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A new partnership has paved the way for the property sales platform to equip users with information about home loan costs and repayments – and provide them with a better understanding of their own buying budget.
Teaming up with Well Home Loans, the integration sees data from Well Home Loans included in potential home buyers’ property searches on Homely via an instant borrowing calculator.
Providing a realistic cost forecast for each individual property, the feature now provides Homely browsers with information about potential deposit savings, stamp duty, estimated monthly repayments, LVR, approximate total loan amount, and expected taxes without having to disclose personal specifics upfront.
CEO of Well Home Loans, Scott Spencer, said the tool was developed to open the door for people struggling to enter the property market because of its opaque costs.
“If you don’t know how much you need to save for a deposit, how much you need to budget for transaction costs, and how much you need to pay in ongoing mortgage payments, it can feel too hard to take the next step,” he said.
“The beauty of this calculator is that it clears up a lot of that confusion, which allows people to make more informed decisions. Including additional costs like stamp duty and lender’s mortgage insurance (LMI) in our tools means people can feel more confident about where they stand when looking to buy.
“We see a lot of home buyers surprised or not prepared because they didn’t know where to find the information – now they don’t have to go anywhere else to look for it,” Mr Spencer added.
According to Homely’s head of industry, David Webb, the tool should assist both first-time home buyers and investors, as well as those who haven’t participated in the market in a while.
“New approaches to lending have changed the borrowing landscape, so the more information you can get about where you stand financially, the more likely you’ll be to achieve your property goals,” Mr Webb said.
He noted that the data provided by the integration was intended to help buyers go into the purchasing process with more stability.
“This information is especially important for when you do find a property that ticks the boxes – allowing you to make a winning offer or bid without risking finance falling over.”
Homely’s head of product, Luke Kenyon, added that they hoped it would simplify the process even for the pros.
“Even people who are good with money or who have bought real estate before can find it hard to get their head around the numbers,” he said.
He added that the partnership pushed the platform forward in their intention to make it something of a one-stop shop for people embarking on their property journeys.
“A good product helps consumers find what they are looking for all in one place,” he said.
“Being able to offer that information in a digestible, seamless, hassle-free way is exactly the kind of solution consumers need.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Juliet Helmke
Based in Sydney, Juliet Helmke has a broad range of reporting and editorial experience across the areas of business, technology, entertainment and the arts. She was formerly Senior Editor at The New York Observer.
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