What type of property investor are you?

How to get more from your investment home loan at every stage

Property investment can help you build wealth over the long-term, and your home loan and investment strategy play an important part in achieving your goals.

When it comes to choosing an investment home loan, it’s important to find the right solution for your needs. And that depends on your circumstances, goals, and size of your investment property portfolio. 

You might be renting and taking the first steps to buying an investment property. Perhaps you own your home and want to use your equity to springboard into other investments. Or you may be an experienced investor looking for a more efficient way to build and manage your property portfolio.

Whatever stage you’re at, consider if you’ve got the right home loan for the long run.

1. Rentvestor

Live where you like, invest where you can afford

Rentvesting - renting your home and investing in another property - can help you enter the property market while still living in the area you want. You have the option to use the income from your investment property to pay down your investment home loan, or invest it elsewhere, depending on your circumstances and investment objectives.

The idea of taking on a commitment like a home loan can be daunting. Before you take the leap as a first-time property investor, think about your goals.

For Macquarie Bank customer Jay, the decision to invest in property was driven by a desire for future stability.

“If your tenant can help you pay off your investment loan, then in 30 years or so you’ll own that property outright,” he says.

If you’re a rentvestor, a Macquarie Basic Home Loan could meet your need to keep costs low, with competitive rates and no annual fee. At this stage, a small difference in rate now can make a big difference to how much interest you pay overall. And Macquarie Bank’s digital banking app can give you the tools and insights you need to manage your money effectively.

“You can use our inbuilt budgeting tools to keep track of investment property expenses and feel in control of your finances,” explains Pratham Karkal, Head of Direct Home Loans at Macquarie’s Banking and Financial Services Group. “This also makes it easier to send all the data to your accountant at tax-time.”

Macquarie Bank’s flexible investment property loans give you the ability to explore different strategies and tailor your loan to suit your changing needs.

Rentvesting may not be the right strategy for your circumstances, so make sure to seek advice from professionals, including your financial adviser or accountant, if you’re considering rentvesting as an option.

2. Wealth accumulator

Put your home’s value to work for your future

As the value of your property increases over time, you build equity, which can then be used to grow your wealth by helping fund another purchase. Using the equity you’ve built up in your home towards the deposit for an investment property allows you to start accumulating wealth for the future, while still keeping cash savings on hand.  

At this stage of property investment, flexibility and convenience become increasingly important. The right home loan structure can save time and help you manage your finances more effectively, especially if it gives you the option to have multiple loans under a single loan contract. 

“A flexible loan structure is particularly important for investors who also have an owner-occupied property,” explains Karkal. “With a Macquarie Bank home loan you can apply for an owner-occupied loan for your family home and a second, investment property loan under a single loan contract and lending limit whilst having the flexibility to establish separate loan accounts for your owner-occupied and investment home loan. Having multiple loan accounts under the same lending limit can make it easier to manage your money and saves you from paying multiple fees.”

Both the Macquarie Offset Home Loan and the Macquarie Basic Home Loan offer flexibility in structure which could suit you during the wealth accumulation phase.

3. Portfolio investor

Keep growing your wealth through property investment

As an established investor, you may be managing multiple properties as a significant part of your overall portfolio. The right loan and banking tools can provide you with convenience, insights and control, so you can spend less time managing your money and focus instead on building and strengthening your portfolio.

Managing cashflow is one challenge many portfolio investors face, especially across multiple loans.  

“If you choose a Macquarie Bank offset home loan, it’s just a single loan contract with one set of fees but the flexibility to set up different loan accounts,” explains Karkal. “And then you can have multiple offset accounts linked to the individual loan accounts as well.”

When you have multiple property investments, having visibility over your net wealth and financial position is essential. Macquarie Bank’s banking app includes a suite of digital tools that make it easier to manage cashflow, see your net financial position at a glance, and tag investment-related expenses.

“We engineered our digital banking to support investors,” says Karkal. “So you can generate separate interest statements for each loan account. Our system also automatically categorises expenses for the user, and you can upload receipts, add notes and tag tax-related transactions, which makes it really easy at tax-time.”

Through the Macquarie Bank app, it’s easy to search and report on invoices, repair and maintenance expenses for each investment property quickly. And our budgeting and expense tracking tools give you a dashboard with all the insights you need at your fingertips, so you can feel confident your assets are working hard for you.

Tips and takeaways for every stage

1. If you have a Macquarie Offset Home Loan, you can add up to 10 offset accounts¹ and assign them to individual loan accounts to help manage cashflow and potentially reduce interest payments.
2. You can also set up a dedicated offset account to receive rental payments and pay for property related expenses.
3. Look for a flexible loan with options to split between fixed and variable rates,  principal and interest and interest-only. This can help you stay in control of your cash flow as your circumstances change.
4. Keep track of your investment property income and expenses with digital tools. Macquarie Bank’s intuitive digital app gives you a single dashboard view of all your loans, accounts and expenses, giving you easy access to the information you need 24/7.