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?
SumsumBiene schrieb:
So, it’s a small village... But it’s only 4km (2.5 miles) outside the main town. With schools, doctors, train station, etc.How large is the main town?
askforafriend8 Apr 2021 07:48Zaba12 schrieb:
Yes, buy immediately without a building obligation and leave it until you’re ready to pay the construction costs someday.
Otherwise, hold onto it for the next generation, as long as it’s not in a remote village (without train, bus, grocery store, daycare, primary school, gas station, bank, bakery, etc.) where no young person would want to live anyway.
The same applies when selling later. We have a few villages here where only locals buy because there’s just a barn and you can’t get anywhere without a car. As an investment, that’s only worth it to a limited extent. What do you consider young? We come from the countryside, grew up there, are unhappy in the city, and really want to move back 🙂 😀
askforafriend schrieb:
What do you mean by young? We come from the countryside, grew up there, are unhappy in the city, and definitely want to move back 🙂 😀 I’m from the Ruhr area and had to move to the countryside (Lower Rhine region) when I was 19. I found it terrible, even though I already had a car back then.
Now we live about 30km (20 miles) from Nuremberg, I have a 10-minute walk to the train station and a 25-minute commute to work. The infrastructure here is better than in the Lower Rhine, which was important to me for myself and the kids. But if I were 19 again and had moved here then, it would still be unbearable. For the children, I think it’s great here, and for now, I don’t need to go back to the city.
Depending on a child’s or young adult’s connection to their roots, preferences, and desire to travel, they will move in the direction you’re talking about.
But yes, by young I mean adolescents who are not rooted there. However, there are probably also those who are rooted but still find it boring.
SumsumBiene8 Apr 2021 08:52I don’t have a crystal ball, but I would describe my daughter as a country person. However, time will tell. She finds the city too busy and noisy... even with the new development right in town, she’s not exactly thrilled.
Tolentino schrieb:
Young is anything under 42 (lol) Then I am 11 months old. 🤨
As someone used to small-town living, I don’t want to live in a big city or in the countryside. The most important things (schools, doctors, shopping) should be available in town, with a big city nearby for everything else. Also, close to a highway.
We managed to find all of that.
A small town with childcare from daycare to secondary school, various doctors, and shopping right in town—all within walking distance. Close to the center yet still on the outskirts, so the kids grow up like in a village, playing outside all day by themselves.
Plus, a big city as a neighboring town, only 20 minutes by car to the city center, and just 3 or 5 minutes to highway entrances leading to two different highways.
Perfect for us.
We only made one mistake. We only bought one plot of land. Now it’s worth three times as much.