It’s not often we head into celebrity territory on the Mortgage Seek blog, but the big mortgage news this week is that former Aussie tennis champion Mark Philippoussis has become a victim of the mortgage stress plaguing many of the major Australian cities. Somehow it’s comforting to hear that the rest of us normal people are not alone in dealing with mortgage dramas, but that’s no doubt fairly small consolation to Mark Philippoussis.
The story goes, according to The Herald newspaper, that Philippoussis bought a Williamstown townhouse almost three years ago, signing up to a $1.2 million mortgage in order to do so. With the same way financial factors faced by many Australians at the moment, Philippoussis apprently fell behind in his mortgage repayments and was forced to sell the property, but unfortunately the forced sale sold for considerably less than the original price – only $835,000 – leaving Philippoussis still in debt and now finally having had to declare bankruptcy.
This is not a great situation for a man who reportedly earned close to $7 million during his career as a professional tennis player, but it’s certainly a good lesson for the rest of us. Particularly in this tougher economic times, it’s important to manage your money carefully and don’t overextend yourself – and don’t assume that you will be able to sell your property for the same or more than the amount that you paid for it, particularly if you are foreced to sell it quite quickly. Many experts would recommend playing it safe and saving up as large a deposit as possible before you sign on to a home loan deal. It may mean you have to wait just a little bit longer before you’re able to own a home of your own, but it might also mean that you can also continue owning your home for a lot longer!
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Tags: debt management, home loan, mortgage, mortgage repayments, mortgage stress, property