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Max Gustafson - Mortgage Broker

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Brisbane, QLD
Max Gustafson - Mortgage Broker

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💰Home Loans | Commercial Loans | Vehicle Finance
🏠In-House Insurance | Financial Planning
📍Astute Financial Camp Hill
➡️Contact Your Local Broker

04/11/2026

This year’s been rough on mortgages.

When did you last check your rate? Book in through the link in my bio.

Example only. 30 year P&I loan.

Astute Financial Management Pty Ltd | ACN 093 587 010 | Australian Credit Licence Number 364253

03/11/2026

Running a business means juggling a lot of moving parts. Insurance shouldn't be one more thing you have to chase on your own.

At Astute, I work alongside our in-house general insurance broker. That means you can sort your lending and your business, home, vehicle or equipment cover through one office, with people who already know your situation.

A general insurance broker can:

🏡 Compare cover across multiple insurers, not just one brand
📋 Help you understand what you're actually covered for
🛠️ Look at the specific risks of your trade or business
📞 Be in your corner if you ever need to make a claim

We help clients Australia wide, with a strong local presence in Camp Hill and surrounds.

If you'd like an introduction, send me a message.

01/11/2026

Fairfield units grew faster than houses. 120% against 106%.

This one came in by request, so here it is.

Houses went from $714k to $1.47 million over nine years. Units went from $413k to $910k. Units won, and they did it with a far smoother ride. No down year since 2019 and five straight years of gains.

Houses had a 32% spike then gave back 8% two years later. Units just kept climbing.

That makes sense once you look at who lives here. A quarter of Fairfield’s population is aged 20 to 29, against 16.2% across Brisbane. Add 40.4% with a bachelor’s degree, 20.1% with postgrad, and 41.3% of households being couples without children, and you have a suburb built around people who want proximity over land.

All of that inside 1.3 square kilometres, with 13 parks covering close to a fifth of it.

What it means for borrowing: a median Fairfield house in 2017 meant a $571,200 loan and around $3,425 a month. Today it is $1,176,000 and around $7,051. Same house, double the serviceability.

Fairfield or surrounds? Send me a message. And if you want your suburb covered, just ask.

📍 Max Gustafson | Finance Broker | Astute Camp Hill
📞 0481 090 313

30/10/2026

Running a business means collecting admin you never signed up for. Loans in one place, equipment finance in another, insurance renewals turning up from someone you spoke to once in 2022.

I'm a finance broker first. Home loans, vehicle, business and equipment finance. But we have insurance and financial planning specialists in house, so if your cover needs a look, I can get that sorted without you having to go and find someone yourself.

One person to call either way. That's the whole idea.

Right here at Camp Hill. Drop me a message. 🏡

Astute Financial Management Pty Ltd | ACN 093 587 010 | Australian Credit Licence Number 364253

28/10/2026

Five things to sort before you buy your first home, in the order that actually helps.

1. Talk to a broker first. Online calculators give you a rough number. A broker looks at your full position, flags problems early, and tells you what you can genuinely borrow. Do this before you start looking, not after.

2. Prepare your finances. Pay down and close credit cards where you can. Lenders assess your limit, not your balance. Trim unnecessary spending at least three months out, because that's the statement window they'll review.

3. Save for the full picture. The deposit isn't the whole cost. LMI, stamp duty, conveyancing, building and pest, loan fees and moving costs add up fast. Budget for all of it.

4. Do your research. Grants and government schemes can reduce your costs meaningfully, and some lenders waive LMI for eligible borrowers even at a higher LVR. Worth knowing what you qualify for.

5. Know your wants versus your needs. Once you have a real number, separate the essentials from the nice-to-haves. It narrows the search and makes the whole thing manageable.

Saving a deposit takes time. There's no prize for rushing it.

I work with clients across Australia, with a strong local focus in Camp Hill and surrounds.

📍 Max Gustafson | Finance Broker | Astute Camp Hill
📞 0481 090 313

28/10/2026

$908,000 in equity. $2.76 million purchase. And $208,941 still in the bank afterwards.

Hawthorne. 4 bed, 2 bath. Sold $2,760,000.

Sell at $1.4 million with $450,000 owing. After roughly $42,000 in selling costs that leaves $908,000 of equity.

The new place needs $2,907,059 once you add $147,059 in government and solicitor fees. An 80% loan covers $2,208,000. Equity covers the rest, and you finish with $208,941 spare.

