Harry and Meghan must start making money quickly to pay $550k yearly mortgage for Santa Barbara home, says expert
Harry and Meghan need to get jobs if they even want to get remotely close to repaying the whopping $550,000 yearly mortgage on their new Santa Barbara home in the near future. Despite having no steady source of income at the moment, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex spent $15 million on the nine-bed house in an upscale community in Santa Barbara, which is home to the likes of Oprah and Ellen DeGeneres. They have been staying at their new house for the last six weeks after they ditched Hollywood tycoon Tyler Perry's $18 million, 12-bedroom, eight-bathroom mansion in Beverly Hills, where they were temporarily staying for months following their move to the United States.
"They are not houseguests of Oprah or anyone else, they bought this home themselves," a source told Page Six. "This is where they want to continue their lives after leaving the UK. This is the first home either of them has ever owned. It has been a very special time for them as a couple and as a family — to have complete privacy for six weeks since they moved in. They intend to put down their roots in this house and the quiet community, which has considerable privacy. This is where they want to bring Archie up, where they hope he can have as normal a life as possible."
The insider added that the couple had "thought about this carefully and researched it well" and that "this is the place where they plan to be happy, make good friends and bring up Archie, giving him the chance to play with other children his age."
According to the Sun, the couple paid $5 million to City National Bank leaving the rest up to mortgage payments over the next 30 years, amounting to about $46,000 every month or a lump sum amount of $550,000 a year. The report further stated that the couple would have had to convince the lender that they could arrange for the funds somehow to repay their mortgage despite presently not having any source of earning money.
The pair would also have to bear the cost of $68,000 property tax for homes worth over 10 million in the posh location. This is in addition to utility and staffing bills that could run into hundreds of thousands of dollars. Harry and Meghan have also famously boasted of privately funding their $7 million-a-year security arrangements out of their own pockets.
It is also important to remember that the couple is still paying off the taxpayer's money they took for Frogmore Cottage's renovations before Megxit, which was something along the tune of $23,500 a month to repay $2.9 million of public funds. Royal finance expert David McClure said: “I am surprised they can afford it all. They must start making money quickly.”
As a result, there were rumors that Prince Charles had helped them buy their new Santa Barbara house. "Charles had been keen to help out and put his hand in his own pocket to assist," a source said. "He is devoted to both his sons and any time he can assist them he always will." So far, the Clarence House has declined to comment.