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DGF Financial Solutions

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24.01.2022 Did you know that three in 10 mortgages arranged by mortgage brokers are in rural and regional areas, improving access to home lending for rural and regional Australians in locations where there may be few or no bank branches. https://www.afgonline.com.au/broker/keep-competition-alive/ https://youtu.be/zsjxPB6ITRg

23.01.2022 Six Steps to becoming mortgage-free - Step 4: Offsets and Redraws Would you like to cut your mortgage by years and pay less? What if you could get your mortgage all wrapped up in record time, and spend more time doing the things you love?... Well, there are six steps you can take now, which will make a real difference to the time it takes to pay off your loan. You could be mortgage-free sooner than you think. In the past weeks, we looked at Step 1: choosing the best loan, Step 2: changing your repayment frequency, and Step 3: Pay more to pay early. Today, find out how offset accounts and redraw facilities can help you move quickly towards losing that mortgage forever. Step 4: Offsets and Redraws Do you have a savings account that you use to put money away for a rainy day? You might be surprised to learn that this can save you money on your home loan - even if you keep the money in savings. This is commonly referred to as an offset account. Many lenders offer a 100% offset account which, when linked with your mortgage, can dramatically reduce the interest that you pay on your loan. The reason for this, is that the savings 'offset' what you owe, and you're only charged interest on your loan amount - minus your savings. This can have a significant impact on your loan in the long term. For example, if you have a loan of $400k, and keep $30k in an offset account, you could save over $150k in interest over the life of your loan. Another handy mortgage feature to look out for is a redraw facility. This allows you to make extra repayments on your loan whenever you want, but gives you the flexibility of taking that additional money back in the future if your plans change. By taking advantage of offset accounts and redraw facilities, you can take control of your financial goals today, and pay your loan off sooner. Want to escape your mortgage as soon as possible? Stay tuned for Step 5: Don't take candy from strangers.

22.01.2022 We all know that interest rates are cyclical and that when rates go down they will eventually go up. As a result, lenders have been assessing loan applications on the ability of borrowers to make repayments at interest rates approximately 2% higher than those currently available. While lenders have been assessing your ability to make repayments at a higher interest rate, what is the reality of the fi nancial impact of your regular loan repayments?... To make sure you are ready, click here to read my "What goes down, must come up" article. https://www.mortgageaustralia.com.au//whatgoesdownmustgoup

21.01.2022 Discover the pros and cons of each type of home loan: There are literally hundreds of home loans available, with new products emerging all the time. A professional Mortgage Broker can recommend a loan for your particular needs, help you to complete the paperwork, professionally package it with your supporting documents and submit it to your chosen lender....Continue reading

19.01.2022 Have you spotted a property bargain recently? If you think there may be a few property bargains just waiting for you to check them out, why don't you ask me to confirm your borrowing capacity before you go and have a look around? There have been lots of changes in home loans too, so a bit of homework could be worthwhile.... It doesn't cost anything to find out and usually only takes a few minutes. The least I can do is point you in the right direction and the privacy act ensures our conversation is entirely confidential. Some of my more astute investors take the opportunity during these times to purchase more investment properties while the market conditions are good. If you'd like to know more about this, contact me about using your equity to purchase an investment property. An email or a phone call is all it takes.

17.01.2022 Want to go green? Contact me for a loan that pays itself off with your power bill savings.

17.01.2022 Summer is almost here so it's the perfect time to give your finances a spring clean. Whether you're looking to consolidate credit card debt, renovate your home or purchase your new car, our team can help give your finances a spring clean. Our partners offer a fast, simple, online application process and access to funds typically within 48 hours. Dont delay, get in touch today!

17.01.2022 In todays new car market, we are seeing low rate finance deals being offered by an ever increasing number of car dealers. Rates as low as 0% have been available in recent times. Before you rush out and sign on the dotted line, its important to understand what is happening behind the scenes. Click here to download my inside scoop on "Low interest car finance - is it really what it seems?" https://www.mortgageaustralia.com.au//lowinterestcarfinanc

