Boothy Bites Episode 7 - A Silver Lining to Inflation | Hot Rates | Market Updates | Lydian HQ News

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00:00:00:00 - 00:00:08:00
[Jackie] Hey everyone and welcome to Boothy's Bites for October, and hello and welcome to the man himself, Mr. Chris Booth. How are you, Boothy? 

00:00:08:00 - 00:00:20:00
[Chris] Yeah, I'm good, thanks, Jackie. It's great to be doing this. And I just wanna say thank you for joining Rocksy (Andrew Rocks) and I in Brisbane last week to catch up. It was wonderful to share that time as well. And I know Rocksy was very excited, so thank you for indulging him.

00:00:20:00 - 00:00:28:00
[Jackie] Oh, thank you for inviting me. All right, so let's dive in with the RBA and interest rates. So what's happening there?

00:00:28:00 - 00:00:42:23
[Chris] Well, Michelle Bullock is the new governor of the RBA. So we've got a lady at the helm, which is great, but I think, look, you know, the sentiment for interest rates right now is we're on hold and that poses as a real welcome breath of fresh air for all borrowers.

00:00:42:23 - 00:01:08:38
[Chris] And for me it's a sensible decision right now. You know, we've done a lot of work with regards to increasing interest rates. We're waiting to see what their impact ultimately rolls out to be, you know, to cull inflation, which is obviously the primary concern of the Reserve Bank of Australia right now. Is it working? Well, the data that we've had out this is that the inflation is coming down with it, which is great, but we do have a few headwinds on the horizon for the RBA to manage and look at.

00:01:08:38 - 00:01:24:46
[Chris] I think you know for me as well, I'm sure yourself, Jackie, you know, we're all driving cars and I'm going, Oh my God, when you're tapping and going at the bowser, you can't, you know, when did the tank of petrol become $150 instead of like $50? You know, that's taking away a lot of money out of the system, but also increasing inflation as well.

00:01:24:46 - 00:01:42:28
[Chris] You know, so so the fuel prices are a bit of a concern. And then the impact on that as well, you know, being, you know, the cost of food and goods that we buy as a consumer as well. So that is definitely being impacted there as well. And then lastly, the other thing which is happening in probably means that we won't be able to afford to go to the states.

00:01:42:43 - 00:02:06:46
[Chris] And meanwhile as the currency, the Aussie dollar, is falling quite considerably and that will have an inflationary aspect to that as well. You know, trying to buy things which are important for Australia will be costing us more money as well. But you know, this is a complement to that as well whereby that we'll be able to sell more things overseas and also it would be attractive for people to come travel to Australia so that should stimulate the economy as well.

00:02:06:46 - 00:02:14:00
[Chris] But I think for now we're on hold with interest rates, which is great. That means that, you know, we've got a bit of a pause there. 

00:02:14:00 - 00:02:21:00
[Jackie] So yeah, nice. I love your silver lining. This is happening, which isn't great. And hey, come to Australia and see what we've got. 

00:02:21:00 - 00:02:31:04
[Chris] Well I've got a tourist boat on as a sidegig so you know, we can get some Americans to come on my Seabird Seven tourist boat and promote this.

00:02:31:04 - 00:02:36:00
[Chris] Yeah that's right. Sorry. It's not about Lydian today, it's about the Seabird Seven. 

00:02:36:00 - 00:02:45:00
[Jackie] Book with Boothy, get in contact! (laughs)And so what trends are we seeing in the home lending arena at the moment? 

00:02:45:00 - 00:02:55:08
[Chris] Yeah, so that has been good for us because now we've got very transparent interest rates in the marketplace. So we know where the rates are. We know where the promotions are right now.

00:02:55:08 - 00:03:09:27
[Chris] We know with the existing rates that we've got a good or bad. So, you know, providing advice right now is a little bit easier. And the clients, you know, it's a little less volatile for the client. So with this changing environment, you know, one of the things I would say is fixed rates have been all over the place.

00:03:09:27 - 00:03:25:35
[Chris] So about a month ago we had some cheap fixed rates in the marketplace. But with all this sort of uncertainty, with the headwinds we talked about before, those fixed rates have actually increased now. So they are a little bit more expensive than variable rates, which were a bit different last week where we had last month where we had a few special offers on fixed rates.

00:03:25:44 - 00:03:29:00
[Chris] So it's a fairly transparent market right now, yeah? 

00:03:29:00 - 00:03:39:00
[Jackie] Yeah. Okay, Good for transparency. We like that, but we'll see what happens. And so what about hot rates on offer at the moment? What have you got for us? 

