What Are The Home Loan Options For Doctors and Medical Professionals?

It often sounds like physicians can take their pick of lucrative opportunities. Recent figures suggest five of the ten highest-paying jobs in Australia are medical: that would certainly seem to be the case. Doctors who are medical specialists in surgery, anaesthetics, or internal medicine earn the most money on average. Psychiatrists and “other medical practitioners” complete the next best five.

For this reason, it is no wonder that lenders and financial institutions find physicians perfect clients to whom loan requests should be addressed. Some reasons that justify such a view are the perceived stability in work, higher than average earning capabilities, and lesser possibility of default, according to the websites of specialised mortgage brokers and lenders. If you’re that doctor who looks like the stereotype, well then you could very well be given a better loan arrangement with cheaper rates, more flexible terms, or even fee reductions to try to entice you to work with them.

What are the perks of home loans for doctors?

Even though there is no such thing as a doctor home loan, lenders tend to view doctors as low-risk borrowers. This brings about the possibility of granting some benefits to qualified applicants, such as:

  • You may be exempted from paying lenders mortgage insurance (LMI) when buying a home, even if your deposit is less than 20%.
  • Waiving or reduced fees, as well as lowered interest rates.
  • A more efficient approval procedure.

What’s the process for doctors to have their LMI waived?

So if you want to borrow and you haven’t saved up at least 20% as a deposit, you will likely need to pay LMI. It is really just an added cost acting like an insurance over the lender’s side in case you can’t keep up with repayments. When you take out a huge home loan, you are likely to find that the LMI runs into pretty quickly, sometimes tens of thousands.

There are so many benefits to being a doctor. For one, you could be viewed by lenders as a pretty low-risk borrower. This means that they would be more than happy to approve you for a loan covering 90 percent, and sometimes even 95 percent of the home’s price. This means that you may not even have to pay LMI fees, making the process that much easier and smoother for you. With this, you can find yourself buying a property based on a deposit price that is just 5 percent of the purchase price, as well as skip the LMI fee completely.

So here’s the thing: in Australia, lenders have to adhere to responsible lending laws. So, in essence, that means they can lend you only as much as they think you will be able to repay. It therefore means that the property you choose is one you might afford even if you get LMI waivers. This means you’ll simply undergo the process of approval, whereby they are going to test your credit score and demand a little bit of information regarding your income and expenditure. So, doing just about anything within a profession will not necessarily qualify you for the initial round of the home loan approval.

Do you think it’s easy for doctors to get a home loan?

Doctors, just like any applicant who wants to acquire a mortgage, will have to pass through the mortgage approval process and will, therefore, be required to open up their financial books. While most doctors take in quite good amounts of income, presenting this income when trying to obtain a home loan is a little more complicated than it would be for any other borrower. This means that lenders would want to see something like PAYG payslips showing how you earn. In normal circumstances, doctors have a different way of earning that may not quite fit the mould.

If you are self-employed, you may find that the process of getting a home loan is tougher than it would be for a person who has regular pay checks. For doctors, especially self-employed or contract workers, it would mean the process takes much longer than they had envisaged. Thus, if you happen to be self-employed and wish to borrow some funds, it might entail producing some documents, such as:

  • Business tax returns for the past one or two years
  • Personal tax returns Two years of them
  • The latest notice of assessment you have received from the ATO
  • You’ll need two years of bank and financial statements for your business.

Advantages of Doctor Home Loans

In addition to the 95% LVR with waived LMI, some fantastic benefits you can enjoy from a lender upon your approval for a home loan include the following:

  1. Now for some good news. Some lenders now offer special discounts that include lower interest rates as well as the waiver of certain home loan fees for medical professionals.
  2. You can get another property or refinance your existing loan with a home loan for doctors to achieve more properties fast.
  3. Asset protection: Invest through a corporate or trust structure to protect your assets and take advantage of tax benefits.
  4. Therefore, the likelihood of getting higher income in the near future increases and you will qualify for a higher amount as compared to the regular borrower.

Who is Eligible for a Doctor Home Loan?

In most cases, you will need to have a membership of an industry body such as the Australian Medical Association or any similar one.

Medical professionals who could qualify for doctor home loans include:

Those in the below categories.

  1. General Practitioners working either in private practice or in a public hospital with a steady income and good credit record.
  2. Medical Professionals: Doctors, surgeons, paediatricians, and obstetricians are some of the many professionals who tend to qualify for these loans as a result of being wealthier due to higher wages.
  3. Dentists qualify as they earn steady incomes and a high level of income regardless of whether it is as a general dentist or as one who specialises in orthodontics and oral surgery.
  4. Hey interns and residents! Good news for you-young doctors in the form of internship or residency might be eligible for getting home loans even with 100% financing in some cases. How cool is that?

Even if your medical profession is not mentioned, you might still enjoy some of these special benefits!

Exciting Loan Discounts and Offers for Doctors!

If you’re in the medical profession then you might be able to enjoy some special rates and discounts from our panel of lenders!

That means, even though you’re borrowing 95% of the property value, we can work together to find a deal that gives you interest rate discounts that might only be available for an 80% LVR loan.

This means that in a particular case such as when many borrowers are hunting for the offer of a 95% home loan, one would get interest-rate discounts of just 1.06 percentage points, which is a normal offer from most lenders.

You will be enjoying, as a doctor, an interest-rate discount up to 2.46 percentage points-a typical offer for an 80% LVR.

We can request pricing as well to get even much better and lower interest rates!

How much can a Doctor save by avoiding LMI?

Doctors in Australia can borrow up to 95% of the property value without paying any LMI. How much does a doctor have to pay by not paying LMI? It depends on the value of the property.

Property Value Loan Amount LVR Savings with waived LMI
$800,000 $760,000 95% $33,000
$900,000 $855,000 95% $37,000
$ 1 Million $950,000 95% $42,000
$2 Million $1.9 Million 95% $97,000
$5 Million $4.75 Million 95% $266,000

Why choose ASK Financials As Your Mortgage Experts?

At ASK Financials, we understand the specific financial requirements of medical practitioners. Here’s why physicians across Australia look to us to source just the right home loan deal:

  1. Our brokers understand the particular financial needs a medical professional might need for a home loan. Be you just opening your doors or having several years of experience under your belt, we’ll guide you through your options and get your loan set up according to your future aspirations.
  2. Exclusive deals from doctors on your table! We can get those special deals for you. It helps you find the best loan option available in the market!
  3. We process your home loan applications to make life easier for working professionals. We are here to make things easier for you, reducing paperwork and saving time, a smooth sailing application process at every step.

If you find this article useful then you can check out our in-depth articles on our website.Want to know how you could save thousands on your mortgage? Book a free chat with ASK Financials today!

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