The Mortgage Man - A podcast for everyone with or wanting a mortgage

By Aaron Cattell (The Mortgage Man)Education How To

The Mortgage Man - A podcast for everyone with or wanting a mortgage episodes

November 04, 2022 #53 Are The High Interest Rates Cancelling Out Any House Price Drops?
We always hear "I'm going to wait until house prices drop before I buy"

The problem is, that for house prices to drop, the cost of money has to go up. The cost of money, also known as interest rates are the highest we've seen since 2008.

Does this higher interest rate cancel out any house price drops?

We've done the maths and although it does in some cases, it's pretty clear that there is not one size fits all and there are some very clear takeaways in this current market situation.

Have a listen and if you need an explanation or a mortgage email us at [email protected]
15 min
October 30, 2022 #52 - A Deep Dive Into KiwiSaver With A Specialist Adviser
This week's episode talks about the very first step of the mortgage process. KiwiSaver...

Getting this right or wrong can be the deciding factor of "when" you buy your first home.

Are you making the correct contributions?

Are you in the correct fund?

Are you with the right provider?

All of these questions have specific answers for your own situation. It is certainly not "one size fits all" when it comes to KiwiSaver.

We deep dive into all of this and the reasons why your KiwiSaver balance might have dropped a bit recently with none other than Luke Stockman, our KiwiSaver specialist.

If you are thinking about buying a house, then you need to start here.
21 min
October 20, 2022 #51 - Should You Listen To Your Parents Advice?
Should You Listen To Your Parents Advice?

The rebellious teenager inside you screams no...

But you are no longer a teenager and some of the advice parents give their children is pretty helpful...after all they have been around a-lot longer.

But financial advice is different.

Some peoples parents don't even own property- so should they be giving you advice on whether you should buy a home and when? Probably not.

Even if your parents have multiple properties, their advice might be outdated and not relevant to your situation.

Unless they are actually buying and selling in this market regularly or work in this industry then you parents advice should always be taken with a grain of salt (that goes for everyone's advice really).

One thing parents are great for is to be a sounding board, and to offer an alternative point of view to yours.

But like you realised when you were 12 or 13; your parents don't know everything and financial and mortgage advice should be left to the professionals.

In this podcast we expand on that premise and discuss when its a great time to listen to your elders and some real life examples of when it's not.

Book a free 10 min call with one of those professionals now (your parents can join too)
10 min
October 13, 2022 #50 - The 50th Episode! Are Our Most Popular Episodes Still Relevant?
We made it to 50 podcast episodes!

Free mortgage approvals for everyone!!

This episode I have both Chris and Ant joining me to go over our most popular episodes and if the information them is still relevant.

Spoiler: some of it's not so its super important to get this update in your ears.

Here are our most popular topics that we discuss..

- First Home Buyer Grants
- Home Buying Requirements
- How To Make Your Bank Statements Look Pretty
- Is Now The Best Time To Buy?

This podcast is super interesting as we have three slightly different views on the above - so if you want the most updated and current information from people that do this EVERYDAY then it's important that you listen to it to help your first home buyer journey.

Apply for a mortgage here
19 min
October 07, 2022 #49; What Happens If You Can't Pay Your Mortgage?
With the cost of living and inflation at all-time highs, it's a real possibility that you might miss a mortgage payment- especially if you have over-leveraged yourself with other debts or decided to have a child (down to one income).

If you already have a mortgage and your interest rate is going from 2.5% up to 5.35% then your monthly repayments could be going up by around $800. That's on a mortgage size of only $500,000. Up by around $1600 per month on a $1,000,000 mortgage.

If you don't have a mortgage yet and are looking to buy then you might be worried that interest rates are still going to go up and paying a mortgage will become impossible; resulting in you just waiting and waiting and waiting to buy. The good thing here is that banks test your mortgage at an 8% interest rate now, so if they approve you and your financial situation doesn't change then you should be ok.

So what actually happens if you can't actually afford your mortgage?

Fear not- Chris and I go into the many options that you have well before the dreaded mortgagee sale. In fact, a mortgagee sale is the absolute last thing the bank wants to do.

Before that, there are interest-only periods, mortgage holidays, and other ways to make things manageable. Your quality of life might take a hit but that's ok - you probably spend too much on stupid stuff anyway ;)

Have a listen to this week's podcast to give you some peace of mind and then book a free strategy call with one of us HERE to talk about how we can help or start the process of getting you pre-approval for your first home.
20 min
September 28, 2022 #48 - Understanding WHY You Want To Buy Your First Home Will Help You Get In To Your Forever Home Faster
Most people just want a home as a roof over their heads - but then what? It's very likely that your first home isn't going to be your dream home, so how can you use the first home you purchase as a way to also springboard you closer to that next home, or another home?

