Tuesday 24 July 2007

Handy Suburb Calculator

I came across a real-estate calculator that not only works out how much you can borrow, but it also tells you which suburb is in your price range.

The calculator uses data from www.infochoice.com.au and www.residex.com.au. The calculator is here.

To use it, you simply entered enter some basic details about your income and it initially calculates how much you can borrow. Using this figure, it provides you a list of areas in the greater Melbourne area that you can choose from. After entering all the values, it displays the names of the actual suburb which it thinks you can afford.

In my situation, this is what it calculated of my borrowing capacity. It is calculated at 6.75% over a 25 year load period.

Monthly Income
$5000
Borrow Capacity
$418,000
Month Repayment
$2,888.01

From these calculations, it indicated 13 suburbs among which are the following. These suburbs in the Frankston area.

Aspendale Gardens @ median pricing of $430,000
Waterways @ median pricing of $392,000
Frankston North @ median pricing of $193,500

From what I know of these suburbs, it appears to be somewhat accurate. I mean, it is accurate enough so that it is useful. This is extremely useful for an investor looking for a rental property, or an area with growth potential. I also like that the growth over the last 12 month is also shown.

Searching for your next home or investment property takes an enormous amount of effort. Using something like this suburb calculator could take a lot of the guess work out of your hand, especially when it comes to the pricing. Getting pricing information on property is like drawing blood from a stone, and the blood is also like with gold as it is usually extremely expensive.

Of course, buying a house should also include other factors such as how nice the neighbourhood is, or what the schools in the area like etc.

Give the suburb calculator a go, they also have a postcode slider. It is an interesting tool to indicate the chance of finding a property in a price range.

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