Swabs in object position and initial questions

Hehe: "Not bad" is for some more or less bad, for others an expression of the ultimate. You get the good medium fried filet served on a presentation plate, but you rate it as rare and not done, so inedible ;) It seems everything that matters is there.

Your city remains your city. You have the opportunity to enjoy the positive sides of the big city by visiting purposefully and can escape the negatives (noise, dirt) You will be able to have it all: the hustle and bustle of the city before and during work, relaxation and peace in the suburb’s middle-class environment after work :) Actually, the responsibility and care for your child should already make you think that way, but yes... it is also understandable if you also consider your own disadvantages ;) You have the opportunity to make the suburb your home, the big city remains your "love" (somewhat kitschy said :) ) See it as an enrichment! As it reads, you can’t even name advantages because it’s simply the feeling that causes discomfort.

I personally see it a bit more pragmatically. I have also lived in an ideal place. And now built relatively rural. But we then celebrate the few positive sides: the supermarket around the corner is cozily visited on foot on Saturdays, instead of frantically chasing parking spots in the city. Every event from the market is visited with neighbors, just like Easter bonfires and flea markets. The rest of the time is peppered with visits e.g. to the city, mostly more targeted now, but also just randomly. The garden and the peace give you an incredible amount of strength, after all, you’re not getting any younger ;) :D

Greetings

120 sqm for 210k all-inclusive? That won't work. 30-40k incidental building costs plus outdoor facilities and and and... so how much is left for the house? 1250 EUR per sqm? But you currently need at least 1600-1700 and that's just standard.

Save up equity. Whether it's a village or not, everyone has to decide for themselves. For us, it wouldn't be anything... we would have preferred a nice rental apartment. That's also very nice... no work and you can move out anytime. In the end, it's probably cheaper too :)

Regards, Steffen

120sqm for 210k all-inclusive? That won’t work.

: I totally agree with you. But I think the OP expressed themselves very unclearly, if I look at the following two passages:

Build our dream bungalow for €210,000 and even realize the outdoor facilities (at least the paving work and a carport, the rest of the area is fine). It is almost 700m2 in size, but well laid out, fully developed and fenced, and level. Through the property and savings, we would have solid equity (over 40%).

rm. Especially in our case, since the property would already be owned and would not have to be purchased for around €130,000, as would be the case on the city outskirts.

I find a 120 sqm bungalow for 4 people without a basement (?) a bit small.

@OP: of course, you can limit yourself; but I really can’t understand the 15 years. Especially since you are still under 30. A reasonable bank/financier will fix something for 30-35 years. And over time, the fixed monthly burden hurts less and less. (You don’t have this effect with rent).

So, now I will try to address everything.

120m2 for 4 people: Yes, we find that completely sufficient. We currently have 102m2 and even that is more than enough, although it’s not ideally laid out. We don't need much space and don't want a big house. The household for 102m2 is already enough for me^^.

Big city: We know our neighbors, we live quite green (looking out the back at a park = unobstructed view into greenery) and relatively quiet because it's the city outskirts. There is a warm sense of community in our building, nothing hectic or anonymous here, and parking spaces are (almost) always available^^. Just across the street in front there is a larger park where we can walk the dog. And if we really want to go into the forest, we drive 6km past the highway and we're in one. Still, we have streetcar connections more frequent than every 10 minutes plus bus connections and everything you need for shopping is within walking distance. My husband’s workplace is only 3km down the road. Our children go to a daycare with only 30 kids total (!). It is located 3km away by the city forest. Many families live here and there are many great and well-frequented playgrounds. My parents and my brother live around the corner. The city center is only 15 minutes away by train, where I also work. In the small town, the other grandparents would live on the property opposite, but the other grandparents would then again be almost 30km away. In the small town, the streetcar runs only every 20 minutes and the suburban train only every 30 minutes, which is really a big adjustment. Everything closes by 4 pm on Saturdays at the latest. Sunday bakeries? Don’t exist. Meeting other kids on playgrounds? Very rare. Switching to a larger daycare in the small town would be necessary. Specialized gymnasiums are only in the city. Our friends are spread out, so that wouldn't make much difference, especially since my best friend is now moving to the countryside and won’t live in the city anymore. Since we live on the ground floor and have the only apartment on that level, we now have the whole courtyard (about 200m2) to ourselves, so we can set up paddling pools, grill, etc. Our children don’t play on concrete surroundings and I would almost say they have no disadvantages here. We don’t live in Berlin-Mitte^^. Our city is very green and we live quite far out. 4km further the city ends.

Costs: No, 210,000€ only for a fairly small and simple bungalow without a basement. Additional costs of course not included, but we have equity (which we actually do; I don’t even know how you got the idea we have no equity and we wouldn’t be building immediately but still have time to save about 20,000€ more). Green spaces, fences, driveway, paved garden paths, old trees: all already there. The plot is fully developed as well. Sure, some work would still be needed right at the house, like making a terrace, etc. But the foundation is laid. At least the realtor would be eliminated. I think 210,000€ is doable and if a few square meters of lawn are missing in the front garden, you can add that bit by bit later.

Last night I went out to eat with a friend. Afterwards we strolled through the Christmas market and then got onto the streetcars without waiting, which took us to the doorstep within 10 and 15 minutes. Wonderful! Kids’ gymnastics, daycare, playgrounds, etc.—all right outside the door. The big one has a children’s room of over 18m2. So yes, I love my city outskirts location because for me it’s the perfect balance of peace and city life. The small daycare is definitely a huge, huge plus.

But we also can't imagine living in rented apartments forever and it’s simply too expensive in the city. Paying off a house over 30 years would be an absolute horror for me. Rents here keep rising. We always wanted a house. With our current rent, after 30 years we would have paid 260,000€ cold rent. But rent won’t stop rising. My friend also told me yesterday that we should definitely do it. Because it’s just too expensive here and houses are objectively not worth their money either. We recently viewed one in a perfect location at the city outskirts, similar to now. A semi-detached house, 500m2 plot, 130m2 living space. Should cost 338,000€, but would have required another 50,000€ (with DIY which they do not have time for: bathrooms, doors, ceilings, walls, partly electrics, floors, removing one wall..) plus additional costs... we would have ended up over 400,000€. And that is—location aside—simply too much for us. That house is not even worth it to us.

I have a slightly different opinion than the trend here in the threads: we decided in favor of the location and made certain compromises with the house. Not on the core points like detached, but it could have been a bit bigger.

However, we are happy to do without that, the location is simply much much much more important to us. Extremely fast connections and being in the countryside at the same time, priceless for us. Unfortunately, an expensive combination for the plot. So some compromises had to be made with the house.

Regarding the financing. Nowadays, hardly anyone is able to pay off a house in 15 years in popular locations (ok exception Steffen, he pays that straight out of his pocket). Nothing wrong with that, you get long-term security with the fixed interest rate.

Tego: And how much more did this decision end up costing you, compared to a house that would have been located further out, if I may ask?