Work on your credit score
Your credit history is one of the first things that the lending institutions look at when they review your home loan application. It clearly outlines a person’s financial and credit performances in the past which holds a serious weighting as to whether or not you qualify for a loan, the amount you qualify for and the interest rate you stand to pay.
You are entitled to apply for a credit report on yourself every year from the government credit bureau, free of charge. You should carefully analyse your report before applying for your home loan so that you can take steps to improve it wherever you can. Be on the lookout for incorrect records and if there are any mistakes, write to the credit bureau in question, explaining what needs to be changed and why. Remember to send your requests through with all the necessary supporting documentation wherever necessary.

Calculate affordability
Credit providers have to perform an affordability assessment before granting credit. This process takes into account all your financial obligations, such as home loans, vehicle finance, overdrafts, credit cards, secured loans, and domestic expenditure, which are compared to the value of your assets and income in order to calculate your current financial standing. You should do your own assessment by using one of the many affordability calculators on the Mortgage Plus website. Here, you can input all your current monthly payments, debts and other expenses in order to calculate what size home loan you can afford. This is a very good exercise, as it will show you what you could possibly cut back on in order to qualify for a higher loan.
However, you need to remember that the mortgage repayment is not the only thing you need to factor in with regards to affordability. Owning a home involves various additional expenses, such as paying rates and taxes, electricity and water bills, homeowners insurance, sufficient life cover on your mortgage, as well as the cost of maintaining your property. It would also be prudent to factor in headroom for any potential interest rate hikes – you should be able to cope with a minimum of a 2% increase over the next 12 to 18 months.
Any lender needs to determine that you have had a stable income for at least two years. As such, self-employed individuals or commission earners will need to prove this aspect of their income before a home loan will be granted.

Save, save and save some more
It is essential that you improve your disposable income by as much as you can, as credit lenders will take this into account when they calculate the size of home loan you qualify for. For every R1 300 you can save on your monthly financial obligations, you will be able to increase your home loan spending power by a full R100 000. Also, being able to save a big deposit of around 20% to 30% offers the lenders assurance that you are working towards a good credit rating and that you have the financial means to meet future obligations relating to the loan. The bottom line is that the more money you have saved to put towards buying your home, the better chance you will have for being approved for a home loan.

Work with a home loan originator
In order for you application to go through smoothly, you should get all the required documentation ready beforehand. Applying for your home loan with the help of a mortgage originator instead of taking the DIY approach will greatly improve your chances of success. Mortgage originators are professionals who understand the various procedures of the different banks. They know which paperwork to submit to motivate your application, they can help negotiate the best possible interest rates and they will help you through the entire process until your home loan is finally registered. The best part is that this service is free of charge for the homebuyer.

CONTACT US

Speak to a home loan consultant about financing your new property or reviewing your existing mortgage. We are able to assist in lowering your bond repayments and securing attorney discounts.

Complete this short form online

Call us on 011.327.4489

Email: morne@mortgagepluscc.co.za

www.mortgagepluscc.co.za

PRETORIA – House prices in the cities of Cape Town and Johannesburg have shown the steadiest increase of all the major metropolitan areas in the country since the turn-around from negative growth in the second quarter of 2009. This is according to the latest house price index released by property research group Lightstone. The index (recorded until March 2010) also shows that properties in the ‘affordable’ band are performing well above other bands like the ‘luxury’ and ‘mid value’ bands.

Although Johannesburg has led the pack in annualised month to month house price inflation for 2010, the city’s figures took a dip from 8.7% in January and 9.2% in February to 8.6% in March. Cape Town however did not see the same reversal. Figures for the Mother City were 7.7% in January, 8.8% in February and 9.0% in March 2010. In the February/March period figures for the rest of the metros remained flat, accept for eThekwini which rose from 5.4% to 5.5%. The Nelson Mandela Metro fared the worst over this period declining from 2.0% to 0.8%.

Property price inflation also increased steadily for both coastal and non-coastal properties since the 2009 turnaround began, although it seems that the rate of inflation is starting to decrease for non-coastal properties. These figures were 7.4% in January, 8.2% in February and 8.4% in March 2010. Coastal properties on the other hand have retained a steadier pace of increase for 2010 at 4.5% in January, 5.3% in February and 7.4% in March.

Lightstone CEO Anthony Miller warned that the month-to-month data sets for February and March should not be seen in isolation and that they could contain data anomalies owing to various factors. 

Freehold properties have also outperformed their sectional title counterparts. Freehold property inflation was 7.9% for January, 9.0% for February and 10% for March this year, whereas sectional properties have shown a decline from a flat 7.1% in January and February to 6.8% in March.

According to the Lightstone data, the most lucrative sector remains the mid and affordable bands. Inflation in the affordable band rose from 10.9% in January, to 14.3%, but declined sharply to 12.6% in March this year.  In the mid-sector figures were 8.3% in January, 9.1% in February and 9.3% in March, compared to the luxury and high value sectors which showed increases of 7.3-8.0% and 7.2-8.0% respectively.

FNB Property Strategist John Loos says their Estate Agents Survey shows that Cape Town was indeed the city with the strongest demand in the 1^st quarter of 2010, but that the rate of decline in inflation was quicker for Cape Town than Johannesburg during the 2^nd quarter of the year. Loos also confirmed that the Nelson Mandela metro was their weakest performer during the 1^st quarter, mainly because industrialised cities were worst hit by the recession.

Loos was however, surprised by the sharp decline in the affordable price band shown by the Lightstone data and says that their figures don’t correspond. He added that their coastal figures were also somewhat different and showed much weaker performance. “They [Lightstone] measure their coastal properties as properties within 500 metres from the shoreline. We measure whole coastal towns and our data definitely showed year-on-year deflation in the first quarter of this year.”

Lightstone’s Anthony Miller confirmed the differences in data capturing methods for coastal properties and said that he would like to see another month or two’s data before drawing any conclusions on the coastal property market or any other trends for that matter. According to Miller, an early speculative conclusion may be that “there is a recognition that the market has largely bottomed out and that people who have capital are looking to buy bargain holiday properties”.

By choosing Mortgage Plus for a loan, you will get that continual service to make sure you are getting the best deal possible.

CONTACT US

Speak to a home loan consultant about financing your new property or reviewing your existing mortgage. We are able to assist in lowering your bond repayments and securing attorney discounts.

Complete this short form online
Call us on 011.327.4489
Email: morne@mortgagepluscc.co.za

www.mortgagepluscc.co.za