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A cost effective Bridging Loan
Many people prefer to buy a new home before selling their existing one. That's why we’ve come up with a bridging loan to take the headache out of moving house.
Now you can upgrade to the right property at the right time without selling your current home first.
Move house on your terms.
Benefits of a Squirrel bridging loan:
- Borrow up to 80% of the combined property value
- Lower interest rates
- Less fees
- Flexible payment options
When it comes to buying and selling we’ll look at all the options and help you work out the best strategy to buy and sell. Whether that’s our bridging loan or one from our banking partners, or if you even need to bridge at all.
Squirrel can fund up to 80% of the value of your new property and existing property combined.
- The amount we are prepared to lend may be impacted by location or the type of house
- This type of loan is only available for homeowners buying and selling their owner-occupied home.
Our current bridging mortgage rate is from 5.95%p.a.
Priority is given to existing Squirrel clients
We have limited funding available for bridging loans. If you need to bridge a loan, it's important that you get advice early in the process and that you lock in your funding (if required).
- Existing Squirrel broker clients who purchased their last home through our advisers
- Existing client approvals
- New to Squirrel clients who have already purchased
1. Get approved to buy a new home (subject to sale of yours)
2. Find a property
3. We'll arrange bridging finance
4. Sell your existing home
5. Bridging loan is repaid and your lending is moved to the bank
Are there any fees?
As with any bridging loan, there are fees involved. Squirrel charge 0.50% of the amount borrowed with a minimum fee of $5,000. $1,000 of the fee is payable up front on approval.
When are the fees payable?
|
When |
Fee payable |
Benefit |
|
On approval |
$1,000 |
Gives you the ability to buy at auction or go unconditional |
|
On acceptance |
0.50% of the amount to be borrowed (min. of $5,000 less $1,000 already paid |
We reserve funding for settlement |
The full bridging fee is payable even if you don’t draw down funding because we have to reserve funding from the point you accept our finance offer.
There are no additional costs if you do not need the funding (your current homes sells in time).
We won't push you towards a product that doesn't work for you
Bridging loans are arranged by our mortgage advisers so the first step is to do an application for a new purchase. Your Squirrel adviser will get you approved for that with one of the banks and if the bank is happy to bridge your existing property then that will be the cheapest way of bridging. If they aren’t prepared to (and often they aren’t) that’s where Squirrel can step in. We can give you access to our bridging loan.
Once you buy and lock in our funding the rest of the bridging fee is payable. It doesn’t have to be paid until either the house sells or the loan draws down in which case the fee is added to the loan.
What's the alternative to a bridging finance?
You can buy with a long settlement date and then sell in the interim period. It would still reduce your risk for us to approve bridging finance just in case you don’t sell in time.
Alternatively you can sell first with a long settlement and then try to buy. The challenge with this approach is you might get locked out of the market or might not find the right property and compromise your next purchase.
Nikhil
Auckland, [New Zealand]
Eleanor was very helpful and guided us throughout the process. Eleanor always responded to our queries regardless of how small or big it was and made the whole process stress free for us as a first home buyer. Thank you Squirrel & Eleanor NikhilN
Barbara
Auckland, [New Zealand]
Ben Goldsmith is an excellent mortgage broker. His communication was warm & efficient & he was quick to respond to our queries. He came highly recommended from a real estate agent we know & we will recommend him to our friends & colleagues.B
Ritnesh
, New Zealand
Sudam gave me good advise from start ti finish for my home purchase. Very knowledgeable and efficient person.R
Jaimin
, New Zealand
Aatish was really professional and panctual on communication to keep.me up to date with what happening with application and made refinance process very easy. Awesome customer service!J
Tanya
Hawkes Bay, [New Zealand]
Paul was recommended to us and we're so glad he was. Paul went above and beyond excellent service. Answering all our first home buyer questions and genuinely listening to us and giving us sound advice.T
Joel
Auckland, [New Zealand]
JB was super helpful, proactive and prompt. He quickly understood what I needed from this loan, researched the market and gave me a clear range of choices. After we discussed how to proceed, he made it happen super quick. Well done.J
Gaelyn
Auckland, [New Zealand]
It was easy from start to finish. I felt well informed and my needs were exceeded. A very simple and satisfying process.G
Jacque
Christchurch, New Zealand
I dealt with Faye Foster as my mortgage broker to help purchase my first home. She was really supportive, encouraging, friendly and approachable and had great communication. I would recommend Faye to anyone seeking a broker, she helped me own my first home.J
