The amount of documents a broker will ask for when applying for a home loan can seem huge - but we have some time saving ideas that can make it pretty easy, or so our clients tell us 😊

Normally you have to fumble through old filing cabinets to find the documents, and then get them to the lender/broker via post, in person, or by email. We have instituted technology that makes the whole process a lot quicker and easier!

It is a common industry-wide policy that home loan applicants must have 5% of the purchase price of a property saved for at least three months in an account in their own name – this is referred to as ‘genuine savings’. Gifts from family cannot be included in this genuine savings calculation.

The second part of having enough funds to purchase a home is called ’funds to complete’.

Back in March the Australian Federal Government introduced a range of measures to assist the economy during COVID-19, one of which was the ability for financially affected people to withdraw from their superannuation.

The purpose of the measure was to assist these people to be able to afford their living expenses in the event that they were stood down, laid off, or had their hours reduced, as a result of COVID.

However many people seemed to have other ideas in mind for the cash.

There is a myth in the mortgage marketplace, that by paying weekly or fortnightly mortgage payments instead of monthly, you can save big dollars and years off your loan term.

The myth is based on interest being calculated daily on the outstanding balance and by paying more often, should save you on the amount of interest paid over the life of the mortgage. This is, unfortunately, not the truth.

I get a lot of feedback from clients that they can’t find their PAYG (pay as you go) summary when applying for a loan. This is the document that your employer used to give you at the end of the financial year to tell you how much you earned over the year, which you then lodged with your tax return.

So you want to buy a property but you’ve been denied a loan because you have bad credit? Or perhaps you haven’t applied for a loan yet and you just want to see what your credit rating is? A few unpaid bills, that you may have thought remained locked away in your past, can come back to haunt you when you decide to apply for a loan for anything from a car to a house, and even when trying to obtain a credit card. In many cases it is possible to clear defaults and judgments from credit reports.

For many years the mortgage industry has been pushing the argument that repayments on investment property loans should be interest only (IO) for better cash flow management, and also possible tax advantages. However, I wish to present the case to you that making principal and interest (P&I) repayments can also be a good option to consider.

In this article we will explore how to calculate how much equity you currently have, and then I will present a scenario that will show you how you might be able to start your investment property portfolio sooner than you thought.

Redraw lets you access extra repayments you have made on your loan. In an emergency, access to this extra cash can be a live-saver.

Similar to how a savings account works, you can also save within your mortgage account simply by making payments over and above your minimum monthly requirement.

Don’t let being self-employed stop you from buying your dream home or getting your investment property portfolio started.

As a self-employed borrower you may often face the challenge of not being able to present payslips and EOFY payment summaries to prove your income and support your loan application, but don’t let that deter you.

Purchasing a home or investment property when you are self-employed is not as hard as you might think. It just requires that you consider your business structure and how you pay yourself out of the business. This will dictate the documentation you need to provide.

Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) credit services, such as Afterpay, Zip (ZipPay and ZipMoney), Humm, and Openpay, are gaining popularity with the promise of instant gratification, but with every high comes the risk of a corresponding low. As the industry’s growth continues, I am warning users to be cautious of the temptation the service provides as all debt can affect the chances of securing a home/investment loan further down the track.