Get started on your mortgage
Buying your first home, investing in property or just keen to review your mortgage?
Fill out our online applicationMoving House
Changing properties is a bit more complex than it was buying your first home. You might have questions like "should i buy or sell first? What happens to my mortgage when I move? Will I need a bridging loan?"
If you’re looking at getting into your next home, talk to us first. It’s a great time to review your financial position and make sure you’re getting the best possible deals and advice.
Talk to an adviser
A tale of two houses
If you’re looking at getting into your next home, talk to us first. It’s a great time to review your financial position and make sure you’re getting the best possible deals and advice.
Check out the video of Courtney's story, she's one of our favourite clients and we helped her and her family into their second home.
Bridging finance
In a perfect world, you'd sell your house one day and land the perfect gem the next, then settle both on the same day. But we live in the real world where that's not usually the case. If you end up buying first, there are two kinds of bridging loans you could go for:
- Open-ended bridging is where you buy first and intend to sell (but haven't sold yet.) Banks are reluctant to do open-ended bridging finance unless you are in a strong enough financial position to support both mortgages.
- Closed bridging is where you buy, and before settlement your existing house is sold under unconditional contract but is yet to settle. This is generally easy to finance.
Buy first
- Buying first is a riskier strategy, but you can mitigate the risk by negotiating a long settlement (say three months) then putting your house on the market.
- The other option is to buy "subject to" selling your place. This is unlikely to work in a market that has a shortage of listings or on a popular property – vendors will probably not accept a “subject to sale” offer unless it is the only one they have.
Sell first
- Sell with a long settlement so that you have time to buy.
- Sell "subject to" finding another house. This is unusual but we have seen this where our client was the buyer. In a market that is short of listings, buyers will be more open to a long settlement if it means buying the right house.
Have a gander at our blogs
You'll find some useful insights on the joys of moving house.
All articles
What happens with your mortgage when you move house?
There are a few different ways your mortgage can work with in your move, as JB explains.
Should you stage your home for sale?
Staging: It's something of a divisive subject in the property world. Namely, should you do it, and if you do, how mu...
Buy first or sell first?
When you have established yourself on the proverbial property ladder you will at some point come to the decision to ...
See why our clients love us
See for yourself what our clients think with over 1134 5 star reviews on Shopper Approved.
Eva
Auckland , New Zealand
Emma was fantastic to deal with. She was fast to respond to emails and always took the time to answer all of our questions, no matter how trivial. She managed to get us a great rate, and provided us with some valuable advice as first home buyers.E
Lutz H
Auckland, New Zealand
Lindsay was very thorough and approachable. Nothing was ever a problem and his attention to detail is outstanding. Felt safe and in good hands.LH
Maria N
Our broker was always on hand to answer queries and provided open and honest information and assistance. This was our first rental property we had purchased and we were very satisfied with the mortgage outcome and would recommend this service to others.MN
Venkata M
Wellington, New Zealand
The whole process went very smooth with squirrel. The person handled my case was very much interacted with me and explained every case in a very tidy way since it's my first mortgage. I have quite recommended few friends already. ThanksVM
Kerry W
Auckland, New Zealand
Squirrel arranged our finance, living in Wellington we liaised via email & phone which worked perfectly, was easy & stress free, highly recommend & will definately used Squirrel againKW
Jordon W
Sudam was great! Very helpful and very informative. I was pleased with everything and would highly recommend squirrel, especially Sudam. Thank you so much for all the work that was put in to get us into our first home.JW
Kahu S
Auckland, New Zealand
I liked there services, gave me options and a better understanding on what best suits my loan type very grateful for there professional staff have recommended to other family members.KS
Kyle
Emma was ultra responsive, very helpful and made the mortgage process for a first time buyer (from overseas) super simple and pain free. Would highly recommend her and Squirrel! Planning to get in touch on the next purchase.K
