How to move up the property ladder without a wobble.
Featured articleIf you’ve owned a property for a few years you could have a good amount of equity tied up in it, particularly after the increase in property values during the Covid years. It may be possible to use this equity for the deposit on another investment property. This other property could be your next family
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Featured articleWhen you’re thinking about buying your first home or moving up to your next home, it helps to get your head around the acronyms and jargon that lie ahead. If someone’s using these abbreviations without first explaining what they mean, be sure to ask. There are no silly questions when it comes to making good
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Bridging finance can help when buying or building a new house before selling your old one. In other words bridging finance lets you get from property A to property B, before you get the money for property A. However, a bridging loan is just a temporary structure. You need to repay it as soon as
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Change is constant. When you set up your mortgage originally, the interest rates were applicable to the housing market at the time. Likewise, the size and term of your mortgage was appropriate to your income and outgoings at that time. You had a new home, lots of set-up costs and were just finding your feet
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Going shopping for a home – either your first or your next – is always an exciting time. The secret to making it a positive experience is having a realistic picture of how much you can afford to pay, so that you can view properties that fall within your budget. To get the clearest view
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Whether you’re a first home buyer, looking for your next place or building a home, one of the most important rules is to know what you can realistically afford. And what you can afford isn’t the same as what you could pay if you really squeeze every last drop out of your income. It means
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When you originally set up your mortgage, it would have been subject to the floating and fixed lending rates for that particular day, with your specific bank. But things change over the years. It could be time for a re-look, with a view to saving some interest or improving your financial flexibility. Why would you
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When a home loan lender is checking you out as a potential borrower, they’ll take a long, hard look at your credit score, which is a number between 0 and 1000. Lenders refer to your credit score because they need to ensure the loan they provide will be repaid. Having a high number could make
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For some years now, New Zealand’s main banks and other mortgage lenders have been known to offer a cashback reward to eligible customers when they draw down (start) a new mortgage. It’s typically a lump sum cash payment of $1,000 to $3,000 – or even significantly more, depending on how much you’re borrowing. In this
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One way to reduce some of the stress of finding and owning your first home, or moving up to your next home, is to plan ahead for the extra costs involved. That way there’ll be less chance of nasty surprises that blow your budget and ruin the fun. Everyone has their eye on mortgage repayments,
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Whether you’re buying your first home, next home or an investment property, you might need to get a registered valuation to finalise your home loan. What happens if that valuation isn’t high enough? If you’ve purchased a property at auction and there’s a shortfall between the amount you need to borrow and the amount supported
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Moving from one mortgage provider to another involves applying for and getting a new loan, then using that loan to repay your old one, so it can be discharged. People switch lenders a lot more often these days, whether they’re buying a new home or refinancing an existing property. If you think your current mortgage
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This article provides information on working with a mortgage adviser when you’re refinancing a mortgage. We also have a free service that connects you with one of New Zealand’s mortgage advisers from our handpicked panel. First up, let’s define ‘refinancing’. It can be a confusing word, because it’s often used to describe the process of
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A property is one of the most expensive things you’ll ever buy. The amount you borrow and the interest you’ll pay over decades can be huge. So, whether you’re looking for a new mortgage or reviewing the one you have, it’s worth investing some time into getting the best arrangement for your current circumstances and
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