Terry is right… it CAN get even worse… the Australian Broker magazine had an article on the front page to the effect that NAB has called in 3 loans – despite the loans not being in default! The NAB also refused to provide any reason to the borrowers.
Another issue to watch out for, is while ALL lenders will take into account the Margin Loan as a liability, quite a few will not accept the income you derive through dividends etc!
I have a large share portfolio that is heavily but positively geared. A while back I had quite a battle to get a lender to accept a reliable dividend income stream as income!
Question your accountant thoroughly. As others have pointed out, it should make better sense to pay principal off your home, rather than a tax-deductible investment.
And if your accountant can’t provide you with sound reasons for his recommendation, sack him!
I’ve heard an abundance of total crap come from accountants, as told to me by various clients. I’m sure there are great accountants out there, but there are plenty of lousy bean-counters as well!
Both Pre-Approvals and Conditional Approvals have their place as the process amy disclose issues/problems.
But never ever sign a contract without Full Approval! Very dangerous!
Re the 2 properties, if not already too late, and assuming serviceability, vals etc are OK, then 2 loans (same lender) will work – each loan is shipped off to different MI. Solves the exposure issue.
If your broker knows you’re already committed and isn’t moving heaven and earth to find you a solution fast – change broker immediately!
Otherwise you’re going to lose a deposit – and possibly even damages if the vendor got nasty.
RE agents CAN be a useful source of info so that you can estimate the valuation of your property – don’t ask them for just an appraisal on your property, but ask for details of recent comparable sales.
After all their “assessments” this is what drives a valuer most anyway.
When I’m about to get my property revalued to increase my loan facility, I get details of recent sales, add a photo, and have them ready for the Valuer. I do OK this way!
As a broker, I’ve had to take issue with valuers a couple of times… did the same exercise, and was successful at getting the original valuation increased.
First – don’t even think about it! It’s illegal and will catch up with you somehow, sometime.
Second – there are plenty of 100% loans out there – and now one lender doesn’t require any genuine savings at all ( for costs etc). First Home buyers can get a legit loan with extremely little up front.
Just a quick tip for everyone apart from montrose (he might take exception to us “trolls” [}] ) … check the actual locality, not just the postcode!
ING took an application for a locality which shared Taree’s postcode only to drop it at the last moment when they discovered belatedly that the locality wasn’t on their list!
Fixed rates fluctuate as the future interest rate predictions by their analysts change.
It’s hard to “beat the banks” here.
Some years ago, I benefited for a while during a prolonged downward trend by taking 12 month fixed rates, which were less than the variable at the time. I rolled these twice, so got 3 years of below variable.
Normally though, it’s pretty hard to win this game, and no, I’m not fixing any of my current loans.
Don’t know that this will be of any help, but you can borrow up to $500k or 65% loan ratio (whichever is lower) WITHOUT disclosing your income or assets & liabilities. Interest rate is very competitive at 6.85% currently.
These could be called an “asset lend”, and with the rise in property prices (and therefore someone’s equity) these loans are going like hot cakes.
In a very general sense, rural provides a better rental income, but lower capital returns, than city properties.
Overall, city performs best over time.
As to the “no probs” agent, it should be easy enough to research what’s for rent and for how much. Then monitor it for a while, to see if they are really being let at those rentals.
As far as I know, 99/1 isn’t an issue with the ATO so long as profits are divided appropriately.
However, be aware that some Lenders will shy away from this. Not all, but definitely some! I recently helped 2 brothers get finance. Only one was on title, and they needed both incomes to refinance to get some equity out for investment.
We had to quietly suss out a couple of lenders before the twins settled on their eventual approach.
As a discharged bankrupt, you could borrow up to 85%.
Leigh gave very sound advice – it is critical that you start regular saving. Cut your spending, move if you have to, to cheaper shared accomodation, get rid of the car and use public transport – whatever it takes!
And keep out of debt!
If you can prove to yourself that you have the discipline to save money, then you should be able to get a loan.
Mel mentioned the case of his uncle of his uncle – give some hard thought to buying at the very bottom of the chain, such as a $100k unit.
Although you may have to pay higher interest rates to begin with, it will help heaps towards re-establishing your credit. 5 years might seem like an eternity now, but in 5 years you’ll look back and think “Thank God I got going, and bit the bullet”.
Whilst I too wish you good luck, it takes determination and plain hard sweat to get past adversity, and prosper. And that’s up to you.
Generally speaking, you’re better off looking at arranging mortgages BEFORE you launch into self-employment.
That said though, a number of lenders now cater much better for the self-employed. Feel free to contact me off-forum if you’d like to explore your options.
But I’d seriously caution you AGAINST buying such a small unit – when it’s time to sell, you’ll realise the next buyer will also have headaches finding finance!
I knocked back offering to help with financing on a Sydney redevelopment (still selling) coz I didn’t want clients coming back to bite me!
Many loan products allow a switch to fixed rate, so you can certainly start on variable and switch later.
That said, even professional investors can get caught out using fixed rates. “When [rates are] at the bottom…”, ah, if only we had a crystal ball!
There are other disadvantages to fixed rates… after all you’ve promised to pay xyz to a lender for a set time – what happens if your plans change, for example, you’d like to sell? Gotcha!
Personally, I don’t favour fixing rates for more than 6-12 months, but others may disagree.