Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Welcome back to the Perth Property Bros with Josh and Carlos.
[00:00:03] Speaker B: You're pushing your luck.
[00:00:07] Speaker A: I'm going to keep pushing it, man.
All right, and welcome. And we've got our special guest, Stephen Poole.
[00:00:16] Speaker B: Welcome, Steve.
[00:00:17] Speaker C: Thank you, Carlos.
[00:00:18] Speaker B: Josh.
[00:00:19] Speaker A: Yes, yes, lovely to be here. Definitely. We've been asked, we've been telling this for a while, isn't it? We've been wanting Stephen Pool on air and we've been needing a couple weeks.
[00:00:27] Speaker B: Yeah, we've got to get Steve in. Yeah, we tried to get Kirsten in too, but she was no, she said no, not coming in. She's only around the corner, you know, so I was harassing both of them. So Stephen and I are in the same Rotary Club.
[00:00:41] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:00:42] Speaker B: We are both members of the Rotary Club of Rockingham and we get to see each other every week, we get to have dinner every week, we get to be involved in the markets and all the other Rotary events and I finally convinced him to come on board, so.
And he was our sergeant for the last year and really he was the.
[00:01:00] Speaker A: Bell dinger in, in Rotary.
[00:01:03] Speaker B: In Rotary y take over his job a few times. So.
[00:01:08] Speaker C: Thank you.
[00:01:09] Speaker A: So Steven, Steven obviously is a mortgage broker. He's a finance specialist with Nectar Mortgages. Right. And Steve brings the sharp understanding of both the Australian property market and lending landscape with a passion for helping first home buyers and clients who think they run out of options. His calm, professional approach make finance less intimidating and far more accessible.
[00:01:32] Speaker C: Thank you.
[00:01:33] Speaker A: Welcome, Stephen. So Stephen, me and. And Carlos has been, you know, the whole show has been trying to prop up this hour that you are here. We've been going back and forth about, you know, why mortgage brokers are amazing in what they do and stuff. So let's just start briefly, even before we jump into all that just a little bit. What does mortgage broker do, how do they benefit buyers? And you know, how we work well with real estate agents?
[00:02:00] Speaker C: Well, interestingly enough, I think the landscape that mortgage brokers operate in has definitely matured to the point where over 75% of all loans written are through brokers.
[00:02:16] Speaker A: Through mortgage brokers. Yeah.
[00:02:17] Speaker C: And I think the key advantage of having a broker is the ability to look across the suite of lenders that are in the market to be able to identify, I guess, the most appropriate and the best fitting lender for each particular client.
It's very much a case where all lenders certainly are not all the same.
They have different property or, sorry, product options.
Some specialise in areas where the loans are fairly straightforward and conventional.
Others look outside the Box and are prepared to sit down with people who perhaps are new, new to business and don't necessarily have the financial history that others do.
So yes, it's the ability of the broker to be able to match the client and the product together.
[00:03:19] Speaker A: Correct. So I mean, gone were the days when you just walk into one bank and you say, hey, I would like to borrow this amount.
Now you're going to a mortgage broker who has access to what, 40, 50 different. You know, and you're not only talking about the big four, you're talking about a second tier, third tier private lenders.
Exactly, yeah. So obviously you've got all this option available to you now. Now that. So they have to be competitive on the market, isn't it?
[00:03:44] Speaker C: Without question.
[00:03:46] Speaker A: And to your point, I think what you mentioned was there's always a product out there that will suit your scenario. It doesn't have to be the best in terms of rates and stuff, but it will suit your scenario and your. Exactly your lending criteria.
[00:03:58] Speaker C: And often people have some financial challenges and may for whatever reason have been a little late on their payments for various things.
[00:04:07] Speaker B: That's right.
[00:04:08] Speaker C: And the big four banks will of course just reject you out of hand.
Whereas there are as you suggest, a suite of lenders who are quite comfortable about talking to you.
[00:04:18] Speaker B: You know, Sorry, sorry to interject there. I was just going to say that earlier on we were talking about people that have been in Part 9 debt agreements.
How does that affect their borrowing capacity in your view?
[00:04:34] Speaker C: Again, we would direct them to talk to specialist lenders who are comfortable with that.
Private lenders or no, generally speaking, there are a range of lenders who operate in that space. So Pepper, Money, Latrobe, you know, Bluestone mortgages, there's a raft of them who are quite comfortable there. Again, they will even consider people who have just come out of bankruptcy. Okay, so there's definitely a lender there that will accommodate your situation no matter what.
[00:05:13] Speaker B: Well, there's more to it, isn't there? Sometimes it isn't people's fault.
Sometimes they've really, they've gone down with a ship in a relationship breakup or maybe it was a business venture or something, but they've got a good track history or they're good people, they actually have the capacity.
They're earning well. It's just they've got this black mark against their name.
[00:05:31] Speaker C: That's right.
[00:05:31] Speaker B: It's actually good that some of these lenders will actually dig a bit deeper, provided you're honest with them.
[00:05:37] Speaker C: Oh, no question and disclose.
[00:05:40] Speaker B: Because if you don't. It's a cross.
[00:05:42] Speaker C: Exactly.
[00:05:43] Speaker B: And a big red stamp that says decline.
[00:05:47] Speaker C: Covid was a case in point where a lot of small businesses, of course, struggled and many went out of business.
And certainly I have one client that we refinanced and same situation, they had debts that sadly they accumulated and eventually had to close the business and work into or work into a payg job.
That was fine. But as you suggest, there was that mark against them on the credit file. Yet several lenders that we presented them to were quite comfortable with that because their history prior and certainly since that time has been exemplary.
[00:06:30] Speaker B: Is there any limit there, Steve, into how far back they look? Say if you finished, you completed paying your Part 9 debt agreement off, I don't know, say 10, 15 years ago.
Do you still have to tell them?
[00:06:46] Speaker C: In most cases that would not be on their credit file.
So from a broker's perspective, if there's any of that type of history, the first thing we would do is run a credit report for that particular client and we would assess that report. And if there's no mention of the debt agreement, then that's fine.
As far as the incoming lender is concerned, it doesn't need to be disclosed. I mean, I had a conversation with one the other day about a client who'd had late payment history.
And I said to them, well, how far back do you want to go? And she said, well, have they had any issues in the last six months? And I said, no, none at all. Fine, that's it. We don't want to look. We don't need to know any further information.
[00:07:36] Speaker B: The reason I ask is some of these applications come to a declaration section.
[00:07:40] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:07:41] Speaker B: And the, the wording used there sometimes can say something like, have you ever, ever? Well, that means for the last 50 years, been involved in, you know, have you ever committed an act of bankruptcy, even though, say, a part nine isn't bankruptcy, it's an act of bankruptcy?
[00:07:56] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:07:56] Speaker B: And my understanding is that if you do do that, you end up listed on the National Personal Insolvency Index, which is for life.
Is that something you check? It's something I've always wanted to know, actually, from a broker's perspective. Do you check that or do they check that?
[00:08:12] Speaker C: Well, as I say, if there's any suggestion of this sort of all these challenges that clients would have experienced in the past, we definitely run a credit file check for them before we approach a lender. That way we can avoid a situation where they have an automatic decline.
So, for example, if you want to one of the larger banks, they automatically do a credit score and if there's any issues in terms of payment history, automatically it will be declined. Whereas there are other lenders who don't do that credit check.
They will at some point have a look at their credit file, but it's not automatic and they will consider each situation case by case.
[00:09:03] Speaker B: It's very different between lenders, honestly. I've had two personal experience experiences where I years ago I borrowed money through a company called Resimac.
[00:09:13] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:09:14] Speaker B: And that took months to get that approved. It was back and forth more information, more information that just kept digging deeper, deeper into my companies. They wanted more and more information.
