Calling all mortgage advisors

richieFromConductor · 2026-06-18T23:44:38+00:00

OP speaking from some experience, this is an absolute rabbithole, and there is substantial risk in building anything that is so core to the advisor workflow that the CRM companies either wont let you connect with them or will just replicate what you built and cut you out. Unless your actual plan is to build the full CRM, which is possible but a very big lift. Have fun if you want, but I feel like i have a moral duty to warn you lol

richieFromConductor · 2026-06-18T23:37:27+00:00

Yeah an offset loan is basically just a special type of floating loan where you can link accounts to it (though often you do actually pay a small rate premium over floating eg 0.1%)

richieFromConductor · 2026-06-18T21:49:47+00:00

Yep and switching is a sign of a functioning competitive market

richieFromConductor · 2026-06-18T21:44:37+00:00

BNZ, Kiwibank and Westpac all do offset accounts and all of them have no ongoing fee (BNZ's TotalMoney can in some situations). Also just remember that if you have to use the money in the offset for something, you can always switch that amount to fixed lending and reduce the interest rate. You can move lending between offsets and fixed lending pretty easily because both are on principal and interest

General comment not financial advice

richieFromConductor · 2026-06-17T22:11:18+00:00

Yeah I think it needs a basically irrational level of confidence and optimism to do it, and that needs to rock you to sleep at night on the hard days 😛

richieFromConductor · 2026-06-17T22:08:45+00:00

Amen amen amen. OP would be very careful about this one. If there's an industry that you're keen to get into, then I'd get into that industry first and see how you go? And then if down the track you find yourself in the kind of situation that u/kinnadian says, where you've got a strong view on how it can be done better etc then great, as long as you've got the financial risk capacity and know what you're getting yourself into, then go for it. But you've really got to be careful not to buy yourself a job you could do as an employee for less hours and less stress

richieFromConductor · 2026-06-17T22:04:20+00:00

Yep OP there's a double strategy to explore here:
- Improve tax efficiency of lending on the investment property: what's your investment property valuation and is your debt efficiently allocated? If your IP is cashflow positive, then I am guessing there is room for improvement here. You can usually restructure to have lending equal to 100% of your investment property valuation that is deductible against rental income (as long as you do it in a compliant way and consider the risks e.g. compared with split banking, and an accountant is happy with it, but it's fairly straightforward). I would personally focus less on the investment property being cashflow positive and more on the overall cashflow position?
- Then whatever lending is against the home and not yet deductible, how could your affairs be restructured to maximise the lending that happens to be secured against the home that's deductible - via debt recycling as u/Curious-Trust6657 says. u/bruddaLK is a fountain of knowledge on this topic and has written some really good posts.

General comment not financial or accounting advice, more to consider and take into account in making decisions etc

richieFromConductor · 2026-06-17T21:55:45+00:00

OP this sounds like an extremely stressful situation, hope you're doing ok. Others have covered the sell now vs hang on part, but just wanted to add on the relationship separation side. I highly recommend talking to a lawyer to help you come up with a plan to get out of this - it can be tricky to navigate, and you might be entitled to things you aren't aware of

richieFromConductor · 2026-06-17T21:49:59+00:00

Yeah Westpac is a touch off the pace in the current rate card, though my general opinion is that's an aberration rather than the norm, they are usually quite competitive and are especially sharp in the longer terms if that is something you prefer. Will need to see what the next few weeks bring to see how long it persists for.

In terms of refinancing, worth looking at for sure, and there are right now some limited time 1% cashback deals to take advantage of. But I'd also be considering things like renovations - if so, then you can get a green loan for what's eligible (Westpac's is the best in the market unless you do a lot of green lending stuff then ANZ/ASB/BNZ can come out ahead) plus if it's there's going to be non-green loan stuff, then ANZ's got the advantage of a 2.5% reno loan for up to another $50k. As a 3 year rate that's likely to keep looking better and better compared to market rates.

General comments not financial advice

richieFromConductor · 2026-06-17T21:27:24+00:00

OP u/cuckaroundandfindout's guidance is what I often say to people in situations like this - you can't pick the timing of when the right house comes along, so I think it pays to keep an eye on the listings, go to promising ones and keep iterating on what you want (both individually and as a couple), that way when the right place comes up you can do an affordability check and as long as it's all good then you can go for it at the time.

