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Should you switch to a fixed interest rate product?

With the official cash rate at an historical low and the possibility of more RBA rate cuts on the horizon, this is possibly the most frequently asked question of professional mortgage brokers today. Often the question is focused on the timing, with consumers asking if now is a good time to fix their interest rate, or if they should wait to see if interest rates fall even lower.

However, saving money on interest is not necessarily the most important thing to consider if you’re thinking about making the switch to a fixed rate loan. In this article, we talk about the pros and cons of fixed interest rate loans and the real reasons you should consider using one.

What is a fixed rate home loan?

A fixed rate home loan allows you to lock in an interest rate for a fixed term, which means your loan repayments stay the same during the fixed term even if variable interest rates should rise. It allows you to plan exactly how much your repayments will be for the life of the term, making budgeting easier and this is the major benefit of a fixed rate home loan.

Usually you can choose to fix the interest rate on your home loan for a term between 1 to 5 years. After the fixed period ends, the loan usually reverts automatically to the standard variable rate unless you refinance your loan to another product or negotiate another fixed term.

Is switching to a fixed rate product a good interest saving strategy?

For some people, the motivation for switching to a fixed interest rate product is primarily to save money in the event of an interest rate rise. These home owners are looking for ways to save money on interest any way they can over the life of their loan. Their strategy is to go with a variable rate product for now so they can pay the lowest interest possible in the short-term, then switch to a fixed interest rate product to keep their interest rate low when interest rates look as though they are going to rise.

Basically, they are interested in locking their interest at the lowest rate possible when it is most prudent to do so. That’s why we are always being asked if ‘now’ is a good time to fix.

The problem with this interest savings strategy is that no one can accurately predict interest rate movements. That makes it very difficult to know when it might be advantageous to switch, or even if switching will have the desired effect of saving on interest. How do we know when we will save more by using a variable rate product and when we will save more by switching to a fixed interest rate product?

There is really no way to tell. In order to save money on interest by switching to a fixed rate product, variable interest rates would need to rise well above the interest rate you are paying on your fixed rate loan (and fixed rate loans usually carry a higher interest rate than variable rate loans). You also need to consider that if interest rates should fall during the fixed interest term of your loan, you will be missing out on any interest savings you would have received if you had a variable rate loan.

Consider your financial circumstances before making the switch

The decision to switch to a fixed interest rate loan should be influenced by other factors besides the possibility of any substantial saving on interest. The point of a fixed interest rate loan is to help you budget your household expenses more effectively, particularly for the first few years you own a property when your finances may be tight and budgeting may be difficult. As an added bonus, you are temporarily protected from interest rate rises. If interest rates do increase during the fixed interest term of your loan, you will have until the end of the fixed interest term to plan how you will manage to cover the increased payments on your loan when the fixed term ends.

Switching to a fixed interest rate loan may not be a good idea if you need flexibility. If you are planning to sell your home in the near future, increase your loan or redraw from it, make extra repayments or refinance to access equity, staying with a variable rate home loan could actually save you money. Fixed rate home loans usually have sizeable penalties if you need to make changes or pay off the loan during the fixed term of the loan, which could cost you many thousands of dollars.

The split option is designed to help you hedge your bets

Many lenders offer a home loan product that gives you the capacity to split your loan between both the variable and fixed interest rate options. This could give you the advantage of partial protection in the event of interest rate rises, but could also offer you facilities like an offset account which could be very beneficial if you are a good saver, plus the ability to make extra repayments and redraw them if you need to.

It is important to remember that with a split loan, you are still locked into the product for the length of the fixed rate term. If you needed to sell your home or repay the fixed portion of the loan early for any reason, you would still be required to pay a stiff penalty.

To find out if switching to a fixed interest rate loan is the right move for you, it is a good idea to talk to a professional mortgage broker about your personal financial situation and goals. We’re here to help you understand which products are right for your needs and help you to choose an option that saves you the most amount of money possible. Call us today.

september
Spring is here and it’s also the start of the busiest time of year for our property markets! Auction activity is already heating up in our largest capital cities – are you ready for the rush?

