Which Mortgage

Refinancing is dominating investor lending activity as borrowers unlock equity, prepare for further price falls, and look beyond traditional lenders for their next move.

On Which Mortgage, Alex Whitlock speaks with Finni Mortgages brokers Eva Loisance and Costa Arvanitopoulos about the refinancing rush, as investors unlock equity and secure pre-approvals ahead of their next property purchase.

The brokers discuss where investors are still buying, from Melbourne and Geelong to Ballarat, and the growing use of alternative lending options.

They also name three lenders attracting attention, including one offering SMSF refinancing at a lower rate and another assessing self-employed borrowers using recent business activity statements instead of tax returns.

The trio also examine a construction business owner's case, where a $2.6 million property valuation helped unlock an extra $500,000 for renovations through a low-doc loan, despite the borrower having no recent tax returns.

A 58-year-old investor with a $1.8 million home and five investment properties wanted lower repayments and as much cash as possible to invest again. His broker says the answer is doing it in three steps and looking at the whole portfolio rather than one loan at a time.

On this episode of Which Mortgage, Finni brokers Eva Loisance and Costa Arvanitopoulos are joined by Phil Tarrant, standing in as co-host, to unpack a real client scenario. "Bob" wanted lower repayments, more cash to invest and a debt-recycled home loan. Arvanitopoulos explains the three-step restructure that made it work, and why looking at the whole portfolio, not one loan at a time, was the key.

The trio dig into debt recycling: how paying off a home loan and borrowing against it for investing turns non-deductible debt into deductible debt, and why using offset cash to buy an investment property is a common mistake. Bob ended up with around $1.2 million ready to deploy.

They also unpack why many banks push cross-collateralisation, and how uncrossing properties can open up more options.

Then it's lenders of the week, including a sharp SMSF refinance rate and a bridging policy with no interest payments during the bridging period. Plus, what banks don't want you to know about lower servicing buffers.

Brokers know things banks would rather keep quiet. In the debut episode of Which Mortgage, the Finni team starts with one of them: how a 25-year-old on a $100,000 income can buy an investment property without saving a deposit.

This isn't another investment property podcast. In the very first episode of Which Mortgage, host Alex Whitlock is joined by Eva Loisance and Costa Arvanitopoulos from Finni to pull back the curtain on the finance tactics brokers know and lenders would rather keep quiet.

The trio dive into a real client scenario: a 25-year-old on a $100,000 income with just $20,000 saved, priced out of the market and looking at a Melbourne investment unit. The solution was a family pledge, using her parents' property as security, which can cover up to 105 per cent of the purchase price, costs included, without the parents handing over a cent in cash.

But there was a twist: a desktop valuation on the parents' home came back about a million dollars short of a full valuation. Loisance explains why accepting a bank's first number can be a costly mistake.

They also unpack how the buffer rates of the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) affect borrowing power and share their lenders of the week, including a non-bank offering 40-year loan terms, a newcomer with no lenders mortgage insurance (LMI) up to 85 per cent, and a major bank that gets sharper on pricing at $2 million. Plus, each week, the question every borrower should ask: What don't lenders want you to know?