That buffer is the whole story. I ran a Balmoral upgrade recently on the same structure and the buyer finished with $16,607. Both deals work on paper. Only one of them survives a valuation coming in light or a sale landing $50,000 under expectation.

Then there is the order you do it in.

Buy first with bridging finance and you secure the next place without rushing the sale. You carry two loans through the transition and it needs real equity behind it.

Sell first and you know your exact budget with no holding pressure. But you wear the price movement between sale and purchase, subject-to-sale offers carry less weight, and mismatched settlements mean moving twice.

Neither is right by default. It comes down to your equity, your confidence in the sale, and how much timing risk you can stomach.

Hawthorne or surrounds? Send me a message.

📍 Max Gustafson | Finance Broker | Astute Camp Hill
📞 0481 090 313

26/10/2026

How to pay off your home loan 14 years early, using a number your bank already worked out for you.

When you apply for a home loan, the bank tests your repayments at an interest rate 3% higher than your actual rate. It’s a regulator requirement, so they know you can still afford it if rates rise.

Take a couple on $90,000 each who max out their borrowing capacity at $880,000, at 6.45% over 30 years. Their repayment is $5,534 a month, but the bank assessed them as able to pay $7,367 a month.
Paying the extra $1,833 a month clears the loan in 16 years, saving $580,000 in interest.

Your gap, payoff date and interest saving will be different. Book a strategy meeting through the link in my bio and I’ll run your real figures and set out a plan moving forward.

I help clients Australia wide and I’m based locally in Camp Hill, Brisbane.

Astute Financial Management Pty Ltd | ACN 093 587 010 | Australian Credit Licence Number 364253

22/10/2026

Can your deposit be gifted to you? Short answer: usually yes, and it doesn't always have to be a gift.

It's one of the most common questions I get. Gifted deposits are completely normal, and plenty of first home buyers get there with help from family.

But there are conditions, and they catch people out.

It usually needs to come from immediate family. Most lenders want parents, though some accept grandparents or siblings. Policy varies more than people expect.

A gift needs a gift letter. Signed by the person giving it, confirming there's no expectation of repayment.

It doesn't have to be a gift. This is the part most people don't know. Some lenders will accept a family loan where no repayments are required, often repayable only on sale. Not every lender allows it, and where repayments are required it becomes a liability that reduces your borrowing capacity. But if your parents want the money back eventually, that's not automatically a dead end.

Most lenders still want genuine savings. They're assessing whether you can hold money, not just receive it.

Timing matters. Funds landing the week before settlement raise questions. Get them in early and let them sit.

If family are helping, talk to a broker before anyone transfers anything. Structure and timing make a real difference.

I work with clients across Australia, with a strong local focus across Camp Hill and surrounds.

📍 Max Gustafson | Finance Broker | Astute Camp Hill
📞 0481 090 313

20/10/2026

"Despite the multiple changes we made along the way, nothing was ever too much."

That line matters more than the five stars.

Most people assume that once an application is in, they are locked in. Change the property, change the deposit, change the structure and you are back to square one.

You are not. Circumstances shift mid-purchase all the time. A different property comes up. The deposit lands differently. The settlement date moves. That is normal, and handling it is the job.

Thanks to this Camp Hill couple for trusting us with the purchase.

If you are putting off the conversation because you are not completely sure what you want yet, that is not a reason to wait. Half the work is figuring it out.

Camp Hill or surrounds? Send me a message.

📍 Max Gustafson | Finance Broker | Astute Camp Hill
📞 0481 090 313

16/10/2026

Things you have reviewed recently: your phone plan, your streaming subscriptions, that gym membership you finally cancelled.

Things you have not had properly reviewed since the day you signed: the loans holding up your entire property portfolio. And comparing rates online doesn’t count.

Look, I get it. Nobody does this for fun. That’s genuinely what I’m here for.

I’ll review everything, and if it turns out you’re already structured well, great. That makes my life a lot easier.

Right here at Camp Hill. Drop me a message: https://astutecamphill.com.au/refinance-mortgage-broker/

Astute Financial Management Pty Ltd | ACN 093 587 010 | Australian Credit Licence Number 364253

Address

4/6 Newman Avenue, Camp Hill
Brisbane, QLD
4152

Opening Hours

Monday	8am - 5pm
Tuesday	8am - 5pm
Wednesday	8am - 5pm
Thursday	8am - 5pm
Friday	8am - 5pm

Telephone

+61481090313

Website

http://astutecamphill.com.au/

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