I have been getting a lot of response to my comments on some self-employed/ business owners ACC cover being little more than a ‘crapshoot’.

Since I wrote that, I have been fielding LOTS queries from business owners about sorting out the perilous state of their ACC cover. We have been taking them through a ‘Full Risk Review’. A lot of self-employed/ business owners people have been confessing to me privately that they, ( quote ) “don’t know what the hell they are doing when it comes to their ACC cover.” ( unquote )

That is actually most of them that I have talked to. Scary. And it could be the tip the ‘iceberg’ of a major problem in New Zealand.

Their major concern was that they wanted to make sure they’ve got or get the right ‘ACC cover’ and of not ending up getting ‘mucked about’ if...

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Whether it is due to invisible messages from the ‘collective consciousness’ or just a kind of instinct that ‘the time is right’ but all of a sudden I am inundated with requests from ’1st Home Buyers’ for mortgage finance and advice.

The rates at certainly flattening out if they are not falling yet and ’1st Home Buyers’ are feeling positive again.

So what advice do I have for them?

Each case is different and generally I tailor my advice the financial situation of the person or couple; as well as the price of the property, area, ‘eligibility for KiwiSaver’ and so on. But there are some general tips you need to take account of:

1/ You need ‘good evidence’ of your savings. So don’t spread your money over various accounts or hiding places. One solid saving account with a good history...

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If you haven’t seriously looked at your ACC recently; don’t expect to necessarily get paid anything if you suffer an accident.

While nothing very exciting seems to be happening with the interest rates this week, I – personally – did something very exciting recently. I helped run the MortgageMax stand at the ‘Women’s Lifestyle Expo’ in Wellington …

I perceive a few raised eyebrows out there from a few hairy ‘stone-age’ men. Get with the program, Guys! This is 2010… in case you hadn’t noticed – or more probably, in denial – there is a whole new generation of smart, savvy, and successful women out there; who are doing ‘very nicely. Thank you’.

Being a young, virile and very 2010 sort of bloke I embrace and welcome these ‘power ladies’ and applaud their success. These ladies don’t ‘need’ men and could choose anybody to advise them on their investment...

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Surprisingly – again – since the last rate rise in the OCR ( Official Cash Rate ) by Dr Bollard, Governor of the Reserve Bank, no major Bank has seen fit to raise their mortgage interest rates correspondingly. Usually, you would expect them to react the morning or day that the OCR increase is announced.

This begs the question – once again – are they absorbing the increase? Or, are they just waiting to see which other Bank will blink first so they can avoid being the first – and therefore the instigator – of a succession of rates rises amongst the Big Banks? Which Lender will take the lead?

Perhaps they are aware that they are being closely scrutinized by the mortgage investment market and any movement by them will have important repercussions on the property market and will affect even the fragile economic ‘recovery’.

If this delay is just ‘caution’ on behalf of the Big Banks it could be that they are merely taking their time to review their costs, exchange rates, as well as other off-shore...

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Once again the New Zealand OCR ( Official Cash Rate ) has been raised by Dr Bollard as he plays his calculated guessing game with the NZ economy.

Support and criticism seems equally divided from the economists and other supposed experts. That maybe be due to the fact that this latest worldwide recession has exposed so many of them to be as ‘human’ and as self interested as the rest of us. Should that have come as such a surprise?

For those of you sitting on your floating mortgage rate: wondering whether to Fix or not … it is definitely time to weigh up your options. The big question is: can you afford to cover any more rate rises? Or, are you at the limit of your capacity?

If your ‘floating’ rate remains relatively low while the ‘fixed’ rates continue to climb the ‘pain’ for you will inevitably be greater when you finally do decide to ‘fix’. If you need a more personal assessment of your situation give me a call at the number at the bottom of my blog.

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MortgageMax is going to be manning a stand at the annual Wellington Business Expo this week… its on Wed, Thurs and Friday at the TSB Arena.

