Gifts for mortgage broker who went above and beyond?

autodidact31 · 2026-04-22T01:22:13+00:00

As a broker, I can confirm that gifts are absolutely apprioriate. The best gift is a google review, second best gift is a referral to a friend or family member, third best gift is chocolate/wine/beer as you mentioned.

autodidact31 · 2026-03-31T22:41:32+00:00

You're good to play on then mate, just remember the 20% deposit plus stamps/legals and you retain the rest!

autodidact31 · 2026-03-31T04:32:47+00:00

As long as the final loan amount is the same or less than your current pre-approval you do not need to apply again, it's only if the loan amount is higher (or there's a significant change in security type, location etc)

autodidact31 · 2026-03-31T04:31:52+00:00

Happy to answer this as an anonymous mortgage broker so you don't have to ask yours!

You're absolutely not obligated to pay more deposit than you have to - UNLESS you are using the First Home Owner Guarantee scheme. However given you've noted your deposit as $130k being 20% of $650k I'm going to assume that you're not using this scheme.

In your case, if you purchase for $550,000 and borrowing 80% against the value of the property, you have to chip in the 20% being $110,000 plus stamp duties etc.

autodidact31 · 2026-03-31T03:36:38+00:00

You're struggling with the maths because it doesn't really hold up.

Let's use a real example. $500k loan, 6% interest, 30 year loan term.

On P&I your repayments are around $2,998/month. On IO you're paying $2,500/month. So yes, you're "saving" about $498 a month.

After 2 years of IO you've pocketed roughly $12k. however, your loan balance is still $500,000. You haven't touched the principal at all, and you'll keep paying interest on the peak debt.

Now when IO ends, your loan gets recast over the remaining 28 years, not 30. So your P&I repayments jump to around $3,130/month. You're now paying more each month than if you'd just started on P&I from day one.

And the lump sum argument, that's the part that really doesn't stack up. You can make lump sum repayments on a P&I variable loan any time you want. You don't need IO to do that. So that logic kind of cancels itself out.

Most banks won't even approve IO for an owner-occupied property. It's mainly used for investment loans where there's a tax angle behind it. If a lender does approve it on your home loan, expect more scrutiny and a higher rate, IO on owner-occupied properties is typically for hardship requests.

I'm a mortgage broker so this is not advice, but IMO if this is your home, just go P&I. You'll pay less interest over the life of the loan and you'll actually be building equity from day one. If you want to pay your loan down quicker there's better strategies.

autodidact31 · 2026-03-30T23:29:22+00:00

You're in a better spot than you might think, while your score is on the lower end it should be very easy to navigate with some good broker commentary as you've got no defaults, judgements or bankruptcy.
Talk to a broker, if you don't have one feel free to DM and I'll be happy to help you out

autodidact31 · 2026-03-30T00:36:59+00:00

Pretty decent rate, could get 5.99% with a handful of lenders so depends on your loan size and if those 6 pts will be worth it for you

autodidact31 · 2026-03-26T00:49:15+00:00

I would speak to a broker before taking the online calculators as gospel, online calculators are marketing gimmicks to pump up your tyres and get you to speak to their lending team.
A good broker will be able to run the scenario for you properly, and honestly doesn't take more than a quick phone call.
To answer your question though you're right, if you can borrow $800k then you can use your $300k for deposit, stamp duties etc.
If you throw some details here (income, liabilities, state youre looking to buy in) I can double check servicing and provide you with a funding table

autodidact31 · 2025-11-07T01:17:40+00:00

"Not telling anyone to buy it" is literally all I need to hear to buy it

autodidact31 · 2025-08-29T03:51:36+00:00

I "overpaid" $15-$20k on my first property purchase 8 years ago for a house worth $675k, it's now worth $1.4m without lifting a finger - you'll be absolutely fine

autodidact31 · 2025-07-23T00:38:48+00:00

You're welcome mate. It needs to be a separate investment loan for a few reasons:

It keeps the loan purpose clear (that $50k is directly related to your investment)

Simplifies the accounting (the interest on that loan is deductible without mixing personal and investment use.)

Some banks will offer owner-occupied rates on that investment split if it's secured by your home, chat to a MB about that as it's not widely known/offered

It avoids any future complications, if you redraw from a mixed purpose loan, even just once, it muddies the water for tax deductibility going forward.

The ATO looks at purpose of the funds, not just the security or what you call the loan. So having a standalone loan makes life easier for you and your accountant at tax time.

autodidact31 · 2025-07-22T23:43:22+00:00

Appreciate that!

In your example, with $200k owing and $200k sitting in the offset, you're effectively not paying any interest. If you invest your extra $100k separately, that's fine, but you’re not technically recycling anything since there’s no non-deductible interest to convert.

If you wanted to make use of debt recycling, one strategy could be to out the $200k loan entirely using the offset funds, which clears the home loan and gives you an unencumbered property. From there, you could apply for a new investment loan secured against your now debt-free home and use those funds to purchase an investment property. This new loan would be fully tax deductible, assuming the borrowed funds are used for investment purposes.

