First Home BuyerFinance ReadinessCheck.
The gap between what you think you can borrow and what a lender will approve is where most first home buyer deals fall apart. Not at the property. Not at the negotiation. At the finance. This prompt maps every variable in your position before you brief a broker or make an offer.
Why this matters
Most first home buyers walk into a broker conversation knowing their savings balance and their salary. That's about a third of what a lender actually assesses. The rest — HECS debt, credit card limits, buy-now-pay-later exposure, living expense allowances, and the serviceability buffer — is invisible to them.
The serviceability buffer alone is the thing that catches most first home buyers. Lenders don't assess whether you can repay at the actual rate. They assess whether you could repay at the rate plus 3%. At current rates that reduces your maximum borrowing capacity by roughly 20–25% compared to what a simple income-to-loan ratio would suggest.
This prompt maps the full picture before you see a broker. Not because it replaces the broker conversation — it doesn't. Because a client who walks in knowing their actual position gets a more useful conversation and makes better decisions.
“The serviceability buffer is the variable most first home buyers don't know exists. It's also the one that most changes what they can borrow.
What you're building
A structured first home buyer finance readiness report: deposit position at every LVR point, stamp duty estimate by state with first home buyer concession, government scheme eligibility assumptions, estimated borrowing capacity signal with the serviceability buffer shown, HECS and credit card treatment explained, total funds-to-complete, and the exact questions to ask your broker.
Claude (free tier works). Your numbers: gross income, HECS balance, credit card limits, any existing loans, savings balance, target price range, and state.
Paste your numbers.Get the fullfinance picture.
The prompt below interviews you about your full financial position — not just your income and savings. Paste it into Claude and replace every bracketed field. The output maps your readiness across every dimension a lender will assess.
Be honest with your numbers. The point of this prompt is to surface the gaps in your finance position before a broker does. Conservative inputs give you a realistic picture. Optimistic inputs give you a false sense of readiness.
Readiness check
First home buyer readiness check · run before your first broker conversation
You are an Australian property finance educator helping a first home buyer understand their finance readiness position before speaking to a mortgage broker. MY DETAILS: - State: [NSW / VIC / QLD / SA / WA / TAS / ACT / NT] - Target purchase price: $[amount] - Current savings / deposit: $[amount] - Gross annual income before tax: $[amount] - Employment type: [PAYG full-time / PAYG part-time / casual / self-employed] - HECS/HELP debt balance: $[amount or none] - Credit card limits (total across all cards): $[amount or none] - Buy-now-pay-later accounts: [yes / no] - Personal loans or car loans: $[amount or none] - Living situation: [renting $X per week / living with family / other] - Partner or co-borrower: [yes — their income $X / no] - First home buyer: [yes / no] - Australian citizen or permanent resident: [yes / no / visa holder — specify] Return a structured finance readiness report with exactly these 8 sections: ## 1. DEPOSIT POSITION My deposit as a percentage of my target price. Funds remaining after deposit. Whether I'm above or below the 80% LVR threshold. Whether I'm above the 90% threshold. ## 2. STAMP DUTY AND COSTS ESTIMATE Stamp duty estimate for my state at my target price. First home buyer concession or exemption if applicable. Legal fees estimate. Building and pest estimate. Total estimated cost beyond the deposit. ## 3. TOTAL FUNDS TO COMPLETE Deposit plus stamp duty plus costs. Gap between my current savings and total funds required. ## 4. GOVERNMENT SCHEME ELIGIBILITY (assumptions only) First Home Guarantee: 5% deposit no LMI, price cap for my state, eligibility assumption. State-based first home owner grant: amount and eligibility assumption. Flag: scheme eligibility depends on income, property type, and current availability. Verify with your broker. ## 5. BORROWING CAPACITY SIGNAL Estimated borrowing capacity signal based on my income, liabilities, and the 3% serviceability buffer. This is an educational assumption only — not a lender assessment. Show the impact of HECS, credit card limits, and the serviceability buffer separately so I can see each one. ## 6. FINANCE READINESS FLAGS Every variable in my financial position that a lender will scrutinise. Rate each as: clean, explainable, or potential issue. Include: employment stability, HECS treatment, credit card limits, savings pattern, deposit source. ## 7. QUESTIONS TO ASK MY BROKER The 8 most important questions I should ask a mortgage broker at my first meeting, based on my specific situation. ## 8. MY THREE PRIORITY ACTIONS The three things I should do before speaking to a broker, based on gaps in my readiness. --- Educational analysis only. Not financial or credit advice. All figures are assumptions based on standard guidelines and vary significantly by lender. Verify everything with your mortgage broker.
The HECS debt that changed the borrowing capacity.
A teacher in Sydney, 29 years old, gross income $95,000. Saved $85,000. Targeting $750,000 in the inner west. Came to me thinking she had enough for a 10% deposit with costs covered. The readiness check told a different story.
Two factors she hadn't accounted for changed her number significantly.
She wasn't ready for $750,000. She was ready for $580,000 — which was still a viable property in the right suburb at the right configuration. She reduced her credit card limits before applying, which recovered about $30,000 in capacity. She bought 11 months later at $625,000 in a suburb she hadn't previously considered.
Your first run is fine. Your fifth is sharp.
Run it with your broker's actual numbers
After your first broker meeting, update the prompt with your formal borrowing capacity figure. Now the readiness check is calibrated to your actual position, not an estimate.
Re-run every 3 months
Your savings grow. HECS balances change. Credit card limits can be adjusted. Run the readiness check quarterly so your picture stays current.
Test different price points
Run the prompt three times: at your target price, $50,000 below, and $100,000 below. See what changes at each point — especially the LMI threshold and the government scheme price caps.
Save this readiness check in a Claude Project alongside your Day 02 strategy. Update it whenever your financial position changes. The gap between your current readiness and your target property is the plan.
What it still gets wrong.
Borrowing capacity varies by lender
The same income, HECS balance, and credit card limits produce different borrowing capacity numbers at different lenders. This prompt gives you a signal. Your broker gives you the actual assessment.
Government scheme availability changes
First Home Guarantee allocations run out. Price caps adjust. Eligibility rules change. Verify current scheme availability with your broker, not this prompt.
Stamp duty concession thresholds move
Every state updates thresholds, usually in the budget. Verify the current threshold for your state before relying on any duty calculation from this prompt.
Savings pattern matters more than savings balance
Lenders assess not just your deposit amount but how it was accumulated. Genuine savings over three months is a standard requirement. Tell Claude your savings history, not just the total.
How this stacks.
Day 03 maps your finance position. Day 06 stress-tests your borrowing power against different rate scenarios. Day 29 builds your broker meeting preparation pack. Run them in sequence before your first broker conversation.
Before your first broker meeting.
You'll know what a lender sees when they look at your file.
You'll walk in knowing your deposit position at every LVR point, your stamp duty exposure in your target state, which government schemes you likely qualify for, the impact of your HECS balance on your borrowing capacity, and the three things you should fix before your application goes to a lender. That's not a typical first home buyer. That's a client a broker can efficiently help.
Investor Cash Flow Stress Test
Modelling gross yield is easy. Modelling what an investment property actually costs you after vacancy, management fees, rates, insurance, and a 2% rate rise is the analysis most investors never run. This prompt produces the full model in three minutes.
Prepare like a pro before the lending conversation.
Built by someone who has sat on both sides of the deal — formerly as an interest rate dealer and stockbroker reading how banks price risk, and now as a mortgage broker structuring the finance. That combination is rare. This series is what it produces.
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