Friday, 27 April, 2018
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."