Every week they seemed to be something else. And you think it was almost, you know, I think it was two, three months we were chasing that. Then I went through the nab, my own bank. The next time I thought, I'm not going to go through these guys again.
I went to the NAB and I had pre approval in four hours. From walking out of that branch, I got a message saying, you're all approved, done, you're approved up to X amount, done.
And that was just going into the bank and I just, I gave them all they wanted to see was two tax returns. Two consecutive tax returns.
[00:09:54] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:09:55] Speaker B: The last financial year, the one before. I just basically shared that file from my phone and it came back instantly.
[00:10:06] Speaker C: That's very much the case with the major lenders. They want a minimum of two years history if you've been self employed, whereas specialist lenders will often be happy to look at bank statements, bash statements or a letter from an accountant confirming and verifying income. And it can be as simple as that.
So as you suggest, horses for courses.
[00:10:34] Speaker A: That'S all interesting. So tell us, there's a bit of a. Obviously there's lots happening in the market at the moment, isn't it, Stephen? Lots of changes recently. Obviously we've got the two interest rate drops happened and, you know, we still see, you know, we're still massively under supplied. There's still big demands, interest rates coming down, population still growing. We're still seeing lots of, you know, the pressure of house prices going up. What are you seeing in the market now, Stephen, especially with your clients coming through to see you? Tell us a little bit about the market. Where, where do you think we're heading in terms of finance floor?
[00:11:10] Speaker C: What I'd like to do, if you don't mind, Josh, is give you a little bit of, I guess a snapshot of where things are at nationally and also how that impacts Perth specifically, or WA.
[00:11:23] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:11:24] Speaker C: So interestingly enough, if we look at 2025, the first quarter growth in the Perth property market's about 1.3%.
You look at last 12 months over 8.6%.
Compare that with Brisbane grew, I think about 7.1, Adelaide 1.6, but then Sydney and Melbourne were down as low as 1%.
So vastly different situation in the markets.
The five year growth rates, fascinating for birth over 80% compared to Adelaide 73.
[00:12:09] Speaker B: Brisbane 73, prices up 80% in five years.
[00:12:12] Speaker C: Correct. Yes. But I think if you looked prior to that time, I have a daughter who's lived in Perth about 15 years and they bought a property and the price languished for probably seven or eight years post 2013, mate, it was little or no growth.
So suddenly we've seen an upsurge and a number of factors affecting that. Josh, you mentioned things like population growth, for example.
So we're cracking 3 million in WA.
But the point is we've got 86,000 immigrants coming into the state each year. So they're having a massive impact on demand, property demand.
Even though regional WA's also experience significant growth. I see that 85% growth in the last five years. And interestingly enough, we were talking earlier about the fact that vacancy rates have actually improved significantly to the point where you were suggesting 2.8%. And I think everybody in the property market likes to see vacancy rates around 2 and a half to 3% somewhere in that. And you go back to 2023, it was 0.5%.
So a massive change there.
Again, I guess the, the other thing that's a challenge for WA is the supply of property.
So at the moment we're seeing the growth, or, sorry, the, the new builds are significantly down year on year. 24 to 25, 25 looks like being a slightly better year, but we're still probably less than half of what the state requires.
[00:14:14] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:14:15] Speaker C: So of the 86,000 immigrants that are coming in, I think Core logic have determined that 38% of those, only 38% of those will buy a property within five years. Yeah, that's right. So the rest of those people are going to rent.
[00:14:32] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:14:33] Speaker C: And if there's not the supply of available properties, it's a challenge for them. And I'm sure many people would have experienced the circumstance where they went to a home, open or rental open, and had 20 or 30 groups ahead of them.
[00:14:52] Speaker B: Try a hundred.
What was the one that you went to? Or was it 100, 150?
[00:14:57] Speaker A: It was 150. He's talking about the one in.
[00:15:04] Speaker B: The north side.
[00:15:05] Speaker A: Morley. Oh, yeah, Morley. Yeah. No, that was about 70 people. But yeah, it was still quite significant though.
Yeah, so, yeah, it is. It is still crazy.
[00:15:16] Speaker C: What's interesting though is again we've just had an interest rate decrease. So I think a lot of people are looking ahead over the next 12 months and I guess polishing the crystal ball, trying to determine where we go to from here, Steve, don't you?
[00:15:32] Speaker A: Good old crystal ball.
[00:15:37] Speaker C: Currently our inflation rate I think is around 2.9%. So it's in the Reserve Bank's 2 to 3% band.
And there's suggestion that in the next few months it should drop to somewhere around 2.6%.
So that's good in so much as it's setting a scene where future rates are probably quite.
The probability is quite significant. However, I heard mentioned the other day that the very tight labor market and of course we only have around 4.1% unemployment, which again, I think from an economist's perspective is too low. 5 to 6% is probably the ideal position for the economy to be in balance. So that suggests that still there's a lot more Demand out there.
GDP sitting at 1.3%, hopefully up to 2% by the end of the year, but it's still. That's a fairly low figure.
You know, again, I'm sure the government would like to see, you know, improvements in productivity and therefore GDP growth above that kind of figure.
[00:16:52] Speaker B: Yeah, 3 to 4%, isn't it?
[00:16:55] Speaker C: Would be ideal.
[00:16:56] Speaker B: Ideal, yeah.
[00:16:58] Speaker C: Interestingly enough, you would talk about new builds. I think over the last 12 months we've built just over 20,000 homes in Perth.
And yeah, how that's going to carry forward from here, not really sure.
Obviously the government is very much looking to support policies that are going to see the expansion of new builds. But I think we hear time and time again that part of the issue is labor shortages or skilled labour shortages.
[00:17:32] Speaker B: Your figure there of 80,000 immigrants, is that as in New West Australians or Australia wide?
[00:17:37] Speaker C: No, that's New West Australia.
[00:17:38] Speaker B: New West Australia. So that doesn't add up, does it? 20,000 new home builds, 80,000 coming in.
[00:17:44] Speaker C: That's right.
[00:17:44] Speaker B: And this is if it's compounding every year.
[00:17:47] Speaker C: Exactly.
[00:17:47] Speaker B: Not catching up.
[00:17:48] Speaker C: And overall in Australia the figure is somewhere between 2 and 300,000 in total immigrants. So the shortfall in certainly a lot of the eastern states is still there. Not maybe as significant as it is in wa.
So anyway, the other thing that we're Seeing obviously is a rise as a result of that demand in pricing.
It was suggested 23, 24. We saw prices rise about 18 or 19% last year. 24 over 20%. 24 around that figure. So we've seen average house prices go from 6 mid-600s to mid-700s last year and we're talking now this year of probably around mid eights.
So significant change there. Clearly we're seeing an uptick in apartment and townhouse growth which is good. But again median prices there are still rising, so definitely still a challenging market.
[00:19:00] Speaker B: And what's your figure there on the median house price there? I just did a very quick Google search earlier while Josh and I were talking because I had it come up first of all. So we're always keeping an eye on this.
For May, I had 780 and then it went up two weeks later to 8:13. And I've currently got it at 8:48, 980.
[00:19:22] Speaker C: Well I had 8:49. So we.
[00:19:27] Speaker B: High fives around. We got it, we hit the mark. Where are you getting your information from, Josh?
[00:19:32] Speaker A: Rewa. Rewa.com.
[00:19:36] Speaker B: See, we're already ganging up on Josh.
[00:19:39] Speaker C: Interestingly enough, we talk about the ability to build more homes.
Certainly the government is providing land and they are trying to streamline processes for approvals.
[00:19:54] Speaker B: Oh we have land, there's plenty of land.
[00:19:56] Speaker C: So that really isn't the constraint.
One of the issues is trying to get tradespeople or people through the trade system, particularly through tafe.
