When to finalize the financing??

If you want to lock in an interest rate today but don't yet know if you will actually need the loan, an American swaption would be the right product of choice.

I don't know what that is, but I would ask my trusted bank about a "forward loan." However, I don't believe the interest rate level will change significantly in the coming months. And I would only sign the financing once all other points are really ironclad. The time until then can be used to strengthen the equity base.

If you only finalize the financing once everything is settled, then you don't need a forward anymore. So irrelevant.

So at the moment I have gathered new information about it. Since we only have the notary appointment in January, according to the house building company, we can still conclude a preliminary contract this year, with a right of withdrawal (in case something goes wrong with the plot). This way, we can also secure the loan this year, so that at the notary appointment we can have the land charge registered immediately. At least this is what has been suggested to us so far by the real estate agent and the house building company. This should theoretically allow the house construction to start promptly at the beginning of the year without further delays (let's hope for a short winter ^^).

Since we only have the notary appointment in January, according to the house construction company, we can still conclude a preliminary contract this year with a right of withdrawal (in case something goes wrong with the property). This way, we can also secure the loan this year, so that at the notary appointment we can have the land charge registered immediately.

Make sure that no contractual penalties or claims for damages become due with the right of withdrawal. I would always have this excluded in writing in this situation. It may still take some time until the payment becomes due. Therefore, once again the recommendation: keep an eye on the interest on commitment and the fixed interest period and do not finalize the financing too early.

Yes, it is a free right of withdrawal without claims. I will take a close look at it once I have received the draft.

There should be such a clause for loan agreements as well, right?! Let's see, we have our next appointment with Dr. Klein the week after next and will get advice there again.

Since we only have the notary appointment in January, according to the construction company we can still conclude a preliminary contract this year, with a right of withdrawal (in case something goes wrong with the plot). This way, we can also secure the loan this year, so that at the notary appointment we can have the mortgage registered at the same time.

If you have not signed the construction contract yet, make sure to have the start of construction fixed. Although we paid attention to the construction period and corresponding contractual penalties in the contract, the start of our construction project was delayed forever, so we also paid default interest diligently. First, the completion of the construction site was delayed due to required surveying recognition/encroachment by the neighbors and the long winter two years ago, so no notary appointment could take place. When the notary appointment finally happened, there were problems with the building permit, and when that was resolved, the construction company took a lot of time to start the construction project. We actually thought we could start building half a year earlier and maybe move in last year. The move-in was in August this year.