DickDePilot

Ok, I know that the most affordable one is the one just about to end but I'm trying to grasp just what would be an affordable mortgage whilst still having a life. At the end of the day, most people want to make the move to get a better quality of life or work/life balance.

Having a big mortgage to pay for a big house that means you have to spend all your time working to service the debt doesn't make sense.

So working on a combined take home of $150,000, 3 adults, with a requirement to run 2 cars what sort of comfortable figure are we looking at? (aiming to pay off mortgage in 13 years). Other things required (on top of food & beer) would be broadband, cable/satellite (for the sport) and a decent holiday each year.

Anyone got any ideas?

22B

I reckon you will need about $4,500 pcm to cover the living+other expenses that you mention, plus maybe $2k pa for your holiday.

This might not seem to answer your question, but if you think that gives you $94k pa to play with (by 'take home' I assume you mean post-tax), or $7,800 pcm, then you can take that figure to the bank and figure out what level of mortgage you can afford.

Hope it helps

BadgeIsBack

450k? 3 x income? Impossible probably so no more than say 550k.

hereshoping

I believe anything over a third of your net income is defined as 'mortage stress' and I certainly wouldn't want to pay any more that that portion. You're better off getting a smaller mortgage and making overpayments to reduce debt if you find you can afford more.

Vash the Stampede

Our mortgage is $161,000 and we think that's pretty comfortable.

DickDePilot

Sorry, meant to say $150,000 before tax (as I don't have a clue what that will add up to). That's the combined income for myself and OH.

Our son (3rd adult) should be qualified as a joiner by the time we arrive but, whilst I may get some money out of him towards his keep I can't factor that into the equation as he could move out within months of arriving.

What sort of monthly take home does the $150k give post tax?

We'll be bringing proceeds of house sale with us (minus all of the debts that need to be covered), just trying to factor in what sort of mortgage we could comfortably afford so we can look at the right priced houses as we dream of our new life whilst waiting for the nice CO to get his work done.

Thanks for the replies so far.

helsbells79

Hi...we've been using this site as a guide for take home salary

http://www.news.com.au/business/tax-calculator

This will tell you your weekly and annual take home pay. We then picked a couple of the main Aus banks and used the mortgage calulators to work out what mortgage we could comfortably afford.

We figured on a $200k joint income we could afford around 600k mortgage...but over a 25yr term. Guess it all depends on your other commitments!

Good luck figuring it out!

audrey426

Hi there,

This is what i plan to do, you buy a property (possibly a do-upper, maybe not) in an up and coming area, ~ this property must be appealing to RENTERS, the rental market returns is far higher than the uk. This property means your money is at least GROWING, and the rent should cover or nearly cover the mortgage repayments. Your cash is now free to rent any of the swankier propertys that you would otherwise struggle to finance. From what i can see particularly Brisbane ~(where we are planning) rental returns are on average approx $800-$1,000 for well nothing particularly startling, that you could pick up reasonably cheap to buy. No body wants to go to all the hassel of emigrating to not live the dream, poolside sea front property etc, this way every one in my house is happy!
Check out the below site, it will give you info on future predictions/area and up to date sale prices for all the suburbs.
You may of course just not want long term rental living.

http://www.homepriceguide.com.au/index.cfm?source=apm

22B

If the $150k is earned $75k each, the tax ('08 rates) will be $36k, leaving you $9,462pcm.
If the $150k is earned, say, $90k:$60k, the tax will be $42k, leaving you $8,962pcm.

As suggested earlier, I reckon you need to allow an average $4k pcm for:
food, drink, smokes, phone/broadband, TV, insurance (health, home, vehicles), vehicle running costs, utilities, basic clothing, misc
(This should give you a very comfortable lifestyle; you could probably cut it back to $3,500 without any hassle.)

Tucking away another $200pcm towards your holiday will leave you $4,800pcm to pay the rent/mortgage.
If it were me, I wouldn't want to go above $4,500 - leave a little cushioning!!
(But if you cut back on the living expenses and take a little risk, you could go as high as $5,500.)

As a very rough guide, if you borrow $425k at 9% over 13yrs, the repayments would be about $4,650 pcm
Borrow $500k, repayments about $5,500pcm