16.01.2022 If you really want to save money - it might be time to refinance. Should you refinance? "My lender is charging me a higher home loan rate than I see advertised elsewhere. Can I change lenders?"... This is exactly the reason why most people change lenders. There may be a penalty clause in your current home loan, meaning you may need to pay a discharge fee, but it could still be in your financial interests to change. When shopping around it is always important to look for the comparison rate of a product. A comparison rate is essentially the true rate, taking into account the fees and charges you will pay on the loan. So even though you see a lower rate it doesn't mean the repayments are less. "I have just come off a 'honeymoon' interest rate to a much higher rate. Can I move lenders or am I locked into my mortgage?" You can walk away from most mortgages, although penalty fees sometimes apply to fixed rate loans. "If I move my mortgage to a new lender, is there anything stopping that lender from increasing their rates in a few months time?" It depends what kind of product you have. If you're concerned about rising rates, perhaps you should consider a fixed rate home loan, where repayments are fixed for a period from 1 to 5 years. "Why do some lenders charge more than others for lending the same amount of money?" Banks and other lenders pay different amounts for the money they on-lend to you, they have different overhead structures and different profit expectations. All these factors affect how much they charge to lend people money. "What documentation do I need to refinance?" The last 3 - 6 months of mortgage statements is sufficient to begin this process. I can advise on other documentation.

15.01.2022 Introducing 5 great reasons to invest in property today: Do you sometimes listen to those seasoned property investors and wonder how they got started? It's quite simple actually - they probably started with just one investment property. ... Anyone can realise the dream of achieving your financial goals through property investment. If you're not sure why you would want to get involved, here are the five best reasons: 1. Financial Independence Now, more than ever, it's important to make sure you have steps in place if you want to live comfortably in your retirement. The retirement age seems to be increasing, and people are no longer able to rely on the aged pension as a sole source of income. If you start now you can build a property investment portfolio that will provide you with financial independence - whatever that means to you. For some people that means one investment property that provides a rental return. For others, it means building a veritable monopoly of investment properties in an apparent bid to conquer the universe. 2. Take control of your own investments The great thing about investing in property is that you're completely in control of what you purchase, and you can take steps to ensure that you give yourself the best chance of achieving excellent capital growth or rental return figures. The problem with investing in shares and superannuation is that you aren't able to control fluctuations in the market - your role is very passive. 3. Grow your portfolio as your equity increases Once you start investing in property, it's sometimes difficult to stop. One investment starts to grow which allows you to purchase another, and before you know it you have a nice little collection of properties making money for you. 4. Capital Growth If you choose wisely, you should be able to achieve strong capital growth on your investment properties. The key is to choose the right type of property in the right area. This might not be an area where you would choose to live - it just needs to be an area with lots of potential for growth. 5. Rental Income If you hope to achieve a good rental income from your investment properties, you should purchase carefully, and keep your ideal tenant in mind. If you like the idea of renting to students, make sure you look in areas near a university or very near to public transport. If you would prefer to rent to a family, schools, shopping centres and parks might be more important. But decide what's most important first: capital growth or rental return. You might not always get a great rental return in an area that has a high level of growth.

13.01.2022 Mistakes to avoid when purchasing a property: Your home is probably the biggest purchase of your life. It makes sense that you should give this decision the attention it deserves, and do your homework. Why then, do so many people get it wrong? Searching without getting finance approval...Continue reading

12.01.2022 Introducing the new home building methods that can save you a lot of time and money. In the past, prefabricated houses would connote images of tackiness and shipping container living, but prefab housing is now enjoying an avant-garde revival. Today's prefab houses consist of high end materials, follow strict green building practices and are designed by leading architects. Often they have substantially better thermal ratings than brick homes, meaning they actually cost a lot l...ess to heat and cool. Some new builders even start with a traditionally built lower floor, then build a prefabricated second floor, being less expensive and much faster than building a standard two-storey home. To find out more, download my short introductory PDF article to this style of home that is growing in popularity - Absolutely Prefabulous. https://www.mortgageaustralia.com.au//absolutelyprefabulou

