How do I choose a home loan?
Firstly, it’s important identify what you need, and then find home loan products that suit your situation. Home loans are categorised as follows:
The two main types of home loans
- Fixed rate – an interest rate that’s locked in for a set period of time
OR - Variable rate – an interest rate that fluctuates with the market
The two simple loan uses
- Owner-occupied – for those looking for a property to live in
OR - Investment – for those looking to build a property investment portfolio
The two different repayment types
- Principal & interest – where you pay off the loan amount plus interest
OR - Interest Only loans - where you only pay the interest
There are some basic things to consider:
Interest rate - try and get the lowest rate you can, as even a small difference can add up to thousands of dollars over the life of the loan.
Loan term – this impacts the size of your repayments and the interest you’ll pay (i.e. shorter term = higher repayments but less interest).
Fixed or variable interest rate – a fixed rate helps you budget because your repayments remain the same, but if interest rates fall, you won't benefit. A variable rate usually offers more loan features, but your repayments will go up if interest rates rise.
Loan features – these include redraw or line of credit facilities and an offset account that lets you use your savings to lower the amount of interest you pay and reduce the overall cost of the loan. Most of these features cost extra, so choose a loan with only the features you’ll use.
Loan fees - these can include application fees, valuation fees, annual fees, and settlement fees.
Our Tiimely Home application is different to traditional processes. It’s not a manual form that you fill out digitally, but a live application that assesses your information and eligibility in real time. And because our application process is online, we’re able to use the efficiency of our process to offer some of the best interest rates in the market.
Plus, we have experienced in-house brokers if a Tiimely Own home loan isn’t suitable for you.
If you still have any questions or need a little more information, you can contact us at Tiimely Home to assess your individual needs.