Hello,
I have a rather general question:
Is it possible to build a good, acceptable house with around €300,000, assuming I already have €100,000 of that as equity and would take out a loan for the rest?
The location should be near Stuttgart. I am still very inexperienced (I’m young), but I would like to build my own house. So I’m wondering if this would be feasible in the future.
What are your experiences? Do you have any good books or guides for building your own house? I’ve already searched online, but there is so much information that I’m having trouble finding a clear path.
Thank you in advance!
I have a rather general question:
Is it possible to build a good, acceptable house with around €300,000, assuming I already have €100,000 of that as equity and would take out a loan for the rest?
The location should be near Stuttgart. I am still very inexperienced (I’m young), but I would like to build my own house. So I’m wondering if this would be feasible in the future.
What are your experiences? Do you have any good books or guides for building your own house? I’ve already searched online, but there is so much information that I’m having trouble finding a clear path.
Thank you in advance!
Peanuts74 schrieb:
Who says you have to live in the city to work there?
I prefer to drive half an hour to work and live in a quieter area.
I also worked in Munich for a while but lived in Oberschleißheim.
Colleagues who lived directly in Munich often took longer traveling by suburban train and the short walk plus waiting time than I did. This is a point I often have to explain to many people. Currently, I still live in Hanover and work just outside Braunschweig (60km (37 miles) commute). Usually, it takes me only about 30-40 minutes. Some colleagues who come directly from Braunschweig have a 10km (6 miles) commute but often need more than 30 minutes by car! Traffic congestion is huge there.
Even more interesting:
My wife lives and works in Hanover and takes public transport for her 6km (4 miles) commute, which takes just as long as my 60km (37 miles) commute. When our house is finished at the end of April, and we live 30km (19 miles) away from her workplace in Hanover’s suburban area, she will still strangely need 30 minutes by public transport.
It’s great to finally read from someone with similar experiences regarding commute times. You don’t necessarily save an hour every day just by living in the city. Generalizing here is wrong. You have to look closely at the transport connections: how, where, and when do buses and trains run, where can you drive quickly in the morning, and where not, and so on.
I have to agree with Pandrion on this. I currently live in the city center, just 10 km (6 miles) from my workplace in a nearby industrial area. The future home will be built in a small village 35 km (22 miles) away.
If I drive to work from the city center at 5:30 a.m., I’m obviously faster since there’s hardly any traffic. It only takes about 10-12 minutes to get to the office. From the construction site, it would take me around 25 minutes.
In the evening, however, when traffic reaches its peak due to roadworks, accidents, and heavy congestion, the situation is quite different. I have the choice of leaving very early or working late. If I try to go home between 4 and 6 p.m., I inevitably get stuck in traffic. At that time, it still takes me just about 25 minutes to reach the future home via the highway. Just last Friday, starting from 2:30 p.m., traffic was backed up toward the city center again. The trip cost me nearly 40 minutes and an unhealthy amount of stress.
I’m looking forward to living in the countryside again and not having to deal with that evening rush.
If I drive to work from the city center at 5:30 a.m., I’m obviously faster since there’s hardly any traffic. It only takes about 10-12 minutes to get to the office. From the construction site, it would take me around 25 minutes.
In the evening, however, when traffic reaches its peak due to roadworks, accidents, and heavy congestion, the situation is quite different. I have the choice of leaving very early or working late. If I try to go home between 4 and 6 p.m., I inevitably get stuck in traffic. At that time, it still takes me just about 25 minutes to reach the future home via the highway. Just last Friday, starting from 2:30 p.m., traffic was backed up toward the city center again. The trip cost me nearly 40 minutes and an unhealthy amount of stress.
I’m looking forward to living in the countryside again and not having to deal with that evening rush.
P
Peanuts745 Apr 2016 06:55Invi85 schrieb:
I have to agree with Pandrion here. Currently, I live in the city center, only 10 km (6 miles) from my workplace in the nearby industrial area. The future home will be built in a small village, 35 km (22 miles) away.
If I drive to work from the city center at 5:30 a.m., I naturally get there faster since there is almost no traffic on the roads. It takes about 10-12 minutes to get to the office. From the construction site, it would take me around 25 minutes.
In the evening, however, when roadworks, accidents, and heavy traffic cause peak congestion in the city, it’s a completely different story. I have to choose either to leave very early or work late. If I try to get home between 4 and 6 p.m., I inevitably end up in a traffic jam. At this time, the drive to the future home takes me just under 25 minutes via the highway. Just last Friday, from 2:30 p.m. onward, traffic toward the city center was completely gridlocked again. The trip took nearly 40 minutes and gave me an unhealthy increase in blood pressure.
I’m looking forward to living in the countryside again and not having that stress in the evenings.And the undoubtedly fresher air comes free of charge. Although air quality in cities has improved thanks to cleaner cars, you can still smell the exhaust fumes, especially when traffic is congested. Not to mention the noise—where I live, residents are almost annoyed if three cars pass by on a Sunday between 7 and 8 a.m., which you can barely hear with the windows closed.
In addition, there are constantly new roadworks in cities—but who needs that? As I said, I can still understand living in the city when you’re young or a student, but not when you’re in your mid-30s to 40s, especially if you have a family and want your child to be able to play outside safely on their own without constant worry.
