Self-employed builder Marian Smith knows a thing or two about renovations - doing up kitchens and bathrooms is his business. Suspecting he could find a better deal on his home loan, Smith applied the same logic and shopped around for a lower rate, more flexibility and fewer fees. He stats to use loan calculator, in order to find his loan repayments.
Having been in business for over 10 years, Smith had visited a range of lenders in the past and had dealt with both banks and non-banks. An experience which had taught him that, given his line of work, he would have a much easier time getting a loan from a non-conforming lender than a bank.
"A friend of mine recommended Bluestone to me, but I also looked at other deals on offer. I found Bluestone very helpful - they made an effort to understand my individual situation," says Smith.
Smith's otherwise straightforward situation was complicated by the fact that he wished to release some of the equity he had built up in his home, and another investment property, to help fund a new project.
Dreaming of building an entire unit block from scratch, Smith realised that taking on such a project would place him in a higher risk category in the eyes of most lenders.
However, the lure of being able to on-sell the finished units, perhaps at a tidy profit, proved too strong for the builder from Frankston in Victoria.
Eventually after using loan calculator a lot Smith took out a low doc loan with Bluestone. Swayed by the attractive interest rate and surprising array of added features, he also liked the fact that exit fees were charged according to a sliding scale, becoming lower each year. After all, Smith could decide to 'renovate' his finances all over again.
People need to realise that just because you sign up for a low doc product doesn't necessarily mean that you'll be in this category forever. You can always trade down to a lower rate later on," he advises.
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