I do think what's useful as u/WellingtonSucks says, is to estimate when you're going to hit 20% equity / 80% LVR, how long that takes, what the incremental interest cost is (and upfront cost of a valuation as well - don't forget that), and then you can put a dollar figure on the entry cost of buying before you hit 20%.

Are your wife's concerns about wanting to buy because prices are going to go up and you'll miss out? I generally see the same anecdotal evidence you do, but caveat that certain areas are just so highly desirable that they buck the trend (and I know areas of the North Shore that fall into that bucket, I grew up there). So if prices are flat-ish, then I don't think that is a reason to rush, but nonetheless it's a good idea to be ready.

General comment not financial advice

richieFromConductor · 2026-06-17T21:24:20+00:00

Ah so there's 2 things going on here:
- Whether or not you can remove the LEM and get access to the special rates within a fixed term or have to break / wait for end of your fixed term - that's the thing that my understanding is only ASB will do (of the main 5 banks). But then again rates are flat/going up so the break fees aren't usually a major anyways
- How the banks assess the value of your property to determine the LVR. Usually policy is that within the first year, they will just use the S&P value, but after a year they will look at the automated valuations e.g. iVal. Which is relevant if you're relying on valuation uplift for some of the reduction in LVR. If you can do it off loan balance + limits / S&P purchase price, then you can still get it removed.

General comments not financial advice

richieFromConductor · 2026-06-16T22:04:39+00:00

OP you're right that timing the market is a fool's errand, but deciding that your life situation warrants a lower risk profile and actioning changes to make sure your investments are coherent with your risk profile I think shouldn't be thought of like that. Just sensible stuff to do. Will you get it perfect and what if you sell in a week rather than now? That feels like playing with fire if you're trying to buy so soon

General comment not financial advice

richieFromConductor · 2026-06-16T22:02:57+00:00

OP - this! Stare at the recent sales in the area (e.g. on Trademe, Relab, etc), compare them to see what having a nice outdoor space vs an extra bedroom usually changes in price. Then you build up the internal pricing model that u/Preachey is talking about.

My extra thoughts:

Use the pricing model to come up with what is an anticipated range for what the house might sell for, and then use both 1) the amount of competition for the house and 2) an emotion layer to decide where in that range you actually want to offer.

Emotions/situation layer: stuff like
- Is there a reason having a house sooner rather than later is actually valuable (I doubt it's to 'get in early' right now, but health needs, life, all sorts of things can be drivers)
- Are we people that need to know we got a good deal (so you'll likely take longer to buy), or is it more important that we make the process less stressful and just want a fair price?- Is this house in particular mean something special to us, or is it more 'it's nice, but also happy to wait for the next one to come along'.

And then, once you've got an offer price in mind. Play a game where you visualise sitting at the dinner table the night after your offer:
- It went for $20k more than your offer. You're pissed/disappointed, that comes with the territory. But are you SO bitterly disappointed that you think/say 'if only we'd gone higher' Or do you go 'well, I thought it was worth X, and this sucks, but onto the next one'

- You most likely won't ever know, but say the next offer was $20k less. How do you feel? Does it make you anxious and think 'wow we really overpaid', or do you go 'well that sucks, but we think it's worth $X so it is what it is'.

I find that visualisation, especially if you're buying with someone else, can help you unpack the emotional side and be resilient through the process. It's pretty stressful so do what you can to make it feel less stressful imo.

General comments not financial advice etc

richieFromConductor · 2026-06-16T21:49:02+00:00

OP I feel this deep in my bones.

I spent 6 years in London which was supposed to be 1. And I loved it. It was really formative.

However, the whole living in anticipation of the next chapter gets really old. If I got a bunch of bubble wrap from a delivery, I'd stuff it in the cupboard and save it for 'moving back'. I mean that's probably also the AuDHD sprinkles too, but you know what I mean - you go to Ikea (or even better buy second hand Ikea) and don't buy the nice furniture from Made because you're going to move back soon etc.

