r/AskABrokerAus

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UPDATE: we have put in a best and final offer of $570,000. Fingers crossed 🤞

We put in an offer on a property that we knew would likely get rejected (560K). It was initially listed at $625K, reduced to $600K and now the agent is saying they will accept $580K. Our broker has told us we will likely get approval for up to 580K but we will be living on bread crumbs (roughly 50% of our income would go to mortgage and house bills). A bit more info is that we are on combined incomes of $120K before tax, we have 43K in the bank (15K of which our family has generously gifted towards the house). First home buyers so no stamp duty, no kids, we do have HECS but aren’t paying it yet. We also would be commuting quite a way in the first year or so until we are in the position to change jobs and work closer. The reason we are keen on this place is we believe it’s quite a good buy for where and what it is, it only requires cosmetic updates which we believe would add a decent amount of value (but who knows in this market) and the reason we are looking away from where we live is all we can afford here is flood zone or a unit. Do we bite the bullet and live on struggle street or do we keep saving and wait until one of us has get a pay rise, it’s just so hard because we don’t want to regret putting ourselves in a position of risking severe financial stress but we also don’t want to look back a year from now and think we should’ve bought when we could (if house prices have gone up). Would love others opinions on this.

Most people know that buying with less than a 20% deposit usually means paying lenders mortgage insurance.

What a lot of buyers don’t realise is that LMI does not protect them. It protects the bank.

If you borrow $1m with a 10% deposit, you could be looking at roughly $20k to $22k in LMI

Higher LVR loans are often priced worse, sometimes by 0.25% to 1.00%, so the cost is not just the insurance premium. It can be a higher repayment every month until your property value increases or the loan is paid down.

The First Home Guarantee has been one of the best known ways around this. Eligible first home buyers can buy with 5% deposit and no LMI, provided they meet the scheme rules and buy under the relevant price cap and access competitive rates.

But it is not the only pathway.

There are lenders offering no-LMI options for certain borrowers, including:

• 90% no LMI for some owner occupiers and investors (no occupation restrictions with Ubank)
• 90% no LMI for education, essential workers and frontline roles
• 95% no LMI for Medico
• 90% no LMI for accountants, lawyers and engineers
• 90% to 95% no LMI for some IT professionals
• 85% no LMI for some sportspeople, entertainers and coaches

The catch is that every lender has different rules.

Some have income caps, loan size caps, occupation requirements, association membership requirements or property restrictions.

I am looking to buy my first home later this year and want to use a broker to help navigate the different bank policies. One thing I cannot seem to find a straight answer on is whether I have to pay the broker a direct fee for their time and advice. Some people tell me the service is completely free because the banks pay them a commission upon settlement while others say certain brokers charge an upfront engagement fee on top of what they make from the lender. What is the standard practice in the Australian market and how do I know if a broker is going to hit me with hidden out of pocket costs?

Will now be a good time to buy established or build? Would it be riskier to build with construction/trades declining or buy establish and get out of rental trap asap, thoughts please. Located in west Melbourne.

Will now be a good time to buy established or build? Would it be riskier to build with construction/trades declining or buy establish and get out of rental trap asap, thoughts please. Located in west Melbourne.

I have been offered a great contract role that pays about 40 percent more than my current permanent full time job. The catch is it is a 12 month maximum term contract. We are looking to refinance our home loan in about six months to do some renovations. Will lenders knock me back because I am no longer permanent?

I contacted a broker at the beginning of the year as I wanted to purchase an investment property and was told that my borrowing capacity sat at around $1M with a 5.3-5.7% interest.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find a property that I liked at the time and fast forward to now, I wonder if my borrowing capacity has been impacted by the recent property reforms to NG.

Just wanted to get some general views before I recontacted a broker (I always feel bad for engaging one and not going through with anything, its like im wasting their time).

• Hoping to purchase in NSW
• Investment Property Loan
• No debts or HECS
• No dependents
• ~133K income pretax
• 60-75% LVR
• Ideally have an offset and redraw account
• Not sure what rental income was used but I have a hunch the avg rental yield for properties in Greater Syd was used.

Curious if my borrowing capacity is still sitting at around $1M before I re-engage a mortgage broker.

Thanks in advance!

Will it make any difference to the mortgage products you will be offered? (and therefore to your bottom line loan expense and terms)

The big ones are LMG, AFG, Finsure and Connective. Presumably all the market's most competitive loan products will be available via all of those major aggregators?

A bit of industry experience / insider knowledge would be helpful on this point. Thank you.

