Help with getting a mortgage

Hi,

We have recently relocated to Cairns from NZ (husband, me and 2 year old). I have secured permanent part time work (4 days a week) husband is a truck driver and is employed through a labour hire company so goes from contract to contract. Previously he has worked seasons driving dairy tracks, FIFO etc, so in a nutshell he changes jobs fairly often, but the $$ is pretty good.

We are looking to buy our first home here in Cairns with the view to do some reno's on it, release equity and buy again.

We met with a mortgage broker who says we need to sit back and wait until we have at least 3 months consistent work under our belts before a bank will even look at us.

My question is, are there any lenders out there who wouldn't require the 3 months employment? We don't know if the labour hire company will have another contract, or if he finds a permanent job then we will need to start the 3 month period over again to get consistent income from that source. We have no debt, have saved our deposit ourselves and could easily live off my wage (including mortgage repayments), we pretty much can save his entire wage, so it's frustrating for me to have to just sit around and wait!!

Any thoughts would be great.

Cheers

 

Hi and welcome!

You might have options, for sure. How long is hubby's current contract for?

If he were to get permanent work, you'll be able to borrow right away with the right lenders.

 

Lenders are getting a lot more understanding about people changing employment frequently. There's a few lenders that don't care if you changed jobs yesterday, as long as you can show them what you've been doing and how much as earned over the last 6 months.

You'll also find that a lot of lenders are more forgiving if you've got a larger deposit (20% plus purchase costs). Avoiding mortgage insurance solves a lot of problems.

 

Hi Jess, one contract finished last Fri (5 week contract) hopefully another starting next week more long term (2+ months).
Really good to hear we could borrow straight away with right lenders.

 

Hi Peter, thanks for the info, we would have 20% if we are tight with our budget! Interesting that some lenders don’t care if you changed jobs yesterday...

 

The reality is that the workplace is becoming a lot more transient. The increase in casual and part time positions has been continually rising for many years. Employers are utilising the services of contractors more often as they can access them when they're needed, and not have to pay them when they're not needed.

Right now I have two clients who've purchased a property recently and I'm aware that they've just moved jobs, within a few months of the purchase (and that's just the ones I know about). I know of another two clients who intend to change roles in the near future as well, shortly after they've purchased.

Last year we submitted an application for a client on the same day he started a new role, all we had was an employment contract. The lender was fine with it, but made a condition that we'd supply the first payslip as soon as it was available. We did that a fortnight later and the loan was approved.

It's taken a while, but lenders are starting to recognise the transient nature of the workplace. What they're really looking for is continual employment, ideally in related fields or jobs that require similar skill sets. There are plenty of lenders that want 3 or even 6 months in the job, but there's quite a few that are willing to look at the bigger picture.

 

With those contracts you'd have options after 3 months as it would be treated as casual income, but permanent work opens things up for you considerably. Depending how much you earn, there may be lenders who can help strraight up but it will depend very much on your income and living expenses - the issue is that some lenders may treat hubby as a dependant which will impact things quite significantly.