What can we afford without having restless nights...

In principle, I see the project as realistic and I would also be able to sleep peacefully with total costs of 550k. Double civil servant status, everything is secured there.

One more question about your self-employed secondary occupation: Is it sustainable long-term with commuting, house building, children, etc.?

With two senior teachers, it hardly makes sense to switch to 3/5. Unless one drastically reduces hours. However, in this constellation, it is just as conceivable that, if necessary because of children, both parents reduce equally. These are the advantages of tenure.

I have outlined part-time/parental leave with children here.

The change to tax class 3/5 only makes sense in my opinion if you need the additional monthly net income to "get by." Otherwise, the overall tax burden at the end of the year ends up the same, and some are then disappointed by a low refund or even surprised and downright outraged by a back payment. But with 2 Studienräte, I assume they have informed themselves about this in detail.

Regards

Thank you very much for the helpful answers. I will first try to answer the questions myself and then get back to you.

To get a bit of a "feel" for the market, today we are looking at a plot of land for €200,000 (790 m2). If you take the €2,000 per m2 for house construction often mentioned in the forum (are incidental building costs actually included in this rough guideline?), this could possibly be a realistic option for a house with 130 m2.

One more tip, you have a good net income, so don’t let the architect-construction company sell you more than you need, you can afford more but please stay realistic.

One more tip, you have a good net income, so don't let the architect or construction company talk you into more, you can afford more but please stay realistic.

Exactly, that is exactly our big concern - we definitely do not want to burden ourselves "too much." Therefore, every conceivable scenario will be calculated in the next few weeks.