Like any big decision, it pays to sit down and make a plan before you buy another property. Whether you're looking to upgrade because you’ve built up equity in your home, you’re relocating for work or your family is expanding and you want to be in the right school zone for your kids, take the time to ask yourself lots of questions.
Don’t forget, we have Mobile Mortgage Managers who can come to you and talk through your finances and options, so give them a call.
Getting your plans sorted is always a great first step, so when you’re gearing up to buy your next home think about the process of selling your current one too. Or, whether it might be worth keeping as a rental property. Here are three strategies to consider.
Selling before you buy means you can avoid having to cover two mortgages at once.
If your current home loan is with us, you have the option of portability. This means you may be able to ‘take the loan with you’ when you move, saving you the cost and inconvenience of establishing a new loan, and you’ll retain the existing account number.
Have a talk with us to find out what will suit your home loan best, if you’re thinking of selling your home before buying again.
If there’s likely to be a gap between buying your new home and getting the money from the sale of your current home, we may be able to increase your Choices home loan for a short time, or help with bridging finance. Bridging finance is an interest-only loan for a short term to help ‘bridge’ the gap when you have mortgages over two homes.
Paying mortgages for two homes at the same time may not be easy. So if you’re thinking of buying a second home before selling your curent home, please talk to us well in advance (before you sign anything) to see how we can help.
If you do the maths you might be surprised to find that keeping your current home as an investment property can be within your reach, and you could potentially use the equity in your home as the deposit for the home loan for your new one.
Hop over to the ‘Options besides selling’ tab on this page, or get more detailed information about equity and owning a rental property in the Invest in Property section.
Before you list your home for sale, talk to one of our Mobile Mortgage Managers or pop into branch to get a full health check of your home loan as it stands. They may also be able to give you a conditionally approved limit for buying your next home, and talk through all your options including bridging finance if you need to buy a new home before your current one has sold.
Before you decide to sell, here are a couple of things to think about first: could you get the home you want by renovating instead? Or would keeping your current home as a rental be a good investment? Moving home does cost money, so have a think about all your options first.
Learn more about building and renovating
The value of your property is likely to increase if your section can be subdivided, as another home could be built on the land and sold. Subdividing is likely to attract consent fees, so check it out with your local authority first.
Have you thought about keeping your current home as an investment property? It might be more affordable than you think. You’ll want to start by working out how much you could get in rent for your home – the Department of Building & Housing is a great resource for this – and whether that rent would cover your costs, as well as things like how much equity you currently have in your home.
Check out the Investing in property section, or get one of our Investment Property Lending Specialists to come to you to work out where you stand.
Read about investing in property
A good place to start is by asking yourself some key questions:
If you’ve answered mainly ‘yes’, the chances are your home has reasonable rental potential. Research is key, and you can learn more in our Invest in Property section.