Latest News from My Mortgage

Back to Blog

Insurance is not our game but we know people!

Insurance is not our game but it's still a very important part of owning a home and like with everything that we do, we want to make this as easy and cost effective as possible whilst maintaining a high quality product. We've listened to all of the complaints around being "upsold" on insurance type products over the years and we agree that you must have a need to justify a review of a product like this. We don't partner with other businesses lightly but we've engaged Initio who are a specialist ...

The Hunger Project - A My Mortgage Community Project

In 2018, Claire is embarking on a quest with The Hunger Project NZ's Awaken programme, a fundraising leadership development opportunity with the goal to ending world hunger by 2030. Around the world, millions of people eat two or three times a day, but a significant percentage of women eat only once. Many women deny themselves even that one meal to ensure that their children are fed. These women are already suffering the effects of severe malnutrition, which inevitably will be their children’s...

Books for kids - A My Mortgage Community Project

This is Hannah's project for the community. The aim is to grow the minds of our local children and introduce them to the world of reading from a young age. Bringing books to children and their families, making reading accessible, and an everyday occurrence in homes around the Waikato....

Are there two deposits I need to pay?

There is often a bit of confusion around deposits for your new purchase - we talk about deposits, and so do Real Estate Agents and Lawyers - what does this all mean, and are they all different things?...

How do I buy a house with my mates?

With house prices a little bit higher than they were five years ago and the tightening of bank criteria for single home buyers, we are getting a lot of enquiries about whether it’s possible to buy with friends - and how to go about this....

Why should you refinance your mortgage?

With interest rates at historic lows and banks undercutting each other left, right, and centre, we've had a lot of enquiries about refinancing, and it's super important to understand exactly what this involves. There can be some confusion about this term, lots of people see it the same as re-fixing a loan or topping up a loan to realise more "equity", but in our terms it means transferring your existing loan from one bank to another. While refinancing might allow you to pay off your loan faster ...

"Have fun, make money & make a difference" is our "Why?"

Well it's probably not what you're going to hear from another Mortgage Broking firm, that's for sure. This is a slogan pinned to the wall by Adam's desk and it's been that way ever since he started My Mortgage back in 2012.   It's pretty simple really....

A new home for 5% Deposit for first home buyers

A new loan type has just come out today offering 95% lending for people wanting to purchase outside of the main centres....

Don't set and forget! Your mortgage deserves better.

I feel like I've been on a personal crusade lately to tidy up bad loan structures.  It's so common and yet so easy to make a difference and save someone hundreds of dollars a year, if not more.So how does this happen?Us Kiwis are a laid back bunch.  Stats show that the most common thing to do when taking out a new home loan is to simply fix it for 2 years and forget about it.  That might be ok at the start as it gets you in to a house and gets you settled.But what about after thos...

Loan to Value Ratio (LVR) - Why it matters?

Updated: Nov 2020LVR has to be the most talked about thing in the Mortgage industry in the past few years, and it's with good reason.   It's probably the single most important thing when it comes to assessing a lending proposal. For those of you who don't know what it stands for, LVR is "Loan to Value Ratio" - Essentially it is the percentage of lending you have, divided by the value of your property.  If you have $80K lending on a $100K property then your LVR is 80%....

Check your Loan to Value Ratio before you sell

There has been an unintended consequence with the 2016 introduction of LVR restrictions on investment properties and we had a case recently that I definitely think needs talking about.   It raises the point "Check your LVR before you sell" Because a bank cannot exceed 70% LVR for lending on a rental property, it means that if you've got a number of properties and sell one, they may in fact need to take all of the proceeds from that sale to ensure that they are still compliant...

The stepping stone to your dream home

When you're buying your first home, you want a place to live you can call your own. Sometimes that might not be your dream home, but it could be a "stepping stone" to something you've always wanted. At My Mortgage, we often talk about making a plan that will be best for you in the long run, and putting you in the best position we can long term. Part of that is to make a plan for you for the next 2-5 years, ask you about your financial goals and what you'd like to achieve over that time.  It...

6 easy tips to make your first home happen

We all know that your home is one of the biggest purchases you'll make in your life. Here at My Mortgage, we want to make the path to owning you 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!...

