Refinancing to a lower interest rate sounds like a good idea. But do the numbers stack up? Mortgage Lab CEO Rupert Gough takes you through what to consider before making the move.

"Today we are talking to all those people who currently have mortgages and are looking for a better mortgage rate from another bank.  We’re going to look at what you need to know about interest rates and when it’s good to refinance and when it’s not a good strategy.

So, you’ve got a fixed-term interest rate maturing soon and the bank or your broker has sent you some interest rates. Maybe your current bank is offering 0.1% higher than another bank in the market; should you refinance your mortgage to get the better rate?

Before we can answer that question, we need to consider how much of a difference the interest rate difference will make.  In theory, it should always make sense to move to a cheaper bank however, even with very large dollar numbers, the first calculation we need to do is find out if it is worth the bother."

You can watch a video on the same subject here: https://youtu.be/ProZ9fq0ZK0

If you are unsure where to start or have any questions, don't hesitate to contact the team at mortgagelab.co.nz/contact-us, we're here to help.

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Want to increase the amount the bank will lend you for a mortgage? Mortgage Lab CEO tells you how it can be done.

"In our last video we asked the question, what is your mortgage number.  Essentially, what is the maximum you can borrow at the best bank for you in your current financial situation.  Today we’re going to look at what you can do when your mortgage number is not enough to get the house you want.

Everyone who is paying rent can borrow something.  You’re already making regular payments to a landlord so some part of your income is going to living costs.  The problem is that banks test what you can afford at a much higher servicing rate - at the time of recording, around 7.3%.  And for most people, their current rent when put towards a mortgage of 7.3% doesn’t add up to much.  The rest of your purchase has to be made up from your savings or, in other words, is made up of what you don’t spend from your income in any given month.

Based on that, here are 5 tips for increasing your mortgage number or 5 tips on how to get the bank to lend you more.  If you think we’ve missed anything, drop us a comment and tell us how you managed to increase your mortgage number."

You can watch a video on the same subject here: https://youtu.be/IBeVP7cGlHg

If you are unsure where to start or have any questions, don't hesitate to contact the team at mortgagelab.co.nz/contact-us, we're here to help.

You can watch more of these articles by subscribing to our YouTube channel.
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Everybody has a mortgage number.  That is, everyone has an amount of money that a lender is willing to lend to them to purchase a house.  Mortgage Lab CEO Rupert Gough talks you through what your mortgage number might be and how you can confidently calculate it.

"When you hear that a friend or a workmate or just a random person in the news was declined for a mortgage what you’re actually hearing is that the mortgage amount they applied for exceeded their personal mortgage number at one or more lenders.

And here’s the first thing you need to know about your personal mortgage number.  It varies from lending institution to lending institution.  And I know what you’re thinking; it can’t be that much, it must be a standardised way of calculating affordability.  But because this is a leveraged transaction, in other words, you only need about $9,000 per $100,000 that you are borrowing, a small difference in the way the banks calculate income makes a big difference in the amount they will lend you..."

You can watch a video on the same subject here: https://youtu.be/2bVeGkW-Q3E

If you are unsure where to start or have any questions, don't hesitate to contact the team at mortgagelab.co.nz/contact-us, we're here to help.

You can watch more of these articles by subscribing to our YouTube channel.
You can follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Youtube and LinkedIn.