00:03:39:00 - 00:03:47:34
[Chris] Yes. Okay. So that's good because we've got we've got more of a normal market right now with interest rates to sort of win business, as it were.

00:03:47:34 - 00:04:12:14
[Chris] The banks have got to do a little bit extra, which is cool. So we've got a couple of under the market or so under the counter market interest rate. So St. George Bank have got some very very attractive rates. Now from a pricing perspective, they're looking at a 5.69% variable and that rate there has to be a 60% loan to value ratio or less and you've got to be borrowing $1 million or more.

00:04:12:23 - 00:04:29:27
[Chris] So what they're doing is providing a lot of competition in that sort of exposed higher end of the market but low risk to the bank, yeah? Which is, which is really cool. But if you're not borrowing that sort of amount of money, we still have some special rates in place right now. So I think it's what I'm just going to check my email.

00:04:29:27 - 00:04:46:39
[Chris] So I think it's Firstmac that we've got from a hot rate perspective? So they've got cheap rates as well. They've got some cheap rates right now as well. And also Bank of Sydney, they've got some really good rates as well for investors. So they've got a cheap investor rate, interest only and principal and interest which is, which is really cool.

00:04:46:39 - 00:05:07:00
[Chris] So I think the biggest thing for me right now, it's worthwhile reaching out to your mortgage broker, have a chat with them, do a rate with you, look at what's good and what's bad. And there certainly are some heavily discounted rates. And even if it means that all we're doing is fighting with your existing lenders to get back to rates where you're at, that's obviously the service that we can provide and to our clients as well, yeah?

00:05:07:00 - 00:05:11:00
[Jackie] Awesome! And so what's been happening in the property market? 

00:05:11:00 - 00:05:27:59
[Chris] Yeah, so, well, Kelly and I have sold a Brisbane place, so I mean, I'll walk you through that experience really. So I was really worried. We've had an apartment up there for sort of five or six years. I think it is. And yeah, look, we're looking to change tack a little bit and you know, we decided to actually sell that property.

00:05:27:59 - 00:05:54:12
[Chris] Now the Brisbane market for us has always been able to rent out the apartment. It's been great. It was local to the hospital and things there, so we've never had a problem with the property. From a capital appreciation perspective. it really didn't work out wonderfully for us, but it did appreciate, no doubt about it. But anyway, in the initial consultation with the real estate agent and we went through McGrath, the team, and was recommended to go through Craig McGrath by Donie Collins, who is our Property Specialist as well.

00:05:54:12 - 00:06:09:10
[Chris] So you know, a real team effort for us and, and Craig, to be honest, was a little bit unsure about where the value of the property was going to to lay. And we have actually got tenants in that property as well. So the process for us was wonderful though. So, you know, we had to get consent from the tenants to do an open home.

00:06:09:13 - 00:06:29:07
[Chris] We only had one weekend to do an open house. We got some 20 people in there. We've got five or six contracts out, two or three offers. The property basically got we agreed on the price 2 to 3 days later, exchange contracts, work through the cooling off period. Valuation and formal approval happened pretty quickly for the buyers and we settled today of all days.

00:06:29:07 - 00:06:47:33
[Chris] So a really, really amazing which and I've got to say, I think the sentiment for that first home buyer market right now, it's really, really hot. So in our portfolio we've got lots and lots of clients who've got pre-approvals in place to buy that first home. And traditionally that first home would have been sort of that sort of price point around five, six, $700,000.

00:06:47:33 - 00:07:10:24
[Chris] But we've got all the first home buyers right now who are prepped and primed to buy at 1 to 1.3, $1.5 million. So that marketplace, I think is in real, real demand right now. And I suppose, you know, the statistics being, you know, the rental market increases over the last 12 to 18 months have been quite incredible. And it's really motivating people now to consider buying their own home rather than renting.

00:07:10:24 - 00:07:25:24
[Chris] And that's sort of that's sort of "new to market" space is real hot. But, you know, I do believe that the you know, as we go through the, you know, the spring and summer campaigns right now, more properties are coming into the market. So hopefully that will have a sort of a cooling effect on the values of property prices as well.

00:07:25:24 - 00:07:45:39
[Chris] So it's just interesting firsthand, you know, we were able to sell the property for the you know, for the right reasons very, very quickly. So anyone who's looking to consider to offload property, rebalance the you know, the books, as it were, well then reach out to us. We've got plenty of people in our world who can support that process and do a really, really good job. Donie and Craig...

