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Why is my loan approval a bit different if I'm building?

We often have clients come to us with a range of options. They might be looking to buy their first home, second home or forever home, but in many situations, there are a couple of choices to make, and a big one is "should I buy existing or should I build"?Market conditions aside, there are plenty of considerations on both sides of the coin, so firstly let's look at these in a bit more detail.Building a new homeBuilds take time - from purchasing a section to choosing a builder, deciding on your n...

A House & Land Package or Turnkey - What's the difference?

Building a new home is a pretty exciting process, and it's no surprise that so many of our clients are now turning to builds to get the type of house they want!There are plenty of different options when it comes to building, but two of the most common ones are "House & Land Packages" and "Turnkey" properties.Let's have a look at what they are, and how they're different......

Can I have less than 20% deposit for my build?

With house prices rising above what they were a few years ago, and construction costs impacted by a shortage of materials and labour, more and more clients are asking us whether they can have less than a 20% deposit for their new build property.The answer is - yes, it's easier to get a build loan approved with less than 20% deposit, but there are a couple of things to bear in mind... let's work through these.Reserve Bank Guidelines:In 2020 and 2021, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) reinsta...

Buying a Townhouse? What you need to know

In recent times, we've seen an increase in the prevalence of "Townhouses" for sale, particularly as new builds and for first home buyers and investors. Put simply, a townhouse is kind of a cross between an apartment and a house - it usually shares its walls with its neighbours, but doesn't have other properties below or above them like apartments do.  Many townhouses in the Waikato are built with 2-3 levels to make the most of land space.This gives the occupiers of a townhouse a little...

Changes to First Home Loan and First Home Grant

Some great news today for people looking to buy their first home. In the 2022 budget, the government announced some large changes to their First Home Loan and First Home Grant programme. The main aspect is the removal of the property price caps for the First Home Loan and a large increase in price caps for the First Home Grant. See the First Home Grant price caps on the Kāinga Ora website here....

The Bank of Mum & Dad!

News broke earlier in the week that revealed New Zealand has a new a bank on the scene! A bank you may not have heard of before and one bigger than Kiwibank and TSB combined – Yep, it’s ‘The Bank of Mum & Dad’, or ‘BoMD’ as it’s being referred to. Good old Kiwi parents across the nation have dished out funds in excess of $22 billion dollars to their kids to help them into buying homes. Of this, three out of five parents didn’t even want their money back! It’s no surprise really...

Should I accept new home loan interest rates through my online banking?

If you have a fixed rate expiring in the next 6 to 8 weeks, your bank should have provided you with rates in your internet banking. These are the best rates that are available and we’re happy to give you some advice around your situation before you decide which rate is best for you. The actual interest rate itself is sometimes a lot less important than the advice around what to do with the length of time to fix for, repayments and how to structure your loans....

Why does the bank want me to lower my Credit Card limit & close my buy now pay later?

Ever wondered why the bank is asking you to lower your credit card limit and close your buy now, pay later schemes (BNPL), such as Afterpay and Laybuy? Check out Greg’s video below, or read on for more info…...

Case Study - Top up decline turned around

In the video below, Greg explains a client example where:Client went directly to the bank to get a $25K top up for some family travelClient can access their KiwiSaver in 4 years so wants to pay off the loan thenThe bank declined the application initially when the client went directly to the bank as the repayments over 4 years were going to be too high for the client to serviceThe client came to My MortgageWe reworked things for the client, extended the loan term for servicing to work and still s...

Is this the worst mortgage advisors car in NZ? It's all about options

So this is Greg's 2008 Suzuki SX4. Pretty awful aye!! We're often giving Greg stick about it and telling him to buy something new but then it struck us. Why does it matter and Greg might have a reason for wanting to keep it. Greg is a really, really good mortgage advisor and he and his wife together make a good living from it so he could easily afford to buy something new either with savings, a home loan top up or even car finance so why doesn't he?Currently Greg and his wife are worki...

Case Study - When getting great advice means more options

In the video below, Greg outlines a case study were some first home buyer clients: Initially went to another mortgage advisor and were told they didn't have a large enough depositThey were then referred through to My Mortgage by an existing client After some initial chats, there was definitely some options and so an application was submitted to 3 lenders. The clients got back 3 offers to do 3 different things Buy an existing family home with some gifted equityBuy existing pro...

Property Valuations - Why do I need one and what are they?

Determining the value of a property can be a fairly difficult calculation as there is a lot to take into consideration. The type of property, quality of the dwelling on the property, recent sales and where the property is located. With the market moving so quickly as it has been in the last few years, getting a good read on property values has been fairly difficult. ...

Budgeting and planning for your new home loan

There aren't many people in the world who LOVE to budget and stick to it but those who do generally find themselves in a good spot to get to where they want to go financially (whatever that means to you).Since the dec 1, 2021 CCCFA changes, were seeing the need for people to be planned and have a good budget in place to make sure we can help them step forward in the best light to get home loan lending in place. ...

