The Federal Government has announced that the expanded 5% deposit Home Guarantee Scheme will now start on 1 October 2025 - three months earlier than planned. This means no income caps, no limit on places, and higher property price caps across the country.But what does this mean for you as a buyer? And could this actually fuel house price growth just as the spring property market ramps up?In this episode, Evelyn breaks down:
✅ The exact changes from October 1 (price caps, unlimited places, 5% deposit, no LMI).
✅ How this could impact house prices in the short vs the long term.
✅ An action plan for First Home Buyers to be “Oct-1 ready.”
✅ Myths and risks you must understand before diving in.
In this Deep Dive episode of You Have My Interest, we unpack the big changes coming to the First Home Buyer Government Guarantee Scheme from 1 October 2025.These updates include the removal of income caps and significant increases to property price caps across Australia, meaning more buyers will be eligible to purchase with just a 5% deposit, avoid Lenders Mortgage Insurance (LMI), and access competitive home loan rates.We break down what these updates mean in practice and explore how they could impact first home buyers, increase market activity, and potentially shift property prices. With 1 Oct right around the corner, now is the perfect time to start planning ahead and getting ready to make your move. Whether you’re planning to buy soon or want to understand how the scheme could affect the housing market, this episode is packed with insights to help you prepare.
This week on You Have My Interest, we're diving into one of the biggest questions for homeowners looking to upsize - should you buy first or sell first? It’s a tricky decision with a lot of moving parts. We’ll walk through the pros and cons of each option, explain how bridging finance can come into play, and share tips on negotiating longer settlements or flexible clauses to help align timelines.
In this episode of You Have My Interest, we’re taking a closer look at the difference between borrowing capacity and purchase capacity - two terms that are often used interchangeably but can lead to very different outcomes when planning to buy a property.This topic was prompted by a recent client scenario, where a buyer was exploring the option of using a lenders mortgage insurance (LMI) waiver due to having a smaller deposit. After reviewing their situation and running the numbers, we actually recommended that they proceed with paying LMI instead. Why? Because it gave them access to a higher loan-to-value ratio and increased their overall purchase capacity.
This week’s episode of You Have My Interest is a little different. Evelyn takes you behind the scenes of her recent trip to Africa, where she visited two life-changing projects supported by Everlend’s fundraising efforts from International Women’s Day, in partnership with Just Peoples. She shares powerful stories of the women she met, and how financial education and skills training through programs like Asembo Skills for Hope are creating generational change in communities experiencing poverty.Evelyn also reflects on her biggest mindset shift from this trip around funding – funding-the importance of long-term partnerships and creating sustainable impact rather than one-off donations, and the role of supporting program and organisational goals as a whole.
In this week's episode of You Have My Interest, we delve into a recent finance file where we assisted a family unit – parents and their daughter – in purchasing a new home off the plan. In this unique scenario, the daughter (a lawyer with her own investment property) teamed up with her parents (both working, with existing properties and business liabilities) to buy together.We unpack how a lender’s mortgage insurance waiver allowed them to purchase at a 90% loan-to-value ratio without paying LMI, saving them thousands upfront. You’ll hear about the challenges they faced navigating existing debts and business guarantees, and how working with a broker helped them find a solution their bank couldn’t provide – securing fast approval, keeping repayments manageable, and achieving an outcome that worked for everyone involved.
In this week’s episode of You Have My Interest, we run through a real-life finance file where we helped a couple, originally from South Africa and now permanent residents in Australia, secure their first home while relocating interstate. With only one applicant’s income able to be used for servicing, since the other applicant’s job couldn’t continue in the new state, we explored how this impacted their borrowing capacity and how we structured their loan. We cover how they built up genuine savings, including using the First Home Super Saver Scheme, why they chose to borrow 93% of the property value while keeping a solid savings buffer, and break down the loan structure and product features they’ve gone with.
This week on You Have My Interest, we break down a real first home buyer scenario to show how government initiatives can help make homeownership possible. We share the journey of a 32-year-old nurse unit manager in Victoria who purchased her first property using the First Home Buyer Government Guarantee Scheme, avoiding lenders’ mortgage insurance, and explored eligibility for both this and the First Home Owner Grant.
In this episode of You Have My Interest, we take a deep dive into the new regulations affecting Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) services in Australia and what they mean for everyday consumers. From 10 June, providers like Afterpay and Zip must operate as regulated credit products. This means holding an Australian credit licence, performing checks on new applicants, and reporting repayments and missed payments to credit bureaus.
