Local first home buyers succeed

Molly Bailey and her partner Michael Radford lived in a shed-come granny flat at Molly’s parents place for 18 months as they saved for their first home. So, they were thrilled to secure a loan and settle into their ‘perfect’ first home recently. 

"We love it," Molly said. "It’s a perfect first home for us. There are just a few little things we want to do to it and it will be perfect."

Molly, 23, described her new home as a three-bedroom weatherboard house. It’s in good condition, she said, but still with a bit of work to do to make it 'their own'.

"We wanted something that wasn’t falling apart but not something that was completed, so this was a happy medium," she said. "We wanted to be able to put our own touches on the place and not spend an extra $60,000 [on the purchase] for something if we could renovate it for $10 or $20,000 and save a bit of money."

Molly and Michael saved and searched for their first home for a year and a half. Rather than being a frustrating experience, Molly said applying for the couple’s first home loan was straight forward.

"I actually found it really easy,” she said, “I thought it would be daunting and scary but I didn’t find the process to be like that at all."

After banking with Newcastle Permanent for a few years, Molly said she knew she wanted to secure her first home loan with them. 

"I didn’t know much about Newcastle Permanent until a couple of years ago and then once we started banking there I thought, I want to get our home loan with this bank," Molly said.

"Based on interest rates, products and flexibility, Newcastle Permanent was way ahead of the other banks for us.

"For example, I think we’re both good savers and we both have our own savings accounts; both of those are offset accounts and they reduce the interest on our mortgage, which is really beneficial for us."

Bruce Oakes, 64, is at the other end of the spectrum from Molly and Michael. He and his wife recently secured a loan with Newcastle Permanent to build their third home. The pair is downsizing and moving closer to their daughter.

"All of our home loans have been with Newcastle Permanent," he said. "We’ve always dealt with them since we were young, and the service has always been good. Our lending manager was excellent at following up to make sure things were on track for us."

Molly and Bruce are not alone in deciding that Newcastle Permanent is the best lender for them. Mozo’s Expert’s Choice Awards recently named Newcastle Permanent Home Lender of the Year for 2018.

This year the Mozo Expert’s Choice team analysed 525 home loans issued by 88 Australian lenders, including the four major banks.

Mozo Director Kirsty Lamont said: "with 525 home loans under our experts’ radar this year, to be receiving the Mozo Expert’s Choice Award indicates Newcastle Permanent home loans are the country’s best in terms of value.

"Competition in the home loan market is rife right now," Kristy said. "Our Mozo Expert’s Choice Home Loan Awards are here to help borrowers cut through slick marketing by spotlighting the lenders delivering borrowers the best value for money."

Mozo also presented Newcastle Permanent awards for its individual products Packaged Home Loan, Split Home Loan, Fixed Home Loan, and Investor Fixed Home Loan.

Newcastle Permanent CEO Terry Millett said the achievement was more proof that its home loans were the most competitive in the market, having also been recognised by Canstar as a five-star Outstanding Value Home Lender and by Money magazine as its current Building Society of the Year.

"We can offer our customers a premium product and service experience because we’re 100% customer-owned," Mr Millett said. "This means that we don’t operate like a major bank to make profits for shareholders. Instead our focus is on reinvesting back into our products to offer competitive rates for our customers and support our community."