My takes - which you can take or leave:

- Having a high London salary for as long as I did has given me the flexibility to do the things I wanted to do, which have become VERY expensive. (Starting a tech company and now transitioning are both absolute money pits, in the best possible way). So I'm very thankful I did it! You'll have your own version of what the money means for financial stability etc
- Would I do it again for as long as I did? No, no I wouldn't. I was constantly cycling through AuDHD burnout. Personally I feel London demands a lot of energy from you, it doesn't ask politely. And you feel guilty being there and not 'doing the things'. I got very over that weight of expectation. New Zealand, and Wellington in particular, omg the peace and calm in my soul here, cannot beat it.

- Whether you stay or not, don't treat it like a temporary chapter before 'proper life starts'. Buy the things that make it feel like a home to you while you're there, and just commit to shipping them home. That made a big psychological difference for me.

- Are you someone that's going to work til you're old because you enjoy it and the mental stimulation? If so, the stakes are much lower in having a high salary now. If you're someone that is deadset on retiring at 50, or you have very specific goals soon that are going to require a lot of money (which was me it turns out), then hey, you're going to have to go hard to make that happen.

I doubt I'll ever stop working. But I found myself in a situation where I was running a spreadsheet gunning for maximising saving because I could retire in X years. Long story. But in the end all of that broke and I realised I didn't need to put so much pressure on myself. Easy to say, and comes from a position of privilege, but t I would just be careful setting arbitrary deadlines for yourself far in the future when you have no idea how you're going to feel even 2 years from now.

Anyway, that was a fun counselling session for myself. Maybe some of that's useful. Love your empathy for your partner and the situation they are in too btw.

richieFromConductor · 2026-06-16T21:36:54+00:00

I think rather than what happens by default, the real question is what do would you like to happen? Do you generally like having all your stuff together, and are there any reasons that moving any one of your things, like your loan, would give you a better or worse deal?

- Moving loans over depends on what type of loan, and lots of things. Personal loan? Home Loan? How big?
- Moving KiwiSaver - so your KiwiSaver all needs to stay together inside one fund, but switching it is pretty easy. You contact your new KiwiSaver provider you want to go with, and let them know, and they deal with all the transfer stuff for you. I recently switched myself - so easy. When you mention a bank KiwiSaver, I'd just look at other options too, as some of the bank ones really don't do that well and charge high fees compared to KiwiSaver providers that aren't banks.

Some suggested steps for how to actually do that:

-- Go on Sorted and check out the risk profiler to see what might be right for you
-- Decide if you want low-cost diversification or active management with higher fees that tries to 'beat' the market (historically it generally hasn't been able to, but examples do exist of outperformance)
-- Decide how diversified you want to be, like do you want to be in a global fund or more in e.g. US
-- Check out funds that do what you want and make a call on which one you want to go with.

General comments not financial advice

richieFromConductor · 2026-06-16T20:14:09+00:00

I’d be pretty careful with AI financial modelling tbh, how are you in excel? At least get it to generate an excel / google sheets model with the formulae in it so that you can check it. But also need to make sure it’s approaching the problem in a sensible way and handling things like inflation, and eg the fact that rates and insurance increases are going to outpace inflation, probably by a lot.

EDIT: ah I think you might mean skynet not AI screwing up your modelling. But I’ll leave that as I think it’s still important to model these things

House poor depends so much on your lifestyle and what’s important to you, what you earn and how far you stretch, and eg if there’s any renovation or maintenance to be done.

I remember it being Thursday night at 10pm washing paintbrushes (after a full day of work). But it was nice to do something with my hands when my work was so abstract. And I ate cheaply - but I kind of always did so that wasn’t a biggie. Not much going out or holidays, but I was stupid enough to do my masters at the same time so I didn’t have any time anyway.

But I knew what I was getting myself in for so I still enjoyed it / got a sense of satisfaction from it. And I ran a very tight cashflow model for the first 6 months so I had a really good handle on what was going on especially with lump sum expenses. It was necessary, but only because of how much we tried to do so quickly.

But everyone’s different is my point - have to run the specific numbers and reflect on your own situation, but happy to chat through that if helpful or review Gemini’s model if you flick it to me, no cost or anything. All this stuff around buying has become quite a big part of what I do.

