Should I take a mortgage or should I rent? Anybody considering a major investment in real estate should ask that question and this application answers it. Just:
* Download the application
* Enter the price of the property you are considering
* Enter how much would cost to rent this or a similar property
* Enter your monthly disposable income, should be around 1 / 3 of your salary
* Enter your available savings for the investment.
That is almost it. Next you would have to check and optionally adjust few additional parameters:
* Taxes, insurance, rainy day fund
* Offered loan interest rate
* Expected inflation
Next, the application will run two scenarios for you: In the first case it will take a mortgage, put all your savings into down payment and then put as much of the disposable income as possible into mortgage payments. In the second case it will invest all your savings in a fund, which yields an inflation high stable profit. Then it will deduct monthly rent from your monthly disposable income and the rest is periodically invested again.
The application shows your balance for the next ten years. A red graph shows the property value minus current loan, a green graph shows your investment value. Steeper the graphs are, better investment it is. Make sure they beat the inflation at least!
This is not all yet! The inflation of prices can vary over time and per category. For example the property price growth or decline can be different from your salary increases. You can adjust all distinct values manually per year and see how different inflation influences your case. You can see for example, that property price drop by 2% in the third and fourth year of your mortgage has much bigger impact on the result, than 8% increase of property taxes at the same time.
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A mortgage is not a must, it is an option. Do the math first.
Currently offered for free, however the price might change without prior notice.
And last but not least. This is a tool. As any other tool, use it with care. BEFORE any serious DECISION, do your own calculations to VERIFY the results.