Request from the lender

The lender eventually requested identification documents to be forwarded, or rather, demanded documentation. Some grumpy person rang me. Rather than a pleasant greeting the caller snapped at me. Where is my identification material, he demanded. I explained that no one had asked for anything.

Had I not doubted my chances of being approved I would have grumped right back. Despite the grumpiness, this was a positive step. When I enquired about doing this at an earlier stage I was advised not to trouble myself. Then I got this demand as to where the material was, as though they were waiting for me and I was dragging my feet. The documents had to be copies endorsed by a JP and posted to them.

I guess that’s the trouble when the lender doesn’t have an office and everything is done by phone or by email, and with different people dealing with you. In fact the original person I was working with took some recreation leave and I had to work with someone else, then the original bloke came back for a time and then he got sick and was off work again. I don’t know if these breaks and different people were to my disadvantage, but it would have slowed things.

You could put a case that this is where these institutions fall down. Banks fall over themselves trying to demonstrate that online banks can’t provide a good service. They say they disadvantage themselves by not having a shop front. To some extent that’s true, but I’d rather have the lower interest rates than the good service. In my experience that good service is sometimes difficult to find amongst the shop front banks even when you look for it, despite what they say. My experience of the average financial institution with a shop front leaves a lot to be desired. The only thing I dislike about the online services is the risk of fraud associated with financial dealings when using your home computer with the various viruses, worms, Trojans and the like.

The last thing they requested of me was proof of my ability to pay the deposit. They wanted bank statements. I immediately obliged and took a lunch time trip to my bank (yes, a Westpac shop front) to get the documentation they requested. I couldn’t give them a statement, as I didn’t have one yet. My payout money had only been in the bank a few weeks. I doubt they’d be interested in the slip of paper teller machines print out.

I wondered if this was where things were going to get difficult. I had just changed jobs, and I wondered whether I might be questioned on this subject at some point. It was something I thought might cause everything to come crashing to halt. At that precise point in time I was working for a different company than I had been when I applied for finance only a few weeks before. I provided all sorts of information when I applied, everything related to the old employer: payslips, group certificates, but nothing for my current employer. Well, when I completed the application form I didn’t have the new job. What else was I to do? I had only just started the new job and it was too early to even have my first payslip.

Anyway I was at the bank. I told the teller what I wanted: a statement showing my balance. I explained that it was a request from a financial institution where I was applying for a home loan. I expected the bank would print it on some sort of official looking lettered headed paper. But no, it was a printout on a plain sheet of paper that was stamped using an inked rubber stamp with the bank’s name, and dated. It looked pretty ordinary. I was unimpressed, and I said so. The teller said she knew what was required and it would be acceptable.

The teller reminded me that they have a loans officer who could discuss the bank’s home loan options. This was a Westpac bank, and I have black-listed them. Westpac’s staff had given me some really poor treatment in the past so I have decided not to use Westpac other than a simple transaction account. I listened to the teller and politely declined. At that point in time I was quite happy to pursue my current application, if they’d have me.

I had just finished with the teller by a few seconds when my mobile rang. I was actually pushing my way through the door of the bank when it rang. The caller was a guy from the lender reminding me that a bank statement was required. An email and now a phone call. How much notice do they think I need. It was a different voice on the phone. Not the grump I had spoken with earlier. Anyway, I told him I was at the bank at that very moment doing exactly what was requested. He seemed pleased. I told him I had the statement in my hand, and that I’d send it to him today. Then a thought occurred to me.

I considered it would do no harm to give them some encouragement in processing my application. I dangled a carrot in front of them. I mentioned that while at the bank I was asked by the teller why I wanted the statement. I related how I mentioned I was looking for a home loan and the statement was required as part of my application. I then went on to say that the bank officer began to put a sales pitch to me and sell their home loan services and explain the benefits of getting a home loan through Westpac rather than the company I had my application with. This is a very reasonable scenario because it happens. You do get badgered. However, none of this took place, other than a short chat. A loans officer was there and could have spent time with me, but I declined. Instead, I embellished the experience. I wanted to give the impression to the guy I had on the phone at that moment that Westpac was seriously after my custom. It was all a bluff, but it may have helped, because a few days later my application was approved.

