Single-family house: Is the rate realistic? How much house can we afford?

By the way: I am currently still saving 700€ in ETFs. Added to the cold rent, this results in an exercise over the past year of 2,000€, without us being restricted by it even remotely. I don't necessarily have to save in ETFs during the first years of construction, since I, as a "civil servant," am not so urgently dependent on private retirement provision. At least I hope so, you never know...

You should urgently reconsider the ETF now with falling stock prices. If you really want to build within a manageable period, every bit of equity is worth its weight in gold, so you really can't afford to lose money through stock speculation now and in the near future. The likely profit from stocks in 10 years is of no use to you if the price development is negative for the next 3 years and you need the money in two years.....

An "interesting" house does not have to be expensive or designed by an architect, so you can certainly realize your wish.

- My fiancée had a period without a job after graduation and found it awful. Since she would also like to switch to a remote job, she firmly believes that she won't remain jobless for several years. Of course, it would be better if the installment could be paid by me alone...

- Commuting is annoying, true. However, with home office and weekly on-call duty, I will only have to commute 30km 2-3 days a week. In addition, I am eyeing a position in the city 10km away. But you just have to wait for something to become available there.

Thanks to you too for the assessment! I also think we are less vulnerable with the uneven distribution.

The kitchen doesn't have to be super fancy - why should it? I never said that I need a mega kitchen. The equipment for the hobby "coffee" is already all there anyway. I even explicitly said that I don't necessarily have to make any further purchases. Except for the beans - but I would need those with any other machine as well?

I also don't tell someone who likes to drive cars that they better not build a house, because a Ferrari costs so much that they couldn't afford the house anymore - even though the person means to be happy and content with their Skoda Octavia?

That's why I already reduced it to €200 last month. :)