Hi everyone,
My wife and I are currently considering buying a new-build apartment in Northern Europe(Baltics), and I’m honestly struggling with how I feel about the financial side of it.
The apartment is a top-floor penthouse, around 100m², in a very good development. Great views, excellent furniture/interior, parking, future proof ev charger, storage etc. Basically, it’s the kind of apartment we would absolutely love to live in for many years.
The price is around €360–370k.
We would need to put down 10%, which would consume almost all of our current savings.
After the down payment, transaction costs, moving and all the initial expenses, we’d have only around €5k left as an emergency fund.
Our situation:
Married, one young child
Combined net income: roughly €4k/month
Wife has a very stable career and is expected to continue working as a teacher
I work in IT, where layoffs/restructuring can happen at basically any time
But (!) We will also take insurance covering the mortgage payments in case of involuntary job loss, for up to 12 months
Mortgage would be roughly €1.5–1.6k/month
No other significant debt
The apartment itself is objectively a very good deal for what it offers, and comparable properties are not much cheaper
The problem is that putting almost all our savings into the down payment scares the hell out of me.
On paper, the mortgage seems manageable. Even if I lost my job, my wife would still have an income. And I could probably find another IT job eventually.
But having only ~€5k in cash after buying a €360k+ property feels extremely uncomfortable.
At the same time, this isn’t some random investment property. It’s a home we genuinely love, and we’d probably stay there for decades. Waiting another few years to accumulate a bigger down payment could mean that prices increase and we lose this particular apartment.
So I’m basically stuck between:
Option A: Buy the dream apartment now, accept that our cash reserves will be very low, and aggressively rebuild the emergency fund afterwards.
Option B: Walk away, keep saving, and buy something cheaper / wait until we can put down 15–20% without destroying our cash buffer.
What would you do?
Is having only ~€5k emergency savings after buying a €360–370k home an obvious financial red flag, or is it reasonable if the mortgage payment is affordable relative to household income and one spouse has a relatively stable profession?
I’d especially appreciate opinions from people who have bought expensive homes and subsequently experienced job loss or other financial problems. Was the fear justified, or did you find that the financial situation was actually manageable once you were settled in?
