how much do you think one should earn to be able to buy a house???

a blue or a red house?

Joking aside: The question cannot be answered. It depends. For every €100,000 loan, you should be able to afford €500 monthly as a rate. This covers the basic needs, but you pay the bank for 40 years... then it is cheaper to rent. Moreover, in my opinion, you should not spend more than 30% of your total income on house tiles as a mandatory part. Prepayments are always possible if you have money left over.

How much do you currently pay in cold rent, and how much do you have left every month? I mean, your total income is okay, but it also has to fit your lifestyle. If there are two cars and many "luxury hobbies," then €3000 net can quickly be too little. Therefore, you should write down everything you need and go to a financial expert with it. They can tell you what you can afford for the next 20 years. And with that, you can start searching for real estate. And as I said, depending on the location, you get more or less for your money.