The Expo is a great place to pick up new ideas, refresh some old ones you might be currently neglecting and to generally get inspired and enthused over your business’s potential again.

You can attend informative lectures by an array of speakers - who will give your enthusiasm a booster shot – and schmooze with the various stallholders to pick their brains or just chew the fat. I mean, sometimes, it is just nice to be able to chat with other business people and find out what is going on out there.

As usual, there will be lots of new technology on display and new products and services on show: but for me the best thing is the chance to network and develop valuable friendships or possible strategic alliances.

As a stall-holder, of course, we want to chat to as many people as we can who are looking for investment property advice or are seeking financing...

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We are running our next FREE Investment Property Workshop in approximately next week on Thursday July 22nd.

I can promise you will learn only useful vital information that is relevant and to-the-point. This short sharp Workshop is specially timed at 5.15pm for busy people. The running time will be 1 hour. However, there will be plenty of time for questions at the end if you have time to stick around.

We have a special guest speaker from Quinovic, the specialist property management company, who will address the issues handled by a professional property manager and why you might want to choose a property manager to manage your investment properties – as opposed to doing the job yourself. Very helpful if you are currently facing that decision yourself and may highlight key issues you hadn’t considered.

- A Mr Alan Borthwick ( myself, in fact ) will be speaking about ‘How many Properties do you Need to Achieve your Investment Goals?’

What number of investment properties do you need to set...

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Recently some notices coming through from some of the Banks indicate a downward movement for some long-term interest rates. This could mean we are moving from the regular equity curve we have at the moment ( the 1 year rate is lower than the 2 year: which is lower than the 3 year, etcetera ) to a vertical equity curve ( which is the complete reverse: 1 year higher than the 2 year, and so on )

It is ‘early days’ but it will be interesting to see if the downward trend with several Banks indicates an actual ‘rates war’ or whether this is just a ‘blip’. The current leveling is good for consumers – I will be keeping my eye on the market for you – and I will keep you posted.

A note of caution vis-à-vis interest rates: don’t just leap in – get good advice first – otherwise you could end up catching yourself out.

Property Workshop coming up on July 22nd at 5.15pm…

We are running our next FREE Investment Property Workshop in approximately 2 weeks time:

- We will have a Property Manager talking...

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Some folks are NOT happy campers out there now we have hit July and increases for power, petrol and various other things have hit our wallets.

We knew they were coming but it is often not until reality ‘bites’ that we suddenly become aware of the actual consequences of all that ‘blah, blah, blah on the evening news. We get so used to the politicians talking and trying to sound like they are saying something ‘important’ that is easy to miss when they actually do.

Well, like it or not New Zealand is committed to the Emissions Trading Scheme and reducing our ‘carbon footprint’ and the world has changed significantly for all of us.

And GST rises to 15% in October as well. Should property investors be worried?

Well, to me, it is a case of “Lord, show me the things I can’t change: show me the things I can change and give me the wisdom to know the difference.”

You could freeze up, cease all activity, shut up shop, and climb under a rock until you are sure the sky isn’t falling… OR… you...

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What a difference a week makes, eh? Last week I was raving about how remarkable it was that none of the Banks had chosen to raise their rates in the wake of the 0.25 rise in the Official Cash Rate ( OCR ) and this week most of them have moved one after the other – like a bunch of sheep – to raise their floating and 1 and 2 year rates.

I suppose the only surprise really was that it took so long: prompting commentators like myself to speculate that they may indeed absorb the OCR increase in order to allow more people to afford to borrow. No such luck. Still, we should be grateful that 0.25% is a light “dab on the breaks” for the property sector of the economy rather than a “jamming on the brakes” which would have brought the whole thing to a grinding halt.

As we get into the reality of the KiwiSaver First Home Buyers Grant the first somewhat confusing issues of application rear their heads. I say this not to put you off applying but to make you aware. Let me explain:

There are really two paths...

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