So I know I have been moaning on here for a while now about money and I’m so poor and stressed and I want this and that and I have to be patient… well, it turns out, screw patience.
After advise from everyone around us that we should at least see a mortgage broker to see if we can realistically afford a house right now because our parents, his sister, and a few friends thought that it would be cheaper than we thought. So… once the stress with Bens dad died down (hes home from hospital and doing a bit better now) we went off to the broker.
The broker came highly recommended – a few of Bens friends had used him and promised there would be no stress. And there literally was. He put the different options on the table for us – use all your deposit and the first home buyers grant and you can borrow this much and repayments are this much… and told us what it would cost for different levels of deposit and house price. And the surprising thing? It was cheaper than our rent.
Now we arent looking for an expensive place… just a place to suit us for now. This can be a 2 bedroom unit or 3 bedroom (if we get lucky) and if its brand new, we barely have to touch the deposit!
So… we decided to bite the bullet and go for it. There is never going to be a PERFECT time, you will never be debt free, have the full deposit and have plummeting house prices all at the same time, so why wait? Particularly because in Australia waiting another year will literally cost you a free $14k. (The government gives first home buyers money to help pay off the stamp duty.)
Last night we went and saw our broker again to get our pre-approval and while that wont come in for another week or so, we can safely look at houses this weekend and put offers in without being fearful of having no money.
The things I was worried about? My debt and the fact that this is all his deposit… well if we get a place that is relatively cheap, I can still pay off my debt at the same rate we have now AND we barely have to touch his deposit, give or take a few thousand for legal fees and all that. That means he can use that money to pay off his student loans (or HECS as we call them here) or buy something he really wants, or just keep it to accrue interest.
We also made a deal: I take on the buying of decoration for the house and he puts in what he has to of his deposit, eventually itll even out!
This weekend: going to be CRAZY. We could spend all Saturday and all Sunday seeing houses and still have 10 left over. So, we are going to prioritise those in each time slot, look at the new buildings first, and see what else we can do.
Keep your fingers crossed that we find something, love it, put an offer in, have it accepted and its DONE in the next few weeks. Otherwise this will become the house hunting whining blog. Nobody wants to see that!
