When applying for your first home loan, there are a few things you’ll need to have ready & researched.

The first of which is the various Government schemes:

• First Home Super Saver Scheme.  If you aren’t looking to buy for 6+ months, it’s worth getting this set up ASAP.  It can provide a tax-efficient way of saving for a deposit by making additional pre-tax Superannuation contributions.
• Stamp Duty Exemptions: in QLD, you can get a total exemption on Stamp Duty for under $500,000 or a partial discount for under $550,000.
• First Home Owner’s Grant: this is currently $15,000 in QLD and paid when purchasing or building a new property.
• Home Guarantee Scheme: Single parents can purchase with only a 2% deposit, and first-home buyers can use just a 5% deposit.  The Government will ‘guarantee’ your loan, which means you don’t have to pay the Lender’s Mortgage Insurance, have a higher chance of approval and get more competitive rates.  You must purchase under the Government’s current threshold and meet income/Citizenship requirements.
• Help to Buy: not yet available, but an expected future Labor Government Scheme that will help first-home buyers purchase with only a 2% deposit.

Getting your home loan deposit

The above schemes can help save a deposit and need a lower one.  Ideally, you would get a property with a 5% deposit under the Home Guarantee Scheme.  Failing this, you’ll likely need to save an 8% – 9% deposit – this will cover your 5% deposit requirement + 3% – 4% to cover Lender’s Mortgage Insurance costs.

You’ll also want to make sure at least 5% of your deposit is considered ‘genuine savings.  This means you’ve saved the 5% or held it in the bank for at least 3 months.

Checking your affordability

There are several online calculators available to check your home loan affordability. Still, the most accurate way would be to talk to a Mortgage Broker in Brisbane about your situation and get a formal affordability review.

Note that the figure provided as your maximum loan generally does not include your deposit – so your purchase price may be a little higher.

Applying for a home loan

Your Mortgage Broker can provide you with loan recommendations and explain your chosen bank’s specific process, but the steps are usually to the effect of:

1. Information/document gathering: your Broker will need your basic details, payslips, ID, and other relevant documents.
2. Choose your bank and home loan product.
3. The signing of home loan application & submission.
4. Conditional approval – once the bank asses your loan application, they will sometimes provide a ‘conditional approval’, which means ‘it’s approved, subject to providing XYZ’.
5. Formal approval –at this stage, your bank has approved your loan and has no outstanding conditions.
6. Contract signing – your bank will provide home loan contracts for you to complete and sign.
7. Settlement – You’ll need to pay your deposit on the settlement day.  Your Solicitor will arrange this payment on your behalf.

And that’s it.  The whole process can be a little more complicated, but this is the bones of it, and your Mortgage Broker, Solicitor, and Real Estate Agent should be able to guide you through the process smoothly.