Private Sale Series - Buying Someone Out

Unfortunately, this scenario usually involves the ending of a relationship of some kind - it can be a hard one to talk about but these things do happen and it can get messy if things aren’t handled well. We’re here to help! There are other scenarios where you may find yourself buying someone out of a property, like if you and a friend or relative purchased property together and one of you is moving on to something else, so it’s not always a sad ending! This “buying someone out” process...

Private Sale Series - Buying Into a Property

Another common one we see is people looking to buy into a property belonging to someone else - usually a friend, partner or spouse.  Let’s say Sally has a property she’s owned by herself for three years. She’s recently got engaged to Matt and they have agreed that Matt will buy into the property. Matt has a good income and $50K in Kiwisaver that he’ll contribute to his share.  Firstly, Sally & Matt will want to determine the value of the property. They might agree on a price to...

Private Sale Series - Buying From Family

This is becoming really common as house prices continue to climb. The situation is usually that Mum and Dad or another family member (grandparent, etc) might have a property that they will sell to the kids, possibly at a reduced price (thanks Mum and Dad!).  The first thing for everyone to consider is the value of the property and the price at which it will be sold.  Next, will the property be sold at market value or reduced? If selling at market value, it’s a pretty straightforward ...

Should I break and re-fix?

With interest rates climbing for the first time in over five years, we're getting a lot of queries across our desks asking whether it's worth breaking and refixing existing loans. But the question is - should you break yours? There's no doubt that we're under some rate pressure at the moment - but conversations in our office are always about taking the customer centered approach of - what's right for you and your situation? The key things we're asking our clients are; 1. How much risk are you wi...

New Build Series - Part 4: The Build Process

Planning Like buying any kind of home, you need to have a plan. Where do you want to build, what type of house do you want to build and what is your budget?  A good place to start is with your mortgage advisor. Firstly, what can you afford? This will narrow your options down a bit and will give you an idea about what is realistic.  Once you have a pre-approval you will be ready to go and approach a builder about the best way to build your new home. Keep in touch with us once you’ve b...

New Build Series - Part 3: The cost to build

Just like purchasing an existing home, there are additional costs on top of the build contract that you need to think about and budget for. Registered Valuation - $900 - $1300Solicitor - $500 - $2000Insurance - $1200 - $2000 per annum to cover home/contents. Depending on the type of build and the builder you are using you may be required to have an insurance policy in place while the house is being built. Check with your solicitor and building company.What if I want to change something during th...

New Build Series - Part 2: Types of builds

New builds have a slightly different process to fund versus existing properties when it comes to arranging lending. The method in which you plan to build your home will determine the way your lending works and each method requires a different set of criteria. We have a whole blog series on funding builds which you should check out. There’s a quick summary on each type of build below and heaps more information on each type of build, just click the heading of the type of build to go to check out...

New Build Series - Part 1: Why build a new house?

Building a home can be an exciting process and there are heaps of good reasons why you might build new over purchasing an existing house. There are a range of different ways about getting into a newly built house and each of them has their pros and cons. Understanding the difference between each type of build and the process involved with each will let you make an informed decision about what is right for you. But first...why build? Make it yoursFirstly, you can have your say in how your new hom...

ANZ announces 'Blueprint to Build'

To read about the 2023 update to Blueprint to Build, go here.The new-build interest rate wars are really ramping up now. ASB and AIA's record breaking low 1.79% Back My Build rate has a new contender! ANZ has announced Blueprint to Build with an even lower, 1.68% floating rate for new builds. So, what are the fish hooks and how does it compare to Back my Build? ANZ's Blueprint to Build is a market leading offer to support those building a new home. The offer is available from July, 5th...

First Home Series - Part 2: How to save for your new home

You need a deposit There’s no two ways about it; when you’re looking at buying your first home you will need some kind of deposit! At the very minimum you will need 10% - 20% of the purchase price as a deposit. For many people the prospect of having to save a minimum of $60,000 - $150,000 is enough to make them kiss their home ownership dreams goodbye. With a bit of planning and commitment, you can get that deposit together and it doesn’t all have to come from squirreling away!...Here’s ...

First Home Series - Part 6: The five steps to buying

Step 1: Pre-approval So you’ve budgeted, saved, put in some extra hours and you’ve got your deposit ready to go! Now it’s time to get pre-approved. Your mortgage adviser will handle everything to do with your pre-approval. They’ll check out your deposit, income, expenses etc and give you a rough idea about what you may be able to spend or whether you can afford to spend what you have in mind. From here, the adviser will go out and get you a loan offer. This could be multiple offers, from...

First Home Series - Part 4: What's it all going to cost?

A lot of the time, people forget that there are costs on top of the purchase price of the house! Here, we look at what additional costs come into play when purchasing your new home... Firstly, there are costs involved in using some of the professionals above. Mortgage advisers are usually free and you wont need to pay anything to the vendors real estate agents but there are costs involved for the below services/professionals; Solicitor: $500 - $2000Registered Valuation: $800 - $1200Building Insp...