And there is an initiative now to increase the number of places in tafe, especially in the construction related industries.
Also the government are looking at ensuring there's basically little or no cost for those courses, again to encourage participants.
However, I was listening the other day to one of the government ministers and the challenge we're having is that of people who are starting these courses, only around 50%, 50% are completing their apprenticeships or courses.
[00:20:53] Speaker B: So they've got their own constraints too, getting them through.
[00:20:56] Speaker C: Well, that's very much the case and I think part of it is the fact that young people, of course, the. If you become an apprentice, your income for the first few years is abysmal.
Yes, it is pretty, pretty slim.
[00:21:15] Speaker B: It's about as much as a Rotarian.
[00:21:19] Speaker C: And so of course when they cast their eyes around to their friends and people, especially those who may be working or of an age where they can work in the mining industry, they're gaining money. Yeah, they look at that and think, no government.
[00:21:36] Speaker A: This is crazy.
[00:21:37] Speaker C: Why would I continue four years Earning at this level when I can walk out and earn 10 times the income.
[00:21:45] Speaker B: Just to be clear, that statistic there, we've got the. We're talking about course only prior to apprenticeship. Or is this a completed apprenticeship?
[00:21:54] Speaker C: Completed apprenticeships.
[00:21:55] Speaker B: Okay. Yeah. Because then they would have to. They would potentially drop off again, wouldn't it? After the fact, once they start working, some of them may not last two years, three years, five years.
[00:22:07] Speaker C: No, that would be right. And I guess part of it is that you don't know whether the trade that you're taking up is going to be particularly suited to you.
Case in point, my grandson recently did three months bricklaying and while, albeit as a laborer, because he wasn't, I guess he didn't have the skills at that point in time.
[00:22:37] Speaker B: But you learn, that's what you get involved to learn, don't you?
[00:22:40] Speaker C: Exactly. But the income he was earning was more than acceptable.
[00:22:44] Speaker B: Oh, really?
[00:22:45] Speaker C: Oh, yeah. Yes.
However, I guess at the end of the day, he looked ahead at that and said, is this something I want to do for the next 30 or 40 years of my life? And in reality, he felt, no, I want something that probably challenges my mind a little more than bricklaying. That isn't to say that bricklayers are a vital part of the construction industry.
[00:23:10] Speaker B: Well, luckily he's young enough to be able to say, hey, I can and do something else.
[00:23:14] Speaker C: Exactly.
[00:23:14] Speaker B: A bit more difficult in your 40s and 50s to make a massive career change.
[00:23:18] Speaker C: So I think the government certainly has some challenges on their hands, in particular trying to increase the number of people and, you know, participating in TAFAN apprenticeships to complete.
Because there's no doubt once they have that skill again, they can go into sectors like mining, of course, and earn big money. But there's also the potential for them to start their own businesses.
And there are many successful builders who started off as tradespeople. Yeah, so I think it's. The challenge is to get these young people to look ahead and not necessarily see as it is just now, today, and see the opportunity that that is.
[00:24:06] Speaker B: There for them because we need the skilled trades to be coming into the industries. And, you know, we're talking about builders, plumbers, electricians, brickies.
We need these guys qualified and operating to be able to build these houses that we need, interestingly enough. So just while we've been on the show, I got a message that we've got a new listing coming up in Eglinton and I've been watching the builds up there. Two actually stood out to me. One is the precast brick.
Sorry, precast concrete walls that sort of come up like a jigsaw.
[00:24:42] Speaker C: Yes, yes.
[00:24:43] Speaker B: Those homes going up very quickly and efficiently, they don't delay bricks anymore. They precast off site, bring in with a crane and the house is up in half a day, ready to go, ready to start plumbing and roof and whatever. Whatever. The other project was a 3D printed home.
[00:25:00] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:25:01] Speaker B: Which is a new business in Perth that is knocking these houses out, I think, in a third of the time that it will normally take. Obviously there's constraints down the line. I mean, they might be able to put the frames up, put the, the structures up or whatever very quickly, but we still need these trays.
[00:25:18] Speaker C: Supporting trades, electricians, the plumbers, the roofers, Tylers. Yes. You know.
[00:25:24] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:25:25] Speaker C: And look, you're quite right there. I was listening to a company, a local company who is basically building modular homes. So what they do is they build the frames in the factory and then once the slab is laid, they deliver to the site, the frames are thrown up and you have a structure within probably less than a week.
Then it's a case of obviously cladding and roofing and the like. But, you know, you're talking about realistically a three to four months build, whereas on average, I think it's probably closer to 12 months for the current building techniques that are being used.
[00:26:09] Speaker B: Yeah, I know, it's crazy. We used to knock them up in six weeks to three months.
Three months was, it was a long, long build time over east.
[00:26:17] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:26:18] Speaker B: Whereas now, you know, Stephen, I've met people, people, I'd say at least three in the last 12 months that are four years in four years waiting for turnkey. That's completely unacceptable. Not only that, they've had to fork.
[00:26:33] Speaker C: Out more money, of course, because the.
[00:26:35] Speaker A: Cost has gone up.
[00:26:38] Speaker B: I know we've got to go to a break, but I want to ask you very quickly, these, These modular builds, 3D printed precast concrete homes that come together, do they affect people's ability to borrow against them?
[00:26:54] Speaker C: No, not, not at all. I think certain banks do have parameters in relation to the size of homes.
[00:27:05] Speaker B: 30 square meters or 35 square meters.
[00:27:07] Speaker C: Especially for apartments and townhouses and things of that nature. But generally speaking, I think it's all about homes meeting the required building standards.
And providing they do that, it really becomes the owner to decide on what format of home they want. Do they want a double brick, brick veneer? Do they want, you know, as I say, modular with a wooden frame and maybe a panel exterior, as you Said precast concrete walls, etc. So it's very much a case where I think people need to do the research and decide the type of home they want.
[00:27:51] Speaker B: It's got an occupancy permit and the value assigned off on it on behalf of the bank or the lender. We're good to go.
[00:28:00] Speaker C: Yeah, no question. Because during the build, building finance through, through or majority of lenders will have an inspector come out on site just to ensure the progress of the build is commensurate with the original plan.
[00:28:18] Speaker B: The building surveyor.
[00:28:19] Speaker C: Yes. And they will sign off on the cost because the builder wants to be paid progressively during the construction period. And so they sign off at various stages and then the bank releases the funds to the builder and your mortgage.
[00:28:36] Speaker B: Starts to increase steadily and steadily.
[00:28:38] Speaker C: Well, yes, although most, most lenders have a facility where certainly during the build period you, you only pay interest. Only repayments.
[00:28:49] Speaker B: Okay, Interest only on the money that they've released.
[00:28:52] Speaker C: Yes, correct.
[00:28:53] Speaker B: Yeah. Okay.
[00:28:54] Speaker C: Progressively through the.
[00:28:55] Speaker B: Progressively going up.
[00:28:56] Speaker C: So there is, I guess, a degree of cash flow management required. But that notwithstanding certainly makes. It all facilitates, I guess, the financial process while the build's underway.
[00:29:11] Speaker B: Absolutely loving having Stephen on the show. You know, I've said to him from day one to the day I met him, his voice is like a radio.
[00:29:21] Speaker C: Thank you.
[00:29:22] Speaker B: Honestly, every single Rotary meeting, when he'd read the opening charge, I'm like, oh, this man should be on the radio. Not a face for radio.
[00:29:35] Speaker C: The best music from the 60s to today.
IPL radio.
[00:29:41] Speaker A: All right. And you're back with the Perth Property Bros. With Josh and Carlos. And that was bad to the bone.
[00:29:47] Speaker B: Thank you for.
