Understandably, it can seem like a chicken and egg scenario: you can’t buy a house without a home loan, but you can’t get a mortgage until you’re ready to buy a house. A lot of homebuyers end up losing their dream home because they left sorting out the home loan a tad too late. Arranging your mortgage as early as possible can put you in a stronger position with sellers –and reduce the amount of stress.
When should I start arranging a mortgage?
You should start the process of applying for a Pre-approval with Suresh@ DBIJ Finance on 1800 MY DBIJ (693245) before you even start seriously looking for somewhere to buy to get insights and tips. If you are looking at properties to buy before starting to arrange your mortgage, you have left it too late. There are three reasons for this:
- To find out for sure how much you can afford. This is particularly important if you are in a more complex financial position, such as being self–employed, or having just started up a company. Many homebuyers end up losing a property because they couldn’t borrow as much as they thought
- To ensure that the home buying process isn’t derailed by delays and problems with the home loan. Many buyers end up losing their chosen home because they hadn’t sorted out basic things with the mortgage earlier. The secret to smooth homebuying is to reduce the surprises as much as possible. To put you at an advantage compared to rival buyers who do not have a home loan in principle. Most sellers will prefer a potential buyer who is further down the road in the mortgage process
- If you are thinking about buying jointly with anyone (e.g. a partner or parent), then this will affect the sort of mortgage you can get, and how much you can borrow – so you should sort this out before you start looking by contacting Suresh @ DBIJ Finance for a Pre-approval at no cost and at your convenience
Where should I start?
- Do your research. If you are new to mortgages.
- If you are a first-time buyer, you will want to ensure your credit rating is as good as it can be to make a successful home loan application
- Depending on your circumstances, you may qualify for government schemes and grants – ask your mortgage broker about these.
Once you understand the basics:
- Decide how much you can afford to borrow
- Decide what sort of home loan you want to get that will help you get out of the rental market and own your own property and pay your own mortgage not someone else’s mortgage.
- Think about using a fee-free mortgage broker to search the whole of market and get you a good deal by calling 1800 MY DBIJ
- Discuss mortgage comparison tables with your Suresh your mortgage broker to get an idea of how much you can borrow with your deposit
- Ask Suresh about not just one bank or building society what they would offer, with a choice to pick the bank that you want to go with and who offers you the best deal – without the added pressure of not knowing who is the best and why?
- Ensure you compare like for like. Think about term lengths; how much will your monthly repayments be? How much can you afford etc. etc.?