In brief - I'm in my late 20s, living in Australia, just finished a post-grad qualification/career change, and am in the process of buying my first home.

It looks like 2012 will be a very exciting (and expensive!) year. These are my goals:

Save $3000 for home deposit fund
Another $3000 will bring my deposit fund to a nice round figure that should give me a comfortable deposit for a place within my price range. If all goes to plan, I should reach this goal on February 15.

Save $3000 for overseas travel
Yes, it is a little bit crazy to take a big trip right after signing up for a massive mortgage, but I think I can swing this. After I meet my home deposit goal, I’ll funnel the same fortnightly amount into a travel savings account. I’ve also started putting extra little bits of money into this account as I find them. If all goes to plan, I should reach this goal on April 24th. However, if I find the right property straight away, it could be delayed.

Purchase my first home
This is the big one! I’m meeting with a mortgage broker tomorrow to talk home loans, and I’ve spent the last 4 months scrolling through listings and going to auctions to get an idea of what’s out there. After my finance is in place and I find a building inspector and conveyancer, I’ll be ready to start bidding.

Make extra mortgage repayments
Once the loan is in place and I know for sure how much my other housing expenses (e.g. rates) are, I will set a firm number for this goal. For now, all I know is that I want to pay my loan down as quickly as I can without sacrificing quality of life.

Progress so far:
$1639 / $3000 Home Deposit Fund (54%)
$60 / $3000 Travel Fund (2%)
$0 / $???? Extra Mortgage Repayments (0%)

I'm missing a big post that says 'home remodelling/decoration'. Unless you're buying a house that's all done up and nothing needs to happen.

Haha, that's a very good point!

As I'm planning on purchasing a very similar property to the one I'm renting now, I'm not anticipating needing to buy a lot of new furniture.

I imagine (and obviously this depends on the property I purchase) that I will want to paint before I move in, but otherwise I would like to live in the property for a year or so before I make any major changes. That said, I probably should plan on at least one major thing turning out to need urgent repair/replacement.

Since I am putting a high percentage of the property value towards the purchase myself, I am debating borrowing 10k more than I need and parking it in my loan's redraw facility until I need it, so I have the money available but I'm not paying interest on it. Then, if I do need to do some work, I can either draw on that money (and increase the amount I need to pay back ) or make it a new savings goal and wait until I have enough set aside.

So, sorry for blathering on so long about this, the short answer is: thanks for the reminder, expect to see a 'renovation savings' goal popping up in this thread soon!

Payday update:
$2533 / $3000 Home Deposit Fund (84%)
$213 / $3000 Travel Fund (7%)
$0 / $???? Extra Mortgage Repayments (0%)

On the house front, I have met with two mortgage brokers, decided which one I am going to use, and submitted all the necessary documents for pre-approval. I should hear back sometime next week.

It's kind of scary to think this is actually happening.

It wasn't a pay week this week so not much progress to report but I did manage to add a little bit of money to the travel fund.

I banked a cheque that had been hanging around for a while, took my change collection to the coin counting machine and transferred the leftovers from my weekly spending allowance. Every little bit helps right?

My current numbers:
$2533 / $3000 Home Deposit Fund (84%)
$409 / $3000 Travel Fund (13%)
$0 / $???? Extra Mortgage Repayments (0%)

I also received notification that I have been pre-approved for the home loan I wanted, so the home hunt is now full speed ahead. I am attending an auction this weekend for a property I have been looking at over the last few weeks that is pretty much exactly what I'm looking for. I think I am going to bid. I may die of stress first though.

Noticed from your blog you're in and around the Coburg area.

Hope the house you are looking at is in that area or west of Coburg, like Brunny.

Got family in Brunny West and I love visiting there.

Time for a payday update:
$3000 / $3000 Home Deposit Fund (100%! Done!)
$542 / $3000 Travel Fund (18%)
$0 / $???? Extra Mortgage Repayments (0%)

And the biggest update of all... on the weekend I bought my first home! I am thrilled and anxious and not-quite-believing-it all at the same time.

Settlement isn't for another 2 months, and I'm expecting some unexpected expenses during that time, so I'm going to wait until the loan is set up and I've finalised my new homeowner budget before I set my extra repayment goal. Burn the mortgage!

Geoff - I tried to send you a PM but I can't work out how. The new place is around that inner/mid north general area - don't like posting too much info about where I live on the internet - and I love it there too

Congrats on the house purchase, that's pretty exciting.

Thanks Kate! I think I have only just recovered from the stress.

The last few weeks have involved A LOT of paperwork to finalise the loan and legal work, but my mortgage broker has been excellent. Now all I need to do is await the bank valuation and spend my evenings poring over home improvement books trying to understand the fundamentals of painting and flooring . I'm very lucky that my dad and partner are both pretty handy, but I'm looking forward to picking up some new skills myself too. And, of course, saving a dollar whereever possible.

March update:
$3000 / $3000 Home Deposit Fund (100%! Done!)
$2044 / $3000 Travel Fund (68%)
$0 / $???? Extra Mortgage Repayments (0%)


Now that my home deposit goal is fully funded I have switched all my attention to the travel fund and it is speeding along. So, I am actually thinking of stopping funding the travel goal out of my monthly budget and instead just directing snowflakes here and there until it is complete (trip will be mid year). Mentally, I think it's a lot easier to pass up an iced coffee so I can enjoy an amazing vacation than to pass it up for an extra $3 on the mortgage. Opinions?

Settlement is next month so I should have my extra mortgage repayment goal sorted out soon. All this legal paperwork is the worst but I am getting through by planning my herb garden and visualizing summer nights on the deck with a cold drink. Mmmmmmmmm.

Where are you going?

Have you put aside some cash for all the new connections for the new home? I.e. electricity, gas, landline if you still use one, and so on that hit in your first bill.

Satelite - To Thailand with a friend, just a short trip. Neither of us have been before and I can't wait.

Geoff - Thanks for the reminder. Thinking back to when we moved in here, getting the gas and electricity sorted out was easy but the connection fee for our internet service was insane.

Any suggestions as to what other new home expenses I need to budget for? So far I'm thinking about council rates, owners corporation fees (including insurance) and water rates. And setting aside some money each month for major maintenance as needed (ie new water heater).

Thailand is known as "Amazing Thailand" and it is amazing because of it's people. I worked and lived in Thailand for just over 9 months. My family and I loved the place.

Hope you have a really great trip.