The results of our End of Year Awards (April 2012 – March 2013) for recognition of effort for high achievement have been announced – CONGRATULATIONS to the following:

NORTHERN REGION
Top Referring Sales Consultant – Highest number of settled mortgage referrals – Andrea Courtney, Eastzone Realty Ltd

Top Referring Franchise – Highest number of settled mortgage referrals – Cooper & Co Real Estate Ltd

Top Performing Mortgage Adviser for Harcourts Written Business (by number) – Suzanne Isherwood

Top Performing Mortgage Adviser for Total Written Business (by number) – Gary Xie

Highest Share of Business from a Harcourts Franchise – Mark Courtney for Key Real Estate Ltd

CENTRAL REGION
Top Referring Sales Consultant – Highest number of settled mortgage referrals – Shaun Cosgrave, Monarch Real Estate Ltd

Top Referring Franchise – Highest number of settled mortgage referrals – Monarch Real Estate Ltd

Top Performing Mortgage Adviser for Harcourts and Total Written Business (by number) – Di Dunn

Highest Share of Business from a Harcourts Franchise – Mike Rogers for Eastern Bay Real Estate Ltd

SOUTHERN REGION
Top Referring Sales Consultant – Highest number of settled mortgage referrals – Mary Turnbull, Gold Real Estate Group Ltd

Top Referring Franchise – Highest number of settled mortgage referrals – Grenadier Real Estate Ltd

Top Performing Mortgage Adviser for Harcourts Written Business (by number) – Sue Clydesdale

Top Performing Mortgage Adviser for Total Written Business (by number) – Sue Clydesdale

Highest Share of Business from a Harcourts Franchise – Tony Falloon for Phoenix Real Estate Ltd

WELL DONE EVERYONE!

The Mortgage Express Android App is now available to download for FREE – yes FREE!!! Click on the link below to access it and let us know what you think, we’d love your feedback!

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mortgage.android.nz&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEsImNvbS5tb3J0Z2FnZS5hbmRyb2lkLm56Il0

The air is crisp. Red, yellow and golden leaves flutter from the trees and are crunched underfoot. The days become cooler and shorter – autumn has arrived. At home, you can bring the best bits of autumn indoors and use them as inspiration for your decorations. Autumn is also the time to make your home look and feel warmer in preparation for the colder days of winter.  The simplest autumn decorations are often the most effective. When you are outdoors, pick up fallen twigs or small branches with red or golden leaves still attached. Create simple yet effective displays by arranging them in water-filled vases and placing them throughout your home.

Simple, handcrafted wooden bowls look stylish and elegant. Collect pine cones, acorns, dried leaves, twigs, nuts, and other seasonal items on an autumn walk. Create a beautiful display by arranging the items you have collected in the wooden bowls.  Alternatively, you could just pile handcrafted wooden bowls high with apples, pears, oranges and other seasonal fruit. Display them on tables in the living room, dining room or kitchen.  Wooden bowls can also add a seasonal touch to the bathroom, where they can be used to store soaps, and the bedroom, where toiletries and other small items can be displayed in wooden bowls.  Purchase or make decorations with an autumn theme and incorporating the colours of the season. There are many examples, including tablecloths and table runners decorated with leaves and pillow covers with acorn designs.

In the living room and bedrooms, replace bright, light-weight summer pillow covers with warmer ones made from heavier materials such as wool, chenille and heavy cotton. Pillow covers in seasonal tones of red, brown, orange and gold will reflect the outdoor colours and add a touch of warmth as the weather becomes cooler.  It may not yet be time to exchange your summer-weight bedding for your winter bedding but it is a good idea to add a warm throw or a couple of blankets to your bed so that extra warmth is available on colder nights.

Wicker baskets give your home a cosier feel, reflecting the changing weather. If you have an open fire, fill a wicker basket with logs and place it at the side of the fireplace, even if you have not yet lit your fire. It will provide a foretaste of the warmth to come.  Use wicker baskets to store blankets, throws, slippers and other items that will help you to warm up whenever there is a chill in the air. Place these wicker baskets in the living room and bedrooms so that everyone in your family can warm up whenever they need to.

