Should I afford a house?

Hello,
first of all, I greet all home planners and owners here in the forum. Actually, we are planning to buy a condominium, but before we regret it, I want to dare to look into the prospect of owning a house.

Can we build (have built) a house with land and everything needed for 200,000€ (komplett)?

I understand that such a question cannot be answered in general, so here are a few details about our ideas:
120 sqm living space, no basement, terraced house or detached doesn't matter, prefabricated house or solid construction doesn't matter.

The most important thing for us is to have our own home at all, and a house would be nicer than a condo.
Current land tenders in our town show prices around 300€/sqm or plot prices from 60,000 to 100,000€ for build-ready land.

Now the question arises whether we can, even with compromises, build (have built) a house at all.
We are not the best craftsmen but can manage some things following instructions.
I think there are certainly some homeowners in our financial range who have documented all costs and know exactly whether it is possible.
It would be nice if you could advise us here.

So we have been dealing with the topic since last year and I would spontaneously say: Doesn't work! Not for 200 K! How does your equity look, for example? And where is the house supposed to be located?

We also wanted to build a [REH], the land price was about 45k and we have 50k equity. The final price should be around 230k for us, but we wouldn't have made it with that. Are you calculating 200k + additional costs or should the property transfer tax, notary, etc. also be included? Then definitely not... I wouldn’t necessarily rely on personal contribution either... it has often been explained here that you can only save limited costs this way, unless you are an exceptional top craftsman, and you still have material costs.

If it absolutely has to be a home you own, why don't you look for an existing property? There should be something possible in that price range. We just bought our dream house, 20 years old, for 197 K. But we also have a garage, a basement, and a landscaped garden, and only need to renovate for 5k initially.

Had to smile briefly, because that was also the first question we asked ourselves. And to make it short, no, that will never work. !!!!

If you want to buy a plot of land, and it should be for a detached single-family house, you need about 400 sqm. With the land prices, you are already out 150,000 just for the plot. For land prices below the usual prices, pay close attention to whether it is fully developed or if additional foundation measures are required. The devil is often in the details here.

A house without additional building costs will cost you turnkey something between 180,000 and 230,000 if you do without luxury and don’t want more than 140 sqm living space. It doesn’t matter at all whether wood or solid... good quality always costs the same (a lot). An initially cheap offer you can almost 100% later set at the same price level as a supposedly expensive offer.

Additional building costs are always between 25,000 and 40,000. Then come the costs for parking space, kitchen, furniture, terrace, and outdoor facilities, so that you will probably end up between 300,000 and 400,000 given the land prices in your area.

The truth hurts.

Our house with 150 sqm living space costs 220,000 €. For 110 sqm it would be almost 30,000 less. Then with us come 43,000 additional building costs and another 15,000 for the outdoor facilities, 10,000 for the garage and 12,000 for the kitchen... And we are building without a basement and everything relatively normal I would say. KfW 55 is the only luxury in the house. That cost us about 10,000 extra compared to KfW 70.

When everything is done, our building will have a 4 rating upfront.
But you only build once .... hehe

ok. Clear words. Thank you very much for that. As I said, it is important to us to have our own home. The form is secondary. We have no problem with a condominium or a used house. However, I am quite surprised when I look at your house costs. Detached and 150 sqm about 400,000, there must be a terraced house with 110-120 sqm for half that price. But apparently, I am wrong there. Maybe I could also do 250,000, but I wouldn’t dare more. The prefab house providers really mislead you quite a bit. They offer houses for 120,000. I don’t need a garage. Neither do I need a basement. A terrace is enough for us as well. I thought then 250 sqm of land for 75,000 would be enough. Then I would still have 55,000 for the rest. But not a cent more. I will continue to observe and also follow Lythalia’s suggestion.

We have no problem with a condominium or a used house. However, I am quite surprised when I look at your house costs. Detached and 150 sqm around 400,000, then a terraced house with 110-120 sqm should be available for half the price. But apparently, I am wrong about that. The prefab house providers really mislead people. They offer houses for 120,000.-. I don’t need a garage. No basement either. One terrace is enough for us. I thought then 250 sqm of land for 75,000.- would be enough. Then I would still have 55,000.- for the rest. But not a cent more. I will keep observing and also follow Lythalia’s suggestion.

We wanted to build exactly in that size range, but that is simply not feasible. These offers are just bait, and in the end, you either have a house with minimum standards where half is missing or you have to pay a lot extra. See numerous “construction botch” programs. Everyone should be clear that a house costs a certain amount – and if most reputable providers offer a house for around 200k (without everything else), how can others build the house for tens of thousands less? By the way, beyond a certain sqm number, building does not get much more expensive if you add more sqm. Thus, the calculation that 110 sqm costs about half doesn’t work. How long have you been dealing with the topic of a house? We started about a year ago and got super lucky with the house now (that’s part of it, because the market near us is pretty cleaned out). My advice therefore: read a lot (in forums like this)… then you get a feeling for what is possible and what is not and how the prices are composed. We went through several phases: 1. The naïve search phase: looked for existing properties and found nothing… 2. The naïve “we build” phase: found a residential area and plot, were persuaded that it all fits, and then went into deeper planning. Luckily, we had not signed any purchase contracts or similar because the longer we planned, the more money we had to spend in the end. A garage, landscaping, and basement were out of the question! The living area would only have been about 110 sqm. At some point, we hit the emergency brake and realized that building is not for us. We also didn’t want to be too tight financially with the financing, etc. 3. The enlightened existing property search: Now we took our time, visited houses, informed ourselves a lot, and really looked for a house where everything fits – because with a new build, we would’ve had to make compromises: no basement – now we have one, garage only later – now there is one included, etc. That one is right: you (hopefully) only build once… and I think you should only do it if you can calmly afford to invest enough money to realize your dream house without ifs and buts… I don’t want to live in a shack with 1000 compromises where I know: Actually, I would have preferred to do this and that differently, but there wasn’t enough money… It wouldn’t have been enough for us… and yet we found a little house that fits us and is fully within the budget – just 20 years old. Regarding the topic of a condominium: I’m not a fan… I’d rather keep renting – because you are not more than a better tenant with a condominium. Our goal was: No more people living in the same house with us…

I thought 250sqm of land would be enough for 75,000.-

remember that boundary distances must also be observed! the building plot is usually significantly smaller than the actual property! with a terraced house, these boundaries to the left and right naturally do not apply, but with a detached single-family house, it is hardly possible with 250m² of land!