A
AndreasPlü10 Apr 2016 23:17Hello,
to return to the basic question: "Is it possible to build a house in the Stuttgart region for €300,000?" In general: yes. But it depends on the location. An affordable plot of land near Stuttgart is more likely found outside the city and a bit away from highways or train lines, for example in the Rems-Murr district or even further out. Taking Rems-Murr as an example: there are currently building plots available from the local municipalities in places like Welzheim, Murrhardt, or Auenwald. The advantage is that there is no commission fee. The price per square meter is between 160 and 300 euros, which is very low in our area. You can calculate for yourself what that means for a 300 m² (3,230 sq ft) plot. Keep in mind: depending on where you work, your commuting costs will naturally be higher. No one knows how tax benefits for commuters will develop over 1, 5, 10, or 20 years.
With additional costs, you can roughly subtract €100,000. The remaining budget is €200,000. This will likely only allow for a very small house, but possibly feasible without a basement and with simple construction. Also, add at least a 10% contingency to that price. It’s advisable not to exhaust the €200,000 budget completely to maintain some financial flexibility. There are plenty of online calculators for "What can I afford?" and similar questions. Beforehand, honestly track your everyday expenses and list your annual bills for a few months to get a clear picture.
It’s best to consult a creative architect.
to return to the basic question: "Is it possible to build a house in the Stuttgart region for €300,000?" In general: yes. But it depends on the location. An affordable plot of land near Stuttgart is more likely found outside the city and a bit away from highways or train lines, for example in the Rems-Murr district or even further out. Taking Rems-Murr as an example: there are currently building plots available from the local municipalities in places like Welzheim, Murrhardt, or Auenwald. The advantage is that there is no commission fee. The price per square meter is between 160 and 300 euros, which is very low in our area. You can calculate for yourself what that means for a 300 m² (3,230 sq ft) plot. Keep in mind: depending on where you work, your commuting costs will naturally be higher. No one knows how tax benefits for commuters will develop over 1, 5, 10, or 20 years.
With additional costs, you can roughly subtract €100,000. The remaining budget is €200,000. This will likely only allow for a very small house, but possibly feasible without a basement and with simple construction. Also, add at least a 10% contingency to that price. It’s advisable not to exhaust the €200,000 budget completely to maintain some financial flexibility. There are plenty of online calculators for "What can I afford?" and similar questions. Beforehand, honestly track your everyday expenses and list your annual bills for a few months to get a clear picture.
It’s best to consult a creative architect.
A
AndreasPlü11 Apr 2016 11:59P.S.: There are also books titled like "Dream Houses under 250,000 €" with suggestions. Just check Amazon.
S
Steffen8011 Apr 2016 13:17So Peanuts74 and others, your argument doesn’t make sense. It’s completely illogical. If it takes me 30 minutes to get from point A (home) to B (work) within the city, and also 30 minutes from outside the city (C)... then C must be located somewhere completely different than A. But if C is really in a different place—and I now live within the city coming from direction C—then the commute to work should be much shorter here.
Conclusion: Your argument is nonsense.
The fact is: Both options have advantages and disadvantages. Living outside the city usually means you need two vehicles, which involves extra costs. Once the children get older (but not old enough), they probably want to participate in various leisure activities like music, sports, etc. So they need to be driven around. And so on.
However, there are also many advantages: greenery, quiet, price, price!, price!!! and so on. No question. We spent almost three years dealing with the topic “move out or not.” For us, “move out” means living in a village. The price difference for the land was about 250,000 EUR. We then decided on the city, and to this day I still find the cost of the land way too high. So why did we choose that? Two decisive reasons:
1. Location, location, location—and again: location. Potential resale in 10, 20, or 30 years should hopefully be completely smooth and unproblematic. That looks very different in the village. At the moment, our plot is already worth more than when we bought it about 1.5 years ago. Okay, this is of course a special time, and no one knows how things will develop.
2. We talked with children (between 8 and 15 years old)—from both the city and the “village.” What was the unanimous result? Kids don’t care about “the village.” Kids want friends nearby, to play, to get to clubs quickly, and to have a convenient way to school. Not one child said to me, “It’s so nice and quiet and green here.” Things look even worse when it comes to teenagers. They definitely don’t want to live in a village.
What I basically want to say is: If you choose a village, do it for yourself. Not for the kids.
Conclusion: Your argument is nonsense.
The fact is: Both options have advantages and disadvantages. Living outside the city usually means you need two vehicles, which involves extra costs. Once the children get older (but not old enough), they probably want to participate in various leisure activities like music, sports, etc. So they need to be driven around. And so on.
However, there are also many advantages: greenery, quiet, price, price!, price!!! and so on. No question. We spent almost three years dealing with the topic “move out or not.” For us, “move out” means living in a village. The price difference for the land was about 250,000 EUR. We then decided on the city, and to this day I still find the cost of the land way too high. So why did we choose that? Two decisive reasons:
1. Location, location, location—and again: location. Potential resale in 10, 20, or 30 years should hopefully be completely smooth and unproblematic. That looks very different in the village. At the moment, our plot is already worth more than when we bought it about 1.5 years ago. Okay, this is of course a special time, and no one knows how things will develop.
2. We talked with children (between 8 and 15 years old)—from both the city and the “village.” What was the unanimous result? Kids don’t care about “the village.” Kids want friends nearby, to play, to get to clubs quickly, and to have a convenient way to school. Not one child said to me, “It’s so nice and quiet and green here.” Things look even worse when it comes to teenagers. They definitely don’t want to live in a village.
What I basically want to say is: If you choose a village, do it for yourself. Not for the kids.