11.01.2022 Because selling your home in record time takes some elbow grease. How far should you go when presenting your home for sale? Do you really have to get rid of all your family photos? Who has the time to bake a fresh batch of cookies in time for every open house? There are some things that make a huge difference to potential buyers, and some that will just give you a headache for no reason.... If you're a bit unsure what you should do to make your property appealing to buyers, don't worry - just follow these 5 simple steps. Step 1: De-clutter It's time to cut down on some of those kids toys, and it might be a good idea to find a temporary home for your newspaper collection. Buyers are looking for space and comfort, and nothing says 'this house is too small' quite like an overflowing bookshelf. Try packing away some of the items that you don't use very often. If you don't listen to your CD's very often, load them onto your ipod and pack them into boxes. It's amazing how much nicer a home can seem when it's tidy and clutter-free. Step 2: Fix any small issues Do you need to replace any light bulbs? Are the doorhandles showing a lot of wear and tear? Perhaps your screen door is torn because the dog was trying to get outside. This is the time to fix all of those little things you never got around to. This will show potential buyers that you have maintained the home, and they won't be worried about nasty surprises. Step 3: Consider staging Do you still have the couch that your Auntie passed down when you were leaving home? Whilst it shouldn't matter what your furniture looks like - the truth is that it can make a difference. If your belongings are a little bit rough around the edges, consider hiring or borrowing some nicer items for a few weeks whilst your home is open for inspection. Step 4: Clean, Clean, and clean some more It's not always easy to keep your home spotless - especially if you have small children. But nothing will scare away potential buyers faster than dirty underwear on the bedroom floor, or last night's Bolognese splattered all around the kitchen. If you don't have the time to clean thoroughly before every open house, consider hiring a cleaner for this short period of time. By putting in the extra effort, you could be rewarded with a quick sale, or a better price. Step 5: Neat and tidy On the day of each open house, spend a few minutes making the beds (hotel-style if you can) and putting away any items that don't need to be lying around. Run a cloth over the benches one last time, turn on the dishwasher, and consider taking your dirty washing with you if you don't have time to get it washed and put away. If you receive an offer on the house today, you'll be glad you went the extra mile. If not, you can come home and relax knowing that the housework is already done!

10.01.2022 How to buy a property with a friend (and remain friends)! How would you like to double your deposit and double your income to buy your first property? Sounds pretty good doesn't it? That's the reason why many young homebuyers are now working together with a partner, friend or relative to break into the property market. Although there are some excellent benefits to entering a property partnership, there are some pretty nasty horror stories out there too - so you need to make... sure you protect yourself against the worst. Make sure you have similar goals for you property purchase. Do you both agree on how long you would like to keep the property for? Do you want to rent it out, or will you be living there together? Make sure everyone is on the same page before you enter into any contracts. Buy with someone who is at a similar stage in life. If you buy with a family member who has a baby on the way, you might be asking for trouble. Likewise, buying with a sibling who is too young to appreciate the importance of keeping up financial commitments could be just as much of a recipe for disaster. Take a moment to check your financial compatibility. You will be responsible for the loan if the other party becomes unable to pay, so take the time to have some open discussions about money, and make sure you are both equally committed to paying things on time and keeping track of the bills. Decide if you want to be housemates. If you plan to live together in the home, make sure you both agree about things that could cause arguments such as having pets in the house, allowing partners to sleep over, housework and other potentially touchy subjects. Get Legal Advice. Find out about your options legally if something was to go wrong, and decide whether you want to be Joint Tenants, or Tenants in Common. This might depend on whether you will pay an equal share of the deposit and loan repayments. Create a formal agreement. Get a formal agreement drawn up that covers as many issues as you can think of. Hopefully you won't have any problems, but it might be helpful if you already agree on the solution ahead of time. Property partnerships can turn into nasty legal battles when parties don't agree on important issues, such as whether or not to sell the property. If you can thrash out some of these issues now you will save yourself a lot of worry in the future. Keep records of spending. Make sure you keep it even, and try to keep records of who paid for what, just in case you have problems down the track. Hopefully your property partnership will be a very positive experience, and if you follow these steps you should be well on your way to being a great team.

09.01.2022 Would you like to improve the environmental efficiency of your home, save money on your energy bills and increase the value of your property? Our team can help arrange low-rate finance for energy efficient products. Our partners offer a fast, simple process and access to funds typically within 48 hours. Dont delay, get in touch today!

08.01.2022 How to pay your credit card off completely this year. Are you growing increasingly concerned about your credit card balance? Do you feel like you keep making the repayments but the total never goes down? It probably doesn't. Credit card debt is very bad debt and it has a way of reproducing itself faster than a pair of rabbits.... So how can you get your credit card paid off by the end of the year? Mark managed to pay off a $7k credit card balance in one year, just by making a few smart decisions with his budget. Decision number 1: Cancel the Pay TV. Mark was paying $79 per month for subscription TV. He didn't really watch it very much because he was working long hours. Saving: $948 Decision number 2: No more morning Cappuccino. Mark's boss had recently installed a great coffee machine in the office, so he decided not to get a $4 coffee on his way to work every day. Saving: $1040 Decision number 3: Ride to work. Mark had purchased a new bike last year, and he was really keen to get fit. An easy 20 minute ride to work every day saved him paying for train tickets. Saving: $3000 Decision number 4: Cancel the Gym membership. Mark had made only two guest appearances at his gym this month, and he felt it was a waste of money now that he was riding to work. Saving: $1200 Decision number 5: No beer on weeknights. Mark was enjoying his new fitness regime and he decided that he would try to only drink beer on the weekends. He stopped buying a 6 pack 2 nights a week. Saving: 1456 Mark's story shows just how easy it is to pay off your credit card debt by making a few small changes to your lifestyle. But the first step is to stop spending on the card. If you can stop growing the debt, you can then start working on bringing it down, one coffee at a time!

