ᐅ Homebuilding Forum – Would You Choose to Buy or Build a House Again?
Created on: 11 Dec 2015 11:09
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xycrazy
Hello,
we are about to sign the contract with the developer but have started seriously reconsidering whether we should go through with it.
We negotiated for 8 months and were quite sure about it. However, towards the end, some issues arose regarding the contract and other matters, which we managed to resolve.
It now looks like we would be paying a third of our net income to the bank for 22 years. I think we can afford it. But when you are used to paying monthly rent of about €800-900 (divided by 2), this is quite a different level.
With a house, it’s not just the loan payments; there are ongoing maintenance costs as well. From what we’ve read, this is roughly €2-3 per m² (about 0.2-0.3 per sq ft) per month. So that’s another €400-500 per month. And, of course, there is much more work involved too.
Admittedly, this is stressing us out quite a bit, especially my partner. She is worried about the heavy financial burden each month. Is that justified?
We don’t want to live just for the house; we want to go on vacations, avoid problems with children, and so on. As I said, the current situation is manageable, but we wonder if we might be underestimating the costs.
So here’s my question to the community: looking back at everything you know now about loans, maintenance costs, upkeep, and so forth, would you buy or build a house again?
If yes, why? If not, why not? I’m really interested to hear your thoughts! And were there any surprises—positive or negative—that you didn’t expect?
Regards
we are about to sign the contract with the developer but have started seriously reconsidering whether we should go through with it.
We negotiated for 8 months and were quite sure about it. However, towards the end, some issues arose regarding the contract and other matters, which we managed to resolve.
It now looks like we would be paying a third of our net income to the bank for 22 years. I think we can afford it. But when you are used to paying monthly rent of about €800-900 (divided by 2), this is quite a different level.
With a house, it’s not just the loan payments; there are ongoing maintenance costs as well. From what we’ve read, this is roughly €2-3 per m² (about 0.2-0.3 per sq ft) per month. So that’s another €400-500 per month. And, of course, there is much more work involved too.
Admittedly, this is stressing us out quite a bit, especially my partner. She is worried about the heavy financial burden each month. Is that justified?
We don’t want to live just for the house; we want to go on vacations, avoid problems with children, and so on. As I said, the current situation is manageable, but we wonder if we might be underestimating the costs.
So here’s my question to the community: looking back at everything you know now about loans, maintenance costs, upkeep, and so forth, would you buy or build a house again?
If yes, why? If not, why not? I’m really interested to hear your thoughts! And were there any surprises—positive or negative—that you didn’t expect?
Regards
xycrazy schrieb:
Honestly... who would have thrown in the towel right away after 7 months of discussions and plan development, especially after already talking to 8 others without getting even close? Honestly... anyone who has spent seven months discussing and planning with one provider (after previously consulting others) has wasted a lot of time. The house design process can (and should, especially if you want to be involved) be much quicker—what exactly takes so long to plan? My commercial clients with far more complex properties are usually faster. I would never have spent seven months with one provider without a finished result.
If you’re constantly being delayed, with 2-3 weeks passing between appointments, and then at those meetings you find that what was originally discussed hasn’t been implemented yet, and on top of that summer (vacation time) intervenes and the contact person has to undergo surgery, things can really drag on. It took us too long as well. After 4-5 months, the project could have been finished.
You can certainly reach a result much faster, but then half of the details are missing. Our neighbor signed within 4 weeks but now complains about various issues he didn’t consider. Decisions also mature along the way. Accordingly, the shell construction has been standing without windows for 3 months. Speed is not the same as quality. Good things take time, especially when it comes to this kind of investment.
You can certainly reach a result much faster, but then half of the details are missing. Our neighbor signed within 4 weeks but now complains about various issues he didn’t consider. Decisions also mature along the way. Accordingly, the shell construction has been standing without windows for 3 months. Speed is not the same as quality. Good things take time, especially when it comes to this kind of investment.
That’s true, good things take time – but I prefer to think about what I want before the meetings and do a bit of research in advance.
In your case, it was handled through the lengthy discussions with the general contractors. For the upcoming appointments (whether with the architect, general contractor, or tradespeople), you’ll be well prepared and can present a list of your requirements, for example:
- Space requirements for the architect based on a budget of xy
- Preferences for electrical or sanitary equipment
- Preferences for the facade – whether the company must work with cladding bricks or if the painter might apply external thermal insulation composite system (ETICS)
and so on.
