RT,Reading your response, one could be forgiven for inferring that you are predicting that interest rates will rise…?HP

Here's a nice forecast of where the banks are expecting rates to go. Enjoy!St. George – "We expect further rate cuts and look for the official cash rate to be at least as low as 2.50% by the end of this year." ANZ – "The RBA has undertaken aggressive rate cuts in recent months as part of the global response to the financial crisis and ensuing…[Read more]

With some banks you might find that they have an "open policy" with their mortgage insurer, meaning they have something akin to a "discretionary sign off" ie they they sign the deal off in house, rather than sending it to their mortgage insurer.If that's the case, it's business as usual and there won't be any postcode…[Read more]

EV,You're almost there. Instead of putting it into the redraw (ie the loan), you should be putting it into the offset, which I believe is called the mortgage interest saver account. It's when you redraw the cash from the loan where you may have potential issues, as you want to preserve tax deductibility, particularly as under the wealth package…[Read more]

I don't believe so if it's a spouse. Check with a lawyer but I do think that the 50% share can be done through "love and affection"

Rumour has it though that RBA are gonna cut rates again in March… don't base your decisions on what I hear on the rumour mill though!

Bottom line that I think Joyce wants the answer to – you WILL be able to refinance through St George for the 1.5% discount!!!

The original answer still remains that both names still need to be on the loan…All Title owner must be attached to any Mortgage on that property in some way, so whilst one person can technically be on the loan, the other will still need to be a guarantor. So Mrs can be the borrower & Mr be the Guarantor. This is to avoid one party taking out a…[Read more]

If you needed to have an operation done, would you go and see a doctor who rebated 50% of his fees? Now if you wouldn't do that for a doctor, why would you do it for your mortgage?A 50% rebate would be something like $500, however we have seen clients AFTER they have been to outfits like these with a pre-approval in hand, and we were able to…[Read more]

Joyce,Now that I have a clearer understanding of your situation, if you are able to demonstrate that you can service the loan all on your own, and you husband is without tax returns, all you would need would be a letter from his accountant saying he does not have any further business debts etc. It's really a question of understanding the lender's…[Read more]

Joyce,Now that I have a clearer understanding of your situation, if you are able to demonstrate that you can service the loan all on your own, and you husband is without tax returns, all you would need would be a letter from his accountant saying he does not have any further business debts etc. It's really a question of understanding the lender's…[Read more]

Hi Joyce,I am pretty sure your lender will have an issue with it – if your name is on the title it must be on the loan. However, you can be on the loan without being on the title, just not the other way around.The only other way would be for your husband to "gift" his share of the property to you, eliminating the need to pay any stamp duty. Then…[Read more]

Hey clones,For clarity:Deal 1 – one of the more memorable ones: the auction was at the real estate agent's office 3 days before the actual auction and the agent had a "written bid" of $330,000. This was on a Wednesday at 5pm; god knows why the agent held the auction at that time. There were 2 bidders and the agent sat us both in different rooms…[Read more]

Braybrook/Maidstone has been given a fairly bad rep for crime etc in recent times, but I would suggest it would depend on whether you are north or south of Ballarat Rd Of the two I would prefer Maidstone (north of Ballarat Rd) given the closer proximity to Highpoint and Maribyrnong.There is a lot of new development going on in the area, for…[Read more]

Hey Clareow,You will be up for some pretty hefty mortgage insurance (upwards of $10k) on that size of the loan. But there's no reason why you can't get the best of both worlds – it seems what you need is a lender who will provide you with cheaper mortgage insurance, an offset account and will still offer you a low interest rate.Alternatively, some…[Read more]

Hi Hari,I am a huge fan of Footscray/West Footscray having purchased 7 properties in the area.Current median sales price in the area is $477,500.In 2007 prices grew by 22.6% and in 2008 prices appreciated 10% so there has been a lot of growth recently.Also, 50% of all households in Footscray are renters so it's pretty good for investors.I know a…[Read more]

Up until about a year ago there was a lot of private financing and even solicitor funding available. Banks may only lend to about 70% LVR and even then if you are developing, some banks will not release funds until the subdivision is through. Furthermore, development financing is driven largely by pre-sales, which might not always be possible. A d…[Read more]

The premises should normally be restored to the condition that they were in when the lease was originally entered into, with the exception of fair wear and tear.If it costs them more to remove it than the stuff is worth, it sounds like they just want to get something (anything!) for it, but they agreed to the make good clause when they signed the…[Read more]

Purchasing for growth will be the key. That being said, if you are smart enough and have a keen enough eye, you will buy something cheap, make some improvements to increase cashflow and experience growth at the same time.Despite the fact that cashflow will allow you to borrow more, the majority of my clients find that their borrowing power is…[Read more]

Apologies for the repetition. I will remember in future to only press post comment once.