Hello everyone,
I’ve already read some interesting threads here and now I’d like to ask a question myself:
About me: I’m 28 years old and married—no children yet, but we do want some in the future. My husband and I have been searching for properties, plots of land, etc., for about 2.5 months. We are quite open to options like condominiums, building a new home on a lot, or an existing property.
We are both industrial engineers and currently earn a combined gross annual income of 120,000 EUR. Our current savings amount to 120,000 EUR. We only finished our master’s degrees 3 and 4 years ago. Right now, we live in 60 sq m (645 sq ft) for 1,000 EUR (about 1,000 USD) all-inclusive rent. It’s hardly possible to find cheaper here without significantly increasing the commute to work. Currently, we can bike to work.
At the moment, we are looking at a 1,200 sq m (12,917 sq ft) plot with a new build. The prefabricated house provider would be Bien-Zenker. Our meeting with them left a solid impression compared to two other manufacturers.
We have received an offer that includes almost everything: a 165 sq m (1,776 sq ft) house without a basement, a double garage, the land, and utility connections for just under 670,000 EUR. Something like the kitchen is, of course, not included. So we’re assuming about 700,000 EUR in total.
I am extremely uncertain whether we should proceed with this. Also, whether the financing will work out. Our main bank said it should be possible... but they would prefer us to have a guarantor. My in-laws would support us with about 30,000 EUR, but my parents wouldn’t help financially. My uncle could assist with a low-interest loan. Since all this came up so quickly, we still need to schedule more appointments to clarify the financing. Our decision deadline is about four weeks.
I wanted to ask if there are people here who have been in a similar situation or could offer an assessment.
Thank you very much!
I’ve already read some interesting threads here and now I’d like to ask a question myself:
About me: I’m 28 years old and married—no children yet, but we do want some in the future. My husband and I have been searching for properties, plots of land, etc., for about 2.5 months. We are quite open to options like condominiums, building a new home on a lot, or an existing property.
We are both industrial engineers and currently earn a combined gross annual income of 120,000 EUR. Our current savings amount to 120,000 EUR. We only finished our master’s degrees 3 and 4 years ago. Right now, we live in 60 sq m (645 sq ft) for 1,000 EUR (about 1,000 USD) all-inclusive rent. It’s hardly possible to find cheaper here without significantly increasing the commute to work. Currently, we can bike to work.
At the moment, we are looking at a 1,200 sq m (12,917 sq ft) plot with a new build. The prefabricated house provider would be Bien-Zenker. Our meeting with them left a solid impression compared to two other manufacturers.
We have received an offer that includes almost everything: a 165 sq m (1,776 sq ft) house without a basement, a double garage, the land, and utility connections for just under 670,000 EUR. Something like the kitchen is, of course, not included. So we’re assuming about 700,000 EUR in total.
I am extremely uncertain whether we should proceed with this. Also, whether the financing will work out. Our main bank said it should be possible... but they would prefer us to have a guarantor. My in-laws would support us with about 30,000 EUR, but my parents wouldn’t help financially. My uncle could assist with a low-interest loan. Since all this came up so quickly, we still need to schedule more appointments to clarify the financing. Our decision deadline is about four weeks.
I wanted to ask if there are people here who have been in a similar situation or could offer an assessment.
Thank you very much!
Tine996 schrieb:
By now, I’m increasingly thinking that we could plan for our first child in our current rental apartment, but my husband is more hesitant because he believes the child needs a separate nursery or kids’ room. That’s why we’re probably putting ourselves under stress. Compared to some, 2.5 months of searching isn’t long at all. But you also don’t want to miss any opportunities, especially on this topic.
The plot is located in a slight depression. There are trees and bushes on it. So it needs to be excavated and filled to be level with the street. There are already offers from companies willing to handle this, which have been included in the quote. Whether that’s realistic in the end, I can hardly assess. It is far from being realistic. And you should definitely let this "opportunity" pass you by. File it away in a folder for so-called missed opportunities. And only when you have ten or twelve missed “opportunities” stored there, celebrate the money saved and let the lessons learned in the meantime inform your future homebuilding plans.
Tine996 schrieb:
But when it comes to the superficial excavation of the property, we’ll probably have to negotiate that with the owner. Can Bien-Zenker say: “Oh, this is so bad, we won’t build on it with a warranty”? Put all such questions in that folder as well. On the day of the aforementioned celebration, you can note which answers you have found for yourselves by then.
Tine996 schrieb:
The quote for the house and additional costs was, as I said, created and printed out during the sales talk and given to us. Every single detail here serves one purpose only: to act as a stage set in the mental movie where you audition as the lead actor, trying to purposefully continue spinning the dream. The house is not your dream home, and the fact that it is the “Evolution 164” model is interchangeable. It mainly serves to gradually replace vague elements with concrete ones to push you toward the point where your signature plays the role of the happy ending. Even the producers of the TV series “Heartfelt Cinema” might be jealous or at least want to learn a thing or two.
