Well, today we hit $16,165 in our home deposit account and in so doing, we jumped over the end of our savings ticker ($15,000). This was always a bit of an artificial goal because we want to save way more than this, but it is still a bit of a milestone for me.
I look back and smile on the old days. I don’t think I’d ever had even $2000 in my bank account before I started paying down debts, and any time I did, it went somewhere the very same day. And I usually still owed someone else the same amount or more.
So it is a red letter day for my husband and I.
So what are our plans? Well, I don’t think we are going to make it all the way to a 20% deposit before we buy. But I have recently talked to a finance company specialising in finance to professionals (ie doctors, vets), and they tell me that even without the 20% deposit, we will be eligible for a loan without having to pay Lenders Mortgage Insurance. This potentially cuts about $7000 from the potential loan costs and is great news. It also means that the First Home Owners Grant of $14,000 can all go towards our deposit.
So with our $16,000 currently saved and that $14,000 grant, we essentially have a $30K deposit already. If we can find another $15,000 cash and at least $2K for costs of buying, I’ll be pleased with our progress and ready to buy.
Let’s see how we might do that. The $14,000 grant reduces to $10,500 at the end of September, so that is our deadline for saving the rest of the deposit, getting the loan and signing a contract.
Already, we have $3000 stashed in an account that we had intended to use to buy some shares, and I had already planned to use overtime to save another $2K towards that. So all of that cash could instead go towards the deposit.
We also expect to get about $5000 back from overpaid tax and child care rebate at the end of this year, so that should also boost our deposit up.
By September, the natural progression of our house deposit saving will mean we have about $9000 more in the bank (at $1300/fortnight).
So the deposit will comprise:
Current savings: $16,000
Continued regular savings by September: $9,000
“Shares” money: $5,000
Tax refunds: $5000
First Home Owners Grant: $14,000
TOTAL: $49,000
(including $2-4K for buying costs).
Sounds pretty good!
I really don’t want to touch our emergency fund account, so somehow I need to make sure that money is sacred NO MATTER WHAT!
By then it should be about $7,500 or so and will be a good amount to have ready as home owners. It will also be important to keep that money coming out so that we have $10,000 by the end of the year. Naturally, we will need a loan with an offset account that subtracts that amount off the overall amount owed for interest purposes.
I feel like doing one of those evil laughs – “mwah, hah, hah, hah! My master plan is finally coming together!”
JvW said
That is amazing! I am very impressed at your progress.