07.01.2022 Australians are enjoying the lowest interest rates in history. It is no coincidence that the growth of the Mortgage Broking industry has forced the big banks to compete for your business by lowering their interest rates. Without us, everyone will be paying more for their home loans. https://www.afgonline.com.au/broker/keep-competition-alive/

07.01.2022 Switching home loans could help pay down your mortgage sooner, providing you are refinancing for the right reasons and understand whats involved. Heres our guide to refinancing to help you make the right move when the time comes. Know the costs: Paying 0.5 per cent less per annum on a $250,000 principal-and-interest mortgage could save you around $23,000 over the life of a 25-year loan. Thats a sizeable chunk of change back in your pocket over the long term, but there are ...Continue reading

05.01.2022 My top 7 Tips for Buying Off The Plan New home sales are back on the rise, fuelled in part by many investors and owner-occupiers buying off the plan. The concept is straightforward: put up a deposit (usually 10 per cent) to help the developer fund construction and pay the balance when the build is complete. ...Continue reading

04.01.2022 Discover how to turn your home equity into a better retirement for you. If you have equity stored away in your home, now could be the perfect time to tap into it for an investment property. Equity is simply the difference between the value of your home and what you owe on it. If you have a property valued at $500,000 and owe $200,000 on it, you have $300,000 equity available....Continue reading

03.01.2022 What you need to know about the most important part of your home loan: Are you an expert on all lending related topics? That's okay - most people aren't. If you're still trying to understand the truth about interest rates, you're not alone. Here are a few answers to the questions you were too embarrassed to ask. How are interest rates determined?... The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) sets the official interest rate or 'cash rate' which takes into account a whole list of factors about how the economy is performing at that point in time. The RBA meets once a month to review the inflation rate, unemployment figures, CPI, PPI and retail sales, and from that information they decide whether to increase, decrease or leave on hold the official cash rate. The cash rate is the interest rate that the banks and lenders will pay to the reserve bank. If this increases, your lender will usually pass the cost onto you - the borrower. If the cash rate decreases - the reserve bank intends that the savings should also be passed on by your lender - but this isn't always the case. By moving the interest rates up and down, the RBA tries to keep the Australian economy in check, by either slowing things down to keep the cost of living under control, or speeding up spending to help boost growth in certain areas. What are the different types of interest rates? The two main types of interest rates are Variable and Fixed. Variable rates are usually a bit lower, and you pay the best going rate at the time. If the cash rate increases, your lender will increase your variable interest rate. But if the cash rate decreases, your repayments will usually go down. Fixed interest rates are locked in for a period of time -usually just a couple of years - so that you know exactly how much you will need to budget for. This can be helpful for borrowers on a strict budget who can't afford a lot of interest rate rises in the short term. However you will usually pay a higher interest rate overall if you choose this option. Which interest rate is best for me? The decision of whether to choose a variable or fixed interest rate should be made after carefully considering your own personal needs and commitments. A mortgage broker should be able to help you weigh up the pros and cons to work out the best option.

02.01.2022 Should you buy or build your next home? Many buyers struggling to find the right home are going back to the drawing board and building rather than buying an existing home. There are obvious benefits to a brand new home: you can build exactly what you want and enjoy shiny new surrounds, with no wear and tear costs for years to come. But there can be downsides to creating your castle....Continue reading

01.01.2022 The truth about the real costs of borrowing - don't get caught short! Many borrowers I work with don't have a clear picture of the upfront costs they may be up for when taking out a home loan. As well as loan application fees, there are settlement fees, stamp duty, mortgage insurance and more.... Some of these can be added to the loan amount, but sometimes doing this can push you into a higher mortgage insurance bracket, resulting in even more fees! Knowing your fees is the first step, knowing how to manage them is the next. Have a look at my quick guide to knowing your costs. https://www.mortgageaustralia.com.au//f/borrowingcosts.pdf