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Options to not be homeless when you're selling & buying

Anyone who has sold a home to buy (or build) another will attest to the fact that it can be stressful working out where you're going to live in between times if you're not fortunate enough to settle the properties on the same day. With this in mind I thought I'd take a more in depth look at the options you have from most common to pretty obscure!...

Turning Your Home into a Rental: Benefits and Best Practices

Converting your home into a rental property can be a strategic financial move, especially in today's market where interest rates are low and rental income is high. Here, we'll explore the benefits of making this transition and discuss the best practices for structuring your finances to maximise tax benefits and investment returns....

What do banks look at for self employed income & why?

Being self employed is a great option for many people and can give freedom in a lot of areas of life. It can also mean a few more challenges, and a question we often get asked is "Why is it harder for self employed people to get mortgages?" Well, the answer is it isn't actually "harder", but there are just a few more things to consider for the best chance of approval depending on your situation...

Buying your first investment property

You’ve bought your first home and you’re absolutely stoked. A place to call your own, an excellent and well set up home loan and a financial plan for the future. With the Reserve Bank removing the LVR restrictions on main banks, now may be the best time possible to buy your first investment property. ...

Can I use my KiwiSaver if I've owned a home before?

In recent years, KiwiSaver has become a great way for first home buyers to save for a home, and almost all our first home buyer clients include KiwiSaver as part of their depsoit.But what about if you've owned a home before? Does that mean you can't withdraw your KiwiSaver?If you meet a couple of simple criteria, and if you haven't used your KiwiSaver for the first property you bought, then you should be eligible to withdraw it for your "second first home!"The key is in being "in the same positi...

Yay, you're pre approved! What's next?

The hard work for your home loan is now done – the bank wants to lend you money! Now there are only a few key things left to do; Find the right house and make an offer – talk to us about including a finance condition and a Registered Valuation if needed and check out this blog about conditions to put in a Sale & Purchase Agreement and what the terms meanMeet the conditions on your loan offer – we’re here to explain and tick these off for youFinalise your structure and how you’re going ...

Who are you going to buy with?

For most first home buyers, at least two people being involved will open up a heap of options for you, unless you have a very significantly high personal income or a very good deposit. So plenty of mix and match options here....

What type of "Advice" can you get from a mortgage broker?

You’re absolutely smashing it. You’ve got your pre-approval, have made an offer and met all the conditions on your agreement. Now it’s time to confirm your agreement unconditional, and BOOM - you just bought a house, and the fun starts!...

Where did all my money go??

About three weeks ago I got a call from a first home buyer I had pre-approved – and the first thing she asked me was “Do you know where all my KiwiSaver money has gone?”Unfortunately I didn’t have the answer she wanted to hear but I could explain what had happened – and run through how to be ready and ensure your house deposit isn’t eroded away by a sneaky virus called Covid-19!In recent months with the Covid-19 pandemic sweeping across the world, investments in general have taken a ...

What's a Priority Amount?

We sometimes get some concerned clients touch base with us when they receive their loan offer as it has two amounts on there. One is the amount they are borrowing and one is substantially higher. What's this all about! That higher amount on the loan offer is called a priority amount. It’s there for two reasons:To protect the bankTo save you money long term...

Budgeting is a great Lockdown activity!

I hope you're staying safe during lockdown and enjoying some time with those in your bubble.  I'm sure we're all doing a lot of reflecting on where we're at and what our lives are going to look like post lockdown.The good news is that we're all spending a lot less money as we're not out socializing or pursuing our normal recreational activities.  The downside is that for a lot of people their income is going to be impacted so there is a greater need to plan out what the future is going...

COVID-19 Options, Support & Feedback - Westpac

Deferred mortgage repayments are available for six months, as agreed by the Government and banks. This deferral includes principal and interest repayments and is sometimes known as a mortgage holiday. Any interest accrued during the deferral period will be added to your loanMortgage repayment reductions (similar to interest-only repayments) are available for six months....

COVID-19 Options, Support and Feedback for ANZ Clients

With ANZ being one of the biggest banks in New Zealand, they have been pretty front and centre for all of this COVID-19 response. ...

COVID-19 Options, Support and Feedback for ASB Clients

If your income has been impacted directly by COVID-19, ASB are offering the following options for you: Interest only repayments on home loans for up to 6 monthsMortgage repayment deferral for up to 6 months (interest will still be added to the loan, meaning your loan balance will increase)If you have been impacted by any other COVID-19 related reason: Interest only repayments on home loans for up to 3 monthsMortgage repayment deferral for up to 3 months (interest will still be added to the loan,...