Scented candles can add to the autumn atmosphere in your home. Choose fragrances that reflect the season, such as wood smoke, which conjures up the idea of a walk in the woods with leaves crunching under your feet, or spices, such as cinnamon and cloves, which evoke a warming feel on cool, crisp day.  In autumn, there are many small changes that you can make so that your home becomes a little warmer and more comforting now that the long, warm days of summer are over. You can truly celebrate the season by reflecting the changes in the weather in both the colours and designs of your home accessories, so that it feels like autumn both inside and outside.

Whether emigrating, buying a holiday home or purchasing goods from overseas, you can make very significant savings on your transfers by taking some simple steps to make sure you are getting the best deal and managing your exchange rate risk effectively.  Whether a small home based business or a multinational, the efficient management of foreign exchange is a critical factor in the profitability and stability of these businesses.

Getting the Best Deal

Most people don’t realise that they do not need to use their bank for foreign exchange payments and forward contracts.  Often just shopping around for the best rate can save clients 1-2% on their transfers.  Providers such as NZForex specialise in foreign exchange and work hard to ensure you have a simple, cost effective transfer.

Managing Risk

The most common and effective way to manage currency risk is to use forward contracts.  These contracts simply allow you to lock in exchange rates for future transfers and can be used for transfers up to 12 months in advance.

Another useful tool is the limit order.  Placement of a limit order means you specify your desired exchange rate and should the market price fluctuate to that level, then your foreign exchange provider will automatically purchase the currency for you.

These are effective because you cannot watch the markets every minute of every day and you may miss out an advantageous, but short lived, rate improvement.

About NZForex

NZForex is part of the OzForex Group, which is a strategic investment of Macquarie Bank, Accel Partners and the Carlyle Group.  The OzForex Group also includes UKForex, CanadianForex, OzForex, ClearFX and Tranzfers.

Since its launch in 1998, the Group has grown to be one of the world’s largest online foreign exchange companies by offering super competitive exchange rates, great technology and superb service.  Offering seamless 24-hour access to Corporate and Private Client Dealers, the OzForex Group completes over 200,000 funds transfers per year on behalf of clients.  A combination of knowledge and expertise has made the OzForex Group a significant player in the global foreign exchange marketplace, and one of the world’s leading online foreign exchange services, with over 350,000 registered clients globally.

For more information or to speak to a NZForex dealer 24 hours a day, simply register with NZForex.  Once registered you will be able to benchmark your bank or current provider with NZForex, and shortly after registering,  you will be contacted by a licensed dealer to discuss how we can help.

To receive the agreed benefits for Mortgage Express clients you must Register Free Here

As of February 2013, 52.6%, of the total NZ$181.036 billion worth of residential mortgages were floating while 47.33% (up from 46.7% in January), were fixed according to recent reserve bank (RBNZ) figures.  Of the fixed portion a total of 88%, is fixed for less than two years.

April last year marked the high point for floating mortgages since the reserve bank started tracking fixed versus floating data in 1998, as of April 2012 63% of all mortgages were on floating rates. Meanwhile housing credit demand has stepped up over recent months implying households are increasingly willing to borrow more to meet the higher market prices.

House prices, like the prices for most other goods and services are driven by supply and demand, but the property market is unique in the fact it has two main drivers on the demand side of the equation those being finance availability and interest rates.  Lower loan to value ratios (LVR’s) mean people must put down a higher deposit before the bank will finance them.  Less people able to get finance will (in theory) take buyers out of the market driving down demand and in turn property prices.  This will have an impact on first home buyers but with a decent portion of buyers cashed up from property price rises and from overseas it’s hard to see any major impact of lower loan to value ratios, at least over the near term.  Interest rates appear to be the most effective tool in the RBNZ tool box.  At the moment the RBNZ is sitting tight on interest rates but the higher house prices rise, the higher the likelihood of an increase highlighting the recent trend to fixed interest rates.

