With financial year end not far off, it’s a good time to start thinking about preparing your tax. There are a few things you can do ahead of June 30 to help you get ready for tax time 2021. Things like organizing your paperwork, prepaying any expenses in this financial year, and setting a budget for the new financial year.

Over the past year and a bit, our lives have changed irrevocably. Dealing with a pandemic – and the resulting economic and social fallout – has dominated much of our energy and attention. But importantly, the lessons we’ve learnt over the time spent in lockdown and during the pandemic could pay off for years to come. We asked three Mortgage Express brokers to share some of their learnings. Here’s what they said.

Building a new home is a complex project and there are many decisions to be made before the project even begins. From the style of architecture, to the floor plan and layout; bathroom and kitchen fixtures and fittings; right through to flooring, paint, countertops and cupboard handles. But the most important – and usually the first – decision that needs to be made when building a new home is who to go for financing. Should you use your builder’s broker or work with your own broker?

Normally, each year thousands of Australian expats, foreign nationals and temporary residents plan to buy property in Australia. 2020 saw a lot of Australians wanting to return home and, whilst foreign migration numbers were largely affected by our closed borders, Australia which is viewed as a safe country that handled COVID-19 well, is now expecting to see the large numbers return when our international borders reopen.

Whilst lending policy for non-resident home loans differs from bank to bank, a number of non-bank lenders also offer competitive financial products suitable for non-residents who want to purchase, build, renovate, improve or refinance a residential property. Read on to find out more about non-residents buying property in Australia.

With international travel closed right now – and potentially for a good part of this year – Australians are turning to local and regional travel this holiday season. Not only is it a fantastic way to see our beautiful country, it’s also an opportunity to support local, those businesses that may be struggling because of the economic impact of COVID-19. We asked some of the Mortgage Express brokers to tell us about their holiday plans, and we hope you feel inspired to get out and explore your own backyard too!

The number of Australian consumers using buy now, pay later platforms has nearly doubled in a year, according to a review undertaken by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC). But with one in five consumers struggling to make repayments, there is a growing concern about vulnerable consumers facing financial hardship as a result of taking on too much debt. Consumer advocates are now calling for more regulation around this type of credit.

Property auctions can be a good way to buy your next home or investment property, provided you know what you’re doing. Unlike a private sale where buyers can add conditions to a contract – like a finance or building inspection condition – when it comes to auctions, buyers have to do their due diligence before they even bid. If you are planning to bid at an auction, it’s important you’re prepared. Check out these 5 tips to get auction ready.

In the last year, a year that none of us could have predicted, with lockdowns and closures of many different industries, affected mortgage-holders were able to put up their hands and ask for the assistance offered by most of the Australian Banks and Lending institutions. It was help that was very needed and very timely.

Have you been concerned about your credit file not being as healthy as it should be? Did you spend more than you wanted at Christmas or are you finding balancing your finances harder after a tough 2020? The fact is a poor or lower credit rating can impact your future borrowing or mean you are charged higher interest rates for any new lending. If your credit file needs some repair, here are 5 steps you can take to help that situation and get back on track.

Need to crunch your numbers in a hurry? Take a look at the range of online calculators on the Mortgage Express website. Whether you need to calculate how much you could borrow, what your repayments would look like, how much your stamp duty could cost, or how much you could save with an offset account or a split loan, work it all out online using these handy calculators. Here’s an outline of what each calculator does.