First home buyer mortgage broker and buyer's agent.
Grants, schemes, stamp duty, lender choice, suburb research, due diligence and negotiation. All under one roof. The first conversation is free.
Six things to get straight before you offer.
The first home purchase is the biggest cheque most people have ever written. The job of the broker and the buyer's agent is to make sure each of these is sorted before contract, not after.
Real borrowing capacity
Pre-approval through the Opes broker on the 50+ lender panel. The number a real bank will actually lend, with current LMI and scheme settings baked in, not a guess from a calculator.
Grants and schemes
First Home Owner Grant, First Home Guarantee, Family Home Guarantee, Regional FHBG, and FHSS. Eligibility, caps, and how they stack, worked through against your state.
Stamp duty concessions
Concessions vary materially by state and shift with state budgets. We work through the current settings before you sign a contract, not after.
Lender choice for FHB policy
Not every lender writes the same first home policy. Some support 5 percent without LMI, some offer parental guarantees, some are stricter on casual or commission income. The right match matters.
Buyer's agent if it warrants it
Suburb research, due diligence and negotiation through the licensed partner. The financial plan is included free for buyer's agent clients. The honest answer about whether the brief warrants one comes in the first call.
Settlement, then settled
Conveyancer, lender and vendor agent kept in step. Then a real handover into the rest of the file: insurance, super, and the plan once the keys are in your hand.
The four first home buyer schemes.
All four are administered through approved lenders, not Centrelink. The broker side of the file checks eligibility against the current caps in your state and submits through a lender that supports the scheme.
First Home Guarantee
Buy with 5 percent deposit, no LMI. Income caps for singles and couples. Property price caps by suburb. Place numbers limited per financial year.
Family Home Guarantee
For eligible single parents and legal guardians. Buy with 2 percent deposit, no LMI. Same property price caps as FHG. Does not have to be your first home.
Regional FHBG
Same 5 percent, no LMI structure for properties in designated regional areas. Caps differ from the metro FHG. Eligibility includes a regional residency requirement.
FHSS scheme
Put extra concessional contributions into super, then withdraw for a deposit. Taxed at 15 percent on the way in rather than your marginal rate. Caps on contributions and withdrawals apply.
Stamp duty moves the budget.
Stamp duty concessions for first home buyers vary by state and change with each state budget. Victoria, NSW, Queensland, WA, SA, Tasmania and the ACT each set their own thresholds and concession structures.
The savings can be material on a tight budget, ten to thirty thousand dollars or more depending on price and state. The numbers go in front of you in plain language before you sign anything.
The broker handles the lender side, with first home buyer loans covering the scheme detail. The buyer's agent partner handles the property side, walked through on the first home buyer service page. The plan sits across both so the deposit, the loan and the stamp-duty position are all sized to the same goal, with the long-form first home buyer guide worth reading before the first call.
5 percent, 20 percent, or somewhere in between?
The right deposit is not always the biggest one you can save. It depends on the market, the scheme places available, and what you would otherwise do with the extra capital.
Get in earlier
First Home Guarantee scheme, no LMI, subject to income and price caps and place availability. Best where the market is moving faster than you can save.
Pay some LMI
LMI is charged but the loan completes. Sometimes the right call when the scheme places are gone for the year but waiting for 20 percent loses you the market move.
Skip LMI altogether
No mortgage insurance bill, broader lender choice, and a lower starting LVR. Best where you are six to twelve months away and the market is stable or softening.
Questions first home buyers ask.
Broker first. The pre-approval is the foundation. Once a real borrowing number is in front of you, the buyer's agent conversation about whether one is worth engaging makes sense. Most first home buyers do not need a buyer's agent, but for an unfamiliar market or a house purchase rather than a unit, the time saved and negotiation work often cover the fee.
Income caps apply to the scheme. Singles and couples have different caps. Place numbers are also limited each financial year and tend to be drawn down progressively. Property price caps vary by suburb. The broker checks all three against your specific situation before you build a plan around it.
In most states the First Home Owner Grant is now limited to new builds or substantial renovations. If you are looking at an established property, the FHOG itself is usually not in play, but the stamp duty concession often is and can be worth tens of thousands. Existing versus new is one of the first questions on the call.
The First Home Super Saver scheme lets you put extra concessional contributions into super and withdraw them for a deposit. The deposit is taxed at 15 percent on the way in rather than your marginal rate, which is meaningful for anyone on $90K plus. It is more useful for professionals on a salary than for casual earners.
Yes, on most lenders. The guarantor structure uses the equity in their property to top up your deposit, often allowing 100 percent of the purchase price plus costs to be funded with no LMI. It is a real legal commitment from them and we walk both sides through the mechanics carefully before signing.
Pre-approval is typically two to three weeks. The search itself depends on the market and your readiness. From engagement to settlement, two to four months is the usual range for a first home brief. We do not push timelines that do not suit you.
Continue reading
- First home buyer loansThe broker side. Schemes, lender policy, and the right product for an FHB profile.
- First home buyer's agentSuburb research, due diligence and negotiation through the licensed partner.
- Finance broking50+ lender panel. Broker fee paid by the lender, not by you.
- Buyer's agent overviewHow the buyer's agent partnership works and when it is worth engaging.
- Home loan calculatorA starting point only. The real number comes from a lender, not a calculator.
- First home buyer hubCross-pillar view across broker, BA and planning for FHBs.
- First home buyer guideLong-form guide to grants, schemes, deposit and lender choice.
Grant and concession rules change. The figures and structures on this page are general and current at the time of writing. The broker checks current settings against your actual situation in the first call. Credit Guide.
One file. Broker, buyer's agent, plan.
If it is your first home, the first call is free. We will cover deposit, schemes, stamp duty for your state, and whether a buyer's agent is worth engaging for your brief.