What term should I have on my mortgage? What term should I have on my home loan is the burning question for everyone starting out with a mortgage. But also relevant to those buying a rental, increasing lending or even refinancing.  At the moment, the maximum term you...

What are these cheap Bank Green Loans? In recent times some major Banks have been offering cheaper loans (mortgage top ups) for environmental, eco-friendly, energy efficient and sustainable projects and purposes. It can include things like electric cars, double...

What is a Reverse Mortgage? A Reverse Mortgage is just like a normal mortgage but doesn’t require payments as interest is added to the loan monthly based on the balance. The loan usually gets repaid fully when you come to sell your house.  It’s important to know that...

9 Financial Tips to Help You Get Ahead Fair to say financially it’s a bit of a financial grind out there at the moment for a lot of people.  Good thing is these situations don’t last forever, but they are a good time to take stock of your financial situation.  Here...

Have I got Equity to Buy a Rental Property?   Buying a rental property is often a Kiwi dream to build equity for retirement. In some instances, it can provide a passive income IF rental income exceeds all outgoings. Normally, depending on Reserve Bank...

Is your revolving credit working for you?   Most people will have heard of a Revolving Credit or Flexi Mortgage as some banks call it. It’s basically like a big overdraft with a set limit, at floating mortgage rates. Though some banks do have a reducing limit...

Is interest only a good option for my mortgage?   During the life of having a mortgage, just paying interest can be a viable option to keep payments low for a while. There are also advantages for property investors to use interest only in their mortgage set up....

Is it worth changing my mortgage to another bank? This has been a common question over the last few months with generous major bank ‘cashbacks’ on offer and interest rates dropping, but now on the way back up! As mortgage advisers we need to look at things...

Making an offer when you are a low deposit first home buyer   More and more people are buying their first home based on recent data. While this is awesome, it has flow on effect to the process of getting a mortgage approval. Due to the Reserve Bank restrictions,...

Trading up / Trading Down / Bridging Finance – Where do I start?   One of the more difficult things in life financially is trading up your owner-occupied house. Most people have no idea where to start. The first thing to work out is how much you want to spend on...