Are you a homeowner looking to move to a new home for your growing family? Perhaps you have earned it and want to reward yourself. Or are you at a life stage when you are ready to upsize your home to entertain? This guide will help you determine the budget for your new home, decide whether you should keep or sell your current home, and secure the loan approval for the new purchase.
In this guide:
- How to set a budget for the next home
- Getting your finance approved by the bank
- Home loans for different types of employment
- The formula for success in achieving your home ownership goal
The formula for success in achieving your home ownership goal
Ready to launch your next home goal?
Book an assessment with a finance broker today!
Frequently Asked Questions
Why use SF Capital?
SF Capital is an award winning Mortgage Broking firm that provides a full suite of residential and commercial lending services. While many mortgage brokers may claim this, our key points of difference are:
- We can handle large and complex transactions where other brokers would be too lazy, unwilling or unable to find a solution
- We single-mindedly focus on approving your loan in one go and giving you the best service experience possible. SF stands for “Service First”
- We team extremely well with your other advisers – accountants, solicitors, financial planners, real estate agents – to give them a great experience as well
- We focus on providing education and advice that adds value to your requirements, rather than being a transactional salesperson looking to ‘close the deal’
See About us to read more about our points of difference.
What does a mortgage broker do?
A mortgage broker is a professional adviser that finds you the best loan for your financing needs. ‘Best’ is often more than just price, but can mean loan amount, loan features, loan structure, and most importantly, the ability of the lender to accept your unique scenario.
An exceptional mortgage broker should be focused on delivering three main things.
- Understanding your requirements and solving your scenario
- Opening up the market for you and giving you choice
- Managing the process for you so you can focus on the most important decisions, not the distractions
Why should I use a mortgage broker rather than go directly to a bank?
Using a Mortgage Broker has many distinct advantages to going directly to the bank. These advantages include:
- Extensive product and lender choice. In turn, this gives you access to better rates, unique products, and more flexible policies.
- Top brokers are problem solvers and know the policies of many banks, not just one. This means you will find a home for your scenario where your bank might get stuck.
- Brokers offer more personalised service and are available when the bank is shut. You can pick your broker, but often you can’t pick your banker!
- For complex loans and commercial loans, especially property development, banks also prefer to work with brokers because they know how to structure and package a deal where a client would have no time or get stuck
- Often your branch based banker will change jobs, switch banks or get promoted, meaning you will be referred to a new banker who has to relearn your scenario each time. A mortgage broker usually stays with you for as long as they remain in the profession, and this is especially true where they are the principal of the business or accredited with a specific firm.
How does a mortgage broker get paid for their services?
A Mortgage Broker is paid a fee from the bank for successfully settling your loan; this fee is usually a percentage of the loan size.
The service provided by the SF Capital Mortgage Broker is a professional service to ensure you achieve certainty of financing, on the most competitive terms possible and in a timely manner.
There is no charge for an initial assessment of your scenario. However, to be able to deliver our level of service and expertise, we charge an application fee if you instruct us to prepare and submit your application.
Additional fees may apply for construction loans, small loan sizes, expat loans, bridging loans, family guarantees, SMSF loans, purchasing in a company or trust, very complex structures or business lending.
Who is responsible for my loan application?
You will have an accredited broker responsible for your loan at all times. While the processing and preparation of your application may be done by support staff (who also play a very vital and important role!), accountability for your file will be held with a broker at all times.
What legal structure should I purchase my property in?
There are many different legal structures which you may purchase your property in. This may include purchasing in Joint Tenants vs Tenants in Common, as described above, as well as considering different entity types such as a:
- Trust, including Discretionary Trust, Unit Trust, Hybrid Trust or Fixed Trust
- Company
- Partnership
We strongly recommend seeking legal advice for the most appropriate structure to discuss your requirements, and understand the costs and benefits, and advantages and disadvantages for each structure.
Can you help me borrow in a company or trust?
Yes, we are very experienced in understanding the income from companies and trusts as well as assisting clients to purchase in these structures.
Can you recommend a lawyer or conveyancer?
Yes, we have a very high caliber panel of solicitors and conveyancers who can help you with your property purchase. We strongly recommend having your solicitor in place prior to bidding or negotiating on property so that they may inspect your contract before you sign and exchange.
Can you work closely with my advisers such as my accountant, solicitor or financial planner
Yes, we work with any advisers that are needed to smoothly get your loan approved. Our goal is to give them an amazing service experience as well so that they are encouraged to help us approve your loan. We make the process as simply as possible by helping draft important letters, collecting quality information up front, and setting out the numbers and facts to assist with their decision making when advising you.
Download the Ultimate Guide to Buying Your Next Home
