ᐅ Building a Home – Getting Started Can Be Challenging – How Do You Begin?

Savings banks, banks, city hall, real estate agents, etc. There are many ways to find out if something is planned in your area.

In my opinion, this is where you can stop for now.
If you don't know whether the price per square meter is 30 euros (village in the middle of nowhere), 250 to 300 euros (suburban area), or 500 euros (major city), then everything else is pointless. Why don’t you just use websites like immoscout24 and others?

With zero personal savings, it won’t work either.
And the question is: why haven’t you saved money so far?

Grandpa is in his late 50s. If he passes away at 70 or even 75, you will still be in the middle of your mortgage.
The bank will see it that way as well.

Honestly, the more I write,
my feeling is that building a house is not suitable for you.

thehax schrieb:
I didn’t quite understand the question about the "son-in-law" – sorry!

Well, by that I mean the builder you want to "engage" with for your dream house.

thehax schrieb:
And I’m still not clear on how to go from a room plan to a plot size.

That obviously requires a "qualified" room plan – with square meters behind the room names. Assuming the ground floor totals 100 m² (1,076 sq ft) of living space, that would roughly mean about 125 m² (1,345 sq ft) of "footprint" including walls, simplified speaking—the slab area. Dividing by, for example, 0.4 (the floor area ratio, FAR, indicates the buildable proportion of the plot size), you would need about 312.5 m² (3,364 sq ft) of land. This is a very rough estimate, of course. The plot ratio or floor space index (FSI) is a similar ratio; here it compares the total living area (all floors) with the plot size, usually excluding the basement – again, the details can be more complex.

thehax schrieb:
How do I find out, for example, where future plots will be developed and at what prices?

Simply put: from the market. Wherever building-ready plots exist, someone will offer them. Sometimes local municipalities do this as well, often giving preference to local residents.

kbt09 schrieb:
I recently came across the floor plan for the Ytong kit house "Innovationshaus 240".

That looks quite nice, at least for inspiration. However, to implement it as in the "original" requires a building space of over 16 x 16 m (52 x 52 ft), which you don’t usually find just anywhere.

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https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/

Thank you very much for the many suggestions, explanations, and food for thought.
Tina, as the title already says, we are still at the very beginning. Therefore, your questions are all ones that we will need to ask ourselves first. Thanks again, and for now, good night!

I find this a bit too confusing here. Clarify the floor area ratio? Based on what? The order seems wrong in my opinion.

What you need to do first is roughly check your financing. No money, no progress, and every wish would be pointless.
You say a monthly payment of €1100 (about $1200) is possible. That would get you a loan of approximately €300,000 ($320,000). Unfortunately, you have no equity.

Now the cost side.
Where is the property going to be located? Answer this, then you can research what a plot of land roughly costs there. The land registry system BORIS provides this information, or you can simply check current listings on real estate platforms like Immoscout to see what’s available and for how much.
You then subtract the land costs including acquisition fees from your budget.
From the budget, deduct €30,000 ($32,000) for additional building-related costs, €15,000 ($16,000) for the most basic landscaping, and if needed, money for furnishings—e.g., €10,000 ($11,000) for a kitchen.
What remains, divide by €1800 ($1900), and you’ll get the approximate size of a house with standard fittings.

This is just a rough estimate.

Does the result align with your expectations, or is it completely off?

- No equity
- 3 children who are just starting to cost money
- A large house that is needed
- Limited income

I say "won't work," or "good luck"

Regards

Without any equity, I don’t see a healthy financing situation. Considering today’s prices for a new build plus all the related costs (land, house price, additional purchase costs, construction-related extra costs, landscaping, fittings, etc.), I already see difficulties even without a secondary suite. At your age, you would now need about €80,000 to €100,000 (approximately $85,000 to $105,000) in equity. A loan-to-value ratio of 80% excluding additional purchase costs should always be the goal.

I assume you would receive the child homebuilding grant, but this is not equity; rather, it is a small support in the form of a political incentive.