Getting into a House Loan Budgeting Question

• 

  ssx on 17/02/2017 - 15:49

  +1

  I have no helpful answer, but hope this might be of some use to you:
  https://www.moneysmart.gov.au/tools-and-resources/calculator…

• 

  mskeggs on 17/02/2017 - 15:51

  +1

  Yes, but why don't you get a flat mate to pay a bit of rent and pay off the loan quicker?

• 

  boomramada on 17/02/2017 - 16:06

  Key question, how much saving you got?
  at least 5% of the capital? or even 20% you be happy champ :)
  Since you can $1800/m of saving, talk to a bank or mortgage broker? they usually tell you how much you can borrow.

  Make sure to add counsel rate, strata rates, revenue tax, or water rates to your expenses.

• 

  EightImmortals on 17/02/2017 - 16:33

  Yeah talk to a mortgage broker rather than directly to the bank.

  And what are 'sinking fees'?

  • 

    mskeggs on 17/02/2017 - 17:52

    Sinking fund is a pot of money contributed by apartment owners in a strata plan that covers shred capital expenses like replacing a roof or repainting the building.
    Everyone puts a bit in each year to cover it (I don't actually know why it is called sinking).

    • 

      EightImmortals on 17/02/2017 - 18:37

      OK cheers, like a body corp fee then?

      • 

        mskeggs on 17/02/2017 - 18:41

        +1

        Yes, the body corporate charges 2 fees, one for operating stuff (paying for lighting, cleaning common areas, general maintenance and upkeep and facilities like elevators and pools) and the sinking fund to pay for capital costs. Everybody pays a set amount into the sinking fund each year, but if you are an owner when, for example, the roof needs replacing and there isn't enough in the sinking fund account you will be charged an extra fee to make up the difference.

      • 

        [Deactivated] on 17/02/2017 - 19:09

        @mskeggs:

        Well our apartment block is literally "sinking" and has become a pile of shit that no one wants to rent in

        40K later in remediation to our basement and the concrete is still "rotting away"

      • 

        mskeggs on 17/02/2017 - 19:12

        @shawncro 222:
        Sorry to hear that.
        It is a mess in your place and a bunch of other apartments built in the last 15 years as building certifying became a rort…sorry, was 'privatised for improved efficiencies'.
        But even old apartments in the 60s and 70s sometimes have concrete cancer - there isn't much to do except try and discover any potential issues before buying, unfortunately.

      • 

        [Deactivated] on 17/02/2017 - 19:19

        @mskeggs:

        I rent here
        My lease expires in June

        1. Drug dealer on our level, his physcotic girlfriend constantly yells and kicks the doors shaking the whole level as the build quality is shit, I've told her to f**k off a few times, she usually gets the message when I have the police there within 20 seconds, they have the complex on speed dial at their end

        2. Building management is utter shit, doesn't enforce parking issues, body corporate don't give a toss about issues, visitors can't park here, all trivial issues according to body corp, so I wrote a nice email outlining some facts and technically can break lease without penalty as I signed an agreement to have access to visitors parking where appropiate for my guests ( the residents use the parking for their own use so its a cluster f**k that no one wants to deal with

        3. Cheapest of the cheap appliances, building is not compliant with safety standards, over 100(maybe more) defects found in the complex, the fire alarm system has been disconnected and sensors removed to stop it complaining downstairs, bandaid after bandaid, around 11pm each night we lose total power to the building due to an overload of the main circuit, building manager tells me to stop complaining, had the issues resolved when I filed a qbcc complaint for major breaches of safety, it was seriously borderline condemmable this complex which is 8 MONTHS OLD not even a year old, electricity issues are fixed

        4. Certification was obviously done on the dodgy or cheap, ironic though the brochure we got of the complex before renting to what it is reality wise made me laugh, the last laugh is telling the building manager we wont be renewing our lease

        As a warning to people, new complexes are usually managed by either poor managers / bad body corps that have no f**king idea what theyre doing

        it shows in this complex as no one cares anymore and does as they please, turned me off renting an apartment for life and will be back to a house.

      • 

        aussieprepper on 17/02/2017 - 19:29

        @shawncro 222: Do you live on the coast? Its a common problem for houses and unit to shift. My house has some cracks from shifting. It also depends on the soil you have. I guess its more likely to happen in sand then in harder clay.

      • 

        [Deactivated] on 18/02/2017 - 09:55

        @aussieprepper:

        I live not too far from the brisbane coast probably 8-10km inland, you wouldn't expect a building to shift as much as 5-6cm and cause major fault lines though would you?

        The building was done on the cheap, absolute bottom line work tbh, partially my fault for not checking it out before we moved in(rushed to get a rental, this ticked a few boxes)

        Since the management change its had a few issues sorted, many more to go, I will be out of here before its fully resolved and won't miss the shit hole one bit