This speeds up the meetings – and if the requests become too expensive, you can always remove some items.
I know people who have taken a few weeks of intensive preparation for meetings with prefabricated home companies – the result was a detailed specification document (with the architecture already decided), several DIN A4 pages long. The conversations with the companies were concise, without major disputes, and in the end, price and performance were clearly and transparently comparable.
It doesn’t have to go that far, but with proper preparation, it becomes significantly easier and more productive for both parties…
In your case, it was handled through the lengthy discussions with the general contractors. For the upcoming appointments (whether with the architect, general contractor, or tradespeople), you’ll be well prepared and can present a list of your requirements, for example:
- Space requirements for the architect based on a budget of xy
- Preferences for electrical or sanitary equipment
- Preferences for the facade – whether the company must work with cladding bricks or if the painter might apply external thermal insulation composite system (ETICS)
and so on.
This speeds up the meetings – and if the requests become too expensive, you can always remove some items.
I know people who have taken a few weeks of intensive preparation for meetings with prefabricated home companies – the result was a detailed specification document (with the architecture already decided), several DIN A4 pages long. The conversations with the companies were concise, without major disputes, and in the end, price and performance were clearly and transparently comparable.
It doesn’t have to go that far, but with proper preparation, it becomes significantly easier and more productive for both parties…
@xycrazy I have to admit, I’m quite impressed by a last-minute decision like that.
Although I think you probably already knew before, but just kept going with the planning?
I don’t want to go through all your posts, but didn’t you mention recently that the planned house would be around 200 square meters (2,150 square feet) and include a lot of technical features as well as a double garage, roof terrace, etc.?
Maybe it’s all these nice-to-haves combined that made the planned home end up as an undefined and overwhelming size, which made you feel uneasy?
Although I think you probably already knew before, but just kept going with the planning?
I don’t want to go through all your posts, but didn’t you mention recently that the planned house would be around 200 square meters (2,150 square feet) and include a lot of technical features as well as a double garage, roof terrace, etc.?
Maybe it’s all these nice-to-haves combined that made the planned home end up as an undefined and overwhelming size, which made you feel uneasy?
So – the following is my personal experience, so it is certainly not representative.
The seller of our shell-and-core house not only sold us a good house plus upgrade packages for a reasonably fair price.
From that moment until we moved in, she also took care of one problem or another. She was always available when we called. She provided contacts and even tried (successfully) to resolve issues that she couldn’t have foreseen beforehand (since she can’t predict the future). The seller not only successfully sold a house but also contributed significantly to the completion of the construction project. It was in her interest, and it mattered to her, that everything worked out. Beyond that, she even visited the construction site several times, and when we were stressed: a bottle of sparkling wine in the trunk…
From what I hear from neighbors: house sellers (who should be professionals) can’t be as generally negatively perceived as claimed, since other people around me are also satisfied.
Thorsten
The seller of our shell-and-core house not only sold us a good house plus upgrade packages for a reasonably fair price.
From that moment until we moved in, she also took care of one problem or another. She was always available when we called. She provided contacts and even tried (successfully) to resolve issues that she couldn’t have foreseen beforehand (since she can’t predict the future). The seller not only successfully sold a house but also contributed significantly to the completion of the construction project. It was in her interest, and it mattered to her, that everything worked out. Beyond that, she even visited the construction site several times, and when we were stressed: a bottle of sparkling wine in the trunk…
From what I hear from neighbors: house sellers (who should be professionals) can’t be as generally negatively perceived as claimed, since other people around me are also satisfied.
Thorsten
nordanney schrieb:
Honestly... anyone who has spent seven months in discussions and planning with one provider (after previously talking to others) has wasted a lot of time. House planning can (especially if you want to be involved) and should be much faster – what exactly is being planned for so long? My commercial clients with far more complex properties manage to be quicker. I would never have spent seven months talking to one provider without a finished result.Well – our planning phase took over 12 months.
The first draft was a dream. However, it turned out a bit too expensive. Then we tried to save the whole project through planned self-performed work. Luckily, at some point, we realized we were getting stuck and wouldn’t be able to complete the self-performed work. So, after about 6 months, we called it off. Subsequently, we received two more drafts that we didn’t like. It wasn’t until 3 months after calling it off that progress resumed.
With the contract signing, just over 12 months after the initial discussions, the complete design was finally finished and the building permit / planning permission was approved.