August 2019's Property Gazette

Be Prepared for an OCR Drop

Word on the street, or rather the predictions from several prominent economists, is that we are likely to see an upcoming OCR drop. The Official Cash Rate is forecasted to drop by .25% on the 7th of August. This means that another round of interest rate cuts is likely, along with the possibility of a further drop of the OCR to 1%.

The OCR drop makes it more appealing than ever to purchase or build your new home. Builds are our speciality and we’d be thrilled to help you obtain a turn-key or construction loan. With 14 years of experience and hundreds of building options, we’re Christchurch’s (and the rest of New Zealand’s) expert build financing team. Get in touch with us to learn more.

New Business on the Horizon Or Need Cash for an Existing Business?

If you’re considering starting up or purchasing a business, we can help with a business loan. While there are business grants available, the criteria are long and the competition plenty. Obtaining a business loan is often the easiest and fastest way to kickstart a new business.

We can help you obtain a business loan for the initial and ongoing costs of running a business, including:

Cashflow – income is often varied for most small businesses, and cash flow can be tight some months. A business loan will give you the cash on hand to pay your suppliers immediately and maintain good working relationships with them. It can also help you with hiring extra staff during busy periods or maintaining the day-to-day costs of running a business.

Stock purchasing – when you purchase stock in bulk, you are often able to obtain a better discount. This could be passed onto your customers or added to your profits. A business loan gives you the ability to purchase materials upfront for a big project, or to take advantage of seasonal deals.

Expansion costs – as technology changes, the machinery your business relies upon becomes outdated or not as cost-effective as in the past to operate. A business loan lets you purchase new or renovate existing machinery and technology to help your business grow. It could also be used to pay for an extensive marketing campaign, useful to get a new business off the ground.

 Best of all, we can offer a 24-hour turn around on new business loans too!

Insurance Matters

You have to take Risks to live but also you have to minimise risks to live.

Achieving the goal of home ownership requires some effort, for most ownership starts with a mortgage.

To achieve this there are a few boxes to tick, some of these are as follows:

• passing a credit check,
• have ongoing income to meet affordability,
• have enough funds on hand for a deposit (this may be made up of a home start grant coupled with a Kiwi saver contribution)
• Find a property that comes within your loan limit

Will job loss ruin house purchase?

So you tick all the boxes and you are now unconditional on a property with a settlement date looming when your employer announces a restructure and you could be out of work.

This is a curve ball no one wants when there is the possibility of losing the home, a contract deposit or both of these. If you have nice vendors that are willing to delay settlement without charging penalty interest then you are in luck! But usually if settlement is delayed without mutual agreement, then penalty interest would be charged at the rate agreed on the contract.

If you are unable to complete the purchase entirely, then you can be sued by the vendor for specific performance or lose your deposit (not more than 10%) and can be sued by the vendor for damages claimable at common law or in equity and shall also include any loss incurred by the vendor.

Is there anything you can do to protect yourself?

Yes, Redundancy options are available via mortgage repayment policy,  Mortgage Repayment Cover pays can pay up to forty five percentage of your salary or your full mortgage payments to ensure your loan repayments are covered in the event of being made redundant.

Getting finances sorted for a property purchase isn't easy but once you achieve this it pays to protect them so talk to us to understand what is achievable for you.