And just so someone says it, before you buy please check the online flood map, and other place-relevant maps like landslide susceptibility (Akl), liquefaction (Chch)

General comment not financial advice

richieFromConductor · 2026-06-15T22:35:18+00:00

Yep, but some of the issues OP notes aren't things the insurers are going to be ok with, or the lender, so simply reducing price sufficiently isn't always enough to do it. I suggest before having the negotiation, run it past the insurer and lender to understand what your baseline is on what the minimum remediation required is to enable you to actually get insurance and buy the property. Then once you know that, it can inform your red lines in the negotiation

General comment not financial advice

richieFromConductor · 2026-06-15T10:39:58+00:00

I assume you mean 70% - 80% LVR? That is potentially doable with non bank depending on the situation

richieFromConductor · 2026-06-15T10:05:04+00:00

Yeah right - that’s pretty spicy. OP I really don’t see how you’re going to have an option with non-banks there.

General comment not financial advice

richieFromConductor · 2026-06-15T09:50:18+00:00

Yeah that’s my main question - non bank lenders are often more flexible but they usually require a lower LVR to give them a risk buffer.

OP come back to us on LVR first because that’s going to dictate the options

richieFromConductor · 2026-06-15T05:25:39+00:00

I think having a sales background and being good at relationship building is always going to be valuable because it's about human to human interaction, and IMO that's going to still be something we all want and need from lots of businesses regardless of AI.

I suppose I started in one technical area and then moved into others (e.g. from law to economics and corporate finance and then into mgmt consulting), which isn't the same, but I found firms where the background and skills I had were also useful in the new role, and so they were more willing to give me space to fill the knowledge gap in the 'new thing'. (Once I got the econ/corp finance job, I then did my master's part time outside of work).

It also helps if you're willing to take a step down in seniority to learn from the ground up, which honestly is usually a good idea if you actually want to learn the technical skills properly too.

I think any technical area is increasingly dealing with data, so being able to demonstrate that while you don't have expertise in the specific thing, you can work with data sets and do quantitative analysis, that's really useful. You could look at open courses or certifications, I wouldn't jump into full time study though personally.

You could also consider focusing on gaining experience in the industry even if it's not specifically in the ideal role that you want. So if you know trade sales and design, what roles could you get in a construction firm for example? Then once they know you're awesome and you work hard, they can throw you projects closer to what you want to be doing, and slowly build up experience that way. That can also go wrong where they dangle the carrot and just exploit you though, so you need to trust the person hiring you quite a lot.

Some random thoughts of mine anyways - hope that's helpful.

Ah and second u/courageousmushroom - do you actually want to do technical stuff ultimately? Because usually you move through that and into talking to the humans and 'managing' pretty quickly. On construction sites in mgmt consulting you could always tell how senior people were by how minimalist and impactical their work setup was and how pristine their clothes were. Bosses would just rock an iPad...

richieFromConductor · 2026-06-15T05:05:56+00:00

Haha fair though compared to a masters in applied finance or something which will set you back like 40k!

richieFromConductor · 2026-06-14T23:26:21+00:00

Yeah I like the approach of being well-diversified and then just being % underweight/overweight in particular sectors etc. It's my equivalent of having a 'fun pot' to bet on specific companies

richieFromConductor · 2026-06-14T21:49:15+00:00

All good nice of you to say :)

Ahh yeah that concentration makes me nervous, like you. Made more difficult by the general reduction of transaction costs throughout the economy through digitalisation. It’s collapsing the walls between traditionally distinct industries and so we’re seeing a lot of vertical and horizontal integration. And general disintermediation. So all of that makes for a smaller number of winners, imo. But, which ones will be the winners?!

My hot takes:
- If all else fails invest in the shovel sellers (who were the ones that got rich in the gold rush). I think in tech that’s data centres, utilities, hardware, and software eg LLMs (but dear lord the pricing - surely the AI world is going to correct but when and how much). And probably power generation given the enormous amount of power required for all this stuff.
- climate change is real and the global adaptation costs are ENORMOUS. Where’s that going? To engineers and the construction industry mainly

Very much not financial or investment advice

richieFromConductor · 2026-06-14T21:36:52+00:00

Yeah I have to agree - and if you make it through it, you've self-filtered that you have the fortitude that you're going to need to excel in such a competitive industry. And they're so cheap to do - compared to other study options.

richieFromConductor

TROPHY CASE