Moving out of home

[King Nothing]

Sorry if this has already been covered somewhere, I've done a search and didn't come up with anything

My Fiancee and I are looking at moving out and I'm trying to sort out a budget. We want to get a loan for ~$300k for a unit. At the moment we have about a 10% deposit ready to go.

As a bit of a trial I want to figure out what sort of repayment period we should be looking at. So what I want to do is figure out how much we would need to spend each week on food, petrol, rates, bills, etc. Then whatever we would have left over, thats what we have to spend on the "mortgage" (put this into savings) and fun stuff for us. That way we don't lock ourselves into a lifestyle we hate, while saving a crapload over the next 6 months or so.

So what do I need to think about in terms of bills? How much per week for a young couple with no kids (yet)?

[Geez Louise]

Only the 2 of you...No kids! Sheesh....Wanna swap places!!

Here...try this link! Hope it helps! Next person that asks a financial question is going to get my BILL!! HeHe

http://www.fido.asic.gov.au/fido/fido.nsf/byheadline/FIDO's+Budget+Planner?openDocument

[XR06T]

me and the gf eat about $150 food a week and household bills are around $60 week (not including internet water and rates, and we dont have a home phone) our rates bill for baldivis is around $500/year and i guess water would be around $350/year. not sure what your fuel bills are.

with a combined income of ~1250/week (take home) me and my gf are not struggling at all with a mortgage of 320k, so that should give you some idea.

good luck

[EA2BA]

Don't forget a unit may also have strata fees levied on it as well, and you might have to go through a body corporate to do any change internal or external to the unit. So make sure to check these things out before you buy so you know.

[Yellow_Festiva]

Hey King,

300k straight out is pretty high. Have you considered buying cheaper so that your independant but also got less to pay back? Your 10% on 300K will then become 15% on 200k, but your loan will be a whole lot easier to manage.

Then when the kids come along perhaps you could then upgrade to a nicer place using the equity you already have?

In terms of your loan structure, the fact that your going to live in it means you should probably fix some of the loan for, say 3 years, and keep the rest variable (the rest meaning what you predict you could pay back in that 3 years).

That way you have some predictability in repayments, but also the ability to pay it down as well. A loan that payes ALL your income into it will be also good (so when you do pull out money from the bank, your actually pulling it out of your loan, but while it's there, it's reducing your daily interest.

In terms of your "repayment period", that really isn't an issue to be honest. Even if you take out a loan over 30years, there is nothing stopping you paying it out in 8-10 years if you want.

Sometimes its better the elect the longest term possible, so when things are good you can throw in heaps of "extra repayments", but if your income drops off for some reason, you can then return to the minimum until your are ready to once again make those "extra repayments".

Good luck

But as always, seek professional advice!

[XPcoupe]

Don't forget about stamp duty and all that stuff ends up being another $15k on a $300k house. With the loan just got the the longest term possible, ad if you have extra cash pay more off. but at least your not committing to a large repayment.

[XYGTHO]

Will you get the first home buyers Grant or is that not given if buying a unit. I'm just getting by. Only just bought my first house on my own. Loan of 207g with repayments of $760per fortnight. I make $1364 a fortnight pay the repayment which leave me $604 and i just take out $300 a fortnight for all bills. Just sit down with your GF and add up all your rates, rego's, phone bills, insurances, health care?, etc and figure out how much to put away weekly or fortnightly. I am left with $300 fortnightly for food, fuel and drinks etc. I know ride my pushy to work so only spend $20 on fuel a week. I think you and your missus if both working should have no worries and figure out how much you need to put away for bills and make sure you actuallu put it away.

[ms700]

Try for now, to work out the rough repayments on a 300K loan (or whatever size loan you want), and put that money away, into a account, and see if you and your GF can survive on whats left over each week. Should only take a month or 2 to work out if you can safely survive or not.

If you can, beauty, go ahead and purchase, and you should have a slightly healthier deposit, but if you cant make ends meet, see where the expenditure is going, and trim it.

Its usually not the incoming funds thats the problem, its the outgoings. If you can control the outgoings, you are already on track. Budget!

[XYGTHO]

Originally Posted by ms700

Try for now, to work out the rough repayments on a 300K loan (or whatever size loan you want), and put that money away, into a account, and see if you and your GF can survive on whats left over each week. Should only take a month or 2 to work out if you can safely survive or not.

If you can, beauty, go ahead and purchase, and you should have a slightly healthier deposit, but if you cant make ends meet, see where the expenditure is going, and trim it.

Its usually not the incoming funds thats the problem, its the outgoings. If you can control the outgoings, you are already on track. Budget!

Great advice mate.

[rodderz]

Tally up your budget and add on more....there are always unexpected costs that come into the equation.

The problem isn't annual wage, it's cashflow. Bills always seem to have a habit of coming at the same time.

[XR06T]

there is no stamp duty on a first place around 300k over here, but i didn't think of strata fee's etc. defn something to take into consideration. like festiva said, just get a 30 year loan with an offset account so all the time you are saving you are reducing interest.

this is the loan i have: http://bankwest.com.au/Personal/Home...oan/index.aspx