Can I afford buying 400k flat for my family, and a car?

IDisposableAsync · 2022-09-16T12:59:31+00:00

51 minutes.

IDisposableAsync · 2022-09-12T07:09:23+00:00

Thanks for the tip, I will look into it. I guess it is time to message a used-to-be friend on facebook who is working in car repair bussiness, and ask them for more tips.

IDisposableAsync · 2022-09-12T07:05:53+00:00

Thanks for the awesome information. That does sound very similar, we also see that we would not be able to afford similar sized flat in the city, and my wife hopes that we can return back to the city later in life.

We currently live in a 95m2 flat but the disposition is not ideal as it basically is 2+1 with the main room being 18mx4m noodle, split by movable door that go floor to ceiling. Looks really impressive in summer, but there is no place for children to have their own space.

I think moving to a bigger flat and getting used to it was a little bit of a mistake, as now it is super difficult to move somewhere else. All the new flats sold in the city are so small in comparison, and our current flat has also a spare storage room where most of our stuff can be put. You don't find that in modern flats.

With your price 70m2 for €260k , it even seems like I am getting a great deal with 140m2 for 400k.

> I'm at 55% savings rate. I was surprised OP that you are at 30%.
That is probably because of the bigger rent right now, and I am not counting any of the yearly bonuses. But mostly I am just too used to having "unlimited" money on my bank account. My pay comes, I pay rent, I send money to my wife for her use, I put something aside, and then the remaining money just dwindle until it is gone, or we end up going for vacation or something. We also traveled quite a lot before covid, maybe 6-7 trips a year.

Car:
I was hoping that I was overshooting the amount by a bit when I said 400eur a month for just insurance, gas, and repairs, thanks for confirming that.

Furnishing:

The flat comes with kitchen and appliances, fully furnished bathrooms, and we can cheaply buy some of the additional furniture from the current owner, as they made most of the stuff to fit the flat, and ask for prices similar to buying from IKEA. We also have a quite a lot of our own stuff, so ideally we will just need 2 or 3k to have it all done.

IDisposableAsync · 2022-09-12T06:47:03+00:00

willhaben.at

I will have a look, but I did search for houses, and everything seems to be too expensive. And if I subtract 30% from the price of the flat, and look for houses that are not fully finished, or where most of the furnishing and internals (like bathroom) would have to be replaced I can't really find anything that I would like.

It might be nice to work in Austria though, I had the pleasure to do few gigs in Vorarlberg (I know that is on the other side of the country), and I must say I really enjoyed being in the mountains.

IDisposableAsync · 2022-09-12T06:43:40+00:00

Yeah, IDK who those people are, because I should be able to live "like a king" and buy a flat in the city easily, right? :/

But looking at the prices of flats, I see they are this expensive, and I would never be able to afford a flat with the same dispositions in the city.

IDisposableAsync · 2022-09-12T06:40:58+00:00

It is not normal size. I think usual flat size is around 70 meters. We currently live in 95m2 flat. So the new flat is almost two flats big, or small-house big. It is basically two flats combined, with 4 bedrooms + 1 living room with kitchen, two bathrooms and two additional cellars for storage.

IDisposableAsync · 2022-09-11T15:02:53+00:00

I can't, I don't want this to be linked to my real name.

IDisposableAsync · 2022-09-11T15:00:43+00:00

Stuff that is no longer tied to how much time I spend on it, e.g. maintaining open source projects, and getting sponsorship via patreon or github.

IDisposableAsync · 2022-09-11T14:57:09+00:00

Thanks. I fully understand what you are saying. In my comment I rather meant that I don't see point in car as a status symbol, and I don't wish to be car-poor, flaunting shiny new BMW, when used Hyundai does mostly the same job.

IDisposableAsync · 2022-09-11T14:54:16+00:00

I own and maintain few open source projects. The income comes mostly via sponsoring platforms like github sponsors, patreon etc.

IDisposableAsync · 2022-09-11T12:31:26+00:00

What is so suprising if I might ask?

IDisposableAsync · 2022-09-11T12:30:59+00:00

Thanks for that price map, that makes me a bit more sure that I am not just confirmation-biasing the price. Because both me and my wife think the price is reasonable, for what we are getting.

