Buying property is stressful, especially when you are selling at the same time. You have to organise meetings with lawyers, builders and electricians just to make sure the property is worth buying. At the end of the day, it comes back to money and how much you need to get for the home you’ve always wanted. Where to start? Do you stick with your local bank or meet a mortgage broker?

Living mortgage-free is the dream of most home owners. But unfortunately for many, it’s just not a reality in the foreseeable future, with home loans following a lot of people into retirement.

Building your own home is a dream come true for most people. Before you choose a section or start thinking about designs, you first need to secure the necessary finance. Buying an existing property is very different from building new, including how they are financed. Below we outline what is involved with financing a new home build.

From the French, a mortgage or ‘death pledge’ morbidly refers to ‘debt until death.’ Where as early as 1481 peasants used property as collateral, and repaid loans to a lender who could repossess the property if the debt went unpaid. Not much has changed in the nearly 800 years since.

You find the home of your dreams, it has everything you’re looking for, in the right location and within your budget. There’s just one small problem: You haven’t sold your existing property yet. How can you buy the new house without the capital from selling your current home?

Why do property prices change? A home can be worth $400,000 one year and $550,000 the next! Interest rates keep moving , making it difficult to decide whether to choose a fixed, capped, or floating rate mortgage. When it come to understanding mortgages, there are a number of factors that influence property interest rates. Here’s what to look out for if you’re thinking of buying or selling.