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Buying your first home, investing in property or just keen to review your mortgage?
Fill out our online applicationMany 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.
Benefits of a Squirrel bridging loan:
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).
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 |
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).
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.
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