What do you want from a finance blog?
We’re guessing that you want good information about all things finance related.
That’s what we have been told, and therefore we do our best to provide updates on a wide range of topics. We help a lot of first home buyers and have New Zealand’s most popular Facebook Group dedicated to them. We also deal a lot with new build finance and non-bank finance as well as the major banks.
We also like to add some stories too as these often help explain how our mortgage advisers can help.
KiwiBuild Arrives In Hobsonville Point
We now have some KiwiBuild homes available in Hobsonville Point. While Hobsonville Point was the birthplace of the affordable home concept with AXIS Homes, this week we have seen the first of the KiwiBuild homes be…
The Three Biggest Challenges For First Home Buyers
The media are saying that the cooling property market is making it easier for first home buyers but it is still not easy. There are some major hurdles and as mortgage brokers we wanted to look…
Don’t Wait Until Your Fixed Term Ends – Review Your Home Loan Now
Yes, you can and should review your home loan now. What do we mean… don’t wait until your fixed term ends. Most people will have their home loan fixed and will wait for the fixed term…
Banks Perform Badly For Giving Financial Advice
It’s not often that New Zealand banks get independently rated for customer satisfaction. Recently there has been a lot of publicity about the conduct and culture with the banks so it was good to see the…
We Arrange Sensible Debt Consolidation Loans
Today we felt compelled to post about sensible debt consolidation loans. Why? Because today we were putting together a debt consolidation loan application and saw one of the highest interest rate charges that we have seen…
Paying Westpac Break Fees To Get Lower Home Loan Rates
Today we were contacted by Chris who has a Westpac mortgage with a loan balance of $979,815 The interest rate they were paying today was 4.80% and it is fixed until 24/10/2019 (6-months remaining) but Chris wanted…
Think Carefully Before Fixing Your Mortgage
Home loan interest rates in New Zealand are at historically low levels and these rates and fixing your mortgage seems like an attractive option. But a huge number of Kiwis are looking at fixing their loans…
Sometimes We All Might Need Advice – Do You?
Kiwi’s typically have a “can do” attitude and tend to think they do not need advice so don’t ask for help. Interestingly most people will ask for advise at times, or give advice and not even…
Good News For First Home Buyers As Economy Stalls
Today the Reserve Bank announced no change to the official cash rate (OCR) leaving it on hold at 1.75% but the comments and then reaction was more telling… Has The NZ Economy Stalled? Since the last…
Mortgage Brokers Need To Be Thinking Outside Of The Box
Mortgage brokers will often get approached by people that struggle with banks and so they need to be thinking outside of the box. If a mortgage broker thought like a banker and only provided the options…
Five Ways To Pay Your Mortgage Off Faster
So you want to pay your mortgage off faster – don’t we all… For most Kiwis the mortgage will be the largest financial commitment that they will ever have. Unfortunately most people do not make much…
Banks Are Not The Same | Mortgage Brokers Offer Choice
In New Zealand we have a limited amount of banks and when you see them advertising they all look quite similar. They all say they will provide home loans with similar deposits and similar interest rates….
Local Mortgage Brokers Work Around The World
It seems obvious that if you want to speak to a banker you would go to your local branch, or if you want to speak to a mortgage broker then you would look for a local…
Mortgage Brokers Keep Banks Honest & Competitive
Some people will always get their mortgage broker to negotiate rates and refix their loans while others will deal directly with the bank. In many cases the banks want people to deal direct and actively promote…
Interesting Free New Zealand Mortgage Blogs
You can Google almost any topic these days and get a variety of websites and blogs that contain information; however if you are looking for New Zealand mortgage blogs then we can list a few that…
Why You Cannot Always Rely On Pre-Approvals From Banks
It is common for people to phone their banks to check what they can borrow (to get pre-approvals) and while this may seem like the right thing to do this can also result in problems for…
Why You Should Consider TSB Bank For Low Deposit Lending
For anyone either buying an existing property or building a new home with less than 20% deposit then deciding on which will be the best bank is not always an easy task. In most cases people…
It’s A Good Time To Review Your Mortgage – Your Westpac Mortgage
The New Year is always a good time to review things and implement those New Year resolutions, the ones like reviewing your mortgage and finances. With banks like Westpac offering a limited time special 1-year rate…
The Housing Market – They Say Its A Buyers Market
As we draw closer to the end of 2018 we look at the housing market and how it has performed during the year, but more importantly how it might perform over the year ahead. Supply Issues…
What The Changes To The LVR Restictions Mean
The Reserve Bank released the latest six monthly Financial Stability Report (FSR) in the last week of November and it included some positive changes to the LVR rules for both first home buyers and for property investors….