Borrowing money should be easy right? You have a good paying job, your debts are under control, you rarely use your credit card(s), and you have clean credit history. But you’ve just been knocked back to borrow money? ‘How can that be? The current lending environment is challenging, across the board. You may recall a number of…
Articles by Mario Borg
Mario is professionally qualified as an MBA, a qualified Accountant, and a Finance Strategist with over 30 years experience in financial services. Mario has personally built a multi-million dollar property portfolio and is an active and passionate property investor and developer. Mario has been acknowledged by the mortgage industry with multiple awards. Visit http://www.marioborg.com.au/
As the saying goes, if you’re standing still, you’re going backwards. Up until 6 months ago, deciding on P&I or IO repayments was easy, as the interest rate was the same for either, and the repayment type didn’t impact your borrowing capacity. Today, it’s a very different story. Let me explain. A couple of months back I…
Monopoly has been a classic board game for over a century. It’s a real estate trading game played for fun… and for a chance to be a real estate tycoon. The game rules are interesting as there are some valuable lessons all investors can learn to win at the game of property investing. I’ve played Monopoly at least a couple of hundred times, since I was a…
No doubt you’re familiar with the TV reality show The Block, hosted by Channel 9 (in Victoria). The reality show finished its 13th series at a site in Elsternwick, Victoria. The show has attracted a very large following (audience) over the years, making it a very profitable venture for the Channel 9 network. Ask yourself, has the success of the show derailed you as a property investor and…
Knowing your financial priorities is now even more important when it comes to borrowing money, in fact it will be your secret weapon. Borrowing money is necessary (for most people) when buying a home or an investment property. The debt you take on, and the order which you do it in, will impact how much you can borrow and when….
Higher interest rates… Higher property prices… What’s next? The truth is, does it really matter? All these things are out of your control. BUT what you can control is your mind, and that is the only thing that will make ALL the difference between your financial position today to your financial position 10 years from now….
A major conversation topic for home loan borrowers right now is… Principal & Interest (P&I) or Interest Only (IO)..? As boring as the topic may sound, it’s very important to address it given that ~75% of the Australian population has a home loan or an investment loan. Over the next few years there will be thousands of home loan customers…
Australia’s banking watchdog APRA is worried about the housing market overheating and exploding. To counteract this perceived risk, APRA has changed the rules of play which Authorised Deposit-Taking Institutions (ADIs) must adhere to when assessing loan applications. In summary, APRA expects ADIs to adhere to the following: Limit the flow of new interest-only (IO) lending to 30% of…
Interest rates are a hot topic right now. Up until recent times, home loan rates were identical to investment loan rates. Over the last few months, banks have been slowly increasing interest rates to the point where Interest Only (IO) loans are 1% higher than Principal & Interest (P&I) loans. With a 100 basis points’ price difference, one must consider whether it still makes financial sense…
Spring is often referred to as the selling season when it comes to property. Traditionally the warmer weather brings out more buyers and sellers to market, making it an ideal time to buy and/or sell your property. For some people buying a property is like a maze. After all buying a property is likely to be the…