In a booming market, agents can set ambitious expectations because 30 people are attending the open home and six offers are already on the table.

This market is different. Agents are returning calls, following up buyers and having to work harder to justify the sellers expectations.

That gives buyers more room to do proper due diligence and form their own view of fair value.

A similar property selling for $1.5m a year ago does not mean the property you are looking at is worth $1.5m today. In a changing market, I would be paying far more attention to comparable sales from the past one or two months than an old result or the agent’s price guide.

If a property is listed for $1.6m to $1.8m, has been sitting on the market for 60 days and the strongest recent comparable sold for $1.5m, there is nothing wrong with starting lower and explaining why.

As the buyer, your job is to work out what the property is worth to you based on today’s market, not the price the agent is trying to create.

So I have a unit in Sydney as my ppor. It’s currently worth $800K

Loan is $606K @ 6.14%

Repayments are $3964/mth, but I’m consistently repaying $5065.

I’m also building my offset, which has a balance of around $50K, and growing around $15k a year. My plan is to build this, and my equity as the deposit on the next property.

I’m earning $148k a year.

I want to purchase an investment property (another unit), which has been selling for around $600k, With rental of $700/wk. I’m planning on shifting some of the $1000 extra I’m paying on the ppor repayments to top up any shortfall I may have from the 2nd property (my figures make it to be about $300/mth).

My question is when will I have the buying capacity to buy the 2nd property, and any gotchas I need to watch out for?

Let me know if I’ve missed any other important info.

Hi All. Just wondering if anyone had advice on securing finance for a large rural-residential property? There seem to be very few lenders willing to go over 1-200 acres without going commercial. I understand there are issues with resale/valuation risk. Have 310k income + extensive benefits, single no dependents with no debt/great credit etc but still not sure if this is possible for a non-income producing property. Any pointers/advice would be greatly appreciated.

I am living in a townhouse north of Brisbane worth ~$850k, with a $350k mortgage.

I’m done with suburban life and want to get a unit in an inner city suburb, which will be ~$850-950k.

I have called my bank to see what my options are to take some equity out of my house to by a new PPOR and refinance to an investment loan to rent out the townhouse for $600 per week.

They were slightly vague and said my purchase price would be ~$590k and I was under the impression that factored in the equity of my home.

With 80% of the equity as “usable”, I thought that allow me to tap into around $400k to use towards a new place and borrow the rest.

I’m single and earn $160k+, so I’m confused as to why my borrowing power would be so low for an additional property, particularly when the ‘gap’ between the equity of the existing home and a new place would only be an additional $500k.

Am I way out of touch, or could the bank have miscommunicated the amount vs purchase price I would be eligible to borrow?

Hello brokers!

2 situations/concerns:

1. Do lenders consider income from jobs we already resigned from? I have an income statement from Job B which I worked for 5-6mos until I resigned due to health issues. Is this counted towards my overall income for FY 2025-2026?

2. Last FY our combined income was 203k. This year its only around 179k due to taking maternity leave (getting paid parental leave instead). I have since gone back to fulltime work for Job A since Feb 2026. It would be 199k if they consider Job A’s income. Will this affect our borrowing capacity? Will lenders add income from Job B?

Add-ons: 2 dependents, hub and I work fulltime, personal loan, no other debts. Savings around 80k.

Cheers!

I have two mortgages, primary abode mortgage is 18years remaining $200k @ 8.3%, offset credit about $15k, property value $1mil.

Investment mortgage vacant property 18years remaining $60k @ 9% property value $600k.

Bank holds the title (as collateral) of a house I own outright, value $200k.

Self employed (was a minimal income about $25kpa) but have chosen not to work for the past year and don't want to return to work for about another year as I'm pursuing hobbies and property maintenance/improvements.

Infuriated because the average mortgage rate in Australia now is only about 6% so I'm paying about $300/month more than I should be. Feels like I can't refinance because I have no income. Is there anything I can do ?? Thank you..

I have 90000 saving and wife has 40000. We want to buy 650k house. I know we need to have an emergency fund. However, due to high saving every month that is not a big issue. Anyway what do you do if you were on my shoes? Do you start with 10 percent and aggressively reduce principal to reach 20 or go with higher percentage from start?

PAYG income + rental income. Currently on 6.04% OO P&I and 6.14% Rinv P&I.

I have 90000 saving and wife has 40000. We want to buy 650k house. I know we need to have an emergency fund. However, due to high saving every month that is not a big issue. Anyway what do you do if you were on my shoes? Do you start with 10 percent and aggressively reduce principal to reach 20 or go with higher percentage from start?