Rising Tide Blog

Get ready to pounce on property.

Posted by Matt Hale

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Be in a position to pounce when that perfect property shows up.

Buying Home

Buying property can be a nerve racking experience, especially if it is your first.  It is important to make sure you have your finances in order when you start negotiating or bidding at auction.

Obtaining pre-approval before purchasing is a must and this will have two main benefits;

·         There won’t be any surprises after signing a contract. The last thing you want to do is win a contract and then be told you are not in a position to have finance approved.

·         Cut down time and stress, when it counts. The approval process can be lengthy. Having a pre-approval means that most of the work is done before signing the contract. It can be a stressful period between buying a property and settlement and having a pre-approval will make the process a lot smoother and help you meet settlement dates.

If you are planning to buy your first property, here a few tips to make your financial position more attractive to the lenders;

Savings:

If you have less than a 20% deposit, generally the lenders want to see that you have 5% of the purchase price in “genuine savings”.  These are funds that you have saved consistently over time or have been sitting in your account for over three months. 

Two examples of people not meeting this policy;

1) You have saved 10% deposit and are ready to buy your first property. You have had your savings sitting in your parents account so you don’t spend it. This does not meet genuine savings policy as it is not in your own account.  Parents will have to transfer the funds over to you and they have to sit there for three months.

2) You have saved $300 per week into a savings account and the balance equals to 3% of the property purchase price. You then sell a car and your deposit grows to 6%.  You have not met “genuine savings” here either.  You will need to wait until the proceeds from selling the car have sat in your account for three months before they are considered.

Employment:

Lenders like to see a stable employment history. You will need to disclose your last two – three years of employment in your application.  However, just because you have recently moved employers in the past month doesn’t mean you can’t attain finance approval.  The lenders are more interested in your industry experience rather than how long you have been with your current employer.  For example, you have been a plumber for three years and you started with a new employer only two weeks ago but still in a full time plumbing role. Generally this would be acceptable, but if you went from being a plumber to a painter then you might find it tough to get approval.

Planning to buy your first property is crucial. The Lending Specialists at Rising Tide can help you get your ducks in a row for when that perfect one comes along, making you ready to pounce. Give us a call on 03 370 330 287 to arrange a time to see one of our team.

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