The next few days proved awkward because at the time I had no idea of how my loan application was progressing. I didn’t know how close the application was to being approved; they didn’t communicate anything of this nature.

Being hassled by the agent

The pressure was on again in quicker time that I would have liked. The vendor’s solicitor must have mailed the contract to my solicitor immediately. My solicitor contacted me asking us to call into his office to sign the contract so that exchange could take place. That’s a commitment I didn’t want to make until I had some home loan finance organised. I put off making an appointment. That didn’t worry my solicitor, but I began to get badgered again by the vendor’s agent.

At a time when it would have been good to have things move quickly this new lender worked at a leisurely pace. If only the vendor wasn’t in such a hurry to close the deal.

My application with the new lender was progressing. I was contacted to provide documents in addition to what had been requested in the application package: more financial statements, rates notices etc. It was reassuring to know that the wheels of industry were turning. Though, I wonder why they didn’t ask for this stuff earlier.

Solicitor

The weeks dragged on. The vendor’s agent was getting pushy wanting our solicitor’s contact details. They wanted the contract signed.  I selected the first solicitor that seemed okay. What can you tell from an ad? Nothing at all. I went to the allhomes website which listed a heap of solicitors, and selected one from the range that was advertised.

The allhomes website advertised solicitors specialising in conveyancing. I had no preferences and selected the first one that caught my eye. No preferences, that is, other than avoiding one at Belconnen that stuffed up part of my finances on the last property I purchased. Don't get it wrong; I'm not a big league property dealer. I own a house where I live, and this new venture was something completely new for me. Anyway, after my last experience when buying my current home there was no way I was going to use that company again.

The company I had used back then was recommended by the real estate agent that I bought my Canberra house from. Perhaps that was the lesson: never trust a real estate agent. I had used William Heague at Belconnen. You would think a few solicitors or their reps meeting with a few banking people to swap a few cheques, sign a few documents, and pass some house keys across the table would be the formula for a simple exercise. The person Heague sent goofed. The settlement went okay, but they had organised a very large cheque to be made out to me, which should have gone into my account. The consequence was that I was paying interest on the loan for this huge cheque that should have been earning me interest.

Anyway, an email to the first company on the list brought a detailed response of their fees in very quick time and I was able to advise the real estate agent of their contact details. That kept the agent quiet for a time. Of course, at that point in time I had no finance approved from a lender. My application for a loan was in the mail, and so far I’d heard nothing one way or the other.

Here I was putting in an offer for a property, organising a solicitor, and as yet had no money. I wasn’t too worried, but I would rather the agent wasn’t pressing me so much. I emailed the solicitor’s contact information to the agent hoping to keep them off my back. I guess I was living in hope! Hope that my finance application would be approved.

Another lender

I applied to another lender for a home loan. Not a bank. I went through the whole application process again, resulting in more time being spent in completing another multi page form and waiting for approval.

My chosen lender had a web site like most others. It included various calculators. I entered my details in their calculator which indicated I would be approved. That wasn't really a surprise. I suspect financial institutions make it easy for you. To get you hooked. The world hasn’t learned that much since the Global Financial Crisis. Anyway, I printed an application form and began filling it out.

I was absolutely honest in completing the application. I checked and double checked every entry, particularly the financial questions. I provided copies of my payslip, credit card statements, current home loan statement, absolutely everything. I checked the start date of my employment, double checked I had my driver’s licence number correctly stated, and $ amounts, dates and other information was checked and rechecked. I didn’t want anything looking suspicious or found to be inaccurate. I imagine they would make a few spot checks, but who knows, perhaps they confirmed everything. If any errors were found it may have delayed my application, or worse, they might have rejected my application. It was the most carefully put together application I could manage and it was mailed to them. I had good reason to concentrate on having this application go through smoothly, and it wasn't just because the vendor's real estate agent was on my back.

