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

But maybe I'm mistaken. Is there actually the possibility to change installments afterwards? For example, I could well imagine starting with €2,500, lowering to €2,000 during the "birth phase" of the 2 children, and then increasing again when my wife goes back to work (and I have further fixed salary increases).

That depends on your loan agreement; for example, with us, three changes between 1-8% repayment are free of charge. Otherwise, we could prepay 10% of the total sum annually – so you don't have to adjust the installment, just be consistent in "setting aside" the amount.

What is currently happening with the difference? I suspect some mix of "saving" and "consuming"? I would just honestly take another look at where the money is going. (possibly there's also something like vacation and "treating yourself" and so on...) If you then feel more comfortable, it might be worthwhile to keep a household budget book. […] I'm not an expert, but it's more about being honest with yourself. […] I consider a 2500 installment basically manageable for you (mandatory, this is not financial advice :D)

Thanks to you too for the feedback! In fact, our expenses are recorded using a household budget book, so these are not rough estimates, it actually fits like that. Your guess is also correct – the rest then stays in the account, sometimes part of it goes into the fund, or there is new technology, which is purely conscious luxury – that we could definitely do without for our dream house. It simply feels good to read that my calculation is not completely absurd and far-fetched because I forgot all sorts of things and the installment would be unrealistic. :-)

annual special repayments

I also consider this the appropriate structure.

Set an affordable rate for parental leave. And then make special repayments with the rest. 10% is already very high (and unrealistic?). 5% is definitely within the range of what can actually be used.

I also consider this the appropriate construct. Set a manageable rate for parental leave. And then use the rest for special repayments. 10% is already very high (and unrealistic?). 5% is definitely within the range of what can actually be used.

I see it the same way. We should manage with our rate even during parental leave; if not, one could calmly go down once and then back up again. We certainly won’t be able to fully utilize the 10% at first. It’s different with an inheritance, but then you have to see where the money saves the most or generates returns. I would always prefer special repayments if you want to pay off more than the monthly rate. You should save the interest surcharge for changes and keep the "free" changes in case you really need to reduce the rate.

I would see it this way – you are then in an area where you can get land cheaply. […] That’s where the interesting point comes into play – what kind of house is supposed to be built there? […] But just take 500,000€ including ancillary construction costs, plus your almost 100,000€ that in the worst case went into an additional plot of land. With a repayment rate of 2.5%, that would actually result in a 2,500€ installment. Initially, that is of course quite a lot, and with additional costs you are quite close to 3,000€ for living. I would find that somewhat too high for a main earner. But if you manage it with your land, so you have 500,000€ hypothetical construction costs, ~90,000 equity to deduct, and your land that has become building land for maybe 80,000€ as additional equity, the calculation will clearly come down to 2,000€ or less per month. That then sounds healthier, especially considering the children’s time..

Thank you very much for your assessment. Those were exactly the kind of answers I had “hoped” for :) We are aware that the installment would be quite high at the beginning – but that others also think it is doable, is of course very positive. In fact, we already have something architecturally somewhat more complex in mind. We love architecture and would like to build something that is not quite ordinary. That this costs extra is clear to us. With the targeted installment, equity, own contribution, and restrictions in other areas, it could very well work out. The big question for us so far has therefore been: is the installment realistic? For us, ultimately, less the size is decisive than the general feeling of living. How many sqm of this feeling of living are affordable is basically the question. With the previous answers, we can at least plan much more precisely now, for which I would like to thank all previous respondents already!

Hello ,
after living in the city,
do you even have time and desire to manage 1500sqm.
Family experience shows with us, working in the garden daily for 2-4 hours.
Don’t you have older relatives where you can join your house on their property, that makes the garden work easier for the older ones and it’s not so huge for you.

A very legitimate question, which we can answer 100% with "YES."

We both grew up in the countryside for 19 years and loved it. After nearly 1.5 decades in various large cities up to a million-inhabitant city, it is absolutely clear to us: We want to have life in the province back for ourselves.

My parents, brother, uncle, aunt with family all live within a 2-minute walking distance around us. My parents already maintain, besides their own garden, the 800sqm garden, which was built on a part of the area we are now talking about. If we need support there, we get it. :-)

The other way around, however, it is not possible: None of the family members has a suitable living structure that we could "tap into" — and honestly, as of now, we don’t want that either. I have enough negative examples among acquaintances where "parents in the house" sooner or later stopped being fun...