What is a mortgage offset account and how can it benefit property investors? With all the different mortgage options available and the mortgage offset account often touted as a major feature of the loan, it pays to know how to use it to save money and get ahead on your mortgage repayments. Mortgage offset…
As the nation settles into its post-pandemic reality, a host of challenges have arisen – and one of the big ones has been trying to house our population. A look across metrics described the way rental and homeownership stress have become entrenched. Renters are in dire need of places to stay at reasonable price levels,…
There is nothing quite as exciting as buying your first home. Homeownership has become a rite of passage in Australia – a marker that you are successfully moving into a new phase of life. But part of the reason it’s so satisfying is that there are challenges to be overcome as a first homebuyer –…
Settlement Day is the most exciting day in your property purchasing journey. For less experienced property buyers, the day the vendor hands over the keys to your new house can be a nerve-wracking, stressful, or sometimes very emotional journey. In this article, we talk about what happens on Settlement Day so that you’re prepared for…
An increase in the official cash rate by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has caused concern across Australia’s lending and property landscapes. The ratcheting up of the rate has resulted in headlines proclaiming that blown-out loan servicing costs and reduced borrowing limits spell Armageddon for property prices. While I recognise the need to attract…
We’ve been living in tumultuous financial times. The RBA’s previous suggestion that interest rates would hold at their low settings until 2024 went out the window in May this year. Spiking inflation saw the Reserve raise the cash rate by 0.5% in May this year. Monthly increases continued, and the cash rate has now gone from a…
A property transaction is like a big machine, with many moving parts that do different things but should each spin in harmony to get the job done. There’s the real estate agent, responsible for handling the sale of the property. Sometimes there’s a buyer’s agent, who represents the person buying the property. There are lawyers…
It’s an unfortunate fact of life that many people are terrible with money. Sometimes it’s not really our “fault” because we’ve just learned bad money lessons from our parents, which we’ve unhelpfully carried through into adulthood. Other times, it’s because we simply spend more than we earn and have never been within 100 metres of…
Buying your very first home can be both an exciting and daunting process. Navigating the maze of finance, home loans, and the property market can be challenging for even seasoned investors. So how are the newcomers meant to get their foot into the property market? The good news is there are lots of options and…
With the Reserve Bank of Australia lifting interest rates for the third month in a row, the conditions are changing for Australians who are looking to take out a home loan or are currently paying one-off. What are the interest rate increases? This July, the RBA lifted the cash rate by 50 basis points, doubling…