I’m not quite sure how to start this thread properly. I hope I’m in the right section. I’ll just begin.
I’m still quite young, but I have always decided that only a prefabricated house is an option for me. My interest is not just for a few months, but rather spans several years, as I am planning my future with a long-term perspective. I want to build early because I want to pay off the house as soon as possible. I have already visited several well-known prefab house companies and have been really impressed. Since we don’t live far from a company headquarters (Frankenberg), I have also visited model homes several times.
Having a steady job with a regular income is, of course, a requirement that I meet.
I already have a plot of land, so I don’t have to worry about that.
Equity will also be available.
My question is simply whether there are other young homebuilders here who might share their experiences with me. Perhaps there are also recommendations on whether my decision to take on such a commitment so early is the right one or not.
Thanks in advance for any help.
Greetings from Hesse!
I’m still quite young, but I have always decided that only a prefabricated house is an option for me. My interest is not just for a few months, but rather spans several years, as I am planning my future with a long-term perspective. I want to build early because I want to pay off the house as soon as possible. I have already visited several well-known prefab house companies and have been really impressed. Since we don’t live far from a company headquarters (Frankenberg), I have also visited model homes several times.
Having a steady job with a regular income is, of course, a requirement that I meet.
I already have a plot of land, so I don’t have to worry about that.
Equity will also be available.
My question is simply whether there are other young homebuilders here who might share their experiences with me. Perhaps there are also recommendations on whether my decision to take on such a commitment so early is the right one or not.
Thanks in advance for any help.
Greetings from Hesse!
exto1791 schrieb:
I also believe that priorities have shifted drastically: vacation, career, personal freedom, finding yourself, or other things... It used to be quite normal to build a house before turning 25. Yes, that’s the generation that envies us for our opportunities and freedom.
daniel400 schrieb:
As I said, @ypg, we both have permanent jobs with very good employment conditions. I think our budget is well organized. Of course, we planned all of this in advance. If that wasn’t the case, the whole house-building project wouldn’t work. Also, I believe we will have more time and money when we’re older since we will finish paying it off early. I never claimed otherwise. I believe you also mentioned that the land is already owned?!
I generally doubt the idea of gaps in the CV and the rose-colored glasses people wear in their early 20s. And the thought:
daniel400 schrieb:
but I’m sure I want to stay with this person. And that for life. Things you’d usually consider before entering a relationship, right? I really can’t understand that point at all! …is wording that shows a lot of naivety and idealism. Life often turns out differently than expected. And as you get older, your thinking becomes a bit slower, but also calmer and more relaxed. You can’t keep experimenting, traveling, taking half-year breaks, or doing crazy things once you are tied down by a house so early on. That freedom is missing. I believe this gap is mentally unhealthy and eventually leads to dissatisfaction, from not having done certain things.
ypg schrieb:
Yes, this is the generation that envies our opportunities and freedom.
I never claimed otherwise. I believe you also mentioned that the plot of land is already owned?!
I generally doubt the idea of taking breaks in one’s career and the rose-colored glasses people wear in their early twenties. And the thought:
...the wording itself already shows a lot of naivety and idealism. Life often turns out differently than expected. And as you get older, thinking slows down a bit—also becoming calmer and more relaxed. You can’t really experiment, travel, take six-month breaks, or do something crazy once you’re tied down with a house at such an early stage. That freedom is then missing. I believe that this gap isn’t mentally healthy and eventually leads to dissatisfaction about not having done certain things. Actually, you can still do all that. As long as the monthly financial commitment is manageable, everything is possible—if you want to.
Basically, there is nothing wrong with buying a home early if you can afford it and are aware of the associated costs. In our country, people tend to be quite cautious about this. In other countries, there is much more buying and selling, and less renting. However, buying or selling a house probably does not involve such a long chain of bureaucracy and costs there.
Anyway, you can approach this with the mindset "this might not be our forever home." I’m not going to question your relationship (which sometimes happens here in the forum), but your needs may change over time. So consider a scenario in which you want to sell your house in 10 years. What kind of price development can you expect in your area? Will the expected resale price cover your costs and leave you with a profit? Probably yes, but you should run the numbers for your own situation.