A boost in new apartments saw the number of new housing consents rise by 1.9% in February 2013, according to statistics New Zealand.  While apartment numbers vary a lot from month to month, figures continue to show a positive trend for new houses.  Housing consent numbers for February 2013, compared with February 2012, were 1,493 new houses, including apartments (up 24%).

The largest increase in the number of new houses was in the Auckland region, up 160 (51%) to 473. This includes 130 apartments, up from zero in February 2012.  Canterbury had the second largest regional increase in new houses up 91 (35%) to 351.  There were no new apartments consented in Canterbury this month, compared with 16 a year ago.  Earthquake related building consents in Canterbury totalled $35 million in February 2013, including 55 new houses; this is the lowest monthly total since April 2012.

House sales are moving ahead strongly with the number of houses sold in March this year at 8128, the highest level for a month since May 2007, with the number of sales up 23% on February 2013. Compared with March 2012, the sales numbers were up 11%.  With the number of properties on the market limited despite the new building consents, prices have had only one way to go.  The national median house price has topped the NZ$400,000 level for the first time ever and the national median price rose 8.1% compared with March 2012 and was up NZ$18,000 in March 2013 compared with February 2013.  Rises were the sharpest in Auckland and Canterbury but prices have also gained across the country, although at a slower rate.

Multilingual adviser Jessica Zhang has recently joined Auckland’s Mortgage Express, strengthening the services the brand is bringing to the diverse Auckland property market.

CEO of Mortgage Express says the volume of mortgages written has far exceeded last year’s results.“Even though the market is fraught with a crisis in terms of shortage of stock it seems the volume of written sales is still climbing with around 24-30% being first home buyers. We have seen a 100% increase in loans over the last twelve months reflecting the desires to get onto the property market now before things escalate further.”

“There is a lot of competition amongst lenders and this is proving advantageous for investors and overseas buyers. As in the Market survey released in March Auckland is a popular destination for Chinese and UK and Australian buyers. What we are doing is making sure our teams support the markets and that adaptability seems to be working for all.”

Jessica originally joined Mortgage Express as an assistant to husband Gary who has seven years mortgage advisery experience. She became exposed to the mortgage finance process, and with a strong background in the industry, led her to undertake full training. Now a qualified mortgage adviser, she believes it’s the perfect time for her to get out and start working face to face with clients.

Jessica comes with a strong background in retail banking having worked for ANZ in customer operations seven years prior to joining Mortgage Express. Originally from Xian in Mid-West China, Jessica is a Mandarin speaker with good knowledge of Cantonese and has a speciality in dealing with both English and Chinese clients all over the Auckland area.

For more information:

Marcus Williams, CEO Mortgage Express Ph: 09 522 6589

Jessica Zhang, Mortgage Adviser, Mortgage Express Ph: 09 522 6589

Scott Harty recently came on board as a residential mortgage adviser for Mortgage Express and will be based out of the Harcourts Thames office covering the Thames/Coromandel area.  With the property market strong in most main centres, regional areas such as Thames/Coromandel have a lot of scope for catch up. The Coromandel has a diverse range of buyers looking for holiday homes and larger land lots for development.
“To provide solutions for customers in the Coromandel it is vital to have strong background in the area” says Scott. To back this up Scott comes with 3 years’ experience as branch manager for the Thames ANZ giving him the right customer interaction and local knowledge for success.  Scott started out in 1995 for the then National Bank in retail banking and lending. During this time Scott got a good overview of the mortgage finance process. Scott spent six years with the National Bank till 2001 and then left for his OE where he was based in the UK.

Scott gets great satisfaction in helping people and strives to get people from where they are to where they want to be.Scott chose Mortgage Express because of its affiliations in particular with New Zealand’s largest real estate group in Harcourts. Scott believes Mortgage Express and Harcourts are a great match and “mirror each other nicely.”  In addition, Scott says “Customers in the Thames/Coromandel are restricted to one or two banks; the great advantage of joining Mortgage Express is that I can bring in up to 10 lending institutions options nationally, giving customers a choice they wouldn’t otherwise have.”

