brissybound

Hi Filks

Just a quick question.

Is it true that, like in Oz, you have to be on a permenant resident visa before you will be considered for a mortgage?

Ive been told that this can take up to 3 years.

My wife is Kiwi if this makes a difference, but in reality it will only be me doing the earning as we plan to start a family

Again, all advice much appreciated

Cheers

Jamie

TeamEmbo

Hiya. We got here at end of May this year on a work to residency visa. Bought a house in the first 2 weeks with a high loan value mortgage as we didn't have much in the way of a deposit. No problem getting the mortgage but due to us being 'high risk' we pay a higher rate (1% above whatever fixed rate they were offering to others at the time). We took that fixed for 6 months as we were waiting for PR to come through.

Now we have PR we can swop to a better fixed rate option.

So, no. You don't need PR to get a mortgage and having a decent deposit would avoid having to pay a higher interest rate.

Hope this helps.

Am Loolah

Hi jamie,

Nope, from what I have gathered you can get a mortgage pretty much straight away, Kiwi or not. Of course they want you to borrow money - have you seen the rates!?

I married a Kiwi too, though they find it very confusing here as he has slight Brummy accent!!

Colin in the middle

Yes

You have to be a permanant Resident to borrow from a NZ Bank for a Homeloan. But if your wife applies then maybe that is a work around?

Not sure where you heard you have to be resident for 3 years from to be eligible but possibly thats a safe guard put into place by lenders.

Could be wrong but will ask in the bank next time I go in just to get the answer.

brissybound

Wow!

Thanks folks, did expect so may replies so soon.

With regards to the 3 years wait, thats how long you have to wait in Oz for your permenant residency. Oz lenders are very wary of giving you money when you are on a temp visa unless you have a big wedge of cash.

More good news although Colin seems a bit sceptical. How is the housing market in Wellington?

Is it the same as Oz where you can borrow 4 times your income?

Also can you get a house with a sea view, short walk to the shore to fish, for around 200k?? Or am I just dreaming again!

TeamEmbo

Well, am not too sure where Colin's info came from, but we've just done it so we know it is possible

Sorry, don't know about Wellington. (OH's just said it depends on whether you want a 6x4 shed or a 10x8 shed sorry, in Kiwi, shid ).

Not sure how the bank works out what it'll lend in total, but do know that they'll lend what you can afford to pay back. It's not so much about 4x income, as the repayments not being more than 40% (I think) of your disposable monthly income after outgoings. We didn't know what our monthly outgoings would be, having just arrived, but the banks have a table which gives them the average monthly expenditure of a (in our case) 2 adult, 2 child family.

Colin in the middle

Information was from the forms I filled in that asked if I was a permanant resident or not.

Like I said could be wrong but willing to confirm this with my bank as if it would have prevented the Homeloan going thru. BNZ accepted our loan request Westpac did not so there you go more confusion.

TeamEmbo

We used ANZ but the ASB offered us one too.

Bint

Not true!!
My wife and I arrived 5 weeks ago on working visas (not residents) and put a deposit down on a house 3 weeks ago!! I secured a job before we came and via a broker we have approval from ASB and Westpac for a mortgage. We also saw a BNZ guy (don't use brokers) and they said OK as well. At present my wife is not working but as long as the banks can see that you have a job etc and can meet the payments then there should be no problem. Good luck
Neil & Babs