At its September meeting last week, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) decided to keep the official cash rate on hold at 1.50 per cent. The decision came as no surprise to analysts as the RBA cut the cash rate by 25 basis points just last month, bringing it to all-time lows.

Positive economic growth figures for the June quarter of 3% combined with improved jobs and salary growth data, indicate the RBA’s easing measures are starting to have the desired effect. Whilst the RBA would prefer the Australian dollar to be weaker against other global currencies in order to stimulate growth in our export markets, the US Federal Reserve is tipped to be considering an interest rate rise at their September 20 meeting this month. This could potentially create a downward trend in our dollar, eliminating the need for further rate cuts from the RBA this year.

Following last month’s RBA rate cut, lenders have been reducing interest rates on a wide variety of owner occupier home loan and property investment loan products. However, some have only passed on part of the rate cut, which prompts us to motivate you to check your interest rate with us to see if you still have the most competitive loan product for your needs!

Activity in our largest property markets is already picking up after the Winter slowdown. Victoria held 826 auctions during the week ending September 4 and achieved a clearance rate of 79%. NSW also had a big week with 715 auctions and an 84% clearance rate. Other markets were slower to respond to the arrival of Spring, with QLD holding 135 auctions with a clearance rate of 58%, SA 73 auctions with a clearance rate of 81%, and ACT had 76 auctions with a clearance rate of 78%.

The Perth and WA property market has been quite weak for some time and the trend is expected to continue during 2016. For the first week of Spring only 26 auctions were held and they only achieved a clearance rate of 17%. NT and Tasmania have also been slow to get started, with NT holding just 6 auctions with a clearance rate of 40% and Tasmania holding 7 auctions which achieved no sale.

Home value movements were very conservative this month, with Sydney achieving an increase of 1.44%, Melbourne 1.49%, Brisbane/Gold Coast 0.47%, and Perth 0.20%. Larger gains were seen in Darwin at 4.07% and Canberra 2.77%. Adelaide saw a slight decline in home values of 0.96% and Hobart’s home values fell by 0.88%.

Many of you in the market to purchase a property this Spring have already talked to us about arranging pre-approval on your home loans. If you haven’t called us yet, pick up the phone and get onto it so you don’t risk missing out on the home of your dreams during the Spring rush! Rates are great following last month’s RBA cut so it’s also a good time to discuss your refinancing plans, fix your interest rate or get a home loan health check on your existing loan. Give us a call today!

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Saving up the cash for a deposit on a second property can be just as difficult as saving for your first home. So how do property investors manage to get their hands on enough money to build a decent portfolio?

The answer is equity. It’s a hidden source of wealth that grows inside your property purchases over time. Equity is one of the biggest financial benefits of home ownership, a benefit that could allow you to turn your first home into a money tree that helps you finance property investment activities and build wealth for your future.

What is equity exactly?
Your equity is the difference between what your home is worth and what you owe on it. For example, if your property is worth $500,000 and you owe $400,000 then your equity is $100,000.
In order to calculate your equity position properly, you will need to establish the current market value of your home. You can do an estimate yourself by comparing your home to the price of similar homes that have sold in the surrounding area recently. If you would like a more accurate assessment of your home equity, you will need to obtain the services of a professional valuation expert.

How do you access your equity?
Once the equity in your home has increased, it may be possible to access it. Accessing your equity requires making an arrangement with a lender. There are several different ways you can go about accessing your equity. The options that are available to you will depend on your personal financial circumstances and goals, so you should talk with a professional mortgage broker about which method is right for you.

The two most popular options to access equity are to refinance your existing mortgage to extract a lump sum, or to establish a line of credit against the equity in your home. However, it should be noted that a lender will seldom allow you to borrow against all of the equity in your home, particularly if you still have a mortgage. They usually prefer to keep back at least 20% of the equity in your first home as security.

How can you grow your equity faster?
A popular strategy to grow equity quickly is to add value to your property. This can be achieved by renovating or expanding your home. You can often create quite large equity gains with a relatively small capital outlay and the equity increase occurs as soon as you have completed the project. Improving your property also tends to help it to continue to go up in value more readily over time – out dated properties, particularly run down properties, tend to experience less value growth because prospective buyers view them as fix-me-uppers and only want to pay a bargain price.

