So, you're thinking about your 'first home' and there's a lot to think about. Talking to the Bank the focus is usually and understandably on money, but if you break that down it's normally about the affordability of the repayments. Building a Green first home? Well that's certainly not the norm, but maybe it should be.?
Solar power should be compulsory in all new first homes.
Sometimes it's worth saying something just to get the conversation started, in this instance what we're talking about is harnessing the power of the sun to help make real energy savings in your home and then translating these into helping pay for the mortgage.
So you say, how does this work?
Well you can work it out for yourselves if you quickly check out your bank's Mortgage calculator and workout your loan requirements as they stand now.
Then add, let’s say $8-10,000 as the cost of your solar PV system and see how your payments change, the next step is to then increase repayments.
But why do this?
The power you generate will be dependent on the system that you put in but, in general you can expect to generate around 75% of your needs.
With a typical power bill of say $2400 you will be saving $1800 per year, then divide this by 12 and use this as the additional repayment on your mortgage
The end result will be a considerable interest saving over the life of the loan and a shortening of this time period.
It’s like any good investment only better. Over time, in fact the more time the better it gets, the return on investment is better than the bank’s rates. How many items can you buy for your new home that not only pay for themselves but provide a much better way to invest your money?
Starting out in your first home is the best time to do it. The interest savings over a longer period are quite startling, even when low interest rates are on offer.!
Besides there’s nothing quite like living in a new home knowing that you are paying a lot less for your energy than you might have been.!
Regards, Russell
