r/CanIGetALoan

How long does your loan approval process take? Can I do it all online with you?

I’m getting close to having enough saved for the deposit, but I’m not sure whether to apply straight away or keep saving for a little longer. I’d rather have some money left over instead of putting every last dollar into the purchase, but I also don’t want to delay things unnecessarily. Would be good to hear how others handled that stage.

My partner and I are sitting on about a 12% deposit for a home in Melbourne's outer suburbs. We could technically wait another 18 months to hit the full 20% and avoid Lenders Mortgage Insurance, but property prices seem to be creeping up faster than we can save. Is it smarter to just bite the bullet, pay the LMI, and get into the market now, or will we regret throwing that extra cash away?

I'm so focused on getting the deposit together that I'm probably not thinking enough about what happens immediately after settlement. For first-home buyers, how much did you keep in savings after paying the deposit and other purchase costs? Did you deliberately keep an emergency fund untouched?