Can you get a mortgage if you are a contractor?
 

I just read in another post about an IT contractor commenting on how he wanted to go perm so that he could get a mortgage. Should I infer from this that it's not possible for IT contractors to get mortgages in Oz (perhaps because they are contracting)?

- CDM

Re: Can you get a mortgage if you are a contractor?
 

You can get a mortgage, however to be considered by some of the lenders you need to show 2 years of accounts.

Buzzy

Re: Can you get a mortgage if you are a contractor?
 

I would assume that it's 2 years of 'Australian' accounts specifically? I don't supposed taing over documentation of all my UK accounts is going to cut any ice with them?

- CDM

Re: Can you get a mortgage if you are a contractor?
 

AAAAAAAAAARGH!!

I will be a contractor too (not in IT)- will having a 3-year rolling contract confirmed by the company in Australia help? This never even occured to me before!

Re: Can you get a mortgage if you are a contractor?
 

We didn't try to get a mortgage, but we were refused a credit card and even credit just to buy a bed which we thought would help us build up a credit record, because we hadn't been here the magic 12 months, we were still in rented accommodation and we had said the scary words "self employed".

Slightly better once we had 12 months accounts, but also bear in mind that everyone's financial year ends at the end of June, and they are not too clever at recognising that you might have arrived mid-financial year !

There are such things as no-doc loans which is where you just make a declaration as to what you earn without having to prove it, but I think the rates may be higher on these types (not sure though).

Re: Can you get a mortgage if you are a contractor?
 

We struggled to find finance for our house build as we were both self employed. We ended up with a "Lo Doc's" loan. You basically sign away your home if you miss the repayments, exactly like you would on a normal loan. The interest rate is slightly higher as well. As soon as you have a couple of years accounted books you can swap to a different company offering a better rate.

Re: Can you get a mortgage if you are a contractor?
 

We were able to get a low docs mortgage and didn't get ripped off with the interest rate. I think this was because we had a substantial amount to put down on the property so was perhaps considered low risk. However we did borrow a considerable amount.

Used mortgage brokers :

Neville & Janette Hayes
Moreton Bay Property Financial Services
07 3207 8331

Have to say they were fab and we'd only been in Oz four months when we got our mortgage. Hubbie is a tradie and sub contractor.

Hope this helps
T

Re: Can you get a mortgage if you are a contractor?
 

Yes you can get a mortgage - it's not as easy as a permie but doable - if you have a large whack as a deposit that makes the process easier also.

Re: Can you get a mortgage if you are a contractor?
 

I'm a contractor (engineering) and got a mortgage within a few months of arriving. Absolutely no problems at all. I had a 6 month contract at the time.

Re: Can you get a mortgage if you are a contractor?
 

Hope this does not sound like a daft question but what is classed as a large down payment or percentage on a property for a subi to get a loan ?
I suppose it depends on the loan maybe.

Hi Tony.

Re: Can you get a mortgage if you are a contractor?
 

We bought a house within two months of getting here. No job or work history here, but we got a (low-doc) mortgage without any problem. We did have the proceeds of our house sale from the UK and did put down a fair wack as deposit. All I did was self certify my estimated earnings. They needed to see evidence of the proceeds of our house sale and the balance of our bank accounts (both here and the UK) and any debt we might have had. And that was that. To get the particular mortgage we got I needed to have an ABN.

Re: Can you get a mortgage if you are a contractor?
 

If you don't mind me asking, how much did you put down in terms of percentage of the mortgage?

Indeed I'm getting the impression that putting 'enough' money down is what's necessary to grease the skids. The golden question is, then, how much is required? 5%, 10%, 20%? Is there a magic threshold that you need to meet or exceed before mortgage lenders will foork out the cash?

- CDM

Re: Can you get a mortgage if you are a contractor?
 

From memory we put around 60% down as deposit, but it probably didn't need to be that much to get the mortgage we got. That figure just suited us.

Re: Can you get a mortgage if you are a contractor?
 

If your a contractor the best place to get a mortgage from is Macquarie Bank.

They just need to you sign a stat dec saying you can afford the repayments. Oh, and an inside tip – should you be late on your payments they don’t give you bad credit. Lol

Macquarie Bank are the best for Self Employed and Contractors.

Mikey

Re: Can you get a mortgage if you are a contractor?
 

Nice one Mikey, I'll have that company in mind. Have you been using them long and do you know of other friends or colleagues that have been using them without any problems, recommendations always good ?