For additional comment:
Marcus Williams, CEO, Mortgage Express 09 522 6589

Scott Harty, Mortgage Adviser, Mortgage Express 09 522 6589

House sales continue to soar with 6,632 homes sold, hitting a six-year high for February. This was an increase of 34% on January and up 7.5% on the same month last year, the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand said. With the Auckland property market steaming ahead in sales volumes and prices, agents are saying that mortgage advisory services are in hot demand.

One realtor said the first home buyer market is hotly contested at the moment and each buyer has to put their best foot forward.

Mortgage Express and North Shore City realtor Harcourts Cooper and Co continue to develop offerings to buyers as they grow their advisory services appointing Scott Cleland as a mobile adviser who will work between Harcourts Cooper and Co’s Birkenhead and Beach Haven offices.

Scott comes with 22 years’ experience in the banking & finance industry, having worked at Westpac for fifteen years in all areas of the bank with a focus on lending and investment. This gave Scott a solid grounding in customer service and client facing contact, important in the world of mortgage finance and Auckland’s property market.

He believes that people want things to happen quickly and painlessly at the moment as being ill-prepared can certainly lose you a house at the moment.

“By cutting back the office time and getting out and about to see customers face to face, I really get to know the people I am dealing with, what their situations are – I can understand their goals and how deliver the best solutions to them – that’s my job.”

Mortgage Express has 17 advisers across the North Shore and Auckland.

Harcourts Cooper and Co has 11 offices across Auckland’s North Shore. Visit www.cooperandco.co.nz for more information

For additional comment:

Marcus Williams, CEO, Mortgage Express 09 522 6589

Scott Cleland, Mortgage Adviser, Mortgage Express 09 522 6589 or 021 867 489

Heating bills account for one of the largest monthly outgoings in any country where heating is required. Heating costs are also constantly increasing making having a comfortably-heated home a financial impossibility for many people. However, there are a few economical and effective ways in which you can make your house warmer. Using the following methods, you will be able to have a warmer home and save money at the same time.

Use Heavier Curtains

A lot of heat escapes through windows, even if you keep them properly closed. Using heavier curtains will not only help to make a home feel a lot cosier; they also help to stop heat escaping through the windows. They are a good way to prevent much of the draft coming in through the windows and they can make a particularly considerable difference if your house has older, single-glazed windows. The best winter curtains have an insulated layer at the back.

Insulate Your Attic

Hot air rises, so most of it escapes through the roof of the building. If your home has an attic above it, then that is the first place you should look when it comes to making your home warmer. You can insulate an attic or loft space quite cheaply using materials such as fibreglass wool. This is placed between the beams in the eaves and it should fit snugly in place, preventing a lot of heat from escaping the building. You can easily do this yourself, since no special tools are required.

Close Off Unused Rooms

There is no point in heating rooms in the house that you don’t use. Rooms such as guest bedrooms and storage rooms generally don’t need to be heated throughout the winter. Turn the heating off in these rooms and close the doors. Separate these rooms from the rest of the house in order to keep the flow of warm air inside the inhabited areas of the house. Of course, closing off unused rooms can also save you a lot of money on your heating bills.

Seal Your Doors and Windows

Doors and windows are the two prime locations for drafts in any home. This is especially true in homes with older windows and doors. If you have gaps between things like windows and their frames, cold air will get into the home and your heating system will have to work a lot harder to compensate. You can purchase rolls of self-adhesive rubber seals at any hardware store and apply them yourself easily enough. These will help to block any draughty gaps in your windows and doors.

Use Heavy Rugs

There is a reason why things like carpets and rugs tend to be more popular in colder climates. They provide an effective layer of insulation over the floor and a more comfortable surface to walk on. The thicker the rug, the more powerful its effect. Flokati rugs, made from shag wool, are particularly effective and they can make a home feel very cosy too. If you don’t have carpets in your home, rugs can make a world of difference.