Can You Afford to Work Less After Buying a Home?
There’s a quiet dilemma many single homeowners face, but few talk about: what happens if you want to reduce your income after you buy property?
When I bought my home solo, it felt like the finish line — no more inspections, no more landlords. I felt grounded and relieved. But as the months passed, I felt a different desire rising: to scale back. To work fewer days. To build something slower, more creative, more sustainable.
That’s when I started to wonder whether buying a home had unintentionally limited other goals I had for my life — or closed off paths I hadn’t yet explored.
The Hidden Cost of Change
A simple look at my loan terms made it clear: reducing my income could make refinancing harder when my fixed rate ends.
Refinancing is the process of switching your current mortgage to a new loan — either with the same lender or a different one — usually to get a better interest rate, different features, or access equity. But to refinance, you often need to prove that your income is high enough to service the loan under current interest rate tests.
As someone exploring part-time consulting and building a business on the side, this realisation rattled me. Would I be stuck? Would my lifestyle change come at the cost of financial freedom? Could I give myself permission to earn less for a while in service of building something more aligned?
The Scenario That Shifted Everything
Instead of spiraling, I stepped back and approached this with my Quantity Surveyor mindset:
Worst case: I don’t refinance — I just let the loan roll to variable. This could be higher than my current rate, depending on the lender’s reversion variable rate at the time — which may fluctuate with market conditions and could be above or below your original fixed rate.
Best case: Rates drop, and my repayments ease.
Most likely: I prepare now, stay steady, and give myself options. I also reviewed interest rate history and market predictions, which helped me understand how likely it is that rates will stay the same, drop, or rise slightly. That gave me peace — because even if rates rise, I can now plan around realistic figures, not fear.
This risk analysis exercise gave me immediate peace. I didn’t need to act out of fear. I just needed to plan.
To illustrate this, let’s say you purchased a property for $900,000 and borrowed $750,000. You’re paying a fixed interest rate of 6%. That’s about $4,498/month in mortgage repayments (over 30 years). If you wanted to refinance when your fixed rate ends, the lender might require you to prove an income high enough to handle repayments at 9% or more — for example, that could mean showing a gross income of around $250,000 — high enough to cover both mortgage repayments (as stress-tested by the lender) and your regular living expenses.
Lenders don’t just look at your salary — they assess your overall financial position. That includes any new debt you've taken on since you bought, like a car loan or credit card balance, as well as ongoing living costs and financial commitments. These can all impact your ability to refinance. But if you simply let the loan revert to the variable rate, and if interest rates go down, your repayment could be lower — without having to reapply.
The Offset Strategy
This is where the offset account became my key strategy.
An offset account is a transaction account linked to your home loan. Any money you keep in this account "offsets" the balance of your loan, meaning the bank only charges you interest on the loan amount minus the balance in your offset. For example, if your loan is $750,000 and you have $50,000 in your offset, you’re only charged interest on $700,000.
It works a lot like making extra repayments — it reduces the interest you're charged and shortens your loan term — but with one key difference: the money stays accessible. You haven’t locked it into the loan. You’re reducing your mortgage burden without giving up control of your cash.
With no desire to overcommit or rush a refinance, I set a savings goal to reduce my interest liability over the next two years using this method — giving me:
Flexibility
Liquidity
Negotiating power if I ever want to change loan products later
By building that buffer, I am "making space" — not just in my budget, but emotionally too. It means that when my fixed rate ends, the balance left on the loan will be lower, and even if rates fluctuate, I’ll have more breathing room.
Letting Go of Hustle as a Safety Net
For a long time, work and income were my security blanket. But this chapter is about building safety through clarity and strategy — not exhaustion.
Knowing I have a plan gives me more peace than any salary figure ever could.
If You’re in This Dilemma Too
You’re not alone. Many of us are rethinking the relationship between income, identity, and homeownership.
So if you’re asking:
“Can I still change my life now that I’ve bought?” — the answer is yes. But you’ll need a plan.
“Do I need to refinance?” — maybe not. Know your loan terms first.
“What can I do now?” — build a buffer. Create choices. Stay fluid.
Freedom doesn’t disappear when you buy a home. But you may need to redefine what freedom looks like — and build it differently this time.
This post is part of both my Homeownership and Journey to Freedom series — because sometimes financial structure and life reinvention walk hand in hand. Subscribe to receive more honest reflections, tools, and insights from someone figuring this out in real time — especially if you’re navigating homeownership, income transitions, or building a more spacious life on your terms.