Hello,
Actually, we have been looking for an existing property since last summer. According to our mortgage broker, we have a budget of around 300,000 (all-in), which a bank is likely to approve.
The market here in Schleswig-Holstein has also become very tight, and the houses on offer are often in need of renovation, so you easily exceed the budget (especially since many city dwellers laugh at our house prices and like to secure a holiday home here).
Now the question is whether it would be possible to build a house within our budget (assuming we can get a building plot). Our requirements are not very high; it doesn’t need to be a huge house. 120 square meters (1300 square feet) would be completely sufficient.
In a neighboring village, plots are currently being developed. The price isn’t fixed yet but is expected to be below 100 euros per square meter. The plots are about 700 square meters (7500 square feet) in size. Unfortunately, we have no experience with this topic at all, and I definitely don’t want to miscalculate.
We can only contribute limited personal labor. We are not unskilled, but both fully employed with a child, dog, and horse. What are your thoughts?
Actually, we have been looking for an existing property since last summer. According to our mortgage broker, we have a budget of around 300,000 (all-in), which a bank is likely to approve.
The market here in Schleswig-Holstein has also become very tight, and the houses on offer are often in need of renovation, so you easily exceed the budget (especially since many city dwellers laugh at our house prices and like to secure a holiday home here).
Now the question is whether it would be possible to build a house within our budget (assuming we can get a building plot). Our requirements are not very high; it doesn’t need to be a huge house. 120 square meters (1300 square feet) would be completely sufficient.
In a neighboring village, plots are currently being developed. The price isn’t fixed yet but is expected to be below 100 euros per square meter. The plots are about 700 square meters (7500 square feet) in size. Unfortunately, we have no experience with this topic at all, and I definitely don’t want to miscalculate.
We can only contribute limited personal labor. We are not unskilled, but both fully employed with a child, dog, and horse. What are your thoughts?
Wolkensieben1 Jan 2021 18:21Nothing from nothing is nothing.
You first have to be able to afford 85 sqm (900 sq ft).
And if you can’t afford 85 sqm (900 sq ft), you end up with nothing again.
I can understand you. But sometimes dreams can’t be realized. If you were in your early 20s, I would understand the daydreaming.
But at your age?
And with your income?
I myself work as a childcare worker in the mornings and as a childminder in the afternoons, and at night I dream of craft scissors and scraped knees. So for me, any renovation or conversion combined with full-time work is out of the question. At least in my case. It might be different for you.
You first have to be able to afford 85 sqm (900 sq ft).
And if you can’t afford 85 sqm (900 sq ft), you end up with nothing again.
I can understand you. But sometimes dreams can’t be realized. If you were in your early 20s, I would understand the daydreaming.
But at your age?
And with your income?
I myself work as a childcare worker in the mornings and as a childminder in the afternoons, and at night I dream of craft scissors and scraped knees. So for me, any renovation or conversion combined with full-time work is out of the question. At least in my case. It might be different for you.
SumsumBiene schrieb:
Basically, we would have had to move every wall. The upper floor would have needed to be enlarged with dormers at the very least. Hello,
what would be so bad about that?
It doesn’t all have to be done at once or immediately.
Better to have a small, not perfectly finished house that you can gradually improve little by little than something too big that doesn’t fit your budget.
Just look at Jana’s example...
Best regards, Olli
Winniefred1 Jan 2021 18:33What exactly is your goal? Would a property further out, perhaps on the edge of the village, be of interest? There are only three of you, the child is no longer very small, and the budget is tight. I understand that you don’t want a house without a garden. I would keep searching. I would advise against new construction.
At your age, I would definitely try to keep the mortgage as low as possible and assess the situation realistically. The question should never be: What will the bank give me? Rather: What can I truly afford in the long term?
At your age, I would definitely try to keep the mortgage as low as possible and assess the situation realistically. The question should never be: What will the bank give me? Rather: What can I truly afford in the long term?
hausnrplus251 Jan 2021 18:50@SumsumBiene When considering the mentioned figures of loan repayment versus rent, you must not forget that the monthly expenses for maintaining a house do not consist solely of the loan repayment. Additional costs are significantly higher, including electricity, gas, water, waste disposal, taxes, chimney sweeping, maintenance, and so on.
nordanney schrieb:
Honestly – is rent at 75 (years old) really any different? And that works for tenants (who make up 53% of Germans) as well.
I’m not talking about the American system – buying, financing with variable rates, then paying off the loan by selling and benefiting from the property’s appreciation. I mean a reasonable setup with maybe 25-40% loan-to-value. What could happen there that can’t happen to you as a renter? After all, you can’t become unemployed as a retiree ;-) I can only repeat myself and fear we just won’t find common ground.
My in-laws, who are already retired, live in a terraced house built in ’79, where roughly at the same time they needed to replace the oil heating system and renovate the flat roof.
If I imagine that they couldn’t have built up enough reserves because of an ongoing mortgage repayment, financially it would have been tough with his electrician’s pension and her homemaker’s pension.
Shortly afterward, there was also a car repair, again about 2,000 euros lost. You can find yourself in a tight spot faster than you realize.
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