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It's a fun step to take!

For many young Kiwi's, buying their first home is one of the top five on their guide to being a grown up, alongside getting their first job, travelling, getting married, and perhaps even having children. The timing is different for everybody, and we have helped first home buyers as young as 18 right up to 50 year olds to purchase their first home.Many people think that buying their first home is big and scary and will take a lot of time and effort. It doesn't have to be this way, it's meant to b...

Look out for your mates!

Having a couple of wines with some friends over the weekend and a common question came up... "How do I know which bank is right for me? I've got one now, why not just get my mortgage from them?" We think we had the best analogy yetThink of a Home Loan like a jacket. Essentially when you step outside in this cold weather. Then think of a mortgage broker as as a fashion guru (a hard ask when Adam one wears jeans and a shirt 99% of the time!) Even as a fairly simple country lad Adam's got a wa...

Welcome to your New Home

In addition to the great news regarding the relaxing of the deposit restrictions recently (check out the blog on this), we have some more good news - If you thought there was no movement on the 20% deposit requirement which some lenders require, think again! Enter Welcome Home Loan - which has been helping out plenty of our clients who have a small deposit and meet certain criteria buy their first home. Essentially the way it works is that the Housing New Zealand agree to guarantee the loan, and...

The changing face of banking

There has been a lot of coverage in the media recently about branches shutting in small rural towns which has rightly irked a lot of locals. To us there is more to this story in the changing face of banking and we can guarantee that in 10 years time things will be a lot different to how they are now. Service is the most important thing to us so we'd like to show how we fit in to the ever evolving banking model and how you can be assured that by working with the My Mortgage team you will always b...

It's ok to ask!

We call it the teenager effect, we all know that mumbly "leave me alone, I know what I'm doing" when in reality they lack the background understanding and knowledge to do it right. A lot of people are the same with their mortgage.It may come as no surprise that Adam has managed to relate the arrival of our first baby a few weeks ago to getting a mortgage.Simply because you have one it doesn't make you an expert. It's definitely a good idea to ask more experienced people for help! Adam had the an...

A hand up for First Home Buyers

While investors are grumbling about the changes to the deposit requirements for Rental Properties (me included) there was some good news this week for first home buyers as the availability of the Homestart Grant has been increased which we hope will open up opportunities for more first time buyers to get in to their first home!...

What's up with deposits for Rental Properties?

We're sure this question will be on the lips of current property investors and those looking to get in to owning rental properties, all over the country, following the recent announcement by the Reserve bank of a planned change in deposit requirements for investment properties.The proposed changes are to come in to effect on the 1st of September 2016 but it's important to note that all of the major banks have changed their internal policies to reflect the proposed changes to be enforced by the R...

Bridging Finance... What is it? How does it work?

With the market as crazy as it is you need to be sure that you can secure your next property when you sell yours, for a lot of people this can lead to uncertainty around the buying power for the next property or around making the timeline work... with the worst case scenario seeing people having sold their houses and not being able to find something suitable to move to or making the wrong choice about their next house..This is where Bridging Finance comes in. Bridging finance essentially le...

Meet the team Monday... Claire!

As much as we love the personal touch here at My Mortgage, with technology being the way it is these days (and in the new Covid-19 scenario of course!) we have a lot of our conversations with clients over the phone or email. Most of you will have met Adam but we've got a small team here dedicated to making great things happen and often they're beavering away behind the scenes. Over the next month or so we're going to get some profiles up so you can learn some more about the amazing little team w...

"Free Money"? you say? Tell Me More!

There's been a lot of talk in the media recently about the "crazy" housing market, and with the increase in prices has come an increase in the funds required for a deposit.But it's not all doom and gloom, in fact, it's just the opposite, and the news gets better for those who may have owned property before, but are now looking to start again.The Government is coming to the rescue in the form of the Home Start Grant, which we've briefly mentioned before, but would like to address in some more det...

Why are we your best mate?

After being in the industry for almost 10 years now, we've found there are still quite a few misconceptions out there as to what we actually do. So we decided to put together a list of the most common misconceptions and little known facts about Mortgage Advisers....

Lending for borrowers overseas - What you need to know

The change in policy for the banks lending to overseas borrowers has been big news in the past few weeks. In this post we're going to clear up a few misconceptions and give an indication of how the bank's policies have changed in reaction to recent events.If you'd like some background on why these changes have been made, stuff.co.nz has a great article which you can read here.The good news is that if you're a Kiwi living offshore you can still buy property in New Zealand. There are just a few ex...

How do I use Kiwisaver to buy a house?