If your property is on a large block of land, you may even like to consider subdivision as a means of accessing the equity in your home. The subdivided block will acquire a value of its own, which you can borrow against to build. Or you can simply sell the block and access the funds.

What is the equity investment strategy?
When investing in property, time is your friend. Over time, the equity grows in your first property, which you can then use as a deposit to purchase a second property. This will mean that you now have two properties growing in value over time, which has the effect of growing your total equity position twice as fast. After a little more time passes, you can access more equity from the first two properties to invest in a third property, and so on.

Whilst you continue paying the mortgage on your first property yourself, your tenants pay the mortgages on your second property and any further properties you may purchase after that. Both the tenant’s financial contributions and home value growth in the marketplace continue to increase your total equity position. The more properties you own, the more quickly your total equity grows.

Are there any risks?
There are always risks associated with any kind of investment strategy. The danger is that you will borrow too much money and when interest rates go up, your tenant’s rental contributions will not cover your mortgage repayments and you may not be able to cover the difference from your own pocket. If a decline in property prices was to occur at the same time as an interest rate rise, you may find yourself in the position of having to sell off your properties at a considerable loss.

The way to mitigate these risks is to invest conservatively and always get the advice of a professional mortgage broker to help you determine how much you should borrow. They will help you take into consideration what could happen in the worst case scenario and help to make sure you don’t get caught out.

For more information about using the equity in your home to invest, please call us today. We’ll be happy to help you formulate an appropriate strategy that’s right for your personal financial situation and goals and help you to get started by helping you access your equity and by getting you pre-approval on an investment loan.

secret weapon
Investing in property is a big decision that can keep even the most seasoned property investor awake at night. How do you know if you’ve got your investment strategy right? How can you make sure you’re choosing the right property? Where can you find the time to do the necessary research? What is the right price to pay?

A good buyer’s agent is the property investor’s secret weapon. They provide professional guidance on every aspect of your property investment journey, with the objective of saving you time, money and many sleepless nights. A buyer’s agent can help you take a more professional, balanced approach to your property investment activities, removing the emotional aspects of the process and saving you from the natural human tendency to make unwise, impulsive decisions under pressure.

What does a buyer’s agent do?
Buyer’s agents specialise in representing a buyer’s interests during a property purchase. Whilst they are most commonly used by property investors, buyer’s agents are also frequently used by families searching for exactly the right home, and people moving interstate or overseas, making the process much easier by doing all the leg-work and narrowing down the options.

Buyer’s agents usually offer differing levels of service, depending on your requirements. The full service covers every aspect of the property investment journey including:

  • Formulating an investment strategy that maximises your funds
  • Searching for suitable properties to fit your buying strategy
  • Researching every aspect of a property to ensure profitability
  • Arranging inspections with vendors and real estate agents
  • Negotiating a price and terms of sale
  • Bidding at auctions on your behalf
  • Co-ordinating your professional team – solicitors, mortgage brokers etc.
  • Ongoing service to help you establish a complete portfolio.

Getting the property research and selection process right is arguably the most important part of your property investment journey. It certainly takes the most amount of time and getting the right information requires a certain amount of know-how too. A professional buyer’s agent knows which questions to ask and where to look for the answers. They can often access information from developers, councils and other relevant bodies that is not readily available to the ordinary consumer.

However, you don’t necessarily need to engage the full services of a buyer’s agent. You can also engage a buyer’s agent just to do research for you, to negotiate a price for you, or to bid for you at an auction if you would rather not do it yourself. This can be a good idea if you are nervous, inexperienced, you can’t attend the auction yourself, or you feel you may get carried away by the auction process and pay too much.

How much does a buyer’s agent cost?
There are many buyer’s agents and the cost will vary according to the agent you choose, your location and your requirements. Qualified, professional buyer’s agents generally charge between 1.5  – 3% + GST of the purchase price of the property for their full services, however this can often be negotiated in favour of a flat fee and savings may be obtained if you are planning on purchasing multiple properties.

When providing a research service only, a negotiating service only, or a bidding service only, your buyer’s agent will usually charge a fee for their time. Again this will vary according to the agent, the location and your requirements. You can generally expect these services to cost around $1,000 + GST depending on how much of their time you require.

