Are you still planning to buy your dream home?

There is a real concentration on saving a deposit to enable that dream home purchase: Continual discussions of affordability emphasise that, and for many it is the primary stumbling block.

However, there is more required to enable a successful loan application than that. Some do not realise how many hurdles, large and small, there are to overcome.

Today we concentrate on living expenses, how important that is in determining how much you can borrow – and if you really can afford that dream home!

Looking for ways to pay off your mortgage in record time?

Whether you’re a seasoned investor or buying your first home, an offset loan can help you reduce interest payments, save on tax, and pay your mortgage off years ahead of schedule.

What is an offset loan?

With an offset loan the borrower takes out a home loan and opens a linked savings or transaction account. The balance in the savings account is then ‘offset’ daily against the home loan.

Wondering why your finance broker is contacting you after you’ve settled on your property? The simple answer is that a finance broker is with you for life.

You’ve scored the home of your dreams with the help of your finance broker, and you’ve just popped the bubbly to celebrate. Congratulations!

"To live with honour, steadfast and true, a vision that embraces all we do, Integrity’s compass guides our way. Changing lives, every day.“

nterest rate increases have most likely peaked, drawing property purchasers back to the market. But many are left asking: “How can we possibly afford to get into this market?”

This is particularly the case with singles. Home loan prices are continually bid up by couples with 2 incomes. The tax benefit alone of a dual income family makes an enormous difference to the disposable income available to pay to a mortgage.

Being a de facto or same sex couple is no hindrance at all – but being single is tough!

Buying a home is a massive challenge. First Home Buyer (FHB) government schemes can help, but they are not available to everyone. A regular question we get asked is what can Mum & Dad do to help?

Our market moves through stages of who is buying. Currently, it is great to see relative strength in the first-home buyer segment.

This is driven in part by the government incentives, but also by support from Baby Boomer parents. Classified as born between 1946 and 1966 this generation have seen the massive wealth creation benefit of home ownership. They are now active in encouraging young family members to buy their homes too, and where able to, providing support via ‘bank of mum and dad’.

Part of keeping balance in life is remembering to 1) plan ahead, 2) live in the moment, and 3) reflect on what has been. Do you recognise the importance of all three?

Central to what we do at Integrity Finance is the whole plan ahead metric with clients. You do not buy a home, or pay off a mortgage, or build that property portfolio, without lots of planning ahead. So most of my time is spent thinking about the future.

Congratulations go to all brokers and staff at Integrity Finance Australia following recognition of being awarded a Top 100 business for 2023.

It was interesting to see the 2023 home value changes, with the national Home Value Index up 8.1%. This was an improvement on the 4.9% drop in 2022, but well below the 24.5% national surge in 2021.

Read about this and more in our February Money Matters newsletter here

The cost-of-living crisis is real, household budgets are under review. Refinancing the home loan can help, but many people think the purpose of refinancing is just to chase a lower interest rate. Not so! Do any of these seven reasons to refinance apply to you?

Our society needs more long-term rental properties available for tenants. Are you able to assist?

For those who ‘believe in property’ (probably every reader I think!), the journey is firstly to buy the residential home, secondly to buy the first investment property, and then (fill in your own space!)

2023 has been an eventful year in that journey. If we all lived life only by the news headline stories, then the stress and worry of 2023 would have us all in an early grave. We need to remember that when a glass is half empty, it is also half full. Perspective.

In this month’s newsletter, we talk about a way to give to a society that has given us so much.

We take time for a laugh, we share 8 steps to becoming debt-free and we look at a life well lived and one to emulate.

What a year for property headlines!

Rising rents are now the headline, replacing misguided predictions of a property price collapse. There is a property shortage, with not enough houses to accommodate everyone, and the problem is getting worse.

Dozens of applicants are often chasing one property, some offering higher rent or to pay three months’ rent in advance to get a home.