To summarize:
1. Forget about this offer (but not just for the specific details), and also some others that follow;
2. Learn as you go, so you become a tougher prospect for salespeople;
3. Still, don’t wait forever to climb the first rung of the property ladder (nothing will be cheaper tomorrow);
4. Don’t buy or build at any stage for the needs and desires of several levels beyond your current situation.
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
Friends of ours are now reluctantly building with Bien-Zenker.
They purchased an old house (originally built by Zenker decades ago). They stripped the upper floors and planned to build on the existing basement. The entire Zenker team approved this on site... unfortunately, the structural engineer did not. Our friends didn’t know this, though. Foolishly, there was no written communication about this, and Zenker is now acting like Scholz and seems to suffer from sudden amnesia. So, the old basement had to be removed and a new one built, resulting in an additional cost of around 90,000€ (approximately $98,000) all at once. On top of that, dealing with the architect has been a nightmare. He doesn’t take care of anything unless threatened with legal action. This may be an isolated case, but it doesn’t exactly inspire confidence in working with them.
By the way, the initial house offer was very attractive. But as discussions got more detailed, the price kept increasing.
Oh, and make sure to ask to see the new property tax calculation. For us, it increased by a steep 1,200€ (about $1,300) thanks to the new calculation method. With a lot size of 1,200sqm (roughly 12,900 sq ft), it quickly becomes very expensive — and this happens every year. If you have the property tax calculation for undeveloped building land, you can roughly estimate it yourself.
They purchased an old house (originally built by Zenker decades ago). They stripped the upper floors and planned to build on the existing basement. The entire Zenker team approved this on site... unfortunately, the structural engineer did not. Our friends didn’t know this, though. Foolishly, there was no written communication about this, and Zenker is now acting like Scholz and seems to suffer from sudden amnesia. So, the old basement had to be removed and a new one built, resulting in an additional cost of around 90,000€ (approximately $98,000) all at once. On top of that, dealing with the architect has been a nightmare. He doesn’t take care of anything unless threatened with legal action. This may be an isolated case, but it doesn’t exactly inspire confidence in working with them.
By the way, the initial house offer was very attractive. But as discussions got more detailed, the price kept increasing.
Oh, and make sure to ask to see the new property tax calculation. For us, it increased by a steep 1,200€ (about $1,300) thanks to the new calculation method. With a lot size of 1,200sqm (roughly 12,900 sq ft), it quickly becomes very expensive — and this happens every year. If you have the property tax calculation for undeveloped building land, you can roughly estimate it yourself.
Thanks for reading and for the suggestions. We are actually still at the very beginning, but we thought you have to start somewhere.
Now it’s probably up to me to steer my husband a bit more. He is approaching this quite carelessly.
I understand that 2.5 months (about 10 weeks) is nothing when it comes to house hunting. Still, you have to start at some point and gain experience. The posts here have helped me understand what I definitely need to pay attention to in the next offer. That was also the reason why I registered here.
Now it’s probably up to me to steer my husband a bit more. He is approaching this quite carelessly.
Schorsch_baut schrieb:
yeah, it’s better to take a dubious offer without any practical or planning experience that ends up being expensive. Because he’s been searching diligently for 2.5 months (about 10 weeks) and thinks that finished kids’ rooms are as important as nurseries for the little ones.
To me, this smells too much like impatience.
I understand that 2.5 months (about 10 weeks) is nothing when it comes to house hunting. Still, you have to start at some point and gain experience. The posts here have helped me understand what I definitely need to pay attention to in the next offer. That was also the reason why I registered here.
Tine996 schrieb:
The posts here have given me a good idea of what to definitely pay attention to in the next quote. That was also the reason I signed up here. Don’t be discouraged and join us again next time. The community has already saved me from some costly mistakes...
Tine996 schrieb:
The posts here have helped me understand clearly what to definitely pay attention to in the next offer. That was also the reason I registered here.That’s good, and the forum doesn’t complain about that either.
Tine996 schrieb:
I understand that 2.5 months is really nothing when searching for a property. Still, you have to start somewhere and gain that experience. I haven’t read everything, so please forgive me if this has already been mentioned.
I can understand the excitement and enthusiasm when you suddenly find something so quickly. But unless it’s your own parents leaving you something, everyone else usually just wants one thing from you – your money!
I’ve often read from the kind @11ant that, especially in the beginning, you don’t have to rush into a property that will fulfill all life stages until the end. We started with an apartment, then a mid-terrace house, followed by a semi-detached house, and for the past 2.5 years we have been living in our detached house. All of this between 2008 and 2022.
And hopefully, this current house won’t be our final stop either.
I would now focus on saving as much money as possible during the search phase. Anyone here can surely confirm that building a house always ends up costing more than initially planned.
I fully agree with the last post from @SoL. I have also taken away some useful insights here that have protected me from wrong decisions. Nobody here is profiting from you, and there are no envious people, as most active members have already built or owned multiple homes!
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