ᐅ Construction Project in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW)

PS: In the park’s cafeteria, you can buy a good book for a low price. It contains a lot of information about timber frame construction, but also many correct and important facts that are generally applicable. Go there again and get the book.

judith.egelhof schrieb:
Hello
I’d like to briefly introduce ourselves.
We are a family with two children (4 and 7 years old)

Please fill out your profile according to the guidelines!

It’s best to take things slow—dreaming is good, but reality often looks different. Panic doesn’t help either.
Right now, everything that qualifies as building land or planning permission is being sold or prepared.

Suddenly it doesn’t matter whether you end up next to a noise barrier or on a pile of construction waste.

Keeping a household budget is important, ideally reviewing the last 12 months. This clearly shows where the money goes.
Increase your savings rate. With this information, you go to your main bank—or even 2 to 3 banks—to see what is feasible based on your income, expenses, rent, and savings.

They will explain some financing components, but somewhere there should be a realistic number of how much you can borrow. Equity is a very important factor. Banks pay close attention to this when offering good loan conditions.

Let’s say you have €400,000 (about $440,000). Land costs €100,000 (about $110,000) plus additional fees totaling €110,000 (about $121,000). Secondary construction costs run €30,000–40,000 (about $33,000–44,000). That leaves roughly €250,000 (about $275,000) for the house itself.

At this point, you’ll likely need to lower your expectations significantly, contribute a lot of your own work, or work some magic. 🙂

Building a house is somewhat of a luxury, and I firmly expect prices to rise sharply again within the next year.

MarcWen schrieb:
Let’s say you “have 400,000 euros.” Land costs 100,000 euros + additional fees = 110,000 euros. Extra building costs 30,000-40,000 euros. That leaves roughly 250,000 euros left over for the house.

VERY realistic and useful rough estimates!!!!! Even though landscaping is not included. But with 220,000-250,000 euros you can still build a house without a basement in roughly the size the original poster wanted, even today. I also didn’t have any money left for landscaping and am slowly recovering from it physically. Others nearby: same, but hardly do anything. That can actually wait, the main thing is the house is finished and secured structurally. The rest can be done step by step... and with lots of ideas and effort, you can save a lot of money. Even if you only spend 30 minutes a day on it: it adds up. Unlike in skilled trades construction, there is no time pressure.

MarcWen schrieb:
Now we are entering areas where you have to significantly lower your expectations, contribute a lot of DIY work, or perform magic. 🙂

It’s possible. DIY work is overrated. Budget about 15,000-20,000 euros maximum; any more and life, enjoyment, friendships, marriages... fall apart. You don’t need KNX home automation, 150 sockets, and so on. A normal finish is already pure luxury. I warn against building with too much DIY. I myself - to put it bluntly - crashed badly and later did a lot myself but also had a lot done by others. DIY only works with a huge network of family and friends willing to help almost daily for 7 to 9 months with qualified skills. Who has that these days? A young couple with children? That’s where the stress starts; it can be the beginning of the end of a marriage!!! Don’t do it! I know people who just moved into a turnkey terraced house and are exhausted after 4 weeks of painting, floor laying, and moving – and that’s just the cherry on top... the DIY part.

MarcWen schrieb:
Building is partly a luxury, and I firmly expect a significant price increase again in one year.

Around 60% of people in Germany (approximately) rent. That’s not cheap either. Living well is always a luxury. Living well means: environment, home, people, friends, distance to work, costs, additional charges, etc., all fit well. Many people rent and live well. There are also people – my wife and I count ourselves among them – who have had traumatic experiences with it. Money is gone anyway; you only live once. Everyone makes this decision for themselves. And yes: it is getting more expensive to build right now. I am truly shocked at how prices are rising.

Best regards,
Thorsten

T21150 schrieb:

About 60% of people in Germany (approx.) rent their homes. Renting is not cheap either.
Living well is always a luxury.
Living well means: the surroundings, the apartment, the people, friends, distance to work, costs, utility expenses, etc. are all right.
There are many people who live well while renting.
There are also people – my wife and I count ourselves among them – who have had traumatic experiences with it.
Money is gone anyway, you only live once. Everyone makes that decision for themselves.

There are also people who stare at the moon every evening or walk their four-legged friend five times a day. Nobody cares. As long as demand remains strong and in some areas you can ask for prices that would have once driven people away, that’s the way it is.

It is truly alarming that with a budget of 250,000 euros (approx. $275,000) you already have to make compromises on what used to be considered standard.

MarcWen schrieb:
There are also people who stare at the moon every evening or walk their four-legged friend five times a day. Nobody cares. As long as demand remains strong and prices can be set high in some areas, sellers would have walked away empty-handed in the past.

It's actually shocking that you have to make compromises at $250,000 (only for the house) when you would have thought that was the standard.

🙂 ROFL 🙂
True. There are even stranger people out there.

When you see everything else that’s being sold around here: you become a firework.
People buy building plots that I wouldn’t even consider building on!!!!!!
So I completely agree with you.

At $250,000 (only for the house) for 130sqm (1400 sq ft) of living space, compromises are reasonable with decent building ground, surroundings, and house design—so this is more of a luxury problem. With $250,000 under good conditions, you can definitely get a more than decent result.

T21150 schrieb:

With $250,000 (only for the house) and 130 sqm (1,400 sq ft) of living space, compromises are quite acceptable given reasonable ground conditions, surroundings, and the house itself—so this is more of a luxury problem. With $250,000, you can really manage to build something more than decent under good conditions.

Those were purely hypothetical figures. I just assumed $400,000 and did some rough calculations. 😀 😀

Here it says plots starting from €350 per sqm (about $32 per sq ft). That would already be the commuter belt of a larger city or a lucrative small town.

We need more input; speculation is not helpful. 🙂