elasticated17

Hi All,

Just a little bit of advice needed and maybe hopefully someone who has been in our position.

We moved to NZ last year - my partner is Kiwi, we are married and have a 9 month old. Due to wanting to buy a house both of us are working and we have family assistance/daycare to help look after baby.

We have about $100,000 deposit - partly from savings, partly from an inheritance my partner received.

My job is full time - $45,000 a year. My partner is contracting roughly receiving $6200 a month. She contracts in IT so an industry which relies heavily on contractors - its hard for her to get a full time position. She is working for Auckland Council at the moment and has been told that she could be there for a long time. Hopefully we can get confirmation of this in around 3 months when her first contract is up - she has just started contracting. In the UK she was in full time work earning approx $65,000 (after currency conversion), then she took a year off to have baby, emigrate and look after her for the first 9 months.

We are worried that the bank will not let us have a mortgage until she has been contracting for ages. I've had some advice saying this is the case and other advice saying that because her job is usually contractors then the bank will not worry so much. We have no other outstanding debt (we have 1 credit card which is paid off if we spend on it). We would ideally like to buy a 2/3 bedroom house but are wary of getting into a good school zone.

Any advice would be greatly received.

Thanks

Justcol

Best advice would be to go and talk to the various bank mortgage advisers, they are very helpful
and will give you exactly the advice you need, it only takes about 10 minutes and it'll save
you all the stress of wondering and worrying.

sr71

With $100,000 deposit it is highly unlikely any bank would refuse you a mortgage on an appropriate priced property.

elasticated17

lol thanks i don't think much of the inner suburbs of Auckland are appropriately priced but we dont want to live far from work and family. Prices just keep going up and up so we want to approach the bank soon. Its just so nerve wracking - I don't know what we would do if rejected. Renting with a baby is awful - the house we are has been a nightmare this winter.

MrsFychan

as JustCol states speak to a mortgage lender and see how you go.
also don't forget to price in the cost of solicitors fees, LIN report, builders report, mortgage report on any property you want to offer on. Also make sure you don't go conditional until you are satisfied that any queries are answered so even if estate agent states 5-10days try and go for a full 15days as LIN reports can take their time

Snap Shot

One piece of advice: Get your skates on ! Auckland properties, in certain areas have got rapidly rising prices. Buy one for yourself real soon. Tell one or more lenders how much deposit you have and see how fast they snatch your hand off. Then you might be able to haggle for a really good deal. Or at least play the lenders against one another as they will want your business.

BTW I think a LIM is a Land Information Memordandum or something like that.

MrsFychan

opps yes LIM report. shows details on a property such as plumbing, drainage, water reticulation plans, consents, licences and permits, etc.

Browner_

DONT get excited and go out and buy a heap of junk. There is a tremendous amount of crappy, wet, and high maintenance rubbish waiting to be bought, so for goodness sake do your homework first.

Bellasmum

Our son has just sold his home and upgraded and my advice would be to consult an independant Broker and then get a pre approved loan. In East Auckland (and probably all over Auckland) houses are being sold very quickly at high prices and a cash offer is the way to go when you find the house you want.

It is like the ugly frog and the handsome Prince. You have to be prepare to see a lot of dumps sometimes before you find the home for you.

elasticated17

Thanks - yes a pre approved would be the best for us I think. We have seen a lot of houses and some are like you say a heap of junk. You can easily tell which houses have been well kept by their owners. We aren't expecting a lot of land either. Every house with a large section is being snapped up by property developers to build townhouses!!!

Justcol

If it was me I'm move to another place.
Auckland isn't all its cracked up to be and the houses are way over priced.
Most jobs that are here are available elsewhere and the houses are so much more affordable.
In your situation to pay for a crap house in crap area of Auckland you need to earn a lot
whereas to pay for a brand new house in somewhere like the outer hamilton
suburbs you can earn a lot less and still have money to spare to enjoy life.
I currently rent in Devonport (Auckland) but I'll never buy a house here, I'd rather
earn maybe $5k less and buy something thats not a wooden shed, is better value and
in a place where life and people are more enjoyable. If my kids were still young I wouldn't
live in Auckland at all. Its not a good place to bring kids up in my opinion

Auckland
http://www.trademe.co.nz/property/re...-498234728.htm

Te Awamutu
http://www.trademe.co.nz/property/re...-481952129.htm

Cambridge
http://www.trademe.co.nz/property/re...-475721237.htm

Bo-Jangles

Interpretation: you would really have to be well loved up to live in this pokey little garden shed, cos there's nowhere to run and absolutely nowhere to hide.

pricklykina

definitely consider a mortgage broker. They'll be able to suss out your chance and find you a good deal. Doesn't mean that you can't approach the banks individually too as the brokers don't have relationships with all of them
Good luck!

Justcol

Its almost Half a million dollars......Half a million dollars How bloody ridiculous is that.
This is the sort of nonsense that pisses me off with Auckland. Why would you work here for an extra few thousand dollars
more than you can earn elsewhere in the country just to enable you to live in a shoe box like that.
I cant wait to get away now

babybella

My hubby is an IT contractor. We bought after being in NZ for a year. The bank told us it was not an issue him being a contractor. We used westpac. We pretty much borrowed the full value of the house we bought but could show we have a chunk sitting in the UK that we could use if things went wrong. We are leaving it and hoping for a sizeable rate change before bringing it over. (it could be some time, oh well retirement fund then).
Kaz