What would be a reasonable maximum loan amount for us?

Hello,

we are a young family with 2 children looking for a small house, preferably with a small plot or a condominium with a garden share. We are 28 and 30, and the children are 1 and 3. No more children are planned. I work part-time in a medical profession, 20 hours, and my husband as an IT specialist, 40 hours. We are both permanently employed. I am currently still studying and will earn significantly more after my master's degree in a few months; my husband currently has an entry-level salary since he also recently finished his studies. Our financial leeway will therefore increase significantly. However, we would like to calculate everything "pessimistically" and therefore stick to the current figures. In the end, everything is always more expensive than expected anyway, and we also want to live well and not "just for the house". And if there is money left over, one can gradually improve/optimize the existing property, depending on the budget. In the past few months, there hasn’t been a single really suitable property in sight, so the whole thing will still take a while. Our goal is to be in the house by the time the eldest starts school, so in about 3 years. We will use this time to build up equity further.
On the income side, there are currently €3644 and on the expense side, generously calculated and including absolutely everything that occurs over the year (and that is realistic, I keep a meticulous household budget and I have also completed the prepared questionnaire from the forum and recalculated everything, so retirement provisions etc. are also included) €3580 on average per month. That means in many months there is some money left over which in other months is then spent again on vacations, Christmas, etc.

Equity: €15,000

The cold rent and dispensable savings amount to €920 per month. Personally, I see a maximum possible repayment of €1100-1200/month for us if we want to calculate without any worries.

What do you think is a realistic loan amount for us? The house bank calculated €210,000 for us given the current conditions.

I look forward to your opinion!

Hello.

You are taking in 80 euros more per month than you spend, and cold rent + savings rate is 920 euros. You could service a loan with 1,000 euros per month if higher additional costs for a single-family home did not apply. So rather 900. With an annuity of a generous 5%, that is 216,000 euros. Problem: You probably won't get anything for that. In your situation, I would let possible salary increases flow into equity for 2 years and keep an eye on the market in the meantime. If salaries rise significantly, much more is possible at better conditions. You are still young, have completed family planning, which is also capital in a figurative sense.

Hi,

The cold rent and dispensable savings contributions amount to €920 per month

How much of that is the savings contribution?

In recent months, there hasn't been a single really suitable property in sight, so the whole thing will take a while anyway

Not suitable because it's simply not good for you? Or because it's too expensive?

And in which area are you searching?

And do you only look online, or also do viewings?

I agree with . In the next few years, you will probably earn a lot more. Then completely different opportunities come into play. Maybe this also involves a different job in another city, so that your private living environment changes as well. In that case, an early-acquired property can be more of a hindrance. So first settle into your job. Get through the probation period and then consider what you can and want to afford. Until then, it means diligently saving equity. 15K€ is not much.

Thanks in advance for your answers. That matches what we have been thinking as well.

We mainly look on the Internet, but we always keep an eye on the classic "for sale" signs on houses, have search requests running with realtors and banks, and listen around among acquaintances, since most houses are sold privately.

So far, we have only viewed one property (which was anyway too expensive and needed far too much renovation, as became clear during the viewing), because nothing else fit, either regarding the location or it was already obvious from the listing that the purchase price and renovation costs would completely exceed our budget. Next week, we are going to look at a small semi-detached house (106m2, 400m2 plot), which has no railway connection but a very good bus connection and otherwise offers everything infrastructure-wise. It is supposed to cost €229,000. 90% of all offered existing properties are out of consideration purely because of their location, most we cannot afford anyway. Generally, one has to expect €350,000–400,000 in our preferred suburban location, which we do not want or can afford to spend. The mentioned semi-detached house is not located in any of the absolutely highly sought-after neighborhoods, which is directly reflected in the price. Surely some work on floors and so on will have to be done, but according to the selling bank, the most important things were done in 2012. We’ll see^^.

Our current savings amount to €250, from April then €500. I will mainly do my studied profession in home office and can also practice my trained profession anywhere, my husband as a computer scientist can find work anywhere anytime. Our city is economically well positioned, and we are deeply rooted here; moving away is out of the question. This year, we had to buy a new used car, which along with a move already consumed about €13,000. That money is now missing from our equity, of course.

We have secured a nice, reasonably priced apartment in which we can live well for now. So we are not under pressure, we are just looking around. The resale market offers very little, so we’d rather allow enough time until something is found. We are therefore planning long term and will act if something comes up. Even better, of course, if income and equity increase over time.

So far we have only looked at one property (which was anyway too expensive and had way too much renovation needed, as turned out during the viewing)

It's already good that you actually look at the properties. You need a few viewings to get a certain feel for existing properties. I myself had several that looked totally nice in the listing, but then I didn't like them at all. If you are already in contact with the agent, it's also worth being put on the search list. Here it is common that they don't even appear on the internet because their internal list is already sufficient to quickly sell them to someone.