apartment hunt status

Minna asked me "How's the flat hunting? Have you found anything suitable?"

"Suitable" has so many dimensions. I found a place I would like to live. It's a 1 bedroom place (2 r.o.k) in Majorna, in the same complex where one of the AstraZeneca people I work with lives. Very nice. I walked into it and like the feel, both of the apartment and the building. The neighborhood's not was I was thinking of, but it's a very nice neighborhood. I had the idea that there would be more restaurants and things nearby. Still a nice neighborhood, and I'm thinking I might like it better.

It's 58 sq. meters, so a bit less than what I've been looking for, but also cheaper. The asking price was 1 260 000 or so. I expected the final bid to be about 20% higher, which is a bit over 1,5 million kronor ($220,000). Last I talked with the real estate agent, current bid price was 1,6 million ($234,000). That's getting pretty expensive.

(Note: it's morning now. I was woken up by the real estate agent's phone call that the current bid is 1 630 000:-. If I were to make a counter offer it would be for 1 650 000:-, which is $241,000.

Mortgages here have a minimum of 10% down. US was typically 20% down but now so-called "80/10/10" is more common, which is effectively the local system - 80% first mortgage, 10% second, and 10% down. Here it's the same. There's a "bottom loan" which is about 80-85% of the loan, and a "top loan" which covers the gap between the bottom loan and the down payment.

If I bid and win at 1,65 million and put 345 000 SEK down, that's 20% down, so I can stay with the bottom loan. I'm trying to figure out if I can afford it. In the US I could -- that's about what I was paying for my house in Santa Fe. Here? I don't understand how to use this online mortgage calculator. One that I used said it would be well within my means. The one I'm trying now says I'll pay almost $2,000/month. But that's obviously wrong as otherwise I would pay off the loan in about 15 year, when I selected "40 year mortgage". Most likely I don't know what interest rate to use.

I have an appointment at the bank at 1:30 to figure this out. Immediately afterwards I'll call the real estate agent to let him know the good/bad news. You all can figure for yourself which outcome is "good" (have place, spend beau coup bucks) or "bad" (continue searching, look for smaller place and spend less money).