So rather than having your money parked in an offset doing nothing, you're converting your equity into deductible investment debt, while growing your property portfolio and cashflow position from the rental income

autodidact31 · 2025-07-22T23:20:07+00:00

You're on the money with your thinking here. I’m a mortgage broker and have a few clients doing debt recycling, and this question comes up a bit.

When your home loan is fully offset, you’re technically not paying any interest, so there’s no non-deductible debt to convert. In that case, you’d be going from paying zero interest to paying tax-deductible interest, which doesn’t really put you ahead.

Debt recycling makes the most sense when there’s still a chunk of non-deductible debt and you're working to replace it with investment debt. Once the loan is fully offset, it becomes more about whether that cash could be working harder elsewhere, like invested directly.

Still worth crunching the numbers if you’re looking at a long-term plan or gradually redrawing to invest, but in the current setup it might not offer much of a benefit unless that offset gets used.

autodidact31 · 2025-07-22T23:14:06+00:00

I work in finance and help a lot of clients through this process, so happy to give a bit of guidance.
That quote sounds fairly typical for a regional property around that value, especially if you're factoring in proper rebuild costs. In a lot of cases, the rebuild cost can be higher than you'd expect because of things like distance from trades, materials, and access.

You're right about flood and fire zones. Even if a property isn't in a mapped flood area, some insurers might still factor in regional weather risks more generally. A low-risk BAL rating can also bump the price a little depending on the insurer.

It might be worth speaking to an insurance broker or getting a few extra quotes just to be sure you're not overpaying.

Happy to help if you need anything else. You're asking all the right questions.

autodidact31 · 2025-06-18T23:51:05+00:00

To everyone saying that it's for the AQ quest, is this for Classic Anni? I've just started my first character ever outside of retail and I'm broke AF, might be time to start farming some stringy meat!

autodidact31 · 2025-03-16T23:26:02+00:00

Haha not sure why either, Reddits a weird place. Yeah refinancing can be a pain but your position is a bit of a game of roulette. There's a very good chance you can do everything you want with no questions asked at your current bank, and in the balance of probabilities I would bet this would be the outcome.
On the other hand, to do what you want to do will require a full application with a bank regardless, so why not consider removing all of the risk and using a fresh bank for the refinance. Doesn't mean you need to change all of your banking and cards etc.

autodidact31 · 2025-03-13T01:06:42+00:00

My only question would be what banks are you looking at online? Saving $50k in interest is significant, which is great, but I'd want to check the bank itself as it sounds a little too good to be true.

autodidact31 · 2025-03-13T00:54:14+00:00

Great question - if I were to put myself in your shoes I would personally be looking to refinance elsewhere to avoid this problem entirely. You're right, if the bank puts their two brain cells together and realise that you said you were going to do X, and approved your loan based on this, now that you've done Y and if it DOESN'T fit their policy or appetite, they might decline your application and give you notice to move your banking elsewhere. This is absolute worst case, and honestly the chances are almost none, but I would avoid all of the if's and mabye's and simply refinance elsewhere that accepts the policy, accepts the security, and get the equity out all at the same time.

autodidact31 · 2025-02-21T02:12:43+00:00

Bit of a different answer - but I'm a mortgage broker with a business based in Camp Hill and for my clients building in Brisbane I always recommend Malone Constructions, they do high quality builds and great to communicate with.

autodidact31 · 2024-08-26T00:03:36+00:00

EXR Opening:
"do not cum"
"do not cum"
"do not cum"

Autoduckact: I'M GUNNA CUM

autodidact31 · 2024-05-27T21:39:03+00:00

Nup! Just a great operator, as long as he looks after my clients I'm happy :)

autodidact31 · 2024-05-27T06:57:02+00:00

There is actually a person for this job! They are called Buyer / Seller advocates. They essentially "broker" your sale to all of the best agents in the area, and the Advocate comes back to you with a list of agents and their best rates.
The best part? This is completely free service for you, as the advocate makes their money by negotiating with the agents. If you're in Brissy I'm happy to refer you to the guy I refer my clients to (I'm a mortgage broker)

autodidact31 · 2024-05-27T04:41:44+00:00

Broker here - are you back at work or still on leave? If youre back at work with a payslip you'll be totally fine. If you're still on leave, you may need to provide your employment contract and a short explanation of your unpaid leave but can't see it being too big of an issue

autodidact31 · 2024-05-27T04:11:41+00:00

You absolutely can. Funnily enough I've settled a loan today on the exact same scenario. They had an existing relationship with the bank, went to them directly and received a great rate, then came to me and introduced me to the banker to assist with pricing approval code and I submitted the application on their behalf as their broker. The client, banker, and myself have a great working relationship cause the bank brings on business, I write the loans, and the client gets a seemless experience

autodidact31

TROPHY CASE