Mortgage Managers Chat: Recent Episodes
Stuart Wills
I am a New Zealand mortgage adviser that has a passion for sharing information so people can make better financial decisions.We know that money makes a difference, so let's make sure that Kiwis can do better with their finances and can create a better life for themselves and their families.
As kids we loved to jump through hoops, but as new buyers it’s not much fun at all.
New lending rules have created more hoops to jump through, cut off credit to borrowers who would have qualified only months ago, and generally shrunk the size of loans being approved. The key driving force that is making it harder especially for new buyers are the changes to the Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act (CCCFA) that came into force on 1st December 2021.
As mortgage advisers we discuss what we can do to help new buyers jump through the hoops, and help you understand what has changed in the CCCFA, and why is it making it harder for new buyers to get a home loan?
It’s been a long time since we’ve had to be concerns about inflation, but now we are and for home owners or potential first home buyers the other concern is the increasing interest rates.
Here I share some thoughts to give you a better understanding of the current situation, some ideas of things that you may be able to do to help offset the impact and a view on what may be ahead.
It’s not always easy to buy your first home but it’s not much fun renting either, especially if you believe that you will remain renting forever.
After being a mortgage adviser for over 20-years I know that it’s not always easy to buy a home, but sometimes you need to look outside of the ordinary bank mortgages.
We know that rents for new tenancies nationwide rose by 5.8 per cent in the year to December, according to Stats NZ’s latest rental price index and when you add that to the inflation increases of 5.9 per cent then tenants are going to need a serious increase in their incomes or are going to have to make some lifestyle changes.
Buying a home may be more expensive than renting now, but have you thought about the long term?
In this recording we discuss how to stop renting and instead buy your first home.
There has been a lot of media coverage recently on how the banks are now looking at spending and bank statements in more detail when assessing people for a mortgage approval.
The banks now review your bank statements line by line and this determines your spending (living costs) for a mortgage approval. They are looking in detail at things like spending on food, vehicle expenses including fuel, alcohol, school costs,
One of the problems with this approach is the banks often make assumptions without asking you for an explanation, and often the lender will make the wrong assumptions; hence they can decline a mortgage application based on having the wrong data.
We chat about this here, and how to give yourself the best chance of getting a mortgage approval.