[00:29:58] Speaker A: And obviously we're here with Stephen Poole, our mortgage broker. Thank you very much, Stephen. Again, it's been quite an insightful talk earlier.
[00:30:06] Speaker C: Thank you.
[00:30:07] Speaker A: So I think we've got a little bit more to cover. A little bit about interest rate, wasn't it that you wanted to see?
[00:30:11] Speaker C: Yes, well, I, I thought it would be interesting just to pass on some commentary in relation to that, that currently we have a cash rate of 3.85 as a result of the most recent 0.25% change by the Reserve Bank.
I think most economists are predicting, and the suggestion is around 90% probability of another decrease in July, which will drop rates to around 3.66%.
And then there are pundits out there who are suggesting potentially there could be enough room for another two decreases to, to the end of the year, meaning we'd go into 2026 with a, a cash rate of 3.1%.
So it'll be interesting to see if that comes from through. As I mentioned earlier, labor cost increases, etc. Are one factor that might spoil the party.
And we know the Reserve bank are notoriously conservative but providing that the inflation rate remains within their band, I think the probability of these additional increases is, is high.
So a couple of other things that are obviously also impacting going forward. I think we're predicted to as a country have a population of around 30 million by 2030.
They talk about 85% of our population live within 50 kilometers of the coast.
So we're very much coastal dwellers obviously. Wa we're cracking 3 million population and currently we're the fastest growing state.
[00:32:08] Speaker A: I think we're already 3 million. Yes, yeah, we're already 3 million and.
[00:32:11] Speaker B: A bit in the state. In the state that's gone up significantly, hasn't it in the last few years.
[00:32:16] Speaker C: Since COVID But interestingly enough of that 3 million probably to 627 would be living in Perth and surround. So yeah, very high concentration, 100% well.
[00:32:34] Speaker B: Along the coast the mate.
[00:32:37] Speaker A: I think we might one day trek all the way up to Durian Bay and all the way up to Geraldton.
[00:32:43] Speaker B: That's getting like a long time in the future I reckon Two Rocks probably be the next, the next point. I was up in Yanchip the other day.
I actually caught the train up to the new, the new train station up there and I was just looking at the map, just looking at the aerial map and you can see where the, that freeway stops, the Mitchell stops there and the train line stops there. But when you're looking at the area you can actually see, you can almost draw out where the paper road sort of continues up to the north as well as the train line. So yeah, eventually those little coastal towns will keep growing.
[00:33:20] Speaker A: Yeah, definitely.
[00:33:22] Speaker C: Yes, I guess so.
The impact of these rate decreases of course is going to result in, you know, additional people coming into the market.
However, the downside of that will be an increase in demand and potentially prices moving again.
So it'll be I guess a challenge to see the balance between those factors.
[00:33:50] Speaker A: But there will come a point where the rate, the house prices cannot go up anymore. I mean affordability becomes a thing, isn't it?
[00:33:59] Speaker C: Look, it's one thing having a deposit, the other is the ability to repay the loan.
[00:34:05] Speaker A: Correct?
[00:34:06] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[00:34:06] Speaker C: And one of the things I like about the system in Australia is there are checks and balances to ensure that people don't over commit themselves in saying that there Are life factors that come into play that we don't necessarily anticipate, but that notwithstanding?
Yes, the lenders are very conscious about ensuring people can afford the loans.
[00:34:32] Speaker A: Can I ask you a question? I mean, there was a period where obviously interest rate was low and a lot of people went into debt and obviously our interest rate went up. But back then house prices were not as high and obviously a lot of people defaulted and stuff. What are we seeing now? Obviously now house prices are a lot higher, interest rate went down, but it's not significant.
What are we seeing now in this current market?
[00:34:59] Speaker C: Currently, the default rate has definitely dropped.
So interestingly enough, in the last 12 or 18 months it's decreased from, I think a couple of lenders were suggesting, say mid 1.5%, something like that, to down. Down to around 1 or possibly below 1%.
So, yes, it's.
You would have thought if people were borrowing more prices and houses are going up, there's more potential for people to get into financial strife.
But that doesn't seem to be manifesting itself at the moment.
[00:35:38] Speaker A: No, it's very interesting.
So tell us more, Stephen.
[00:35:43] Speaker C: Okay, I guess what I wanted to talk about now was the opportunity for first home buyers to get into the market.
[00:35:50] Speaker A: Yes.
I mean, there's lots of options out there, obviously, but not a lot of people know about it as well, isn't it?
[00:35:59] Speaker C: That's right. So I think the first one that we is a good starting point is what's referred to as the first home guarantee scheme.
Now, traditionally it used to be the case many years ago that you had to save a minimum of 20% of the value of a property to even be considered by the lenders.
[00:36:19] Speaker A: Correct.
[00:36:20] Speaker C: Now, the first home guarantee scheme has been in play for several years now and what that does is it allows people to buy a property with as little as 5%, 5% deposit.
Now, that scheme has been.
It's had some parameters that have ensured that only those perhaps who are not earning mining incomes are looked after. So, for example, as a single person, you weren't able to borrow, sorry, to earn more than 125,000 as a couple 200,000.
They limited the number of places within the scheme. So 35,000 for properties purchased in the metro area and around 10,000 for people who are buying properties in regional areas.
[00:37:17] Speaker A: Is that a deposit? Is it?
[00:37:19] Speaker C: No, that's. That's the number of applications.
[00:37:22] Speaker A: Okay, sorry.
[00:37:23] Speaker C: Places within the scheme. So 35, Metro 10 and Regional.
There was a condition that you could not have owned property in Australia prior.
[00:37:34] Speaker B: Does that Include commercial property?
[00:37:35] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:37:36] Speaker B: Or was it residential?
[00:37:38] Speaker C: This scheme is purely for residential.
[00:37:40] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:37:40] Speaker C: So I have to suggest. I don't know the answer as regard to commercial, but I, I think it's purely in residential.
[00:37:48] Speaker B: Yeah. Oh, I only asked because I've had clients that have owned commercial properties before residentials, but they still qualified for her first home buyers when it came time to buy. So I just wondered if it still applied.
[00:37:59] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:38:00] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:38:00] Speaker C: And the other limitation was that there was a price cap on the value of the property that you could buy. So as far as WA is concerned, a maximum of 600,000 in the Perth metro area and 450 in regional areas. And I think we all know that's totally unrealistic in today's environment.
[00:38:23] Speaker A: But hasn't that gone up as well?
[00:38:25] Speaker C: No, so, so well pending.
So the labor government, as part of their strategy to encourage more, I guess, building and certainly people into the market, are modifying the scheme as of the 1st of January next year.
Now what that will happen is that first of all there will be unlimited places. So there will be no constraint in terms of physically the number of people that can apply.
The income constraint is basically being removed. Okay, so anybody, anybody can apply for these, this 5% scheme.
Conditions like not owned property previously still applies and also that people must live in the property as an owner.
[00:39:18] Speaker A: Okay. Occupy it.
[00:39:19] Speaker C: All right. So it's not open to investors, is.
[00:39:23] Speaker B: That some is that must live in it for at least six months within the first 12 months.
[00:39:30] Speaker C: That applies to other incentives, but in the, in this case, no.
And there's a lot of commentary about how that could be enforced going forward because I think you all know that's probably quite a challenge to do. But I think, you know, again, they're trying to focus on people who are trying to get into their own home.
[00:39:54] Speaker A: Yeah. So just recap. So this first home guarantee scheme obviously means you can put in 5% deposit and the 15% is guaranteed by the government.
[00:40:05] Speaker C: Yes, what it means is that historically if lenders, borrowers, borrow, borrow more than 80% of the value of a property, they are going to be charged lenders mortgage insurance.
