Hacker News Reader

Comment by zwnow | Hacker News Reader

I live in the middle of nowhere in Northern Germany. A house where you wont have to tear down the whole place starts at 400k. And that's a basic small sub 100m^2 house with no garden.

Sorry but I wont get myself into 40 year debt for a bungalow.

After my father's death we sold our old family home for ~70k€ 15 years ago. It would have been in the 300-400k range nowadays. My salary certainly did not double - triple in that time frame.

View on HN

Inflation and rich people buying asset class drives everything up

Ill just live for rent and let landlords leech my hard earned money. Gives me freedom to leave whenever I feel like it...

I am already 30, wont have a good start capital at 40 and I for sure wont buy a house that late in life.

How much do you wxpend wvery year on vacation and “going out“

I know plenty of people in germany who repeat continuously that stance, and they recognize they spend well over 10k/year in vacacions.

Ill fly to Japan next year. First foreign country vacation in 14 years. Estimated costs 3-4k. I go to concerts every few months so I spend a few hundred bucks there. Other than that most of my money goes into rent and food. I have some somewhat expensive contracts though. 50€ phone, 50€ internet.

Going out is living life though, I wont reduce my quality of life for decades just so I can afford a house.

But in short, I do barely spend money on vacations.

You are certainly not the type I am referring to. Even if you cut all that, will not help a lot.

Anayway my story: never ever sid vacation abroad.Vacation outside my home only every 2 or 3 years. Never eat out. I have no idea how is it to go to a concert. No expensive hobbies. When I was 40 all of that provided 40k for a down payment.

I do not regret it.

I can manage to save 500-1000€ per month. For me the biggest issue is just the general pricing. Maybe its emotional too, but I have fond memories of my family house when I was a kid and I dont want to buy comparatively a bungalow for quadruple the price.

TBH, if the german economy keeps in this track, at some point the prices will go down... the problem is at that point everything will go down.

You are talking house… I did not say house. I said home, meaning anything, including a flat. Yes, owning land is expensive. So what?

A flat is barely worth it given you still have to bother with neighbors. Those are also 6 digit numbers up here. Not happening. I want a home like my parents used to have. Regular old German refugee home with a nice garden, 3-4 rooms, 2 levels, 2 bathrooms, small cellar. Sounds big, was a rather small house though. Garden had space and a shed to work in. We sold that for 70k 15 years ago and I wont buy a flat for 130k where I possibly have to bother with noisy neighbors.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com