COVID-19 Options, Support and Feedback for BNZ Clients

Changing your repayments If you’re currently paying more than the minimum repayment amount on your home loan, you might be able to reduce your current repayments.Interest only payments You may be eligible to apply for interest only payments on your home loan for up to 12 months. This means your repayments would reduce to cover just the interest incurred on your home loan during the interest only period. However, your repayments a...

COVID-19 Options, Support & Feedback - Sovereign

Mortgage repayment deferrals If a Sovereign Home Loans customer has been impacted by COVID-19 these are some of the financial support options immediately available to them on a case-by-case basis: The Mortgage Repayment Deferral (MRD)Interest Only (IO)  These options are available to all customers impacted by COVID-19. A 6 month period for either option is restricted to customers' whose income has been impacted by COVID-19. Customers can get 3 months of either option for other COVID-19...

COVID-19 Mortgage Repayment Holiday. Good, bad or otherwise?

With mortgages most often being people's largest household expense, a mortgage repayment holiday sounds great doesn't it? Not needing to pay your mortgage for an extended period of time. Dreams do come true, even during a pandemic. Or do they...? As with many things in life, when things sound too good to be true, most often they are. There are definitely pros and cons with mortgage repayment holidays so let's have a look at them and some other options you could consider if times are a bit tough ...

Mortgage Repayment Holidays & Interest Only periods due to Covid-19

So we find ourselves in an interesting time where businesses are shut, most of us are trying to work from home, and we're uniting together as a community to stop the spread of Covid-19 and protect those most vulnerable throughout New Zealand. This Level 4 situation where only essential services can be operating means a lot of financial pressure on businesses, individuals and the economy in general. Thankfully we have a government in New Zealand who are aware of this and are doing everything...

We have 10% deposit. Should we wait till we get 20%?

We talk to people all the time who have done a great job of keeping their student loans low, their existing debt minimal and have a good steady income who are looking o buy a house. They’ve also been contributing to their KiwiSaver and saving often as well for their deposit. They come to us and they have somewhere from 10 - 15% deposit needed to buy a house they are looking at. Great. Banks are able to lend for the purchase of a house when you have a 10% deposit so we can do something for you....

Aren't brokers just.....? Myths about Mortgage Brokers

There are a lot of myths out there about what Mortgage Brokers do and don't do, how we make our money and how relevant we are.While we're on lockdown I thought it would be a great time to dispel a few of these myths, explain a bit more about what we do and how our business operates....

Saving & Planning for your first home

We all know that your home is one of the biggest purchases you'll make in your life. We want to make the path to you owning your own home as easy as possible, so we've put together some handy tips which we know work, to get you into a position to make it happen faster!...

Is now a good time to upsize your family property?

Here at My Mortgage we are often asked for our opinion about a certain property purchase and the pros and cons of it. We like to stay objective on these sort of things but we do have opinions and if pushed, we'll happily share them in terms of what we would do if we were in the same situation.  Upsizing your family home may need to be done for a variety of reasons. Things like growing kids take up more space, growing families may require more bedrooms, or just the need for a second bathroom...

Getting bank statements for a home loan application

In this digital age we are trying to make things as simple as possible for you to get us all your application information electronically (a key reason we launched Online Mortgage!). The banks require quite a lot of documentation nowadays and one of the main things we find complex for clients is getting their bank statements from their online banking. Most of us don't get paper statements anymore (#savethetrees) and so we rely on being able to log into our internet banking and get these stat...

Types of loans

We get asked a lot about the different types of loans you can take, and there is often a lot of confusion about how these can and should be set up. The golden rule is that it's important to get the structure that's right for you - your family situation, income, and future plans. There is no one-size-fits-all approach here but it's useful to understand what different types of loans there are and how they work....

Buying your first rental - An Accountant's Take

A "non-boring" Accountants view (maybe I have stretched the truth a little there) from Ivan Martinovich of Our Accountants So you are thinking that life is going good and the only thing that make it complete is buying a rental property or two that someone else can help pay off the debt (plus the added bonus of being able to spend some quality time with your favourite Mortgage Broker and Accountant) – sounds like you are on the road to living the dream!! Before you go ahead and sign up for the ...