And that's an insurance put in place by the lender. And essentially what it was to cover was the event that if, for example, property prices dropped and the bank found themselves in a negative equity situation, they had insurance in the event they had to resell the property and it covered any loss. Well, reality is that we haven't seen too many significant property price drops, probably other than in some of the mining towns A few years ago.
[00:40:52] Speaker A: Y.
[00:40:53] Speaker C: But outside of that. So potentially depending on how much you're borrowing, that lenders mortgage insurance could be 10, $20,000. Now it's a one off payment, it's built into the loan, but it is a significant impost for first home buyers. Yeah, so that lender's mortgage insurance disappears and the government essentially stamps in as guarantor.
[00:41:22] Speaker B: Okay, right on. Yeah, that makes more sense.
[00:41:25] Speaker C: Okay, so and lastly, the price cap on properties is going to be addressed because again, as we know, a $600,000 purchase in Perth is putting you at the low end of the market.
So all of those changes will be really, I think, a great advantage. So I think pundits are anticipating a significant number of new first time buyers coming into the market.
Also it's been interesting, I think Westpac did some research recently and they found that at least 15% of first home or people, potential first home buyers, already have that 5% deposit.
So they're sort of sitting in the wings because maybe their income level has prohibited them from applying to the, the current scheme. Well, as the 1st of January next year they're going to be eligible.
[00:42:24] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:42:25] Speaker C: So that I think is going to be advantageous. Also the price threshold as we've suggested desperately needs to be addressed and that will also facilitate more people coming in. So something to look forward to.
And lastly of course that we have WA's first home owner grant.
That's $10,000 that's eligible. Oh, sorry. For eligible first home buyers. However, the stipulation there is it has to be a new build or a property. You're buying a property that has been completed but has never been inhabited before.
So yes, I mean that's, I think a lot of young people would probably look at the two of these in tandem, the 5% and also potentially the contribution of 10,000 if it's a new build.
[00:43:25] Speaker A: Are those the only two available to first home buyers?
[00:43:29] Speaker C: There are some variations. There's a regional first home buyer scheme.
So the parameters there are slightly different in terms of the income and the value of the property.
[00:43:40] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:43:40] Speaker C: But essentially the structure is the same.
And then lastly there's a third option where it's specifically designed for single parent families and in that instance they can get into the market with as low as 2%.
[00:43:58] Speaker A: Is that the key start that we're talking about?
[00:44:00] Speaker C: No, I'm not talking key start. This is under the first time guarantee scheme. So there are the three variants, essentially the mainstream, regional and single parent options.
[00:44:13] Speaker A: Interesting.
So quite a few there.
And what About So those what you mentioned and you've got one for WA which is the 10,000. What about nationally?
[00:44:24] Speaker C: Well, each state's different. They offer again incentives.
Eastern states have first home buyer grants as well and generally they are in the ten to fifteen thousand dollar range. So really don't change a lot. I think where again you get some variation is duty concessions.
So for first home buyers in WA, zero to $300,000 there's nil duty applied.
Not sure how many properties you're selling Carlos.
$300,000, 300 to 400.
There's a progressive increment over 400,000. Normal stamp duty rate supply. Again, as with the first home guarantee scheme, these numbers need to be addressed. They are really quite unrealistic, 100% so. But I think our wonderful treasurer is looking at overhauling the tax system in the near future. So some of these may be addressed in that situation. So yeah.
[00:45:38] Speaker A: So are you finding Baha' is taking full advantage of this grant? So I mean obviously with the, you know, the one with 600 as a cap is probably a little bit out of it, but are they taking full advantage of all this?
[00:45:53] Speaker C: Certainly we are working with them and when we sit down with the clients and we do our, what we call our fact find or client needs analysis, part of that is that we talk about where they want to live, the type of property, etc. So we can get an idea of what the kind of value would be for those properties.
But yes, we're looking forward definitely to 1st of January next year where those caps are going to be reviewed. It would be, we would be able to apply that scheme to a lot more people, especially for example a lot of FIFO workers because they're earning significant incomes that are way outside the caps that are currently in place. So it will definitely make a difference.
[00:46:46] Speaker A: Nice.
Well, hopefully a lot more people will be able to make use of it, isn't it? Especially with the high prices that are coming up now.
[00:46:53] Speaker C: Definitely, yeah, definitely.
[00:46:55] Speaker A: So hopefully once the review happens, we'll see a lot more, as you say, you know, more.
They don't look at the price bracket and stuff like that. That makes a lot more people able to get in there and make use of it.
[00:47:08] Speaker C: Yeah, there's one last area that a lot of lenders participate in and that's what's referred to as a family guarantee loan or family pledge loan. And in that instance what we're looking at is that when you go to the bank you will take out a loan equivalent to 80% of the value of the property you're buying.
[00:47:29] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:47:30] Speaker C: The other 20% can be. The loan can be secured against a relative or family member's property, typically mum and dad. So this is the, I guess what we refer to as the bank of mum and dad.
[00:47:46] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:47:47] Speaker C: And that's, that's great. In so much as that the parents aren't financially liable, but there's equity in their property that arguably is not being used.
It doesn't cost them anything, but it does facilitate their children's entry into the property market.
[00:48:07] Speaker B: So they're risking that equity only in case if the children's loan fell over, if they did the wrong thing, they didn't make their repayments, the bank's taking it back and then the sale fails. So it's a really long way down the track.
[00:48:18] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:48:19] Speaker B: That they would guarantee that.
[00:48:21] Speaker C: An absolute worst case, worst case scenario.
[00:48:23] Speaker B: Way down. So it's actually relatively safe to do it because the, the loan is protected primarily by the asset.
[00:48:28] Speaker C: That's right, exactly.
[00:48:29] Speaker B: The borrowing eta.
[00:48:31] Speaker C: Some lenders will even allow you to borrow over the hundred percent. So arguably children can get, or young, young adults, whatever can get into the market with no deposit. So they borrow 20% against the property. 20% against mom and dad.
[00:48:48] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:48:48] Speaker C: And some lenders will allow them to borrow costs such as stamp duty.
[00:48:53] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:48:54] Speaker C: And conveyancing, those sorts of costs. So you can essentially fund 100% of the purchase.
So yeah, it's I think a great opportunity. I'm sure a lot of parents would like to see children or their children have at least some what we refer to in the industry as genuine savings.
[00:49:18] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:49:20] Speaker C: And well, it just I think suggests a commitment.
[00:49:24] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:49:25] Speaker C: So that when they do take on the responsibility of a loan, they're going to ensure it gets repaid.
[00:49:32] Speaker A: I think it's a. Yeah, I think it's a big response. In fact, I've even started some savings for my kids right now from a young age. So. Yes. For you, 10 months and 3 years old.
[00:49:41] Speaker B: How much is in the account? 10 bucks.
[00:49:44] Speaker A: Hey, when they're 18 years old. When they're 18 years old, it's going to be a million bucks, whatever it is.
So I'm trying to set themselves up as well, you know, so that they don't have to face something like this in the future. Plus whatever that we get, you know.
[00:49:57] Speaker C: Well, my daughter did the same for my grandson when he started work. She said, great to have all this money in your pocket. 50% goes into the bank.
[00:50:05] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:50:05] Speaker C: And I'm a signatory on that.
[00:50:10] Speaker A: Look, I Think money management is downplayed a lot. Like, you know, we really need to teach them from young how to actually manage it. And you know, like my dad really taught me all this when we were young, like how to use a credit card. In fact, I never once paid the bank. You know, that's how he has taught me to use it, use it wisely, use what you have. You know, all those things really do help you. Like you know, with your credit score, you know, if you use it right, whatever that's there, it's out there for us to use. But use it right and it will benefit you. That's how I kind of see it.
[00:50:43] Speaker C: Oh look, it makes consummate sense.
