[jspokes]

After out own bank, Westpac declined us for a 90% LVR on the basis that we had only been in our jobs for 12 months and not 24 we thought we'd try Kiwibank who are relaxing their LVR now, but although I am a permanent resident I don't qualify if I dont have an IRRV, which would be a year away...Why that should make any difference who knows... If I'm buying a house I'm hardly likely to leave!

Anyone found a bank/lender that will consider 90% LVR to a permanent resident and Kiwi?

Jon

[sizzlingbadger]

Have you tried BNZ, ANZ at all ? We have found BNZ very flexible in the past. You could also try to go through a mortgage broker to, they don't charge you anything just the banks. HTH :nice1

[victoria24]

bnz will :D

[Bozeman]

The 90% must be the issue. KiwiBank was willing to let us take out a mortgage and we've only been here for a year (though we eventually went with ASB).

[jspokes]

Yeah, we had tried a broker, who represented ANZ, but not BNZ, so we'll give them a shot too and see how we go. Lending sure seems tough still.

[victoria24]

bnz wont take business from brokers so they wouldnt have looked at that option.

[pinkpiggy]

We used National Bank for our mortgage and we had only been here about 8 months at the time AND OH was self-employed.

[jspokes]

Thanks Victoria24, went to BNZ today and they gave us a pre-approval for a $360K loan with $40K deposit in 20 mins. Now we'll take their pre-approval back to our own Bank Westpac...

[victoria24]

as long as you stick with the ones who looked after you :) amazing really as westpac are quick enough to give 10 mil away :exit

[sizzlingbadger]

Great news :nice1 Will be interesting to see if you can get the two banks competing to get the mortgage rate lower. But I'd still stick with BNZ :D

[ricky1981]

Westpac have been okay for us for day to day stuff but their range of mortgages seems very limited compared with BNZ who have the likes of Rapid Pay and Total Money. Westpac just have a standard mortgage which doesn't seem to offer much flexibility.

Be really interested to know how you get on :)

[bobo]

After out own bank, Westpac declined us for a 90% LVR on the basis that we had only been in our jobs for 12 months and not 24 we thought we'd try Kiwibank who are relaxing their LVR now, but although I am a permanent resident I don't qualify if I dont have an IRRV, which would be a year away...Why that should make any difference who knows... If I'm buying a house I'm hardly likely to leave!

Anyone found a bank/lender that will consider 90% LVR to a permanent resident and Kiwi?

Jon

We were refused a credit card a few days after that same bank (ANZ) pre-approved a home loan, now try to find the logic in that.

Told them to get lost and moved all buisness to ASB.

[jspokes]

Here's our direct comparison. Our rental has just gone up for sale in Napier. $400/wk rent and on the market for $399K. With a 90% LVR our repayments with BNZ are looking like $625/wk for a house of the same value we're in, so we are looking at paying 56% more than our rental costs to own. That was over a 3year fixed rate.

[newarrival]

There was an article about renting vs.buying in the paper some time ago, which I glanced at while standing in the queue at the supermarket.
Apparently there are some areas where renting is still cheaper as buying and vice versa. I cannot remember a lot, I just had a look at Blenheim, because that's where we live and which I was interested in;)

[victoria24]

the real comparison between renting an owning your own home should be calculated on the interest only portion of the loan. the difference you've quoted includes the capital reduction to begin to own your own home outright..

[Wooly_Cow]

the real comparison between renting an owning your own home should be calculated on the interest only portion of the loan. the difference you've quoted includes the capital reduction to begin to own your own home outright..

True but to be accruate you should also look at the return on asset you are getting. With money in the bank in NZ you can get about 3-4% after tax if you tie it up for a term. Currently house prices 'may' have bottomed but certainly over the last year most areas have shown a 10% loss in value so infact if you took out a mortgage last year, you would be paying say 6% interest on an asset that itself was depreciating by up to 10%.

So if your mortgage is 6% house prices would need to rise by 6%pa to 'tread water'

[victoria24]

True but to be accruate you should also look at the return on asset you are getting. With money in the bank in NZ you can get about 3-4% after tax if you tie it up for a term. Currently house prices 'may' have bottomed but certainly over the last year most areas have shown a 10% loss in value so infact if you took out a mortgage last year, you would be paying say 6% interest on an asset that itself was depreciating by up to 10%.

So if your mortgage is 6% house prices would need to rise by 6%pa to 'tread water'

equally, if you bought ten years ago it would be a different outcome. you have to factor in interest rates on mortgages, term deposit rates and frequency. tax you pay on savings income but not on mortgage payments etc..

[Kate D]

Interesting thread! I'm on PR (here for 16 months), and Westpac turned me down for 90% mortgage via a broker but are working out options with me approaching them directly, as I already bank there. But they want 5% of the 90% paid back over 7 years so I'm also keen to look around at other banks (and move all my business if required) so thanks for the tips guys - next stop BNZ. Especially like the idea of being able to tradie them off against each other for a better deal!

