You wouldn't be able to borrow more than the house was worth but you'd need another $20-25k on top of house price of $280,000. So you'd need to save about $40-50k.
I guess I have to choose between having a family or having a home
If I have kids I won't be able to work full time. And we don't earn enough to rent and save enough on one wage.
Everyone I know are in their own houses. And nice houses too. The only difference is they all got deposits from their parents!! And their cars too!!!!!!
The best way of predicting what a sale price is going to be is to have a look at what other similar properties have sold for - not their asking price.
You can get sales reports for about $10 from memory, then you google the addresses and have a look at the pics.
A property is only worth what someone is prepared to pay so the asking price in a flat market is not always an accurate guide as to what it will sell for.
Different areas also have VASTLY different markets. We sold in inner Melbourne for $150K more than advertised selling range and about $70K higher than our reserve. We bought at the same time in the country for about $5K less than advertised fixed price. It wasn't a negotiable price but we negotiated as I'd noticed from the sales reports that houses here generally went for below what they were advertised for. Friends also bought houses here and paid the advertised price - they were astonished when I told them that I negotiated, they didn't think they could. You can. It might not work and you risk missing out on a place if there's another buyer but you take a calculated risk.
Do lots and lots of research on what houses sell for in the areas you're interested in.
I think your first point of call is to talk to a broker. They will tell you what your borrowing power is based on your incomes. FWIW, our mortgage was $290K and we're paying $2100 per month. But we have a fixed interest rate, and we fixed it five years ago, so with all the drops, we've remained higher. The upside is that we can budget exactly what we need to pay, but the downside is that our interest rate remains what it was years ago.
Our house is currently on the market. When it was appraised, we were told it was worth $380-$400K in our area, based on current market trends. We'd been watching the local market for a while and knew this to be the case. We're in a growth suburb and to build now alone will set you back around $360K. We agreed that our reserve for private sale was what the agent told us the house was worth, but it's been listed as $350-$385K. That in itself has driven us mad because it's well below what we'll settle for, but it doesn't make it easy for a buyer to figure out how much we want. Yesterday we got our first offer for $330K. Well below what we want, well below what you can buy ANYTHING for here, but to the buyer, it's within reasonable range of the listed price. The agent rejected that price, so they increased it, and again, was well below what we can settle for and when we rejected that, well the response was somewhat nasty.
The best way to judge what people are going to actually want for their house is to research the market thoroughly. Walk through some houses that are what you're looking for (ie 3 bed, 2 bath) and see what they sell for. An unfinished house sold in our same street for $367K - no driveway, no backyard, no front yard, no flyscreens, basic inside. Another basic house on a smaller block in our street went for $355K. If the people had who had made an offer had researched this, they would have known that the $330K offer they made on our completed house with a stack of extras was well below the mark and it would have avoided their own disappointment.
The other factors to consider whether someone will accept a lower offer or not is whether they NEED to sell. Have they bought another house that's relying on the sale of their own? Are they in a hurry to sell. In our case, we're not in a hurry. We haven't bought another house and aren't looking. We can hold out for the price we need to get.
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