No two borrowers needs or situations are ever exactly the same. That's why the team at The Home Loan Group (NZ) Ltd are always willing to work with you to tailor a home loan package which meets your specific needs and time frame.

So if you are thinking about:

- Purchase of a first or subsequent home

- Refinance of an existing debt

- Purchase of a residential investment property

- Building of a new home

We are the people to see. We are locally owned and operated, with a real comittment to our clients and the people of our region.

Please call us today at The Home Loan Group (NZ) Ltd and make a time for us to meet up with you, either at your home or place of work, or at our place. Whatever is best for you!

The Governments first home buyers’ deposit subsidy will be available from the 1st of July this year. The subsidy is available to KiwiSaver members who have belonged and contributed to KiwiSaver for a minimum of three years. This will be by way of a $1,000 grant for each year of contribution, up to a maximum of $5,000. On 1st July this year members could be eligible for a $3,000 grant towards their first home. This will increase to $4,000 in July 2011 (after 4 years contribution) and $5,000 in $2012 (after 5 years contribution).

In addition to this grant KiwiSaver members who meet the 3 year requirement can also withdraw all, or part of, their savings in KiwiSaver to put towards buying their first home. They cannot access the government’s contribution however.

Where you have 2 or more buyers who qualify, the grants and savings available can be more than sufficient to assist buyers into their first home.

If you have previously owned a home but no longer have a share in a property you may also be eligible under this scheme.

This is a great opportunity to assist many First Home Buyers to get into their own home.

To see if you, or anyone you know, qualifies for this grant please give us a call at The Home Loan Group (NZ) Ltd and we will be more than happy to assist you, and answer any questions you have.

In our May newsletter we brought your attention to the forthcoming tax changes that effect Life Insurance policies from 1st July 2010.

It is not too late to review the level of Life Insurance you have and take the opportunity to increase those levels and avoid these premium increases.

We have summarised the changes below:

1. The taxation change applies to all Life Insurance policies taken out after the 1st of July 2010.

2. Existing Life Insurance Policies taken out before 1st July 2010 are exempt from this tax change for a period of up to 5 years.

3. The taxation change applies to Life Insurance products only.

4. Level premium Life Insurances policies will not be affected by the taxation change.

As you can see the good news is that your existing Life Insurance policy will not be affected, and as any increases to your Life Insurance benefit that complete before 1st July 2010 will be exempt from this extra charge, now is the time to consider increasing your Life Insurance Cover.

You could also consider restructuring your insurance so that all, or part of, your insurance is on a level premium basis which would avoid those annual premium increases as you get older.

If you would like more information please call 0800 800 306 and one of our advisors from The Home Loan Group (NZ) Ltd will contact you to organise a convenient time to meet with you.

All challenges provide an excellent opportunity to learn and grow. We know this retrospectively, but need to remember it when faced with hard times.

Written by Kate Marr-Kippenberger - writer of the daily column, Soul Food, for The Press. Soul Food has been published in book form internationally and was a best seller in NZ. Please go to www.onlinesoulfood.com for more information.