Your Equity Is Not Borrowing Power | Harry Favetti from Azura Financial

One of the country's top brokers on what the banks are actually testing when you apply — and why having equity in your home is not the same as being able to borrow against it. Harry Favetti is Associate Director at Azura Financial in Double Bay, consistently ranked in the MPA Top 100, and Henry's own broker for more than ten years. We get into the 3% assessment buffer, why a pre-approval can shrink without you touching it, what cross-collateralisation really does to you when you sell, and the biggest misunderstanding in property finance: who Lenders Mortgage Insurance is actually protecting. 00:00 Meet Harry Favetti — MPA Top 100, Azura Financial 01:31 Equity is not borrowing power — servicing is the hurdle 03:03 Your pre-approval can shrink before you use it 04:36 How a single rate change cuts what you can borrow 06:08 Why lenders move fixed rates, and what it signals 07:41 The 3% assessment buffer — and why it hits your existing debt too 09:11 Floor rates, and what the COVID era taught the banks 10:42 Lenders with a smaller buffer — and what they charge you for it 12:14 When the big four stop being the right answer 13:44 $600,000 became $660,000: the cost of waiting 15:14 Is the risk yours or the lender's? 16:44 What a broker actually does for you 18:15 Self-employed borrowers and lender policy 19:48 The real advantage of using a broker 22:50 The question to ask every buyer's agent 24:21 Why "I just want the best rate" is the wrong first question 27:22 One lender or several? Aggregate pricing explained 28:52 Cross-collateralisation, in plain English 30:23 Equity release vs one cross-secured loan 31:53 What goes wrong when you sell one of two crossed properties 33:28 Lenders Mortgage Insurance — who it actually protects 35:00 What happens to the shortfall after a forced sale 36:30 Capitalising LMI into the loan 38:02 When paying LMI beats waiting another year 39:34 The headlines that didn't happen 41:04 Buyers are better educated than they've ever been 42:36 Why you can't do the strategy piece yourself 44:06 How vendors lag the market 45:37 Buying pre-market with zero competition 47:07 Where the affordable markets are now Pivot to Profit is hosted by Henry Single and Damien Healey of Pivot Property Buyers. Nothing in this episode is financial advice. It is a conversation about how lending works. Speak to your own broker or adviser about your situation.