Take money for free planning?

Can you see the property anywhere here?

What do you mean by slope?

No, I hadn’t uploaded a photo of the property yet. A contractor had measured it and said there would be a one-story difference along the length of a house.

Somewhere in the middle of nowhere is nice, you’re not sitting on top of your neighbor, there’s a bit of nature. The downside is less communication and more farmers ;). If it’s not the East, at least no Nazis. I’d just think twice about taking out that much money – it ties you to work. When I think about it, even with three or four people, space doesn’t need to be 200m², rather love, affection, and time.

Yes, of course no one really *needs* it. But it would be nice to have.
We like the floor plan because it offers a lot of light and is open with plenty of space in the living area. We currently have not 200 but 150m², and that works too. But we do value nice living, and because of remote office, we also like to spend a lot of time at home.
My sister, for example, certainly wouldn’t build the house like that. But she also doesn’t care about interior design and still has the wallpaper and curtains on the walls that my mother put up in the living room over 15 years ago when the house still belonged to her. Everyone has their own preferences, or I’d almost call it a hobby. :)

Is there a plan from the survey? One floor along the length of the house is already quite steep.

You can also sketch plans. ;)

Planning big is easy.

Planning effectively is the challenge.

If you can afford space or open area, I would always invest in it. Efficiency of space is all well and good, but despite all the complaints about our house in an older thread, our use of space or, put more nicely, the generosity was the right decision. It's like with many things in construction: it's obviously a luxury and certainly not necessary. But everyone indulges in the luxury they can afford and prefer. Be it a fireplace, expensive "wellness bathrooms," other expensive fancy amenities, or simply space.

Has the question about the budget already been asked?

The budget is known to us. ;) We will leave the house as it is, with all its generosity, just calculate carefully. We know where we have set our soft limits, meaning the maximum amount we want to borrow as a loan to still feel comfortable with the rate. And in a few days we will know where the house price lands, what this means for our overall budget, and which adjustments we can make to fit it, if necessary. The floor plan is currently designed very symmetrically. That’s why I’m not a big fan of moving individual walls, as that would ruin the symmetry on both floors, which I like very much. The core feature of the house is that when you come down the stairs (the staircase is in the middle), you enter an open hallway that flows almost without doors into the large open space (kitchen, dining, living). It is really very open and I can imagine that it makes the space feel very large and spacious. My husband loves it because it reminds him of his brother’s generous and very open house in New Zealand.