5 Things To Know About Your Mortgage Pre-Approval Letter of Offer
Date Published: 4 January 2024
Good news! You’ve completed your application, handed over a mountain of paperwork (just kidding, our system is paperless) and now you’re pre-approved for your mortgage! After a phone call from…
Where Am I Going To Find My Mortgage Deposit?
Date Published: 3 January 2024
One of the simplest ways to grow your deposit is KiwiSaver. Below, we take a quick look at how quickly your deposit could grow and the numbers around this. Let’s…
3 Things You Can Do to Get Ready for Your Mortgage (No Matter When You’re Buying)
Date Published: 2 January 2024
Whether you’re getting serious about buying a house or are thinking you’d like to buy sometime in the future, doing these three things today will help you get ready for…
How Do I Calculate Yield on an Investment Property?
Date Published: 2 November 2023
When buying your own home, you need to be good at negotiating with your partner over issues such as whether an outdoor pizza oven is a must-have or a nice-to-have.…
Fixing or Refixing Your Mortgage: Three Questions to Ask
Date Published: 2 November 2023
Fixing/refixing your mortgage isn’t as exciting as buying a new house. Or, for that matter, as exciting as getting a pizza coupon in the mail. But gives you a valuable…
What does LVR mean?
Date Published: 26 October 2023
Think of the loan-to-value ratio (LVR) like this: What percentage of the house is covered by the mortgage… Or, in other words, what percentage of the house does the bank…
The Mindset You Need to Get into Your First Home
Date Published: 25 October 2023
When you start thinking of owning your first home and considering the steps and challenges involved, it can feel like an impossible goal. There’s no getting around the fact that…
Case Study – August 2023
Date Published: 13 August 2023
This month’s case study looks at a client that found themselves almost at the magical 20% deposit. Almost… but not quite. Let’s call the couple Bill and Hillary (obviously not…
App of the Month – Gaspy
Date Published: 12 August 2023
We all enjoy saving a bit of money, especially if you’re looking to buy your first home or if you’ve just got your first mortgage. There are all sorts of…
Better Budget – The Spindel Laundry Dryer
Date Published: 12 August 2023
At least once a month, we try to bring you an unusual outside-the-box method to save money. Recently we’ve introduced you to Pocketsmith.com and shown you how cleaning your heat…
What is Price By Negotiation?
Date Published: 13 July 2023
Until recently, selling a house by Auction has been the most popular method of selling in Auckland. It takes advantage of the excitement in the market and pits buyers directly…
App of the month – Sun Seeker
Date Published: 13 July 2023
This month’s app that we love is called Sun Seeker. It is immensely useful and a very simple concept. With the world just waking up to Augmented Reality, this app…
Small Steps – Credit Report
Date Published: 13 July 2023
In today’s world, having a strong credit report is essential for achieving financial success. Your credit report not only determines your eligibility for loans and credit cards, but it also…
Where Will Mortgage Interest Rates Be In 2024?
Date Published: 2 June 2023
Predicting what home loan interest rates will look like in the future isn’t easy, but since when has that ever stopped us? As we move through 2023, we’re starting to…
Budgeting with PocketSmith
Date Published: 28 April 2023
If you’ve ever watched one of the Mortgage Lab’s webinars or Facebook livestreams, you will most likely have heard us rave about this app. It’s one of our favourites –…
Should You Refinance to Another Bank to Get a Better Interest Rate?
Date Published: 27 April 2023
You’ve got a fixed-term account maturing soon and the bank or your broker has sent you some interest rates. Maybe your current bank is offering 0.1% higher than another bank…
Is it Worth Getting a Flatmate to Help Pay My Mortgage?
Date Published: 27 April 2023
Getting a flatmate to help pay the mortgage is a big decision. You have to share your home, and you wanted to keep a spare room for guests. But look…
The Bank Said No to Your Investment Property (Credit Hurdle)
Date Published: 3 April 2023
It happens to almost everyone eventually. You walk into the bank and ask for money, either to buy a car, house, or business. But the bank declines you. Today we’ll…