Kate

[jspokes]

I dropped off my paperwork with Westpac yesterday and await their decision. Interesting point regarding comparisons of rent Vs buy. Can someone help elaborate on the maths with that and hlep us with our decision?

[ricky1981]

Unless you know what house prices are going to do then that's very hard to weigh up but as a rough guide (and based on my understanding!).

If you owe $300k at 6.5% then each you you will pay just short of $20k per year just in interest, only the payments you make on top of that are actually going towards making the house yours.

If you could only afford say $25k per year then you are only paying off $5k of what you owe. You might find you could actually rent somewhere for $18k per year in which case you are able to save $7k per year which financially makes more sense.

This assumes house prices remain static though, if they will go up then buying tends to make more sense, if they will go down then renting is better.

Make sure you talk to the banks and work out what you are actually going to be paying off on your house rather than just what you will be paying the bank. When we get a mortgage we're going to look at the flexible ones that allow you to make extra payments if you have cash spare as that can make a big difference even if it's only $50 every fortnight. Try out some of the online mortgage calculators, it's crazy just how much interest you can save!

[victoria24]

and to add more to the pot.. bnz do a totalmoney offsett product so you pay 0% on the value of all the money in your accounts.

[jspokes]

Well they conceded! Terms are different, think have to pay back $40K or so within 5 year, then interest only. Will be interesting to see how much you pay over the term compared to BNZ.

More details coming by post.

Jon

[AliIsmailNZ]

After out own bank, Westpac declined us for a 90% LVR on the basis that we had only been in our jobs for 12 months and not 24 we thought we'd try Kiwibank who are relaxing their LVR now, but although I am a permanent resident I don't qualify if I dont have an IRRV, which would be a year away...Why that should make any difference who knows... If I'm buying a house I'm hardly likely to leave!

Anyone found a bank/lender that will consider 90% LVR to a permanent resident and Kiwi?

Jon

Hi Jon, sorry to get back to your first post.

I am new resident in NZ, arrived in March. I have a PR and RRV sticker in my passport. Let me understand that I don't have to waste my time with kiwibank (5.99% pa)?

I also read the article of Buying vs Renting, and like the idea of paying your own mortgage instead of someone's else.

Paying 410$ pw for a small unit, while I can get a neat 4 bedroom house in Auckland in 20 years with a repayment a bit more than the rent.

Thanks.

[ricky1981]

I spoke to Westpac (we bank with them) and despite having been here only 4 months (jobs for 2) they were happy to preapprove us up to $400k based on us having $100k deposit. We don't owe any money to anyone and have about another 70k in assets (car, photography equipment, etc). They wanted copies of our PR visa but didn't even ask about IRRV.

[cathgates]

We arrived at the beginning of June, we got a 2 year work visa on 5th August, same day I went to Westpac, ASB and ANZ. Karl started work on 5th August. We have 50% to put down on a property, and all 3banks were willing to give us the money we wanted. ASB and ANZ have waived their application fee, and ANZ are giving us $500 towards solicitors fees and are also willing to offer us an extra $20k on top for rennovations. I know that the 50% is a good position to be in, and we told them we will be applying for wtr, but it's a little scary as we have no wage slips and have no previous bank statements - a booboo on our part.

Cath XX

[jspokes]

As I was looking at a 90% LVR the lender, Kiwibank insure their risk with an underwriter and they were adamant - in no circumstances would their insurerance underwriter look at anyone without an IRRV. I've got PR, and a 2 year RRV. If you have a larger deposit then you may be OK with just residency I believe.

I asked my broker if this was a common requirements and he said no, lenders are generally not requireing an IRRV, only residency.

[tigerlily]

I just had the same conversation with Kiwibank. They will lend up to 95% (which is great if you haven't brought money over) but they will only do it when you've got your IRR visa (so been here 2 years). I felt a little offended that they guy didn't consider me a permanent resident! But I can see that they are trying to protect themselves from people doing a runner. He said once you have 20% or more to put down you could come from Mars with no visa at all and they'd probably lend you the money. It's just when the LTV is so high they get edgy.

[James 1077]

I just had the same conversation with Kiwibank. They will lend up to 95% (which is great if you haven't brought money over) but they will only do it when you've got your IRR visa (so been here 2 years). I felt a little offended that they guy didn't consider me a permanent resident! But I can see that they are trying to protect themselves from people doing a runner. He said once you have 20% or more to put down you could come from Mars with no visa at all and they'd probably lend you the money. It's just when the LTV is so high they get edgy.

I'm not a Martian but Kiwibank today approved us for an 80% LTV mortgage for our house (so a mortgage of just over $480k). I'm a Kiwi but the OH is here on PR and doesn't yet have IRRV so the above seems likely.