It was easier this time, having applied so recently. Most of the required information was the same, and fortunately I had kept a copy of the first application. I sat back and waited.

Furnishings

Although the property was vacant, it was furnished. The vendors had been renting the house to weekend visitors and holidaymakers for a few weeks or days at a time. In fact, the real-estate ad gave a brief run down on how much the property could earn from casual rentals.

Short term rental properties at the coast probably do quite well, particularly as the local motels get booked out on long weekends and the Christmas-New Year holiday season. The summer temperatures at Batemans Bay are usually a few degrees cooler than Canberra, making it a very pleasant place to be. Winter too is a nice change from Canberra with its day and night temperatures generally always being colder than they are at the coast. Weather wise, the appeal of the coast is fairly universal throughout the year.

The house was kitted out almost in a motel fashion with almost everything anyone would need to move in and spend a few days. In addition to the furniture there were stereo systems, TVs, microwave ovens, crockery etc. Some of the furniture was in very reasonable condition; other pieces were virtual throw outs. I particularly liked the dining table and chairs. There were two double beds that looked okay. Though, I didn’t have much use for the bunk beds. The lounge chairs seemed well past their best, as were some of the cabinets and wardrobes. The crockery and kitchen items could have been good to have. Although I didn’t need any more TV, video, nor stereo systems they could have been OK to have. There was always ebay to get rid of any unwanted stuff. There was a mixed bunch of stuff in the house. We wondered if they would be available for sale too.

I had taken photos of all the rooms in the weeks prior to making the offer. I’d poured over them studying every detail of the place. In all, I think I had taken about three hundred pictures both inside and outside the property, and around the garden and in the garage. I knew exactly what all the furnishings looked like. With any property I’ve had an interest I’ve snapped a few photos. If I have been very interested I’ve taken dozens of photos. Perhaps four or five photos per room, including the hallway, bathroom, toilet, and laundry. And I’d go for close ups of anything that looks dodgy so that I can study it later, but in fairness I also take photographs of the good aspects as well.

It’s possible to miss things that will be captured in a photograph. You might not spot rusted gutters until you see them in one of your photos, or rotting timber decking, or a roof line that might be a problem or the general condition of the roofing steel or weather boards. Photographs can reveal so much when you study them later. Even aspects you weren’t able to study while inspecting the property become available to you later: the street, the neighbour’s place, and the general lie of the land. Inevitably, taking so many photos gave me an idea of the furnishings and fittings that were in the house.

Anyway, using ebay I checked the completed listing prices as a guide to estimating the value of everything. This is not a reliable method, but it does provide a general idea of price. There is no way I could match any ebay items exactly with my photographs, but a lot of ebay stuff comes remarkably close. Because I was checking completed auctions on ebay I didn’t care where they were located; just the last selling price. I think it helped.

If you use ebay and didn't know this feature was available, you should give it a go. When you are signed in, click on the 'advanced search' function, and tick the 'completed listings' box. When you search for anything its only completed auctions that are displayed. All the green items were things that sold at the price shown, which gives you a good idea of what people are paying. The red items are the things that didn't sell. It's really handy.

We made an offer on the furniture and contents which was subsequently upped to $2000 and we accepted. The deal was to be done privately. It would save us transporting furniture and saved the vendors from having to clear the house prior to sale. The vendors may also have priced it accordingly as they may have considered the cost of removal, or there may have been storage costs to consider. Anyway, what can you get for $2000? It seemed an okay price.

They want the solicitor’s details

When the agent rang to say our offer had been accepted she also asked for my solicitor’s contact information. What solicitor?  Oops, was I supposed to have one already.  I agreed to forward the information, but until I had finance organised I quietly ignored this request.

Within a remarkably short time, the vendor’s agent rang again asking me to provide details of my solicitor, and in the days following (or was it weeks) I was continually asked for this information.

I was dragging my feet. I didn’t want to proceed until my finances had been worked out. It was getting embarrassing.  But there was no way anyone was going to find out my real situation.