Personally, I rented a house because I wanted to see what I would want to do differently if I built a house myself. In the end, I stayed in that rental house for almost 10 years—and paid nearly 100,000€ (approximately $110,000) in rent. That money is simply gone. If you invest that amount into your own home and still have some equity left after deducting all costs when you sell, then the idea isn’t so bad. In the worst case, you would have built up some capital for house number two.
Regarding prefab houses, I’m also skeptical, although that’s based on a gut feeling. Try to arrange appointments with reputable general contractors specializing in traditional solid construction in your area, and tell their marketing consultants that you are currently leaning toward building a prefab house. They will surely have the marketing spiel from the other side ready—they’ve learned by heart for years what the disadvantages of prefab compared to solid construction are. With marketing pitches from both sides, you can then go home, objectively research what holds true and what doesn’t, and form your own opinion.
Anyway, you can approach this with the mindset "this might not be our forever home." I’m not going to question your relationship (which sometimes happens here in the forum), but your needs may change over time. So consider a scenario in which you want to sell your house in 10 years. What kind of price development can you expect in your area? Will the expected resale price cover your costs and leave you with a profit? Probably yes, but you should run the numbers for your own situation.
Personally, I rented a house because I wanted to see what I would want to do differently if I built a house myself. In the end, I stayed in that rental house for almost 10 years—and paid nearly 100,000€ (approximately $110,000) in rent. That money is simply gone. If you invest that amount into your own home and still have some equity left after deducting all costs when you sell, then the idea isn’t so bad. In the worst case, you would have built up some capital for house number two.
Regarding prefab houses, I’m also skeptical, although that’s based on a gut feeling. Try to arrange appointments with reputable general contractors specializing in traditional solid construction in your area, and tell their marketing consultants that you are currently leaning toward building a prefab house. They will surely have the marketing spiel from the other side ready—they’ve learned by heart for years what the disadvantages of prefab compared to solid construction are. With marketing pitches from both sides, you can then go home, objectively research what holds true and what doesn’t, and form your own opinion.
This thread reminds me a bit of our story.
We also started planning at 25 and eventually moved into our house at 27. Overall, everything went very smoothly.
We hear similar comments as you do here in the forum. In the neighborhood and surrounding communities, people whisper about how such a young family can afford a house. It's a shame, especially since we have never exchanged a word with any of these people. Haters gonna hate.
We also started planning at 25 and eventually moved into our house at 27. Overall, everything went very smoothly.
We hear similar comments as you do here in the forum. In the neighborhood and surrounding communities, people whisper about how such a young family can afford a house. It's a shame, especially since we have never exchanged a word with any of these people. Haters gonna hate.
ivenh0 schrieb:
This thread reminds me a bit of our own story.
We started planning at 25 and finally moved into our house when we were 27. Overall, everything went really well.
We hear similar comments like the ones here in the forum. Neighbors and people from surrounding communities whisper about how a young family can afford a house like this — a shame, because we have never exchanged a single word with any of these people. Haters gonna hate. The exact same thing is happening to us right now.
Why shouldn’t someone in their early or mid-twenties already feel settled? Maybe their priorities are simply different. What does “feeling settled” even mean? We have taken a lot of trips together around the world, experienced important life steps like university, careers, and renting apartments, and both had to make many sacrifices. We’ve had and still have great times with friends, and eventually, it’s just time for something new. In my opinion, today’s generation simply needs a lot more time to feel settled.
Many people finish their studies only at 27 (though I wonder if that’s really such an achievement or if a person has truly felt settled by then). Plenty of people are still out drinking every night at 30, thinking about where the next party is. I see this all around me. For 90% of them, I simply don’t think they are mature enough to own a house yet. There are couples who have been together for eight years, are in their early 30s, and the future plans or even the shared experiences between them don’t come close to what we had already gone through in our early 20s.
It always depends on the individual person or relationship and can never be generalized.
I can only speak for myself now: We simply need the next step. But the next step is not another party or thinking about where to go for the next vacation. The next step is a house, and eventually children. For us, this thought came much earlier than for many others. What’s wrong with that? Relationships, houses, or marriages can just as easily fall apart when couples have been together for 10 years and are in their mid-30s… which, as we know, happens quite often.
I think the situation here with the original poster is similar… Just the fact that they are thinking about such things means their life circumstances are already completely different from many other future homeowners.
daniel400 schrieb:
It somehow feels like the forum members are not happy for me here.That might be true for some, but there is also support. You shouldn’t overlook that.