Posts Tagged :

mortgages

Trick or trap: How much house can you really afford?

Do you like baked beans? Unless you want to be eating student grub for the next few years it’s a good idea to figure out how much house you can really afford. Don’t be fooled by what the banks tell you that you can borrow. It’s not the same question. Can you really afford the repayments? Really? The banks’ calculators don’t always take into account all the other things you have to pay for when you’re a home owner. What…

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Will the sun always shine on your mortgage?

Mortgages in Auckland are not small. The average one is $393,000 and a quarter of them are at least $500,000. When you owe that much money you want to know things are going to be okay: that your property values will stay up, that your interest rates will stay down. But the truth we come to know quickly in the credit rating business is that unhappy surprises have a habit of turning up. These post-GFC times have given us some…

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