Hi all,
My girlfriend and I looking at making the move to purchase our first property, and have been looking around but are a bit unsure of what the main things to be aware of are. I've read a lot through this forum over the past 18 months or so, but I'm still pretty nervous about the idea.
I've just finished university (did not go straight out of school), and my GF is still studying. We have a reasonable deposit saved, and I am currently looking at a number of employment offers (yeah, maybe not what some on this board would recommend, but at the moment it's the way I think I need to go
).
We will initially be living in the property, unless there's some suggestion that an alternate idea would be better?
In terms of the figures, bear in mind this is not in the US and all values are in local currency.
If it helps with any indication, they claim the median house price in our area is currently $530k (regional median $480k, national median $340k). That said, recently there are quite a number of moderate 2- and 3-bedroom free standing houses around the $320k - $360k mark, and some apartment / townhouses showing up as low as $200k now. These are probably more the ranges we'd expect to look in at this stage.
In terms of finances, we have $30k deposit, and expect a combined income after tax of approximately $62k p/a for the immediate future. This is excluding potential income from a number of small projects I am involved with. We currently have approximately $400/month in payments such as cellphone bills, insurance, finance/debt repayments etc (not including living costs like food etc), plus student loan repayments which are calculated as roughly 10% of income (so in our case about $6200 a year). After these two amounts (~$11k) it leaves roughly $51k after-tax income. I'll take another 10% for misc variables in bills, so that leaves say $45k. Is this anywhere near enough, for us to realistically expect to cover a mortgage repayment and day to day living costs?
I've used a number of online calculators from some of our local banks and such, using these figures which try and tell me it's enough for a ~$350k mortgage but something just doesn't seem to add up to me.
We are looking at this not just as accommodation but as a mid-term investment.
What are townhouses in mass developments like, such as this one? We're confident it's definitely affordable for us, but is it more likely to lose us money long term?
I'd be very appreciative of some feedback from some who are more familiar with the desired ratios etc to help me understand just what our situation really is, and any other relevant advice would be more than welcome.
My girlfriend and I looking at making the move to purchase our first property, and have been looking around but are a bit unsure of what the main things to be aware of are. I've read a lot through this forum over the past 18 months or so, but I'm still pretty nervous about the idea.
I've just finished university (did not go straight out of school), and my GF is still studying. We have a reasonable deposit saved, and I am currently looking at a number of employment offers (yeah, maybe not what some on this board would recommend, but at the moment it's the way I think I need to go
).We will initially be living in the property, unless there's some suggestion that an alternate idea would be better?
In terms of the figures, bear in mind this is not in the US and all values are in local currency.
If it helps with any indication, they claim the median house price in our area is currently $530k (regional median $480k, national median $340k). That said, recently there are quite a number of moderate 2- and 3-bedroom free standing houses around the $320k - $360k mark, and some apartment / townhouses showing up as low as $200k now. These are probably more the ranges we'd expect to look in at this stage.
In terms of finances, we have $30k deposit, and expect a combined income after tax of approximately $62k p/a for the immediate future. This is excluding potential income from a number of small projects I am involved with. We currently have approximately $400/month in payments such as cellphone bills, insurance, finance/debt repayments etc (not including living costs like food etc), plus student loan repayments which are calculated as roughly 10% of income (so in our case about $6200 a year). After these two amounts (~$11k) it leaves roughly $51k after-tax income. I'll take another 10% for misc variables in bills, so that leaves say $45k. Is this anywhere near enough, for us to realistically expect to cover a mortgage repayment and day to day living costs?
I've used a number of online calculators from some of our local banks and such, using these figures which try and tell me it's enough for a ~$350k mortgage but something just doesn't seem to add up to me.
We are looking at this not just as accommodation but as a mid-term investment.
What are townhouses in mass developments like, such as this one? We're confident it's definitely affordable for us, but is it more likely to lose us money long term?
I'd be very appreciative of some feedback from some who are more familiar with the desired ratios etc to help me understand just what our situation really is, and any other relevant advice would be more than welcome.
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