Fun fact - I am basically FIRE. I do my science job for fun, not because I need the income. That would be bad because the payment is ridiculous. I live off stock market revenues. I do not know how much your property is worth, and including that you are most likely richer than me (or Alice actually as she controls all the finances). But I would never buy a house in Germany. You own nothing. I already posted how the local government tells you what you are allowed to keep in your garage, how you are allowed to heat your house, what energy efficiency level it must achieve and all that - and it's getting worse. You will likely soon have to pay property tax for all your assets. Can't pay the tax for the insane fictional real estate value of the house you are living in? Then sell it and move out. Nah never. I pay a symbolic rent since the landlady is a friend of my parents. I guess 1/4 of the appropriate rent at max. If I bought the property (which I can't, it's huge and in a good area of Munich, just the land is must be worth millions), I'd pay more for the house insurance than I do now for rent. And be responsible for adhering to an endless list of regulations. The big question is what happens when the landlady dies. But she's not that old and very healthy. Even if someone else buys the house, they can neither kick me out nor abruptly raise the rent because of tenants rights. So I'm not overly worried. I'm certainly not rich and live a (relatively) simple life, but I have no financial worried. Especially since Alice now keeps me from spending tens of thousands of € on cool things I don't actually need.