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

may I ask: I thought you were a judge? Aren't you usually (or not so usually) welcomed on site?

There are other professions with R-pay grades besides the judiciary. :) In the medium term, I would like to be a judge again, preferably in the small town 10km away from the developed land. However, since the court is small, you simply have to wait until something becomes available.

What I read from your posts is that you are aware of your overall elevated standard of living. That is not a bad thing. It only becomes problematic if you cannot handle it. Buy the Slayer in 10 years and everything will be fine. Approach the whole thing appropriately. Try not to go too high with the rate. If salary increases are certain, also pay attention to repayment changes or special repayments.

We definitely agree on that. However, we have simply afforded many things because it was financially possible and we didn’t see a direct “saving purpose.” We have still saved quite a bit, but the decision that we definitely want to build only happened not that long ago. Often the thought was: why put another 1,000 € in the account? I’ll just buy x/y/z now.

As soon as the money is needed elsewhere (for the house), that’s just how it is. We are really honest with ourselves about that, and I see very little risk that we are stuck in a “luxury spiral.”

By the way, a Slayer doesn’t really tempt me; I’d rather mod my LMLM. :p

Repayment changes and special repayments have already been topics here, and I will definitely think about them more carefully.

That’s why I actually assume that maybe a few restrictions will be necessary during the first years (which we are aware of and accept), but that it will become much easier at some point...

I dare to claim that you will hardly or not at all notice the "restrictions of the first few years" because you will be so happy about your house, the garden, the proximity to family, the wedding, etc., and will be occupied with all kinds of projects, so that any restrictions may recede into the background or will not weigh heavily. Your family will keep you busy as well. ;-) All the best to you; you will certainly have fun and joy, and I am happy with you. :)

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Of course, we live in uncertain times. But with secure income and a reasonably moderate approach to building and lifestyle, in my opinion this is an absolutely safe bet.

Thank you for your input. This is also the conclusion I have drawn for myself from the previous posts so far. Of course, there are always risks, and of course you have to adapt to your means. This is exactly what I wanted to narrow down a bit more with the thread, which I have indeed succeeded in doing. For that, I already thank all the writers!

Of course, a "court usher" will be able to build, as a civil servant he can even find a bank that will finance him up to 100 times his monthly net income.
The only question here is whether it makes sense to go into debt that high, and maybe a few critical remarks can help.
Otherwise, one might eventually discover that the IKEA kitchen no longer quite matches the luxury coffee machine with portafilter, or in the circle of colleagues, wonderful distant trips are talked about, but one's own financing is too tight.....

Criticism is always welcome. However, it is not a one-way street.

If you, for example, "criticize" that one should definitely budget money for a super expensive kitchen, but I say that we do not need a super expensive kitchen, one can accept that as well.

Yes, maybe the IKEA kitchen no longer fits in one's own house. But between an "absolute luxury kitchen that breaks the entire financing" and "IKEA," thankfully there are dozens of alternatives.

And even if the kitchen no longer pleases at some point: don't you think that with the normal half-life of a kitchen, a new one would eventually be due? At least kitchens among all my friends, family, acquaintances... last at least 20 years, mostly even longer. It's really not as if I put in an IKEA kitchen and think two years later that now I definitely need one for 50k+.

By the way, in the circle of colleagues, they are already constantly reporting about distant trips. I am happy for the colleagues and think for myself that I have different priorities. Of course, I would also like to do a round trip through California someday (if it still exists then...). But that's just not in the top 10 on the priority list, but... somewhere down there.

That is true and also matches my experience. In my opinion, bay windows, dormers, roof windows or conservatories do not necessarily make a house interesting. But a stairwell tower certainly does. :)

I think I will start the lively thread in the next few days. For me, it is entirely different things that make a building interesting. Different textures of the materials, colors, exterior cladding, interplay of space and furniture, ... :)