I have my mortgage broker on speed dial, It’s a constant back and forth about my salary, expenses and life changes to keep them updated on my finances and future predictions for achieving financial freedom.
A mortgage broker is your best friend when it comes to finance and allowing you to gain the best borrowing power available for your circumstances (income, expenses and debt). They should interact with you constantly before any purchase and during the settlement phase of buying a house.
A good broker will be able to help you change your current circumstances and advise you how to get the best borrowing criteria. This could involve reducing current debt, stopping the use of Buy now, pay later providers and any unwanted subscriptions (Netflix) or credit cards that aren’t being used.
The best broker and my current one doesn’t just try navigate a painfully complex world of finance; however, we chat for hours on possible scenarios and lending structures to help achieve the various property goals. The broker should be asking you questions of what’s next after this property? Taking a holistic view on your goals and housing needs. Some things to consider when buying and getting finance include will this be the forever home? Investment? Will you need to upgrade with a family later? Where will you be in 10 years? All these questions should be answered as future lending will be compromised if you over leverage too early on your first property or it doesn’t produce an enough income.
I generally plan for two property purchases after my current finance outlook which would allow me to buy 3 including the current financing.
The broker should sit down and give you different borrowing scenarios to include different property pricing, changes in salary, family planning, income streams and predictions on investment properties or business income.
For example, if you believe you will purchase a 1 million dollar property and would like to upgrade later you may not be able to if you are over leveraged or income does not improve after the purchase. However, you may be able to by two 500K properties producing higher rents and allowing you to borrow to buy your 3rd or family home. A good mortgage broker and hopefully yours should be going through all this planning with you.
I would stay away from big brokerage firms and try use someone that has some skin and pain in the game. The best broker will be someone with experience in the brokerage industry and who invests in property themselves. They can understand the difficulties and investment strategies that you may be using to achieve goals.
I’ve used big brokerage firms before and they are always going to get a lot of business as they can afford to pay, I have also had multiple big brokers let me down in times when you need a solid foundation and team to help you make the decisions when it comes to property investing. The big brokerage firms tend to chew through people very quickly as many people enter them as a job and then realise the work that is needed to convert clients. A self-run mortgage broker will typically put much more effort into keeping you as a client and hoping to secure you as a life time client.
When making the big decision to purchase a property it pays huge dividends to select a mortgage broker that is there to help you through the whole process from securing finance, setting goals for you and planning the future lending landscape as it is constantly changing with government, economy and your lifestyle to.
Looking for a mortgage broker? look at the selection of high quality brokers we believe offer great service and advice.
Need some info on Mortgage and finance for buying a house? head to the podcast section and listen to some great podcasts on loan structure, finance and investing.