[00:50:45] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:50:46] Speaker C: And I, I think it's something that a lot of people, especially people in our stage of life would like to see taught more of in schools.
[00:50:55] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:50:55] Speaker C: It should be a mandatory part of the celebration. Us.
[00:50:58] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:50:58] Speaker C: You know, we should learn about money management. We should learn about problem solving. All sorts of things that we have to deal with in everyday life.
[00:51:06] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:51:07] Speaker C: So the life skills that often we don't. What is it? Which bit of trial and terror that we learn from our mistakes.
[00:51:17] Speaker A: Yeah. So no, I think it's very important and moving forward. That's what I mean by, you know, we need to start doing some things for our kids. Yeah. So there you go.
But anyway, that was really good.
So anything about investors though?
So now we've talked a little bit about first homeowners and stuff. What about investors and stuff?
[00:51:37] Speaker C: Well, what's interesting, I was looking at a profile of people who are purchasing property in, in Perth.
[00:51:46] Speaker B: Oh yeah.
[00:51:47] Speaker C: And investors are now making up a very significant portion of the market.
[00:51:53] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:51:53] Speaker C: So this is coming back.
I think it will. It's very simply a case where the entry level is now still, I guess on par. Probably Brisbane, Adelaide, very similar to those markets. Well, well, down on Perth. Sorry. And Melbourne and Sydney.
But I think it's the rental returns that are a very attractive feature.
Sydney, in some instances, you know, 3% is the sort of number you're looking at now. Yes. Longer term there's going to be capital growth.
But having better rental returns and better cash flow facilitates future purchases.
[00:52:45] Speaker A: I think to your point, and we've covered this quite a bit about rent vesting especially. So a lot of people obviously, you know, with the rate rise, you know, obviously we can't afford a million dollar property like this is what we were talking earlier, you know, about my sister and a few others that I've helped.
They're staying In Melbourne. Obviously you can't afford the houses in Melbourne, so what do they do? They still continue on the rent, but they buy and invest investment property and they invest, you know, and they put that out for rental. Obviously they're doing really well now. It's cash flow positive. It's also gone up in equity and now they can use this equity to go on to purchase something for her to live in.
[00:53:20] Speaker C: That's right.
[00:53:21] Speaker A: So it's a very smart move on their part. And I think this is what we're seeing a lot more, isn't it? Or in fact, some people just don't want to buy their own place. They still want to live in areas where, you know, where they would love to live, live at, still continue to rent, you know, be, be free in that sense and rent and invest in other places.
[00:53:42] Speaker C: Absolutely, Josh. And I think it's interesting that I've listened to and read several investors, you know, very successful investors who've never owned their own home.
From their perspective, what they pay in rent, when you look at the relative cost of maintaining your property, that far, rather the landlord takes care of all the repairs and maintenance and they still are allowed to, or, sorry, are in a position where they're living in a nice home, but their money's invested in earning a return.
And for them they've said, well, is it important to me that I actually own the, the place I'm living in if I've got these other investment properties? Arguably, no.
So I think there's an attitude change because, I mean, you go to the US and people just don't have this dream that they're going to own the quarter acre paradise that we have in this part of the world. Even in the UK.
[00:54:49] Speaker B: The UK, it's, you know, it's 80, isn't it, Stephen? In the UK, something like that. 80% of the population actually rent.
Yeah, very small amount owned. That may have changed over the years, but, but it's the way the system.
[00:55:03] Speaker C: Has been set up and people are comfortable with that.
So I, I think, yeah, there's potential for an attitude change. Yeah, it probably will take of a lot sometime to happen because the issue for a lot of people is, yes, they buy, they own, they love their own home, but later on in life they're in a situation where they've got huge amount of equity available to them, but often their earnings, cash flow, super or whatever, is starting to run out.
So they're sitting on this massive asset and have very little money to enjoy, you know, a lifestyle that they've worked so hard for. Yeah, so, yeah, interesting. Rent vestors. I think it gives young people the ability to live in the places they want to correct and have the investment property somewhere else or it doesn't matter where.
[00:55:59] Speaker A: Like what we are saying is you're not compromising your current lifestyle because a lot of time, obviously when you own your own home, then you, you've got all your mortgage, your upkeep, your, you know, everything that comes with it. Whereas in this way you still rent where you want to rent. Like what you mentioned, you don't have to worry about the upkeep, you don't have to worry about the council and all the kind of things. Everything's taken care of at the landlord. You go on to live your life but your money is invested everywhere else and it's still generating you that money and that's a lot of them at the moment and that's why we're seeing the numbers increase for investors, you know, the investing housing numbers as compared to owner occupied buying them.
So, yeah, that's a really good one. So I want to continue on from our conversation from earlier. So I think you mentioned a little bit about low deposit options and parto ownerships. You want to touch a little bit on those ones.
[00:56:51] Speaker C: Well, load deposit, obviously. We've got the first home guarantee scheme at 5%, I think, again, family guarantee loans, facilitating young people into the market with a much smaller deposit from there.
I haven't, because of my tenure in wa, been involved in many keystart purchases, but I think that from what I've seen, the products that are available through the conventional lenders have probably seen the popularity of that scheme drop away.
[00:57:30] Speaker B: I put a sale together just the other week in Bass and Dean. It was a. It was a key start. That was. They just put down a 2% deposit.
[00:57:37] Speaker C: Yep.
[00:57:38] Speaker B: And you know, when I see big numbers on. On a contract where there's the finance clause and there's a big number on the percentage, it kind of. Kind of worries me a little bit.
But no, it went through perfectly well. They wanted 21 days finance approval, went through like a dream. No problem at all.
[00:57:59] Speaker C: Good.
Pre approved.
[00:58:01] Speaker B: And we were talking about the importance of pre approval just earlier. Yeah, you're ready to go. I mean, whichever scheme you're going to use or whichever lender you're going to use, be pre approved because you're not going to be competitive otherwise.
[00:58:14] Speaker C: Well, I think it's reduces the risk but it also increases your comfort in that you're going in to negotiate the value of a property that you know you can afford.
[00:58:25] Speaker B: Exactly right.
[00:58:26] Speaker C: So it makes consumer sense.
[00:58:30] Speaker A: All right, so let's go into a bit of break, shall we? Let's go into a bit of break and we'll come back and we'll wrap up a little bit about the value of a mortgage broker obviously and how, you know, with all this different packages and all and why they should actually come to a mortgage broker and how you can actually help and guide them.
And then as I mentioned earlier, we'll go into that rapid fire questions and we'll see how we go.
All right, you're listening to the Perth Property Bros. With Josh and Carlos.
[00:58:58] Speaker C: The best music from the 60s to today, IPL radio.
[00:59:05] Speaker B: And back again with Carlos and Josh on the property, Our very special guest, Stephen Paul from Nectar Finance and a fellow Rotarian. We've got Rotary tonight, mate. Well, yes, we're going to finish up at the rodeo. So how busy are you? I've been sitting here this whole time writing a contract, offer and acceptance.
[00:59:22] Speaker A: I've been writing one contract.
One contract for the last three hours, bro. You got to work faster than that.
[00:59:32] Speaker B: This isn't a cowboy agency. I'll tell you then we're going to go to Rotary after this, A nice meal and we're going to have a good fellowship. Oh, please say go on for good food, good fellowship.
[00:59:47] Speaker A: Here we are.
[00:59:49] Speaker C: Yes, we put ourselves behind others.
[00:59:53] Speaker B: Service above self. Exactly right. So we're going to have a beautiful meal tonight with the Rotarians and it's going to be our first meeting with our new president, Darryl Donovan. We had our chance over dinner on Friday.
The outgoing board finished up and the new board's in. New president's in. And it's going to be an interesting year.
[01:00:12] Speaker A: Excellent.
