Can I Buy A Home With Friends
Date Published: 4 June 2024
While house prices have eased, getting the deposit together for a first home is still a big ask. Kiwis are asking whether it is worth buying with friends instead of…
Mortgage Deposit: Can I take out a loan to increase my deposit?
Date Published: 4 June 2024
As you may know from our other blogs, there are some key levels of deposit that you need to get to in order to buy a new home. The main…
Deposits: How much do you need to buy your first home?
Date Published: 4 June 2024
If you have less than 20% deposit, you are referred to (by the banks) as a Low Equity (or Deposit) Borrower. You are required to meet a different set of…
Flatmates and Your Mortgage
Date Published: 16 May 2024
So you’re looking to purchase. Could a flatmate help you purchase a more expensive house? Will a bank take that extra income into account? How much interest will flatmate income…
How To Calculate Break Costs And Decide If It Is A Good Strategy
Date Published: 15 May 2024
For the past 16 years, interest rates (both mortgage and the Official Cash Rate) have been on a roller-coaster journey. That means that almost most people who have fixed their…
When to Get Your Business Accounts Done
Date Published: 8 May 2024
If you happen to be a salary earner, proving your income is relatively easy. As long as your employer issues decent quality payslips, you can provide the 3 most recent slips…
Pay Down Your Mortgage Or Save Into Your KiwiSaver?
Date Published: 27 March 2024
It’s a question we get asked a lot. If we have an extra amount of money in our salary, should we use the money to pay down our mortgage or…
4 tips to making an offer by Tender
Date Published: 10 January 2024
Recently we looked at some tips for bidding at an auction. But what if the house you love is for sale by tender? Tenders are much less time-pressured than auctions…
The One Bank Trap and The Several Bank Nightmare
Date Published: 5 January 2024
A common phrase in mortgage world is the “one bank trap”. It’s when you have all your lending with one bank which gives the policy makers at the bank all…
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…