The pre first home loan health check

Here at My Mortgage we want to make your journey into your first home easy, and we've put together a brief "pre home loan health check" that we do every day with people like you to make sure they're in the best position they can be to buy. Like visiting your doctor for a check up, there are a few key things that we need to get right so you're home-loan ready, and whether you're 6 months or three years from buying your first home, we can help guide you along the right path and make a plan togethe...

Rental scaling - how it works & why it's important

Buying another property is often on the cards for a lot of our clients, particularly those who are looking to build a long term rental portfolio, but there are some very good reasons to get your ducks in a row and your finance sorted for a new purchase early on. As you buy more properties (and likely your rental income also increases), we gradually need more income to be able to prove you can continue to afford to borrow the new funds to purchase the new property. Investors who are perhaps balan...

Pros and cons to splitting lending across banks

At My Mortgage we’re all about providing great options for our clients, and using those options to get the best result. One of the ways we do this is by splitting your lending across two or even three banks, which can be beneficial for the right borrower. We’d like to clear up a few pros and cons to splitting your loans across different banks, and identity some situations where this can work really well. To split lending across several banks, firstly you need to have at least two properties,...

I've got a bank, I'm sorted right?

This would be one of the most common reasons given for not seeking independent advice on your home loan.  For a lot of people they simply look in their wallet, see a bank logo on one of their cards and assume that that bank is the one that's the best for them. They might be doing just fine with your day to day banking and have some clever TV marketing which keeps you engaged but there is a lot more to consider when it comes time to borrow a few hundred thousand dollars. The reality is, it's...

Splitting lending across different banks

This is a practice that we're starting to see recommended much more now by experienced investors, accountants and the like.  But what benefits does it have and how does it work in practice? We had a prime example recently where a client benefited from lending at two different banks.  They wanted to top up their mortgage to buy a new car. A simple $20K transaction, or so you would think. They owned their own home worth $500K. With a mortgage of $350K. They also owned a rental property w...

Can your Mortgage be better for you?

It's going to come as no surprise that a blog on a Mortgage Broker's website is going to say... OF COURSE YOU CAN! The question is, how?   We've got some simple tips below to make your Mortgage better.  These are common mistakes or oversights that a lot of people make and we can fix very easily....

Thinking about buying? We're here to help!

The good news is that we've done it all before and are here to help you through the process!One of the biggest things we find with First Home Buyers is that they are scared of not knowing how the process works - and we can't stress enough that that's what we're here for. We'll happily put our hand up and say we can't do an oil and filter change on our cars, so we get someone else to help with that and explain the benefits of different types of services, and it's no different with your first mort...

Creating an awesome "Team" to buy your first home

We often talk to First Home Buyers about the importance of having a great "Team" around them when they are buying their first home - and by that we mean a fantastic group of professionals and support people who are awesome at what they do and can help make the process incredibly simple....

LVR rules easing for First Home Buyers and Investors

Good news this morning from the Reserve Bank as the LVR (Loan to Value Ratio) restrictions are going to be eased from 1st January 2018. At the moment the banks can only have 10% of their total lending to people with less than 20% deposit.  From January 1st they will be able to lend 15% of their total loans to people with lower deposits. This is great news for First Home Buyers as it means there will be 1.5x the amount of lending available to people with lower deposits.  This should mak...

What does that mean? Cut through the industry jargon.

Like most people who live and breathe their professions we are prone to occasionally get carried away using acronyms and industry jargon to explain the details of the work we're doing.  It's something that I get really annoyed at so we're doing something about it! Below is a summary of a few of the common terms you'll hear thrown around and what they mean.  If you've heard any other terms that you want to know about or would like added to this then send us a message, we'd love to ...

What do we need from you for a loan approval?

When you get in touch with us and we've gone through some numbers together, the next thing we're going to ask for is a bunch of information for us to get a loan approval for you.I'd like to go through these in a bit more detail in this blog around how and why we need this info, and what we'll be achieving at the bank end at the end of the day.Completed application forms – as per our online system. We are super lucky to have an online application form, which you can fill out and send throu...

Nailing KiwiSaver & the First Home Grant

There can be some confusion around Kiwisaver and the Home Start Grant (First Home Grant from 2019), and what they each mean, along with their requirements. In this blog I'd like to clear those questions up for you and provide a little explanation around how each will help you purchase your first home. Kiwisaver is the Government scheme which requires you to put away at least 3% of your wages for retirement. This fund builds up over time and you can withdraw these funds to purchase your first hom...