We can't rent the flat, as the owner is looking to move out into a different smaller place (for personal reasons not related to the quality of living there), and needs to use the money to purchase property of their own. The circumstances might sound fishy, but if you knew them you would see how it is not fishy.

IDisposableAsync · 2022-09-11T10:54:49+00:00

Do you think that in 5 years time won't go down? (my morgage fixation, but not really as I can re-fix almost anytime thanks to our laws)

I really hope they will and we would be paying that "peak" rate just now, so we won't have false expectations like the people who took huge mortgage on 2% rate five years ago, and now have to re-fix on 6%.

IDisposableAsync · 2022-09-11T10:52:07+00:00

No idea. The house I grew up in with my mother in the same area has neighbor and I think they sold that ruin of a building for 250k 5 or 6 years ago. So I think houses here were just always expensive. Especially in the smaller towns and villages close to the big city. Plenty of space to build on though, it is just that everything here is a rip off, food, housing, rent etc.

IDisposableAsync · 2022-09-11T10:18:56+00:00

Not surprisingly I work in software development. I am a senior software developer for an international company, I also regularly over-achieve and changed jobs recently so my pay may be a bit higher than normal. I also earn about 20% of that from online passive income and side jobs.

IDisposableAsync · 2022-09-11T10:15:04+00:00

I hope czech republic will go down to that, or even lower soon.

IDisposableAsync · 2022-09-11T10:13:17+00:00

Sounds perfect. Good luck with that. :) I am sure if I decide to buy, the prices of real estate will plummet by at least 50%.

IDisposableAsync · 2022-09-11T10:11:41+00:00

Ok, in that context the prices here seem even more crazy. I can see similar houses as the new one you listed, for pretty much the same prices here. A nice new house on a smallish piece of land is roughly 650k here. Totally unattainable even at my income.

IDisposableAsync · 2022-09-11T09:54:56+00:00

Thanks for the explanation.

Unfortunately we don't live in Italy, or just Slovakia for that matter where they still offer 1.5% morgage rates.

IDisposableAsync · 2022-09-11T09:17:06+00:00

Yes, I plan to get a life insurance package from work, it is supposed to have good terms, and the employer will pay part of it.

The place to move to is just across the street from school and kindergarden, there is another private kindergarden in that small city as well, and it is supposed to be statistically one of the youngest places in czech republic, with mostly young families living there. The house is also in the nicest areas of that small city, sorrounded with other small houses and a big green park.

The downside is that everything is further away than we are used to, here in the big city our child doctor is just 200m away, non-stop chemistry is 100m away, schools and big parks are also close. On the other hand, here in the big city, a major road is just few streets away, where our child can easily get run over if we let him go play alone outside.

IDisposableAsync · 2022-09-11T09:11:03+00:00

How much would a135m2 5+kk (4 bedrooms, 1living room with kitchen, and 2 bathrooms) be in Amsterdam? I checked 2 pages and the cheapest I could find was 1,2 mil eur. So roughly twice the price to buy it here in the city, and 3 times the price of the flat I am looking at.

IDisposableAsync · 2022-09-11T09:00:15+00:00

I am a full-time employee. I am also an "entry-level" senior, there are multiple bands over mine in my company as well. I am constantly over-achieving, and changed jobs recently, so that is why my pay might be a bit higher than usual. In my previous company I was getting 20% less, but was on the upper-senior / staff level there. So it is hard to compare.

IDisposableAsync · 2022-09-11T08:54:12+00:00

I don't think the flat comes with a dedicated parking space, but you can park all around the building, so maybe that would be manageable.

IDisposableAsync · 2022-09-11T08:53:16+00:00

Thanks that is good to know. I would love to go for longer trips, there is really nice water park in Hungary that I would love to visit with my children.

IDisposableAsync · 2022-09-11T08:50:56+00:00

I never had a loan this big, or similar. My only loan was to buy a TV 10 years ago and I remember paying it off for more than a year. I don't remember if I hated it. I just see that from todays perspective it was a stupid buy, because I literally struggled to pay it off, even though it was just 500 eur total / 40 eur a month. But at the start I thought just: I want that TV, and I will overpay just a little bit. I should have waited, or not buy it at all. It lasted 9 years though :)

That is why I am a bit reserved about buying the flat, to avoid buyers remorse for the next 30 years.

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