If you are purchasing a property for investment purposes, the cost of a buyer’s agent is generally tax deductible as are most of the professional services you will require as part of the process.

How do you find a good buyer’s agent?
A good way to locate a great buyer’s agent is by word of mouth – there’s nothing like a recommendation from a friend, colleague or trusted business advisor (like your mortgage broker) to make you feel confident about someone’s credentials. However, you can also find some reputable buyer’s agents through the Real Estate Buyers Agents Association of Australia (REBAA) website.

Sometimes, outsourcing is the sensible option
Engaging a buyer’s agent can save you hours of time and loads of stress. If you’re new to property investment, then a buyer’s agent can also be invaluable in helping you to avoid costly mistakes. When you do find a property you want to buy, all the hard work in locating it can easily be lost in the final hurdle – the purchasing process. Having an expert on your side to negotiate the price you need, or to bid for you at the auction, can reduce the risks and make all the difference. Using a buyer’s agent is one case where outsourcing can take a lot of the frustration out of the process!

For more information, or to get your property investment finance in place, give us a call. We’ll be happy to help.

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Did you know that termites damage more than 180,000 homes and buildings around Australia every year?

That the high prevalence of rats and mice in Australian homes is a major factor in the distribution of food poisoning organisms like salmonella? Clearly, if you’re thinking about buying a property, the value of an independent building and pest inspection report can’t be understated!

Reduce your financial risks.

Buying a property can be a very emotional decision and it’s easy to forget about looking for defects when you finally find a property you love. But the reality is that all property buyers should obtain an independent building and pest inspection report in order to remain sensible and objective about the property they’re purchasing and reduce the risk of incurring expensive repair bills down the track.

A building and pest inspection report will provide you with a professional’s evaluation of the condition of the property you are purchasing. They will provide you with a visual review of all elements of the property including structural inspections of the exterior roof, interior roof spaces and eaves, foundations, subfloor, wiring, interior plumbing, sheds and pergolas, fireplaces, electrical and air conditioning systems. Your report can also cover things like windows, doors, flooring, ceilings and other temporary fittings and so on. If you have any particular concerns about a property you are looking to buy, you can mention them to your inspector and they will take special care to put your concerns to rest.

There are three good financial reasons why you should get a building and pest inspection report:

  1. To check for structural and pest issues, so you are able to budget for rectifying them.
  2. To use the information to negotiate a lower price, or for repairs to be completed before you purchase the property.
  3. To find out if the problems are so severe that they may adversely affect the property’s future resale value, or be so expensive to repair that you may be put off purchasing the property entirely.

Ideally, a building inspection should be performed before you sign a Contract of Sale, or prior to auction if that is going to be the method of sale. When you’re not buying at auction, it is standard practice to insert a clause into the Contract of Sale stating that the purchase is subject to building and pest inspection reports.

Even new build homes can have problems.

Whilst it’s true that structural defects, termite damage and pest infestations tend to be more common in older homes, unfortunately even new-build properties can come with issues. If the property is new, paying for a fully comprehensive building inspection report is still a good idea because it will ensure that the building has been finished correctly according to the building plans and help you identify any problems the builder has overlooked or any issues that may not be covered under the building warranty.

When it comes to pest problems, these tend to be endemic to areas and their prevalence will have as much to do with where the property is located, as the property’s age. In many areas, homes under construction are extremely vulnerable to termite attack and other pest issues such as rats and mice.

A few hundred dollars could save you thousands.

Depending on the location and size of your home, a building and pest inspection report can cost anywhere from $300 for your average suburban home to $600 or more for larger properties or ones located in a rural location. However taking the precaution of getting a building and pest inspection report before you buy could save you a great deal of money and hassle.

When a professional building and pest inspector comes across a problem that may be significant, they will recommend you seek further advice from an appropriate professional before proceeding with the purchase. Depending on the nature of the defect and the extent of the damage, you can get quotes to make repairs or simply walk away from the deal if it is too hard.

For more information about locating a reputable company or qualified building industry professional to perform your building and pest inspections, please give us a call. We maintain relationships with many professional companies relating to the purchase of your home, so please don’t hesitate to get in touch for a referral if you require any assistance.


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