ᐅ General Questions About Home Building / Home Buying

Hello everyone,

I have been a silent reader here for a while. I originally wanted to ask these questions in a thread where people post quick questions and different users respond – as I’ve often seen in other forums – but unfortunately, I couldn’t find one. So, I finally decided to start my own thread.

A brief introduction about us.
I am 25 years old and have been with my company for 6 years (including my training period). I work for the city and am basically a civil servant. That means I always get some paperwork for insurance discounts and other typical benefits. It’s not an official civil servant status, but close enough in terms of job security.

My girlfriend is 22, has been working for a small to medium-sized enterprise for one year, and is doing an evening degree at the same time.

We have been a couple for nearly 6 years, and naturally, buying a house within the next few years is not off the table. We definitely do not plan to have children in the near future.

I am still a complete beginner in this field and would simply like to hear some opinions regarding our plans.

First, I have to say that our spending habits are far from ideal...

I have a net income of at least 2500€ per month (tax class 1). In addition, I receive Sunday work pay, overtime payments, on-call pay (about 200€ per month), a company car (only for commuting to and from work), and a total of 14 monthly salaries per year.
However, I only consider these extras as a buffer and do not include them in our budgeting calculations.
She has a fixed net income of 1700€ (tax class 1), which will increase at the end of the year if she completes her degree successfully.
So, we have a minimum of 4200€ available. As it stands now, aside from saving 250€ per month, everything else is basically spent. Our expenses break down as follows:

Rent: 1000€
Electricity: 80€
Internet: 50€
Car (including insurance and tax): 450€
Insurance, mobile contracts, etc.: 150€
Loan repayment (which will end in 2 months): 250€
Public transportation ticket: 100€
Savings: 250€

Since we don’t keep a detailed household budget yet, I can’t give exact figures for groceries, clothing, etc. We just buy what we need at the moment. With 1900€/month (plus my additional allowances/salaries), our annual holidays are also paid for. The car is unfortunately one of the worst financial decisions I have made, as it is hardly used except on weekends. This will be minimized when we buy a house, but I’ll leave it as it is for now.

As you can see, the 1000€ rent is a major burden and that’s exactly what bothers us most.
Currently, we are looking at properties in the area, and decent houses/semi-detached houses are around 350,000 to 450,000€ range.
No one can say where prices will be in the next few years, but this is the current situation. I have looked even less into building a house than buying one, in case anyone wants to suggest that option.

Is buying a house generally more expensive than building one?
How much mortgage payment would you recommend with this income?
I understand it probably varies a lot, but can you give a rough idea of additional monthly costs, like waste collection, home insurance, etc.? Is there a place where I can look this up for my location?
How much do you put aside monthly for home renovations?
The last two questions are the most important to me, because our spending habits are a factor – one person can do 1000€, but another only 800€.

We have not been to a bank yet. However, I once had an appointment at my house bank for the car financing, and I was “offered” roughly 750,000€ (with 60,000€ equity) for a house on the side. Since then I don’t take that bank seriously and would rather ask here first. We do have equity, but I can’t give exact amounts because there are five different contracts with varying details – hence my question about the mortgage payment.

That turned out to be quite a long text for just a few questions, but every journey starts with a first step...

Best regards and good night,
Dani