Unhappy with the response from my current lender, I was now shopping for a home loan elsewhere. I should have done all of this a lot earlier. I was beginning to get a bit anxious.

As a first step in financing the new property I scanned the web for a suitable lender. There are so many banks and other financial institutions that the task of filtering them becomes overwhelming. There are even web sites that do the filtering for you.

If you search using the phrase “home loan comparison” you get almost two million results. The phrase “home loan guide” returns 26,000 results.  And the last thing I wanted was it to be presented with was tons of pictures of smiling people on web pages with them sipping wine or carrying meaningless symbols when you are feeling stressed.

It gets confusing. Information overload. In the end, I opted to ignore the pretty web sites with pictures of happy smiling faces in favour of talking to people I knew seeking their experiences. This doesn’t say much for my web based solution.  I had already checked out the organisation that was currently financing my home, and that had ended abruptly. The search continues.

The existing lender

As soon as I could, I contacted the lender that was financing my current home. From the information I provided on the phone, the rep said I would probably be approved, and he asked me to submit an application. This actually took a few days to prepare. It’s a painful process completing these multi-page application forms.

After considering our finances and commitments the deal seemed to be a no go. That was disappointing. They could help me, but only under certain conditions. Their assessment also took more time than expected. In fact, I had to get on the phone to them, rather than being contacted by the lender. Time was pressing.

They wanted me to jump through too many hoops. But I did have a very interesting conversation that had a favourable effect my interest rate. On my existing home loan, that is.

They took issue with my credit card limit. I couldn’t quite see the point of the credit card issue when it was raised, as I always cleared the debt before the due date each month. But I can see their point now. The point is that there might be debt, which might make it difficult to make the home loan repayments if the card debt builds up too high. They also wanted me to have a larger deposit for the property. This wasn’t going to happen. At the time of these conversations I had an offer on a property. I had no interest in saving for a larger deposit. I’d lose the property to someone else, and I wanted to avoid that.

The interesting thing that occurred during my enquiry to this lender was related to my current interest rate. Without my asking, the rep offered me a discount on my current rate. I’d never heard of a discount before. At least, not during a conversation such as this. I was almost dumbstruck, but not so dumb as to say that’d be very nice. So, the way this works is that whatever the going flexible rate is at any particular time that this company has set for people’s home loans, for the life of my home loan, the interest rate I will be charged will be 10% less than everyone else. I asked if he’d confirm that in writing, and sure enough an email came through to say just that. To say I was amazed is an understatement. There has to be a lesson here for everyone. Perhaps everyone should try for a discount. What have you got to lose? It’s possible they wanted to ensure they kept me as a customer. Perhaps they thought along the lines that here’s a client who’s shopping around, if I don’t get satisfaction with them they may have feared I’d walk off and refinance everything with some other company, and so lose my business. I don’t know. I never asked them.

These enquiries were at about the time the Australian Government had put out its offer of guaranteeing the big banks. My home loan wasn’t with one of the larger Australian banks. Perhaps they were losing customers and just wanted to hang on to me and this was the inducement. It worked.

I was speaking to a rep form another lending institution. Well, I was shopping around, after all. The rep asked who my home loan was currently financed with. I told him. His response surprised me. He said he didn’t know they were still in business. Comments like that do nothing for your confidence in your financial situation. Is it practice for these people to put fear into people’s minds?

Mobile phones

What is it with people and their mobile phones and their inability to switch them off?

I was at the theatre on Saturday. It was the last night in the Canberra Playhouse’s run of Halpern & Johnson starring Garry McDonald and Henri Szeps. McDonald and Szeps may be better known for their parts in the long running TV series ‘Mother and Son’. Halfway through this magical performance someone’s phone went off. I didn’t hear it, perhaps because the phone was set to a quiet mode, but I was dismayed to hear some idiot in the audience answering it and begin a conversation on their phone, in competition to the actors on stage. I was stunned. I’ve seen people at the movies sending text messages and continually switching their phones on and off and on and off to check stuff. But I’ve never experienced it at a live performance.

