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Tips & Tricks from the world of finance
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Buying Home
One of the toughest parts of realising the dream of owning a home is saving for a deposit. The options seem pretty dismal – subsisting on a diet of beans on toast, never socialising, moving back in with the parents – and are almost enough to prompt a commitment to a life of renting.
Making extra repayments on your home loan can be a clever financial strategy. Investing your extra cash into your home can speed up your loan’s life cycle, with the added benefit of saving money in the long run. However, care must be taken to ensure that extra repayments are planned and the right type of loan taken out to allow for them.
It’s easy to get carried away with the fun part of buying a property – looking at houses – but delaying the less compelling task of arranging finance will weaken your negotiating position on both the property and the loan.
There’s an old saying that you should never judge a book by its cover, and this is true for houses – after all, who would buy one having never seen more than the front door? Open inspections are opportunities to really flick through the pages, and here’s how to take full advantage.
It seems like a no brainer, right? You are buying a home, so you’ll pay off your credit cards to reduce your debt, but keep them active so you can buy some furniture or deal with emergencies even when you have a mortgage to pay. Wrong.
Stamp duty is a charge which is applied by state governments in Australia on transactions relating to the transfer of land or property. It is paid upfront and needs to be budgeted for in addition to your loan deposit.
Is the key to saving a home deposit as simple as giving up smashed avo toast for breakfast? Well not quite, but spending less does make a difference.
Jarrod Harrison was well on his way to becoming a first-home owner when issues cropped up prior to settlement that threatened to cost him his deposit.
Lender’s mortgage insurance (LMI) is required in many instances when a loan is worth more than 80 per cent of a property’s purchase price, as well as in some other circumstances. In very basic terms, when a lender considers a loan to carry a high risk, LMI is likely payable. Here’s how you can avoid paying the costly premium.
When purchasing an investment property, there are a number of factors that could increase or reduce your potential return on investment. In this case it's not just location, location, location.
Are you flying solo and starting to think that buying a property will never be possible? There’s really no need to wait for a knight, or lady, in shining armour to come along, as securing finance on a single income does happen.
If you apply for a home loan, particularly if the loan is for more than 80 per cent of a property’s value, you’ll more than likely have to prove to lenders that you have a satisfactory amount of savings. This is to demonstrate your ability to funnel a portion of your income into repayments.
It’s easy to understand why we look for the largest, most prestigious properties we can afford – we are constantly urged to define our success by our possessions: bigger, better, newer, faster, shinier. A relatively recent counter-movement, however, urges lower impact, fewer goods and less consumption, and at its core nestles the tiny house.
With interest rates at an all-time low, taking the option of locking in an interest rate on your home loan to guard against possible future fluctuation may be attractive. However, it pays to know the ins and outs of fixed-rate loans before committing to one.
So you’ve found your dream home, but it’s in need of a little TLC. While others may see this as a deterrent, this is actually a great opportunity to nab the house of your dreams at a price tag that’s within your means. Here’s how to tactfully negotiate the price without ruining your chances of securing the property.
