The year is 2010. The Mayer couple sit anxiously in an unadorned office in an equally unadorned bank in Hamburg.
Both are very excited because they have to explain to the counselor in front of them that there is a little problem with realizing their big dream.
They do not have a single cent of equity for the EUR 400,000 loan they need to build their planned single-family home.
But the Mayers have one trump card up their sleeve - they earn quite well.
Together they have a net household income of just under 6,000 euros.
This means that in this country you are at least among the upper middle class.
And indeed: the good salaries completely convince the credit advisor.
He “punishes” the stigma of the lack of equity with a measly 0.3 percentage points, which the couple would have to pay more than if they had 40 percent equity.
Today, ten years later, the Mayers know that they had the perfect timing back then.