A lot of first home buyers ask us – can I use my Kiwisaver to purchase my first home.The answer is generally yes, but there are a few hoops to jump through to make sure all your ducks are in a row, and we can help make this process nice and easy for you.The great thing about Kiwisaver is that you can only request to withdraw the funds for two reasons; on your retirement, or to purchase your first home. In this way it functions very well as a strict savings account, and there are many benefits ...

June update

The Official Cash Rate remained unchanged this morning but there are still talks of a potential drop in this later in the year. Because banks may already be counting on a drop in the OCR there is no guarantee that interest rates will drop if the OCR does move down a gain. Conversely if the OCR did not drop then we may see an increase in short term interest rates. At the moment the bank economists that we get our information from are suggesting equal chances of a decrease or increase later i...

Make Auctions Easy

As the property market has fired up over the last 12 months we are seeing more and more properties going to auction and at the same time we're encountering more and more people frustrated by the process of buying at auction... But it shouldn't be frustrating. We show below how to make things as easy as possible for you to buy at auction....

Higher interest rates for Rentals? No way!

There has been some proposed restrictions in the media lately about tools to slow down the housing market. Most have been hypothetical ideas such as the income to debt ratio but one change has been put in place by a bank this week that we think will catch out a lot of unsuspecting borrowers. A major bank has changed their interest rate policy to exclude those purchasing rental properties from getting their special rates. We are yet to see whether others banks will follow suit but this change has...

Get the most out of your Revolving Credit

Revolving Credit Facilities are becoming more and more popular but we're constantly seeing them not being used to their full potential or being set up wrong and costing people more money than they should.Following on from our recent blog about the benefits of compounding interest we'll give you some tips below on how you can use a Revolving Credit to manage your money better and get debt free faster....

Compound interest is your friend

I first learned about compounding interest from my 5th form Economics teacher and it seemed to make sense if you were investing money. It didn't make a lot of sense if you were borrowing money but in this blog I'm going to show how you can turn the tables and use savings on interest to save you more on interest which, if you're as nerdy about saving money on your home loan as I am, will make you about as happy as this guy above!I'll explain the details of how this works below but if you'd like u...

How many beers can you save?

It's 4pm on Friday afternoon and as we occasionally do, we are enjoying a drink as we wind down toward the weekend. Naturally (in an office like ours at least) the conversation turned to money and the ever increasing cost of a weekly supermarket shop and how making a small saving on your home loan could make a big difference to your surplus in your weekly budget. Although not a staple by any stretch, it seemed topical to use a beer as an example. This one sitting on Claire's desk retails for aro...

What does a Mortgage Advisor cost you?

When you have My Mortgage on your side, our service won’t cost you a penny. As we dive into 2025, the property market in Cambridge and the Waikato region is really starting to move. With a growing team, we’re excited about the future and ready to help you with all your property lending needs. A question we often receive is about the cost of our service. We’d like to clarify how we are compensated and why that helps us secure the best mortgage deals for you. Our advice and assistance wit...

The first interest rate rise

We received some slightly disturbing news in our inbox today. It was the first time we had had an email all year advising of an increase in an interest rate with ASB putting up their 1 year special from 4.35% to 4.39%.Now we're not saying the sky is falling or that it is time to panic but along with the Reserve Bank deciding to keep the Official Cash Rate on hold last week, the signs are definitely pointing toward a flattening off in interest rates and this will no doubt lead to increases on the...

Better than a tropical island giveaway!

Like many of you, our Facebook newsfeeds have been inundated with advertising for the Kiwibank "free trip to Rarotonga" giveaway with one of its new home loan products. Of course we can negotiate you a great deal on your home loan along with structure and advice that will surely beat their offer.It may seem boring by comparison but the lessons here and personal advice from us could see you sitting on a tropical island celebrating being debt free years ahead of when you thought you would be and w...

Want to buy a property in NZ but live overseas?

With the property marketing booming in parts of New Zealand and interest rates at all time lows, there has been a lot of interest from people wanting to buy property to rent as an investment. We're fielding a lot of inquiry from ex pats who are living overseas, earning good money and want to buy a property back home so that they're in the market and can take advantages of the gains to be had whilst reducing their home loan as much as possible through rental income and good earnings.Much like the...

Why budgeting is cool

Most of us will know that setting goals and working to a plan is a sure fire way to achieve success in our lives. However, from our experience we do not see enough people setting financial goals and having a budget and home loan structure to get them debt free as fast as possible. The right loan structure and budget It's important to have a loan structure that fits your financial goals and the way you earn your money. That's the first place to start so that you can reduce your mortgage as qu...

What should I do with my fixed rate?

This seems to be the number one question I'm being asked by clients at the moment... and with good reason as there are a number of factors to consider. The trust is that there is no single right option as we don't have a crystal ball but I've outlined the factors pushing and pulling interest rates below and how you can assess what's best for you depending on how much risk you're willing to take....