00:07:45:45 - 00:07:53:00
[Chris] ...were fantastic for us. So it's just been nice to go through a process which I'm recommending my clients to go through as well, you know? 

00:07:53:00 - 00:07:57:00
[Jackie] First hand experience. Well, congratulations to you and Kelly. That's very exciting. 

00:07:57:00 - 00:08:03:00
[Chris] Yeah, we're going to Vegas! (laughs)

00:08:03:00 - 00:08:04:00
[Jackie] (Laughs) I wouldn't expect anything less! 

00:08:05:00 - 00:08:08:00
[Chris] Or I might have to pay off my credit card. I don't know, we'll see.

00:08:08:40 - 00:08:12:00
[Jackie] And so what about news back home at Lydian HQ? What's happening there? 

00:08:13:00 - 
[Chris] Yeah, so the Pride is growing. It's been really exciting, actually. So in the month of September, which it's crazy to think that, you know, we've been onboarding some really nice partners so in particular Australia --- are new to Lydian Partnership, which is great. So we've been speaking to the teams in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane and rolling out the services through their  channel and then next to their dealer group channel, which is really exciting for us.

00:08:37:01 - 00:08:58:53
[Chris] Secondly, we've been speaking with the H&R Block offices as well, so we've been having some lunches with the H&R Block district team and promoting the lending services through those services. So through those offices as well, which has been really good. So I just want to thank the brokers for really pushing that out and helping as well these services to those branches, because I think there's over 400 branches nationally and I can't do that myself.

00:08:58:53 - 00:09:18:07
[Chris] I'd be a little bit tired. And then lastly, you know, closer to home, you know, we're really expanding the pride. I mean, Jackie, you have seen from the day that it was sort of my Jerry Maguire moment who's with me, and a couple of mortgage brokers joined. We've got a bit of a merry band now. So, you know, we are definitely national and we've got a great guy who's just joined us, an English guy, so please go easy with him.

00:09:18:07 - 00:09:37:46
[Chris] But he's booked into the Gold Coast in southeast Queensland for us. His name's James Peach. He's got a business as well, called Peach Finance. So some of you may well see his billboard when you're driving north to Brissy there. So it's James Peach, it's Peach finance that's powered by Lydian. But yeah, we've got a great broker joining us in the Gold Coast which is pretty cool.

00:09:38:00 - 00:09:59:30
[Chris] And that means then I can go back there to visit James and have a little bit of a holiday because Gold Coast is one of my favorite spots in Australia. (To Jackie) Yeah, come get come down and visit. So he's joined us there and then yeah we've had a bit of a reshuffle with Darren. So with Darren primarily about brokers, he's been with us from day dot, he's gone up to manage the HQ there in Brisbane which is really exciting for us.

00:09:59:34 - 00:10:19:24
[Chris] And then yeah, yeah, watch this space. We've got a couple of other brokers which we're really pleased to have on board and we will launch those guys and girls in the October and November months as well. So we hope to have a team of about 17 mortgage brokers by the end of the year, which really plugs in those gaps and relationships that we've got from the partnership perspective.

00:10:19:24 - 00:10:46:04
[Chris] So it's a big thank you from Rocks and I for, one, joining us. And number two, thank the brokers for thinking about Lydian as a home to be and thank the partners for supporting Lydian so we can grow as well. And lastly I suppose thanks to the operations team for helping us plug in these guys and girls into the Lydian platform and doing an amazing job for the brokers from a transaction perspective and a marketing perspective to get their branded personal profiles out there.

00:10:46:04 - 00:10:52:00
[Chris] So it's a real team effort that Lydian HQ as well as Jackie, that's yourself. I won't forget you. 

00:10:52:00 - 00:11:21:00
[Jackie] Well, I think every time we've jumped on to film these Boothy's Bites, we've spoken about a new broker coming on board. So that's a testament to you and Rocksy constantly trying to grow the business and yes, so thank you to you guys for providing us with such an amazing team to be a part of. It's awesome! Go Team Lydian! (Laughs) We've got the trucker hats!

00:11:21:00 - 00:11:28:00
[Chris] Yeah, that's it. Okay. Well, I think...okay, well, I'll do a team song. Yeah, it was the Lion King song, but it's a really difficult one to sing. We've all failed at it, anyway. 

00:11:29:00 - 00:11:40:00
[Jackie] You've never asked me. But anyway (laughs) Well Boothy, thank you so much for joining me for your segment. As always, a pleasure. And we'll be seeing you next month. 

00:11:40:00 - 00:11:44:00
[Chris] Thank you, Jackie. You take care. Cheers, again. Ciao, everyone!