Hit a huge hurdle yesterday. For those that don't know Jordan Springs falls in an area which receives the Housing Affordability Fund. The fund was set-up by the Australian government to entice people to building brand new homes to stimulate the economy and to stimulate new property being built due to Australia's housing shortage. Jordan Springs rebate came to a total of $22,600. To get this the purchaser needs to submit building plans and a building contract at settlement.
Well last year (December) we had to obviously place our deposit on our land for the 5%, to do that we went to the banks and ensured there were not going to be any issues. We got everything pre-approved basically. The land we got approved but obviously our land was being released in June so we would have to sit on the approval until then. If you have been readin the blog you will know that our first loan attemp was knocked back because mortgage insurers wouldn't cover the grant (Keep in mind that there is only 2 mortgage insurers in Australia that the banks use). See this post for what happened before... OMG! What is wrong with Jordan Springs!!
Anyway for some reason Westpac had on our loan contract that it expired April 24th and told us that there's no issues in just simply extending the loan, we would have to submit some payslips and savings again. They made us jump through hoops but we did it. A few weeks went by and I told Peta that something was up, this should have come back straight away, what happened next blew me away.
The other mortgage insurers are now saying what the Bankwest insurers were saying, they have valued the land less exactly $22,000. The amount of the grant. We've now been told we have to cover the difference. This is after we've paid a deposit on the land and a 2% payment to draw up our plans. We've basically spent $20,000 already.
The issue for us now is we have to use our construction loan 5% deposit to settle on the land. Obviously we will get the $22,600 back afterwards but all our plans have been stuffed up. We also need to find $9500 to settle with a building contract so we can get the grant, as we'll be $9500 short of the 5% building deposit payment.
So beware, the mortgage insurers are doing a dirty trick, and there out to screw people over. I'll be looking to write to the government in the next day or so and see what I can do it about, in the mean time I'll have to start selling my overweight body to try and find $9500 in two months.
Hello. Its not the mortgage insurers that are doing this to you. Its the valuers that the banks use.
ReplyDeleteThe Banks appoint an external valuer and when the valuer finds out that there is any form of cash back in place they then look to effectivly "reduce" the valuation of the land. This reduction in your land price reduces the total security - which is why they are telling you that you need to put more into the deal.
I have done approx 10 loans for clients at Ropes Crossing which had the same deal with cashbacks coming back to the clients but I was able to still provide the finance for them.
I think that you should find another bank to have a look at this for you.
Also there is more than 2 mortgage insurers because alot of banks are self ensuring at the moment as well.
(ps I am a lending manager in Penrith so give me a call if you want a chat or any advice. 0427998111)
Cheers Drew
Thanks Drew, we tried 3 banks and had the same result for all 3. Do you know of any other banks who don't do this?
ReplyDeleteWe decided to just to live with it after the third and our land settles in about 10 days too. The two times after Westpac we were told a similar thing, we'll do it our insurers will pass it. Then they tell us they won't on approval.