Why there is no rate on this calculator

Because a rate quoted before anyone has seen the property, the title or the reason for the loan is not a rate. It is a guess with a percentage sign on it, and every borrower who has been quoted one and then been told something different at settlement knows exactly how much that is worth.

So this calculator answers the question that can be answered honestly from four inputs: how much can I borrow against this property. The number it gives you already has the costs taken out of it, including the interest set aside for the months you chose, so it is what would reach your account rather than a figure that shrinks on the day. When you want the cost conversation, that is a phone call with a person, and it takes about ten minutes.

As a second mortgage calculator

A second mortgage sits behind whatever is already registered on the title — usually a bank home loan or a commercial facility. That existing debt is not refinanced, not renegotiated and not disturbed. It simply comes off the top of the equity before we look at what is left.

Which is why this calculator asks what is owing rather than who it is owed to. Put the total of everything secured against the property into that field and the answer accounts for it. A property worth $1,200,000 with $700,000 owing has $260,000 of room at the residential limit before costs — and the calculator will tell you what that becomes once the interest for your chosen period is set aside.

People search for a fast second mortgage calculator because the speed matters as much as the amount. Settlement in as little as 24 hours is the reason a second mortgage is worth considering at all when a deadline is the problem.

As a first mortgage calculator

If nothing is owing on the property, or the existing loan is being paid out, the same arithmetic runs with a zero in the owing field. The limit does not change — it is set by what kind of property it is, not by our position on the title.

A private first mortgage is usually the answer where a bank would take three to eight weeks and the money is needed before that, or where the business cannot pass a serviceability test that has nothing to do with whether the loan would be repaid.

As a caveat loan calculator

A caveat is a faster and lighter way of securing a loan against property, and it is priced and assessed on the same equity. For working out what you can borrow, the calculator above gives the same answer — the difference is in how the security is registered and how quickly, not in how much room there is.

Whether a caveat or a mortgage is the right instrument is a question for the call. It depends on the property, what is already on the title, and how fast you need to move.

What the limits are

• Residential — a house, a unit, a townhouse. Up to 80% of value where the property is worth more than $800,000, and up to 75% at or below that.
• Commercial — an office, a shop, a warehouse, a factory. Up to 70% of value.
• Vacant land — up to 70%. A block with nothing on it takes longer to sell and the limit reflects that.
• Large acreage — a rural holding or a farm on a large title. Up to 50%, for the same reason.

What happens if it says yes

Three steps, and funding in as little as one business day.

1. Tell us the situation. One call, or the short form. No financials, no tax returns, no business plan.
2. An indicative answer, usually on that first call. Not a pre-approval that evaporates later — a real position from the people who make the decision.
3. Documents and settlement. About fifteen minutes of paperwork on your side.

There is no valuation to wait for, no credit score threshold to clear and no interrogation about the last twelve months of trading. We have been lending against Australian real property since 2004 and the test has not changed in that time: is there equity, and is the money for a business purpose.

What happens if it says no

Then you have saved yourself a form, which is worth something. But a calculator works on the figures typed into it, and a property value is an opinion until somebody looks. If it is close, call — 1300 93 83 87, Mon–Fri, 8:30am – 5:30pm Melbourne time. Between a second valuation opinion, a second property, and a different structure, there is often a way that four input boxes cannot see.

Reviewed by Jason Brockmuller, Joint Chief Executive