There's no place like home... We just need a loan!

November 2, 2014 1:14 AM

The issue isn't us as borrowers... It's the house. The house is part of a coop/co-housing setting. We'd be buying the house, but the land it sits on would remain owned by the co-op. Mortgage?

We'd buy into the co-op too, and "own" it that way... But we wouldn't own the land the house sits on specifically. The owner has indicated that a previous potential buyer couldn't get a mortgage for it from *large mainstream bank*.

Are there any AUSTRALIAN mortgage lenders who deal with this sort of thing? Alternative lending sources open to Australian citizens? (I'm a US citizen as well.)

Thanks!

posted by jrobin276 to Work & Money (2 answers total)

Size of deposit + you and your partner's incomes will make a very large difference to your ability to get a loan for something like this. Banks will be concerned about their ability to capitalise if you default. It is much more difficult now than it was just a few years ago. I would think you will need to shop around a bit, definitely try the big 4, but try outside them too, eg credit unions, ME Bank if one of you has a union super account, and smaller lenders.

Best of luck,
posted by smoke at 1:29 AM on November 2, 2014

Co-ops are not an unknown concept to banks. If the house/unit you are buying has value separate from the land that the "community" owns, banks will offer mortgages to purchase them.

It's likely that the previous buyer either didn't have good enough credit and/or a large enough cash deposit to satisfy the bank, or even that they wanted to back out of the deal and gave a bullshit excuse that wasn't true.

If you haven't spoken to your bank or a mortgage broker yet, start there. You'll be fine if you have the money and the positive credit history/score.
posted by trivia genius at 2:34 PM on November 2, 2014