So let's finish up there. Stephen.
So I think we spoke a lot about, you know, all these different things about first home owners, what's happening in the market and stuff like that.
All amazing.
Now let's come back down to basics a little bit.
Mortgage brokers and buyer's agent.
Now I say we got a very good synergy between mortgage brokers and buyer's agent. Obviously. Now whenever I meet a client, I always make sure that they're there first. First thing is get ready, meet.
What is your budget?
That's my first question.
And if they say, oh, this. And I was like, next question. Do you have a pre approval? If they said, no, I don't have. All right, pre approval, Mortgage brokers first and then come and see me.
So obviously, you know, in the start of any property search, be it your own home or investment. You always need to know what you can borrow, obviously. And that's where you come in. Yes, you go through, you run through all the different scenarios, whether you buy it as an own home or an investment.
And do you go into rentvesting with them as well or not really?
[01:01:19] Speaker C: It depends on the client.
But if.
And part of the I talked about the client needs analysis is to actually have a better understanding of what clients are specifically looking for. So we can then expand on that and say, well, these are other options that you may not have considered because often they haven't thought about that rent investing concept, Correct?
[01:01:42] Speaker A: Yes. So that's great. So you know, you go through all the different scenario with them. You obviously, you come up with the, the good, the interest rates, what is the perfect bank. You pair it with the scenario and then you say, all right, this is what you're pre approved for, for however much. Half a mil, 1 million, there you go, this is what you can buy. And then you send them off into the world.
Right. Now that's where a buyer's agent comes in, isn't it? Because now we've, I've done a bit of a study and we found that buyers normally take about 9.9 plus months to actually find something.
You know, so it takes a while sometimes. And obviously that equates to what about three pre approvals and they may or may not buy something. That's the other thing. So that's where I kind of come in to kind of help them, you know, guide them and then build upon what you have kind of discussed with them and then come up with a strategy, come up with a plan to say, all right, you've got this budget, what are we looking for? What's our strategy here? You know, if it's an investment, is it a buy to rent, Is it a buy to hold? Is it a subdivision? What is your plan? And then understanding that plan and then we go on to look something for them and finally finding it and buying it for them. So that's the kind of synergy that we have between both of us mortgage workers. And one, you got anything to add into that one A little bit more?
[01:03:00] Speaker C: Oh, look, I said I think it's all about understanding, as you suggest, the client's needs.
And I think that's where mortgage brokers have the, like buyer's agents have the advantage because we can from that understanding ensure that we provide the client what they're looking for.
And amongst other things, I think the, the key thing is choice.
[01:03:27] Speaker A: Yeah.
[01:03:28] Speaker C: So if we go to a home open on a Saturday morning, the agent there is only interested in one thing. Selling that house.
[01:03:35] Speaker B: Yeah, likewise getting the best possible price for our sellers.
[01:03:40] Speaker A: No, it's wanting more for the house.
[01:03:45] Speaker C: And, and similarly, if they go to a lender direct, they're only going to be offered that lenders product.
[01:03:52] Speaker A: Correct.
[01:03:53] Speaker C: So I think it's all about us providing them with choice and explaining I guess the differences in the different products and the lenders such that part of our charter is that we offer at least three or four different options that they can consider and then from that they will make their choice.
[01:04:13] Speaker B: I haven't come across many Nectar lenders before. You're the first one I've come come across.
[01:04:20] Speaker C: Probably have about 13. 12, 13 brokers in. In Perth. In Perth, Stroke, Mandurah.
[01:04:27] Speaker B: Have you come across any inactive.
[01:04:28] Speaker A: Funny enough you said that I just got my aunt service and the guy, I was like, oh, my partner works in Nectar Finance. I was like, oh, do you know Stephen Pool?
So yeah, there was someone, there's somebody in Mandura. So I might get into touch with them as well and see how.
[01:04:45] Speaker C: Lee is our regional manager and her daughter's a broker and her partner.
[01:04:49] Speaker A: I think that's the, I think that's the middle we're talking. Yeah, probably the person you're talking to. Yeah.
[01:04:54] Speaker B: So there you go, everyone knows somebody.
[01:04:56] Speaker A: Yeah, I'll tell you, it was quite funny. So we see my. Oh, you're a bias agent. Do you need, do you need to be connected to mortgage brokers? Yes, I would love that number, please.
No, that was really good. No, but again that shows that they know straight away. It's like, oh, you're a biase. Do you need a mortgage broker, you know that kind of thing. So that's again synergy.
[01:05:15] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[01:05:17] Speaker C: In all of our professions.
[01:05:18] Speaker A: Yeah.
So tell us a bit more. So we've got a good synergy here. We're helping, we are all there to help them. It's pretty much just to be able to provide that guidance and that help and obviously that knowledge to the buyer. Right. To make sure that they're well informed, they know what their finances, what is their risk and then for me to come there into strategy and then we go out to meet Carlos to say this is the house that we want to buy and this is the pre approval.
[01:05:50] Speaker B: Stephen can source the money.
You can source the house if I.
[01:05:55] Speaker A: Don'T have it already and you can provide the house.
Yeah, nice.
So yes, yes, I'm trying to find out what to say.
[01:06:10] Speaker B: What does that mean? Prompt me with something.
[01:06:12] Speaker A: So anyway, tell me, what's the common misconception of a mortgage broker?
[01:06:19] Speaker C: Probably for a lot of people, I think they see brokers first of all earning a large amount of money.
[01:06:29] Speaker B: Oh, like real estate agents.
[01:06:30] Speaker C: Yes, exactly.
And which is very much not the case.
I think like any profession, the top 5% would certainly be earning exceptional incomes below that.
I don't think we're any different to any other profession.
[01:06:52] Speaker B: We've all got overhead. So to cover.
There's plenty of ground to cover before you even start making any, any do for yourself.
[01:06:59] Speaker C: Exactly. There's, you're right, there's a gestation period, you know, to build up your client base to a point where it becomes almost self supporting.
But I, you know, I have clients over east who, you know, talk to me and say where should I be buying what, what, what areas of the market?
[01:07:22] Speaker B: Speak to this guy? Absolutely. When they asked me that, I put him on straight onto Josh.
[01:07:26] Speaker C: Exactly. That's exactly the approach I will take. I said look, I can help you with the money, but as far as the market's concerned, you need to talk to an expert and I can recommend somebody to speak to.
Interestingly enough, I was looking at the numbers in Melbourne as a market in the last five years has really shown very little growth and yet right now they're enjoying 70% plus clearance rates. So I think reality is that Melbourne's come down to the bottom of the property clock property cycle and the only way is up.
So it's growing in popularity and. Yeah, but I, yeah, I think it's very important. Much a case where as we've talked about, we want to offer people choice, we want to give them support, expertise. I've got a young gentleman who's buying his second, just about to buy a second investment property. In fact, he's doing a land and build and I probably would have spoken to him, I don't know, 12, 15 times in the last week because he's going through this process of looking at different options and he's sort of trying to understand what's the best deal.
[01:08:44] Speaker B: You're very good though, Steven. You're very engaging with your clients. You and I have worked a couple of times, I've sent a couple of clients to you and absolutely incredible service back and forth, really going out of your way.
[01:08:56] Speaker C: It's wonderful to help people and the sense of satisfaction that you get being able to see somebody get over the final hurdle and to get Their property just makes it worthwhile.
[01:09:08] Speaker A: So it's a true Rotarian, isn't it?
[01:09:12] Speaker C: I guess if you've been in professions that it kind of leads you to that somehow anyway.
[01:09:17] Speaker B: Yeah, there's a lot of complementary professions, I think, to, to being a Rotarian, certainly those people that serve the community. I mean, we help people's dreams come true. We, we help them in the sales agency, we help them move on from where they are into something else that they want more.
