With Spring just around the corner, we’ve seen a significant increase in activity with potential house hunters getting ready to get back into the market as soon as more housing stock hits the market as expected. Prospective buyers are already reporting increases in new property becoming available and my advice is to prepare your finance as soon as possible so you’re ready to make offers and bid at auctions. If you’re working with a buyer’s agent (which should always be the case in my opinion), they’ll want you to be ready with your loan finance as they often move very quickly in order to beat competing buyers.
Pre approvals can take between 1 to 3 weeks to process depending on the complexity of your situation and the popularity of your lender at the time of application. In particular, when lenders have special promotions, they’ll be inundated with new applications, slowing their processing times significantly. Most people incorrectly assume a pre approval is a quick process – it’s not, so it’s a process you should get underway as quickly as possible if you’re ready to seriously start looking. Many lenders will advertise a ‘on the spot’ pre approval, however this generally isn’t worth the paper it’s written on. It will be subject to every condition and check possible and if there are any elements of your situation that are slightly outside the square, this may not be picked up at the time. A proper pre approval undergoes a full assessment process by a pre-credit and credit team. They’ll check your overall asset and liability position, your ability to service new and existing debts, confirm your employment and run a credit check on you and review your paperwork to assess your financial behaviour. These steps all take time and need to follow set bank processes. And with so many ongoing and significant changes by the government regulator APRA, there’s no assuming that banks will automatically lend to you.
My team and I are here to help provide advice on your situation, how much you can and should borrow as well as bank products, policy and processing. We’re also here to help with the house hunting research and strategy. If you, your friends or family need advice on existing or new loans, or buying property, contact me on 0412 210 099 or alycia@stoneturn.com.au.
