FOR PROPERTY INVESTORS
“If you wanted to sell one property next year, what would that do to the rest of the portfolio?”
Your answer shows me how the loans are tied together.
Finance the portfolio, not just the next property.
Each purchase changes what you can do with the next one. I look at how your properties are secured, where your equity sits, how cash is used and how lenders will assess servicing as the portfolio grows. I look beyond just getting the loan approved.
On my booking page, choose “Initial 15 mins phone call”.
Mortgage broker since 2015 · Brisbane-based, working with clients Australia-wide
Credit assistance is not tax, legal or financial product advice. Where your question turns on tax treatment, ownership structure or superannuation law, I work alongside your accountant, solicitor or licensed adviser.
What I look at before the next purchase
Security.
Which property secures which loan today, and whether any loans are cross-collateralised.
Equity.
What is available on paper, and how much a lender would actually let you use. Usable equity and borrowing capacity are separate questions.
Use of funds.
What each dollar borrowed will be used for, because deductibility follows use, not security.
Cash.
Where surplus cash sits (offset, extra repayments or elsewhere) and whether you might need it back.
Repayment type.
Interest-only or principal-and-interest, and what changes when an interest-only period ends.
Servicing.
How each lender treats rental income and existing commitments, and what the next purchase does to the assessment.
Optionality.
What you want to do after this purchase, not only this one.
Credit assistance is not tax, legal or financial product advice. Where your question turns on tax treatment, ownership structure or superannuation law, I work alongside your accountant, solicitor or licensed adviser.
Policy note
Where portfolios get complicated
Equity used for a deposit or costs
- The situation
- You want to use equity in an existing property to fund the next purchase.
- Why lenders treat it differently
- A lender assesses the extra borrowing against your income, commitments and the security. Separately, ATO guidance says deductibility follows what the money is used for, not which property secures the loan.
- What I do about it
- I structure the loans so each purpose stays separate and clear, and your accountant confirms the tax treatment.
Several properties on shared security
- The situation
- Existing loans are cross-collateralised, so one lender holds security over more than one property.
- Why lenders treat it differently
- It can complicate selling or refinancing one property later, and lenders differ in how they treat the structure.
- What I do about it
- I compare stand-alone and shared-security structures for the flexibility each leaves you, and put the trade-offs in front of you.
An interest-only period that will end
- The situation
- Repayments are lower now, and will step up.
- Why lenders treat it differently
- Lenders commonly test servicing on the repayments that follow the interest-only period, not only on today's repayment.
- What I do about it
- I show you what your position looks like after the change before you commit.
Servicing tightens with each property
- The situation
- Rental income is coming in, but commitments are building.
- Why lenders treat it differently
- Lenders apply their own policy to rental income and existing debts, so the same portfolio can support different amounts at different lenders.
- What I do about it
- I show how your servicing looks under each lender's policy, so you can sequence purchases sensibly.
Cash in offset, and one loan doing two jobs
- The situation
- You hold cash in offset or redraw, and one loan has funded both investment and private purposes.
- Why lenders treat it differently
- When a loan funds both, interest is apportioned by purpose, and redrawing for a private purpose changes the deductible share (ATO guidance).
- What I do about it
- Where the structure allows, I keep investment and private borrowing on separate loans, and I flag the question for your accountant before you redraw.
Credit assistance is not tax, legal or financial product advice. Where your question turns on tax treatment, ownership structure or superannuation law, I work alongside your accountant, solicitor or licensed adviser.
Structure decides the next move
Stand-alone vs cross-collateralised securities
Two diagrams of three properties, three loans and one lender. On the left each property secures its own loan. On the right all three properties secure all three loans together. Below each, a note on what happens when Property 2 is sold.
Neither is automatically better. I compare both.
Lender policy
A lender assesses each new loan against your income, your existing commitments and the security it takes. Depending on the lender, rental income, existing debt and shared security are treated differently.
What that means for you
Decisions made on today's loan (which property secures it, how equity is released, whether debts are kept separate) set what you can do with the next one.
A general example
Suppose a $100,000 loan is secured against the equity in your home. If the money buys a rental property, the interest is deductible under ATO guidance; if it renovates the home you live in, it is not. The security is the same in both cases. That is why I ask what the money is for before I ask which property secures it, and why the tax question goes to your accountant.
Worked example: an illustrative scenario, not a client result.
Individual results vary. Any figure shown reflects one set of circumstances at one point in time and is not a prediction of what you will be approved for.
Credit assistance is not tax, legal or financial product advice. Where your question turns on tax treatment, ownership structure or superannuation law, I work alongside your accountant, solicitor or licensed adviser.
Christine’s view
“I look beyond just getting the loan approved. The right structure today can create more flexibility for the next move, and on a portfolio there is always a next move.”Christine Junidar
Worked example: an illustrative scenario, not a client result.
Planning the next purchase with the whole portfolio in view
Usable equity and borrowing capacity are separate questions. A finance structure should be assessed against the next decision as well as the immediate purchase.
Read Christine's view →Fixed vs variable rate home loans: which is right for you?
Read Christine's view →Offset benefit
It estimates the effect of an offset balance. It doesn't tell you which debt to reduce, because that turns on how each loan has been used, which is a question for your accountant.
An estimate only, based on the figures you entered and the assumptions listed beside the result. It is not a borrowing limit, a quote, or an offer of credit. A lender will assess your application against its own criteria.
Credit assistance is not tax, legal or financial product advice. Where your question turns on tax treatment, ownership structure or superannuation law, I work alongside your accountant, solicitor or licensed adviser.
Where to begin
Bring the portfolio as it stands.
List the properties, how each is secured and what you're planning next. I'll tell you what I'd compare before you make the next move.
I read every enquiry myself and will be in touch to arrange a time to talk.
General information only. It does not take your objectives, financial situation or needs into account. Lending is subject to lender assessment and criteria. This is not a quote or an offer of credit.
Credit assistance is not tax, legal or financial product advice. Where your question turns on tax treatment, ownership structure or superannuation law, I work alongside your accountant, solicitor or licensed adviser.