Purchasing a new home will be one of the most important financial decisions you will make, as such it can be a stressful event. The best way to minimise the stress and maximise the chance of selecting the right new house is to take the time upfront and do your homework. By writing down a checklist of what the new house must or must not include you can ensure that emotions do not result in purchasing a property that is not right for your specific needs.

Some considerations when putting together this checklist may include:

• Preferred Suburbs
• Proximity to major roads and infrastructure (train stations etc)
• Within your maximum budget
• Minimum / maximum bedrooms & bathrooms
• Off street parking
• Maximum age of house
• Residential zoning
• Heritage overlays or future building restrictions
• School zoning

When considering your new house, remember to investigate how the new residential home loan will be financed. You may be able to bridge your existing loan, however beware that the new location is not blacklisted by the banks or if an apartment is not below a minimum size that will make obtaining bank financing difficult.

Contact the team at Brookline Group as early as possible to ensure the financing is in place and your lending capacity is known from the start of the process.

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A residential home loan and a financial loan obtained for the purpose of purchasing a residential home or block of land where the residential home will be built. This is opposed to a commercial property loan which would be used to purchase a building with a view to development or renting it out to achieve income.

There are a number of key differences with a residential home loan, most of which are favourable. Generally banks will lend you up to 80% of the properties value with no lenders mortgage insurance required. For a commercial or development loans your contribution must be higher than 80%.

As banks are conservative by nature, it is important to keep this in mind when considering what valuation they will put on your property. Banks will generally be on the conservative side of valuations and use a desktop valuation to support your loan (3rd party date - for example check out www.onthehouse.com.au for an example of the valuation they may have over your property).

Therefore when considering how to obtain a residential home loan consider:

1) What is a conservative valuation of your property 
2) Do you have a minimum of a 80% contribution to the price of this property
3) Do you want Fixed / Variable or a mixed rate over this loan
4) What will the period of the loan be 25 / 30 years
5) What income and assets do you have to support the amount to be loaned (Banks may lend up to 6 times your income as an approximate guide)
6) What other loan functionality do you require (Offset account, Redraw facility, Credit Cards etc)

Contact the team at Brookline Finance today for more information.

Purchasing your first home is often the most important financial decision you will make. While you are likely to sell your first home and purchase a second or third property over your life, the first property you purchase will often influence your purchasing capacity in the future.
 
Further your first home can be the most difficult to finance as you do not have security of a second property to assist with securing the financing you require.
 
Key Steps / Processes Involved:

1. Calculate your deposit
2. Calculate your maximum financing capacity
3. Find a loan that works with your specific requirements
4. Consider obtaining pre-approval for home loan
5. Find your first home (House, Townhouse or Apartment)
6. Review the section 32 (Legal review)
7. Purchase your first home (Private sale, auction or off the plan purchase)
8. Finalise your home loan and settle on the purchase of your first home

 
Some considerations:
 
What is the average length of a mortgage?
 
A standard home loan will be based on a 30 year period.
 
Should I fix the interest or go with variable interest rate?
 
The answer to this question depends on your specific requirements. However some considerations when deciding include:
 
Variable Rate:

• Can change at any-time and will affect your monthly repayments
• No one knows for sure which direction variable rates will be going in the medium to long term future
• You are able to pay a higher monthly repayment if you wish to repay the principal amount borrowed more quickly than required

 
Fixed Rate:

• The fixed period can vary between providers
• You may be able to fix a portion of your home loan
• One advantage is that you will have budget certainty of what your future repayments will be
• Fixed rate loans can sometimes attract penalties for early repayment (or refinancing)

 
What is redraw?
 
If your loan provider allows for redraw it effectively means that you are able to redraw on any repayments over and above the minimum repayments that were required.
 
What is an offset account?
 
An offset account is an account that is linked to your home loan. Any funds in your offset account effectively reduce the balance outstanding that is used when calculating the interest you owe the bank. For example:
 
Home Loan - $300,000
Offset Account - $50,000
Loan Balance - $250,000
 
How much deposit do I require?
 
As a guide banks prefer you to have a minimum of a 20% deposit. This also allows you to avoid any lenders mortgage insurance which is required for deposits of less than 20%
 
Brookline Group is a finance broker that can help you secure the financing you need for your first home. We offer all customers a no obligation initial consultation to explain how we can help you achieve your goal of purchasing your first property.

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As Benjamin Franklin famously wrote back in 1789 the only certainties in life are death and taxes. Understandably one of the greatest fears many have is the risk of a premature death, those with spouses and children will live with the fear that they will leave their family short on income and with too much debt to live a comfortable life.

The most effective way to mitigate this risk is to take out life insurance that is customised to your specific needs and situation. It is critical that with life insurance you talk with a qualified financial advisor who can correctly match the right life insurance policy to your specific requirements. For example your policy may need to replace your income in the unforeseen event of your death or be customised to meet any debt obligations outstanding.

The team at Brookline Group can walk you through the many considerations when taking out life insurance and be on call to adjust the policy as your situation changes (age, health, debt etc). Contact the Melbourne based Brookline Group Life Insurance experts today to book a free - no obligation initial appointment.

The value of using an experienced and qualified finance broker for your business, personal and home loan requirements is often underestimated. Mortgage brokers account for approximately half of all home loans written, this increasing trend demonstrates the important role played by finance brokers.

An individual or business can of course negotiate directly with a bank. However the key advantages of using a finance broker is that this is what they do on a daily basis, a typical broker will write millions of dollars of loans a month. So like anyone else who does something on a regular basis you become efficient and effective at what you do, so what does this mean for the borrower:

• Professionally prepared documentation that will meet banking requirements 
• Market leading rates
• Loan functionality and attributes that meet your specific needs
• Increased likelihood and speed of loan being accepted

The on-going advantage of having your loan with Brookline Group is that we are in constant communication with you and will regularly review the health of your loan to ensure you are always receiving the most competitive rates available.

Contact Brookline Group today to discuss how we can help with all your financing needs including:

• Residential Home Loans
• Business Loans
• Construction Loans 
• Investment Loans
• Asset Financing

We are located in Melbourne (Essendon) but provide finance loans nationally.