We move those barriers for them.
[01:09:38] Speaker C: Absolutely.
[01:09:40] Speaker B: I didn't realise that until recently. A very good friend of mine said because I focus so heavily on community service, and she said, you know, Carlos, you need to look at your work in that light as well. Because real estate, estate agents do this work that you're serving the people, helping them achieve their dreams, you know, you're giving people homes. And I hadn't actually looked at it that way. I had a very clear separation between works over here and community service. Rotary and bits and pieces are over here.
[01:10:10] Speaker C: But they're very closely aligned.
[01:10:11] Speaker B: But they're completely aligned.
So yeah, no, it is, as we say, it is a privilege. Privilege to serve.
[01:10:20] Speaker A: All right, let's end the show with rapid fire questions. Mr. Stephen, you ready for it?
[01:10:26] Speaker C: I'm ready.
[01:10:27] Speaker A: Excellent. So I'm going to give you 10 questions there.
[01:10:29] Speaker B: Be nice to him.
[01:10:31] Speaker A: I'll try.
[01:10:32] Speaker B: Deal with him.
[01:10:32] Speaker C: What's your prize?
[01:10:34] Speaker A: Sorry, you gotta go out for a coffee with Carlos.
[01:10:38] Speaker B: You get a mint that's been in my pocket.
[01:10:41] Speaker A: All right, first question.
Fix or variable? What's your pick today?
[01:10:45] Speaker C: Variable.
[01:10:46] Speaker A: Why?
[01:10:47] Speaker C: Pending interest rate drops.
[01:10:49] Speaker A: Excellent. Now a dream client of yours, a first home buyer, investor upgrader or downsizer.
[01:10:56] Speaker C: They're all dream clients. But I probably get more satisfaction, I guess out of helping first time buyers. Because as dream we've just been discussing, it's about the realization of a dream.
[01:11:07] Speaker A: Excellent. Now one big mistake people make when applying for a loan.
[01:11:12] Speaker C: We've discussed. Discuss this ad nauseam.
Not getting a pre approval, signing a contract and then going, can I afford it? Can I get the money?
[01:11:23] Speaker A: Or signing the offer in acceptance and going down the road and buying a Tesla.
All right, I've seen that before as well. Now guarantor loans. Great idea. Or last resort.
[01:11:35] Speaker C: Fantastic idea.
And you know, so many parents are happy to help the children without necessarily having to put their hands.
[01:11:47] Speaker A: One sub you think is great value right now.
One suburb you think it's great value right now.
[01:11:56] Speaker C: That's a difficult one.
How would I would say some of the prop. Some of the suburbs south of the river, towards the coast I think represent some very good value.
I, I don't know the market north of the river as well, but yes, I, from what I've seen there's a wide variety of properties and values south of the river.
[01:12:24] Speaker A: Amazing.
Most underrated lender or product.
[01:12:30] Speaker C: There are a number of second tier lenders who probably fly a little under the radar but offer incredible service. I think we talked about this where people have gone in and had approval like some some same day, others the following day. I had an experience like that within the last couple of weeks.
So it just for certainly certain borrowers take so much stress out of the process, bang, it happens, you've got an approval. So yeah there's, there's a number of those that I would definitely, I am in particular recommending to my clients.
[01:13:15] Speaker A: Amazing. Now what's your favorite finance tool or an app?
[01:13:21] Speaker C: The best app I think is cwicly. Cwicly now cwicly is a calculator where we put in the borrower's parameters and what it does is gives us 30 odd different lenders and the amount you can borrow with each plus the interest rates.
So in a snap, in a snapshot you can see who you can go to to borrow the most or you can go through and look at the balance between the amount you want to borrow and the interest rate.
[01:13:52] Speaker A: Amazing. Perfect tool.
[01:13:53] Speaker B: Looks like a subscription for brokers it or just a subscription?
[01:13:57] Speaker C: Oh yes, there's a, there is a subscription too.
[01:14:01] Speaker A: Coffee or tea to power your workday?
[01:14:03] Speaker C: Coffee.
[01:14:04] Speaker A: Coffee. Do you have a favorite one favorite coffee place?
[01:14:08] Speaker C: Yes, actually I go to Jamaica Blue in the morning.
[01:14:11] Speaker A: Jamaica Blue.
[01:14:12] Speaker C: I, I'll, I'll have my first coffee at home and then about morning tea I go and have a, a cappuccino.
[01:14:18] Speaker B: At Jamaica Blue pre and I meetings.
[01:14:20] Speaker A: Nice.
So what's one myth about mortgage brokers that drives you mad?
[01:14:27] Speaker C: The fact that I think a lot of people believe we earn a fortune and they're probably finding it difficult to see the value in reality we cost them nothing and we can add enormous.
[01:14:40] Speaker B: Value because the bank pays you, don't they?
[01:14:41] Speaker C: Correct.
[01:14:42] Speaker B: The bank pays you.
[01:14:43] Speaker A: Now the last one, a quick one liner tip for anyone looking to buy in 2025.
[01:14:51] Speaker C: Explore the incentives be they the first time guarantee type options, family guarantees.
Explore all of those options first which means often you best talk to a broker because they have that knowledge.
[01:15:10] Speaker A: And Steve, how would they contact you.
[01:15:15] Speaker C: Through the ether?
[01:15:19] Speaker A: Well anyway we've got Steve, I do.
[01:15:20] Speaker C: A lot of seances My contact number or my, my email address.
I'm certainly on social media.
[01:15:31] Speaker A: Yeah.
[01:15:32] Speaker C: Posting so.
Yeah. But probably the number.
[01:15:36] Speaker A: You're happy for me to share it with that.
[01:15:38] Speaker C: Yeah.
[01:15:38] Speaker A: So you've got your email address which is stephen.pool nectamortgages.com or your phone number is 043964, 2060 and obviously you've got your Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. You're 1 1 of those that does all the TikTok dances on there or not?
[01:15:53] Speaker B: No, that's Stephen. Paul. Stephen. Ph and Paul ends with an E. Correct.
[01:15:58] Speaker A: P.
Excellent.
[01:16:00] Speaker B: Thank you so much for coming, Steve. I've wanted to have you for so long. I hope you come back, come back and visit us.
[01:16:05] Speaker C: Absolutely. It's been a pleasure, guys. It really has. Excellent.
[01:16:08] Speaker A: Excellent. Now I appreciate it, Steve. And you're listening to the Perth Property.
[01:16:12] Speaker B: Bros. With Carlos and Josh.
[01:16:13] Speaker A: Carlos and Josh. Josh from Joshua Anthony Buyers Agency. And you can reach me on 041981-5575 and my email is. Hello, JoshuaAnthony.com hey, you copied my email. Hey, come on man.
[01:16:28] Speaker B: Okay, well here's mine. Carlos from WA Property Sales. My number is 04197535 and my email is. Hello Perth, waproxysales.com Excellent.
[01:16:40] Speaker A: And you're listening to the Perth Property Bros. Till next week. I think next week we may have Jeevan probably and commercial real estate agent.
[01:16:48] Speaker B: Oh, brilliant.
[01:16:48] Speaker A: So we'll talk a little bit about commercial.
[01:16:50] Speaker B: One thing, we have another agent to gang up on you with, my friend.
[01:16:55] Speaker A: Not going to happen.
[01:16:56] Speaker B: Could be an interesting, very interesting meeting.
[01:16:59] Speaker A: All right, well have a good night everyone.
[01:17:01] Speaker B: Have a good week.
[01:17:02] Speaker A: Yes.
[01:17:03] Speaker B: Buy some real estate. I'll sell some real estate. And Stephen, please keep lending to make it all go round.
All right, good night.
[01:17:13] Speaker C: The best music from the 60s.