Don’t people know how annoying this is? Surely you know how much light comes from the screen of your phone. You’ve seen people using their phones as a torch when they arrive late at the movies. If you have to do that, then fine, but switch the damn thing off when you get to your seat.

I’ve got an old Nokia and it has a very dim screen but I’ve seen others using the same model at the cinema and they are still very bright in a darkened theatre. Then there are newer model bigger and brighter iPod, iPhone, iPad. Leave your iNuisance at home or in your pocket. It’s annoying to see these things blazing out in a darkened theatre. I’ve actually seem people scrolling through internet web pages while at the movies. It’s selfish and dumb.

I’ve seen some people trying to subdue the light emitted by tilting their phone. All you are doing is aiming the light into someone else’s eyes. Some people cup their hand over the screen presumably as a courtesy to others. Nice idea, but it doesn’t work. It just means that they have to fiddle with it for longer because you can’t see what they are doing.

Why don’t you just switch it off? Are you waiting for a call from a hospital about your sick relative? What are you doing in the theatre; if you were so concerned you should be by their sick bed. Are you waiting for information on a business deal? If so you should be in your office and not somewhere annoying the hell out of others.

I have to wonder why people bought tickets for the show if they find it preferable to play with their phones. If you aren’t enjoying it then walk out and visit your friends. They might enjoy your company rather than you trying to text them from the theatre. Everyone sitting nearby will appreciate your departure.

I’ve often felt like grabbing their phones and sliding them toward the exit door. That could be a hint. I’ve often thought of snatching them from their hands and crushing them under the heel of my shoe. Someone might do it one day. It makes me feel good just thinking about it.

Anyway, on Saturday at the Playhouse, I initially thought a dispute or fight had erupted somewhere. Heads turned to see what was going on. I had a look around myself but couldn’t see anyone. Then of course it became clear that this was a one sided conversation as they nattered into their phone. Selfish twit. The two actors on stage looked distracted, but continued. And still this one sided conversation continued. It ended after about a minute with, “...I’ll call you back.” This distraction lasted only for a minute and despite the performance continuing, my attention left the actors. I lost the thread of the performance. I expect others in the audience were similarly distracted. The distraction plays on your mind long after the distraction ceases. I guess I settled into the play after about three, four or five minutes, but that’s a long time.

Come on folks. Switch them off and give the rest of the audience a fair go.

Our offer is accepted

It may be stating the obvious, but it’s probably wise to grab some money before going on a shopping trip. It could be embarrassing having the shopkeeper wrap an item only to discover you only had a few coins in your pocket. The same is true with real estate deals.


We found a suitable property and made an offer. Thinking back on that day, I must have seemed a little off hand to the agent. Just before the agent got off the phone with our final offer the agent said she didn’t think the offer would be accepted. This was just some real estate trick to try and have us to increase our offer. It had no effect and asked her to put it to the vendor all the same. I also said we were going out in the afternoon; off to the movies. We love going to the movies.

Driving into town we chatted about the property and whether our offer would be accepted. We considered if it was accepted then we’d have a new property; if not then that would be too bad. We’d just keep looking for another property in the area. There seemed to be plenty of properties on the market. Anyway, late in the afternoon the phone rang. It was the agent. She seemed a little perturbed. It’s amazing how people don’t listen. I said we were going to spend the afternoon at the movies. Despite that, the agent seemed annoyed that we weren’t contactable. Don’t people know that you switch the mobile off when at the theatre?

Anyway, our offer had been accepted. All we needed to do was provide our solicitor’s contact details to get things rolling.


Actually, there was more to do than just contact our solicitor. I had to find a solicitor, but there was a bigger problem. I had to get some finance. I should have made a few serious financial enquiries before shopping around for a property, but I didn’t think there would be any problems. There were problems.

These photos are of Surf Beach at sunset. This is the local beach. This spot is not much more than five minutes walk from the property. There was plenty of incentive to get everything organised.