Stuart & Catherine

Client Stories

First Home buyers

The Scenario

Stuart and Catherine are a couple both working full time that had moved up from Sydney to buy a home and start a family. Both had stable professional jobs but found they just couldn’t break into the Sydney market.

Neither had owned a home before. They had good savings however for the price point they were looking at, they required Lenders Mortgage insurance to be able to purchase.

Both were keen to start a family soon, so had lots of questions about affordability both now and when they did have their first baby. In working through the best options, it also became possible to look at guarantors so that they could save on fees and interest rates.

How they came to Vision

Stuart was referred to Vision by a work colleague who had recently purchased his first home. He had done some prior homework around lenders and how to purchase but was impressed with Vision’s patience and professional attitude to making sure all his questions were heard and answered.

Being new to the area, it was important early on for Stuart and Catherine that the broker show an interest in not just helping pick a lender but also understanding the local market and good explanations on the process of renovating as many of the houses they looked at would need work. Understanding how they can purchase then renovate and what they needed to be careful of was very important and helped them to not make mistakes that would have cost thousands of dollars.

Vision also had an understanding that they needed someone that would be available after hours as they both worked. The first meeting was at their home.

The main challenges

Stuart and Catherine were looking for a property throughout early to mid-2015, a time when the Newcastle property market (like Sydney) was moving quickly.

Understanding which lenders would be suitable?

If they buy, what is the best price range for them to work with?

Was a guarantor suitable for them and how to navigate this conversation with family?

Fixed or Variable rates, what is the right way to choose?

Buy something ready to move into or buy something to renovate?

Negotiating with agents and understanding the process of buying?

How Vision helped

What Stuart and Catherine needed was to be able to ask all the questions that were going through their minds. They understood that the decision was theirs but it helped to be able to bounce things off someone that wasn’t caught up in the moment and could give information that empowered them.

Vision also helped to explain the process to their parents who had generously agreed to be a guarantor making sure that they were prepared to seek legal advice but also understand the answers to common questions that get asked in this situation such as

“How long do I need to be a guarantor?”

“What happens if I want to sell my house?”

“Am I taking responsibility for 100% of the loan?”

What was done?

Over the course of approximately 3 months Vision arranged:

Keeping their pre-approvals valid as it took more than the standard time to find a suitable property

Finance for the purchased property with a lender that would not normally have permitted retired guarantors. This gave the applicants very competitive rates.

Multiple meetings with both clients and the parents explaining what we could about both the lender, the market and most importantly the process of purchasing

An introduction to a trusted legal professional that assisted them with the purchase

As a backup plan whilst the guarantors were overseas, the ability for loan documents to be signed and witnessed in that country

This required an experienced broking firm with a team of specialists capable of executing this train of events. This is the part of our job we love…being there for the whole process.

Where to now?

Stuart and Catherine have now purchased and are on the tail end of renovating the property to their liking. We are already talking about what they will plan for next which will possibly be their first investment property.

In the meantime, they are enjoying being first time parents, living in a property they can now put their personal touches to and enjoying what life has to offer.

They got their home

They understand why they needed to look at a new lender

They understand their new loan structure

They understand how their repayments fit into their budgets

They have excellent rates / fee structures (which Vision reviews annually)

They have someone to call ANYTIME they need

What Stuart & Catherine have to say

"After getting married and enjoying our honeymoon, it was time to start saving for a deposit for a house and start a family. We had a good savings base and felt we were finally ready to take the plunge and buy our first home. We started to view properties and attended a few auctions, however, we felt a little overwhelmed with the whole process and were worried about all the legalities and the large financial commitment that we were about to undertake.

We felt like we needed some reassurance and a lot of guidance. A work colleague suggested that we contact the Vision team for advice. We soon realised the complexity of our situation and felt relieved that we had help to understand our financial position and navigate our way through all the terminology and legal documentation.

Over the following months Hamish and the team advised us of suitable options on how to proceed. After numerous loan pre-approvals and missed offers we managed to secure our new property. Our guarantors were overseas at the time and we were very anxious that we would miss out on the opportunity to purchase our property. The team work hard in making sure that all the paperwork was complete and connected all the dots so that everything seamlessly came together.

They reassured us throughout the entire process and met every challenge we threw at them. We couldn’t have been happier!"

"After getting married and enjoying our honeymoon, it was time to start saving for a deposit for a house and start a family. We had a good savings base and felt we were finally ready to take the plunge and buy our first home. We started to view properties and attended a few auctions, however, we felt a little overwhelmed with the whole process and were worried about all the legalities and the large financial commitment that we were about to undertake.

We felt like we needed some reassurance and a lot of guidance. A work colleague suggested that we contact the Vision team for advice. We soon realised the complexity of our situation and felt relieved that we had help to understand our financial position and navigate our way through all the terminology and legal documentation.

Over the following months Hamish and the team advised us of suitable options on how to proceed. After numerous loan pre-approvals and missed offers we managed to secure our new property. Our guarantors were overseas at the time and we were very anxious that we would miss out on the opportunity to purchase our property. The team work hard in making sure that all the paperwork was complete and connected all the dots so that everything seamlessly came together.

They reassured us throughout the entire process and met every challenge we threw at them. We couldn’t have been happier!"

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