Slowly but doubt about financing

Yes, that is of course already a danger. One should perhaps wait the 10 years or rather not rely on the house being preserved. But whether someone can save "some" money has less to do with reason than with how wealthy one is. Someone scraping by on subsistence level has no chance to save. Often one cannot even pay for the funeral. Just recently another such case in the family.

Hello,

if I now summarize the general tone and evaluate the pros and advice, I am left with the following three options:

1. Wait a few (e.g. five) years

Advantage: €30,000-€40,000 more equity, thus slightly better conditions (if the interest rate does not rise)
Disadvantage: blowing €50,000 to €60,000 on (cold) rent and the mortgage will extend into retirement age

2. Build smaller/cheaper

Advantage: somewhat lower risk
Disadvantage: I live in a compromise house for the rest of my life with still immense debt and high monthly burden

3. Don’t build

Advantage: none
Disadvantage: at least €500,000 (cold) rent wasted for life, no ownership, uncertainty (what if the landlord kicks me out??), few personal realization possibilities (garden design, neighbors, etc.)

So I only have the choice between the plague and cholera...

Well, building something a bit smaller than calling it a plague, some would certainly love that plague! Surely everyone has their own ideas and wishes, but many here have probably had to say goodbye to some of them. The option to wait is actually not an option for me, especially not if I have to pay rent in the meantime. On the one hand, you don’t know what interest rates will do in 5 years, even though I see that as rather uncritical. But construction costs keep rising, so that additional equity is quickly eaten up, especially if you are still paying rent. If 120m² is already the limit and someone would recommend building only 100m², I would agree with you. But a house with 150 - 160m² is absolutely fine, unless you have 5 children and need 2 offices, etc...

But a house with 150 - 160m² is absolutely fine, unless you have 5 children and still need 2 offices, etc...

I even agree with you on that. Especially if it is well planned and cleverly divided. However, I do not see the HUGE savings potential in 20m² less that would eliminate the doubts here. If I calculate with about €2,000 per m² construction costs, that results in a saving of €40,000. Sure, that is a lot of money by itself. However, that then only means a loan of €460,000 instead of €500,000. That does not change much about the risk and the conditions.

If anything, I would have to save at least €100,000 somewhere to get significant improvements here. Since land prices and sizes are fixed (€250/m² for 520m² to 550m²), and ancillary costs are more or less fixed, the only option left is to build the house SIGNIFICANTLY smaller. That would leave only about €250,000 instead of approximately €350,000. So something around 110m² to 120m².

Sure, you just have to consider whether a possible 50 k€ would help you, I think it would. Of course, I agree with you that you don’t want to build 120m² if you actually have nearly 200 in mind...

Where is the option with [Bestandsbau]? You can save quite a bit there. Emphasis on "can," you have to be lucky and do it right (expert...). More equity isn't necessarily required, it can also be a full financing (but I would never go over 100%, that's simply too expensive). However, then with a correspondingly high repayment.