How we saved a client $45,000 in a few weeks...

A couple of years ago I got a call from an old friend of mine Dave. Dave was working in the mines earning great money. He had saved a deposit, and wanted to buy an apartment off the plan.

He asked me if he should buy off the plan. I said no, never, any approval I give you today would not be worth the paper it’s written on in twelve months’ time. We had a good chat; I got him a pre-approval later that week so he could shop around for up to six months. Overall it was an easy loan, wages with a deposit, and stable job, it doesn’t get much easier.
 
As far as I knew, Dave didn’t find anything to buy, so we fell out of touch for a while. Trusting he would contact me when he was on the hunt again, as it happens.
 
When Dave finally called the office well over a year later, I was off sick, so the team got him on to Matt. It had been eighteen months since my initial chat Dave and he had actually purchased off the plan in Brisbane. Against my advice, he had put down a $45k deposit on the unit.
 
Since then, life had changed. Dave had left the mines and started a new business that did not have strong trading figures. To be frank, it was operating at a loss that no amount of industry know how when it comes to understanding financials could rectify.  
 
The only income we could prove was the rental income on the unit to be purchased. In terms of outgoings, Dave had rent of his own, plus personal living expenses and personal debts. Further to this, his girlfriend was not even on the lease. In summary, it looked like his outgoings were substantially higher than his income.
 
Dave knew his situation was dire, so came to us for advice. The developers were ready to settle and he didn’t know what to do. His solicitor had advised him that he stood to lose his $45,000 deposit. Dave was worried out of his mind.
 
In order to satisfy a lender, Matt had to do some quick thinking. We knew Dave had purchased with a brother John in the past as this was in some of our broker notes. The brother agreed to go on the application for finance as he had a good income. John would get a twenty percent share in the property for being on the loan. In addition, we added Dave’s girlfriend to the lease to prove he was not responsible for the entire lease on his current home.
 
The application needed to go to a lender that would consider this structure. To ask a lender to accept the brother as carrying the debt, with just a twenty percent share, is not something for a mainstream lender. However, we had someone agree to it and got the application conditionally approved.
 
Things got worse for us as Dave’s broker though. Dave’s accountant suggested the client use a bank he preferred, one of the big four. We advised not to do this, it would be a waste of time and our application would need to go on hold while he did that.  Despite our best efforts to sway Dave, he tried the major bank. Of course, the bank declined him, so Dave came back to us, hat in hand, fearful, valuable time had been wasted. He now had just five days to settle the loan!
 
We had to move fast. Matt was secured an extension on settlement through Dave’s solicitor. I received a late night call from Dave one night I was working late, he said “next week is either going to be the best week of my life or the worst. I should have never gone to the other bank, or bought off the plan, but next week I either lose $45 grand or I own a property, I’m so nervous, I can’t even tell you!”
 
I reassured Dave that we were working hard to get it done. Matt and his assistant Jess were working the phones and escalating every step of the way. Even on Friday, at Bong Bong races Matt spent most of the afternoon on his mobile to make sure the deal was approved. The deal was then settled the following Wednesday the following week.
 
Suffice to say, our stories always end on a happy note. Dave settled his unit just in time, despite all the odds being stacked against him. ​

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