Question for home loan gurus

[~Emmylou~]

We're looking at buying our first house and have been doing some research. We're a bit clueless in this department as we've been renting for years.

With the borrowing calculators that you can use online that tell you how much you can borrow.....when they ask you to enter your monthly expenses, do you include the rent you're paying now? Some of them actually say "rent, mortgage repayments etc" but I'm assuming that means other rent or mortgages you might have besides what you pay for where you live now? Otherwise why would they take that into consideration if you won't be paying it once the loan is approved?

Sorry this might be a dumb question but they don't exactly make it clear what they mean :no:

[SLH]

Hi Emmylou. I didn't include it on my application and it all went well. They just want to assess what your saving capacity is I think, so then they know how much you have left to spend on mortgage repayments. Hope this helps :)

[TinyStar]

You put in what expenses you would have when you were paying off the loan, but not the actual repayments. (cos that is what the calculator is working out for you)

So if you have a car loan for example you would put this in as an expense.

Rent or any other expenses you incurr from your current living arrangements are not included.

I find these calculators a pain, they can give a ballpark figure but they dont actually take into consideration the particular loan you might end up getting. If you want a better idea find a mortgage broker, they get commissions from the lender so they wont charge you for any advice.

Happy house hunting.

[~Emmylou~]

Thanks guys makes perfect sense now :)