The people we speak to don't usually think about that next purchase after their first home and how the first home they buy can speed up or slow down the likelihood of buying their forever home.

Yes, house prices usually go up - but if all of the houses go up in value have you actually made any money if you have to buy and sell in the same market?

How can you increase the value of your first home regardless of what the market is doing?

Is buying a new build going to help or hurt your long-term goals?

Do you even care?

In this podcast we go deep on the reasons why people buy and the two main types of first home buyers we see; with the best advice for each type..

Are you a fast mover that is an impulse buy that will take action but maybe without considering all options?

Or are you an over-thinker that has so many questions, over-analyses the process, and is too scared to actually buy?

Maybe you are a bit of both?

What's the best way forward?

The answer is the same for both.

Talk to someone that knows the property, knows the bank's rules and you are comfortable telling them your long-term goals and why you want them.

How can you do that?

Book a strategy call with us and we can help understand where you are at, where you want to go and how to get there with the knowledge you need to know.
Do that here (this is a free service)

21 min
September 16, 2022 #47 How To Get A Bigger Loan Amount To Buy A Better 1st Home
Last week we spoke about how to figure out how much money you could get from the bank in 3 different ways.

But what if you were expecting more? Or that number is way less than you know you could actually afford?

Is there a way to magically increase the loan amount?

Well no,

But also yes..

Let me explain.

If you’ve just gone into the bank and told them your usual details the person you speak to is going to read that form you filled in and give you a number you can borrow.

They aren’t going to workshop it with you to see if there are anything little things you can do to help increase the loan amount.

Things like…

- Can you pay off your student loan with some of your deposit so your income is higher?

- Can you lower your KiwiSaver contribution so that you get more useable income?

- Instead of getting paid a massive bonus for your work (which is scaled down in the bank's calculations) can you ask for an increase in your salary and less bonus?

- Can you buy a new build or increase your deposit to 20% to “unlock” different policy criteria at the bank?

- Are you thinking about having a flatmate?

…the average bank broker won’t ask these questions. And they certainly won’t be able to look at any other banks' rules that might actually suit you better.

A mortgage broker will. Especially the creative ones like you’ll find at Tanta.

So here is what you got to do..

1. Listen to the podcast so you get an understanding of what we are talking about

2. Apply for a call with one of us to plan how we can get the max borrowing. Do that here

That’s it.
20 min
September 08, 2022 #46 - How To Figure Out Your Max Loan Amount (without using a broker)
As soon as people decide that they want to buy a house, the next question is how much can they borrow.

Sound familiar? So then you go onto your favorite bank's website to use one of their basic calculators to get a ballpark figure.

However, they are just that. Very simple.

In fact we have tried them all and there was a difference of $210,000 between the highest and lowest loan amounts based on the same data between the 5 big banks in NZ.

That's not very helpful when you are trying to narrow down your search criteria.

So is there a better way?

100%

It just depends on how far down the rabbit hole you want to go.

But ultimately remember this;

The bank decides how much you can borrow and the bank is going to do the most thorough search of your expenses, debts, and credit history.

Have a listen to this insightful podcast on how to refine your max borrowing amount and make sure you listen to the next episode where we go over ways to increase your borrowing amount so you can get more money (if you want more money that is)

[email protected] if you need help or have any questions.
18 min
September 01, 2022 #45 The Fastest Ways To Pay Off Your Mortgage
To this point, most of our content has been about how to get a mortgage or buy a house. But what happens once you have actually got a mortgage?

Are you stuck with it for 30 years?

Or are there some ways to pay it down faster?

Yes, there are 3 main ways.

Depending on how actively or passively you want to manage your mortgage will depend on which one might be best for you. Or a combination of the three.

These are

1. Making more than the minimum repayments
2. Making lump sum repayments
3. Utilising a revolving credit account correctly.

Have a listen to see which is best for you and then chat with us to confirm and see if we can offer you any other guidance.

[email protected]

Or if you don't have a mortgage yet, but want one.. then email us too!
13 min
August 26, 2022 #44 - High Inflation; What's The Best Mortgage Structure?
Lots of different opinions on what fixed rates are doing, and what you should do with either a new mortgage or a part of your mortgage that you need to refix; these options are more important during times of high inflation.

The current rate for 1 year fixed is 4.95% and the floating rate is around 6.75%

The main thing when deciding what to do with your rates is your personal situation, how you get paid, and what your plans are for the property.

Having a mortgage broker who understands your situation is super helpful with this.

So would being able to tell the future, but that is not possible, we can only recommend the best way to reduce the risk going forward by setting up your mortgage structure in a certain way.

This podcast covers what we think you should do during this economic time and covers a bit of background as to why the interest rates are at today's levels.

16 min