Mortgage broker: Any thoughts or recommendations

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gareth41

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#744257 13-Jan-2013 21:42

Another bit of advice, if you require broadband at your new place, make sure you do your homework. Look on the chorus website to see whats available, if anything is available. Ask the current owners if they have broadband. See if the neighboring properties have it. Try and find out if there's a waiting list in the area. If there is then make it part of the contract they they must keep their broadband account active and transfer it to you on settlement.

Handle9

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#744314 13-Jan-2013 22:54

heavyusr: What reports did you guys ask the owner to provide before you purchased your house?
I know about the LIM report but are there any others like infrared reports on whether the house has any leaks?

FYI generally the vendor doesn't provide these (although more vendors are providing LIMs these days). You get these done at your cost, not the vendors.

A LIM is a must have IMO as is some form of building inspection. It's money very well spent.

LittleGold

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#744316 13-Jan-2013 22:58

I would highly recommend Peter Bozinoff (www.bozinoffmortgages.co.nz). He is based in Wgtn but has helped ppl Nz wide. I worked for him for many years and was always amazed and what he could do for his clients. He has good relationships with lawyers, accountants, values, real estate agents too and this always made the process easier for our clients.

reven

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#744332 14-Jan-2013 01:24

PaulBrislen: I tried to use a mortgage broker from Mike Pero Mortgages but he seemed disinclined to actually do anything. Seriously, we told him what we were up to and what we were looking for and he went away and... many weeks later I emailed him and he told me he was waiting on additional information from us. What? First I'd heard - what did he need. He never responded.

I went on Twitter and asked the banks to get in touch and ASB, Kiwi and BNZ were on the line in minutes, all offering better rates than were advertised in public.

similar story, tried mike pero because well known. broker was useless, stuffed around, held things up, and made me jump through all these silly hoops saying things like "dont worry about it", when my lawyer was saying "no we need this written down" etc.

in the end i just went into the bank and talked to them directly (different bank than one broker got me a deal with), they gave me a better deal with lower interest rate than broker and some cash for signing up.

oh and generation homes (people i bought the house off) thought the broker didnt know anything and was mucking around, they werent impressed with him.

xpd

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#744450 14-Jan-2013 11:52

Handle9:

FYI generally the vendor doesn't provide these (although more vendors are providing LIMs these days). You get these done at your cost, not the vendors.

A LIM is a must have IMO as is some form of building inspection. It's money very well spent.

+1

More agents are now offering a CD to potential buyers with the property bag from the council on it as well as the general LIM, amazing how many properties have work done that the council have no idea about... even looked at one property where they had dug up the public footpath to put in drainage, I queried this with the owner (after going through 300+ pages of paperwork on the property) and got told "no, was all cleared" - couldnt give me any paperwork.... we walked away from the place, was asking way too much and couldnt supply any paperwork on the obvious major changes made to the property.

Our current property had a building inspection, picked up a few things which were resolved by the seller, but after that we still found more things which the inspector didnt find.... you'll always find things wrong after buying a place, no matter how good the inspector is ;)

Hopefully theyre just small things ;)

Gavin / xpd / FastRaccoon / Geek of Coastguard New Zealand

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Jaxson

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#744459 14-Jan-2013 12:06

Funny reading through the responses here. It's a mixed bag between good and bad, so really it comes down to personalities and people. We have used a broker for most of our houses but we found a good one. I conveyed how impressed we were to my parents, who then tried a broker who was completely useless.

There are many components to buying a house, even refinancing really. Lots of people involved at different stages (lawyers, insurance, banks) and lots of little tasks and specific deadlines along the way. Whether you go broker or not, make sure you have informed help to guide you, especially if it's your first time.

My 2c, banks have lots of little charges along the way and most are willing to waive them if you question it. In my experience a broker as kept the banks honest, where banks may not mention that these things are negotiable if you don't ask. Some banks, BNZ most famously, don't deal with brokers. And don't let a broker send your details everywhere 'to get you the best deal', be selective about what lenders you are likely to want to use and try only them first.

Bottom line seems to be: Some brokers are good, some are sht.

trig42

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#744474 14-Jan-2013 12:32

We used a broker for our first house after we went to the bank and basically got laughed out the door (ASB about 12 years ago). The broker got us a mortgage with Trust Bank back then (which turned into Westpac).

We sold that huse and moved to Napier, where we negotiated with Westpac for a Mortgage on a house down there. We bought an investment property down there, and used a broker to get us the finance - he was great (Mike Pero in Hawkes Bay).

When We moved back to Auckland, we wanted to get back in the property market up here, so went to Pero up here - useless - she didn't seem to want to know, we got pawned off to Roost, who did a good, but slow, job. I felt like they just weren't all that interested. We got the mortgage and the house, so good outcome, but we did miss out on another house before this one because there was no action from the brokers.

All-in-all, I'd say use a broker if you are unsure or don't want to negotiate with the banks yourselves, or if you are a specail customer (self-employed, discharged bankrupt etc.)

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berry

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#744585 14-Jan-2013 15:00

trig42:
All-in-all, I'd say use a broker if you are unsure or don't want to negotiate with the banks yourselves, or if you are a specail customer (self-employed, discharged bankrupt etc.)

I'd agree with this. Depends whether you are happy to spend the time on the phone, filling in forms etc and are comfortable asking for a better deal. I've not used a broker, but I'm quite happy to use my time to do this sort of thing, whereas I know some people hate doing that sort of thing and found brokers useful.

Just a tip on the property info - you can go in to the council and use their computers to look up property info for $20 (they say its $20 per property but there's no way to stop you looking up others e.g the neighbours!) and print any interesting pieces. Its a lot more cost effective than a full LIM if you not at the offering stage yet.

Jaxson

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#744596 14-Jan-2013 15:14

Yeah points to consider:

1)
A LIM just shows what the council thinks it know about the property. This can be useful if you want to know if they're planning to build a freeway through there etc, but... The LIM won't show you what's different, you have to go and find that yourself and then query what you find.

As above, you can get access to all the documents they hold on the property for a very cheap price at the local council. This at least should be considered a must.

2)
If you're competing with another buyer then anything you put in the way will make your offer look less attractive. Good luck trying to get a seller to pay for a LIM, a registered valuation or an infra-red inspection. They may, but if there's anyone else looking at the property you may have to move quickly.

It's not all roses in the property market, so a lot of good advice isn't so practicable when you're in the thick of it. We have done well by having our finance pre approved (so essentially cash in hand), undertaking our own inspections during visits to the house (not at open homes) prior to making an offer, and presenting a low priced offer but with very little conditions attached. Just something to consider.

3)
House pre inspections are typically presented in a pretty folder, with nice pictures but with the last pages devoted to how the inspection company is not liable for anything they miss, or even the accuracy of what they report etc. You can do a lot non destructively, but there's a lot you can't do without getting into it, which the seller is obviously going to be less inclined to let you do.

We could all contribute a range of things to check here. An idea I'm thinking of now was to undo an electrical socket, no make that "Get a registered Electrician to remove an electrical socket", you can do a TV aerial socket as it's safer, which lets you see into the wall cavity. That way you can check for insulation etc.

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