4 ways to reach your savings goals faster
Getting the money together for a new or upgraded property is a tough slog, here are some ideas that will help you build your deposit.
Blogger: Amanda Segers, principal and buyer's agent, Amanda On My Side
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It’s hard to remember the days before the global financial crisis when it was possible to waltz into the bank and waltz out again with loan covering the majority of the cost of your property. That kind of lending is a thing of the past, and even a ten percent deposit is less likely to secure you the finance to buy. Plus, with property prices going up and interest rates on savings accounts low, it’s getting increasingly harder to come up with that pretty deposit figure.
Desperate times call for drastic measures, and putting away ten percent of your income each week might not get you to your savings goals fast enough. Here are some out-of-the-box ideas to tweak your current living arrangements in a way that can fast track your savings.
House-sit
There are loads of websites looking for reliable house sitters. If you can get yourself a long-term position as a house-sitter and if you have friends or family who are happy to put you up between jobs you can save thousands on rent. Just make sure you’re a cat person!
Airbnb
Accommodation website Airbnb allows anyone to rent out their spare room for a night, the weekend or even longer stretches to travellers or students looking for a place to stay. While some local councils are against the idea, at the moment it’s a global phenomenon helping people to save on their travel expenses and allowing homeowners to make some handy extra cash. Hosts and guests both get online reviews, which help prevent issues with untrustworthy characters.
Share or move back home
Two couples in a two-bedder might be a squeeze, but if you can handle the lack of fridge space in the short term it could pay off for your bank balance. Alternatively there’s your folks’ place with the extra bedrooms and your old teenage rumpus retreat just filling up with dust …
Move away from your ideal area
Location, location, location means if you go further out than your favourite suburb you’ll be saving some cash. Renting outside of your comfort zone could be short-term pain for long-term gain, so long as transport costs don’t offset the money you’ll be saving.
Of course creating a good old fashioned budget and sticking to it is your best foundation for reaching a savings goal, but whatever methods you can apply to accelerate your bank balance will be worth the sacrifice in the long term.
About Amanda Segers
Amanda Segers is a buyers agent with over 12 years experience in the Sydney Property Market. She is the principal and owner of Amanda on My Side, specialists in both residential and investment property purchase. Read Amanda's blog.
