Questions Cairns borrowers actually ask.

For most home loans, nothing. The lender pays the broker a commission after your loan settles, and Renaee discloses exactly what that is before you sign anything. If a fee ever applies to your situation, you will know up front, in writing.

Your bank can only offer its own products, and it has no duty to tell you a competitor is cheaper. A broker compares across a wide panel of lenders and is legally required to act in your best interests. Same paperwork either way, more options one way.

It varies by lender and how complete your paperwork is. Some lenders turn straightforward applications around in days, others take weeks. Renaee tells you the realistic timeframe for each lender on your shortlist before you choose, and keeps your application from sitting in a queue.

No. Loans settle with smaller deposits all the time. Under about twenty per cent you usually pay lenders mortgage insurance, though government schemes help some buyers avoid it. Whether paying LMI to buy sooner beats saving longer is a personal maths question worth doing properly.

Pre qualification is an estimate, sometimes generated in minutes with no checks. Pre approval means a lender has actually assessed your documents and will lend up to a stated amount, subject to the property. When you are making offers, pre approval is the one that counts.

Not necessarily. Lenders differ enormously in how they treat a missed phone bill from three years ago or a small default. The mistake is applying blind and collecting rejections, which further dents the file. Renaee looks first, then targets a lender whose criteria your history fits.

Yes. Expect to show more history, commonly two years of tax returns, though some lenders accept less or use alternative documentation. Self employed lending is one of the areas where lender choice changes the outcome most, which makes it natural broker territory.

Insurance that protects the lender if you default, charged to you when your deposit is under about twenty per cent. It can be paid up front or added to the loan. It is not the same as insurance that protects you, which is a separate conversation covered on the insurance page.

Yes, that is what refinancing is. She checks what you are on, compares it with the market, and either gets your current lender to sharpen up or moves you somewhere better. If your existing deal is genuinely good, she says so and checks again next year.

Renaee is based in Cairns and works across the whole region: the city, the southern corridor through Edmonton and Gordonvale, the northern beaches from Smithfield to Trinity Beach, Redlynch, and up to the Atherton Tablelands. Phone and video chats cover everywhere else.

Twenty to thirty minutes of conversation about your income, debts, savings and plans. No forms, no credit checks, no obligation. You leave knowing whether your plan is realistic, roughly what you could borrow, and what the next step would be if you choose to take it.

Financial documents are handled under the Privacy Act and shared only with the lenders and parties needed to process your application, with your consent. The full detail is in the privacy policy on this site.