Roar Capital

Roar Capital Contact information, map and directions, contact form, opening hours, services, ratings, photos, videos and announcements from Roar Capital, Mortgage brokers, 1/225 Pacific Highway, North Sydney, Sydney.

🎖️5+years in finance
🏗️ Commercial finance | 💰self-employed
🏦 $100m+ finance secured for clients
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02/09/2026

Owning a commercial property leased to your own business sounds like a smart setup, but most lenders won't treat that rent the way you'd expect.

When a commercial property is leased to a related party, meaning your own trading company is paying rent back to you personally, many lenders view that arrangement with scepticism. The concern is that the rent isn't truly arm's length income, as you control both sides of the transaction. Because of this, some lenders will simply disregard the rental income entirely when assessing your borrowing capacity.

This is where it gets interesting. Not every lender takes the same approach, and the difference in how they assess your situation can be significant. Some lenders may instead look at the underlying business serviceability, meaning they assess your company's ability to repay based on its trading income rather than the lease payments flowing between related entities.

The lender you choose here matters more than almost any other factor. If your business generates strong revenue and solid profits, a lender that focuses on business serviceability could potentially produce a far better outcome than one that simply ignores the rent and leaves a gap in your numbers.

It's also worth noting that some lenders may require the lease to be documented at a market rate, supported by an independent valuation, before they'll consider any form of rental income from that arrangement at all.



Content is general information only and not personalised credit advice. Loan eligibility, rates, repayments, fees and lender policies vary and can change. Speak with a licensed broker for advice tailored to your situation.

30/08/2026

Great find here 💪

26/08/2026

Claiming large asset write-offs can legally slash your taxable income to near zero, and most self-employed borrowers don't realise that's exactly what makes lenders think the business is struggling.

When you purchase equipment like excavators and claim an instant asset write-off or accelerated depreciation, your tax return can show a significant loss even if the business itself is generating strong revenue. This is completely legal and often a smart tax strategy, but it creates a problem when lenders rely on taxable income rather than actual cashflow to assess your borrowing capacity. For many self-employed borrowers, the same decision that saves thousands in tax can temporarily appear to devastate their lending profile.

The good news is that some lenders, particularly those experienced with self-employed applicants, may be willing to add certain deductions back when calculating your assessable income. Depreciation, instant asset write-offs, and one-off capital expenses are among the adjustments that some lenders can potentially add back to restore your income figure to something closer to reality. Not every lender offers this, and the specific addbacks accepted can vary considerably depending on the lender's policy and the strength of your overall application.

If your 2025 return shows a loss due to asset purchases, it may be worth requesting a detailed breakdown of those deductions to present alongside your application. A broker familiar with self-employed lending can potentially identify which lenders apply addback policies that suit your situation. For a business with four years of trading history and significant equipment investment, there are likely lenders who can look beyond that one-off tax position.



Content is general information only and not personalised credit advice. Loan eligibility, rates, repayments, fees and lender policies vary and can change. Speak with a licensed broker for advice tailored to your situation.

23/08/2026

Is this a buy?

20/08/2026

Nine years of proven trade experience doesn't reset to zero the moment someone registers an ABN.

Some lenders apply what's broadly referred to as a "same industry continuation" policy, which recognises that moving from employee to business owner in the exact same trade is career progression, not a career change. Under this approach, certain lenders may consider a self-employed applicant with just 12 months of business history, provided their prior PAYG background was in the same field. This isn't available across the board, but it does exist, and it can make a meaningful difference.

The way it typically works is that the lender looks at the combination of your one year of self-employed tax history alongside your years as a wage earner in that same trade. For a qualified plumber, sparky, or carpenter with nearly a decade behind them, some lenders may view the transition as a natural step forward rather than an unproven new venture. The key is that the industry, and often the actual trade or occupation, needs to be consistent throughout.

Not every lender offers this, and the specific policy criteria can vary significantly between them. Some may require a minimum of 12 months of ABN registration plus a lodged tax return for that period, while others look at it differently again.

If you've been told a flat two years is the only option, it may be worth asking a broker specifically about lenders with a one-year self-employed plus same industry PAYG policy, because that blanket answer isn't the full picture.



Content is general information only and not personalised credit advice. Loan eligibility, rates, repayments, fees and lender policies vary and can change. Speak with a licensed broker for advice tailored to your situation.

17/08/2026

Buying off the plan and settling at a lower valuation than your contract price is far more common than developers would ever want you to know.

When a bank orders a valuation at settlement and it comes in below your contract price, they lend against the lower of the two figures. So if your contract price is $750,000 but the valuation comes in at $670,000, your lender is working off $670,000. On an 80% LVR loan, that means you'd be borrowing $536,000, not $600,000, and the $64,000 gap needs to come from somewhere, typically your own pocket on top of your original deposit.

That cash shortfall can catch buyers completely off guard, particularly when they've already committed their savings to the deposit and assumed the valuation would align with what they agreed to pay two years earlier. The situation can be made worse if you're borrowing above 80%, as lenders mortgage insurance may also be recalculated on the lower value, potentially increasing your upfront costs further.

Before settlement, it's worth reviewing your contract carefully for two clauses. A finance clause may give you grounds to renegotiate or exit if borrowing capacity is materially affected. A sunset clause sets a deadline on when the developer can force settlement, and in some cases this may create leverage to negotiate a price adjustment with the developer rather than absorbing the full shortfall yourself.

Getting a broker involved early, ideally weeks before settlement, could open up options that aren't obvious when you're reading the contract alone.



Content is general information only and not personalised credit advice. Loan eligibility, rates, repayments, fees and lender policies vary and can change. Speak with a licensed broker for advice tailored to your situation.

13/08/2026

Buying property through an SMSF is still possible for commercial assets, even though many accountants are flagging the changes as a blanket ban.

The 2024 regulatory changes restricted SMSF borrowing for residential property, but commercial property purchases through a Limited Recourse Borrowing Arrangement, commonly referred to as an LRBA, are generally still permitted. This distinction is critical because many business owners are walking away from a legitimate strategy based on incomplete advice.

Here is where it gets practical. Most lenders offering SMSF LRBAs cap the loan at around 65% to 70% of the commercial property value, compared to the higher LVRs sometimes available in personal lending. That gap between the purchase price and what the lender will fund needs to come directly from the SMSF's existing cash or liquid assets, not from outside contributions beyond the annual cap.

So the maths matters before you apply. On a $1,000,000 commercial property at a 65% LVR, the SMSF needs to fund roughly $350,000 from its own balance, plus transaction costs like stamp duty and legal fees which can add another $40,000 to $60,000 depending on the state. If your fund is sitting below that threshold, there are typically two options worth exploring: topping up the fund through concessional or non-concessional contributions in the lead-up to purchase, or negotiating a longer settlement period to give the fund time to accumulate the shortfall.

Getting the timing and structure right here could be the difference between the deal proceeding and the strategy collapsing at the finance stage.



Content is general information only and not personalised credit advice. Loan eligibility, rates, repayments, fees and lender policies vary and can change. Speak with a licensed broker for advice tailored to your situation.

11/08/2026

Remaining lease term on a commercial property can shift your interest rate by more than you'd expect, even when the building is fully tenanted and generating income.

Commercial lenders don't just care whether your property has a tenant in place. They look closely at how much of that lease is remaining, because the lease itself is essentially the income security that supports the loan. When a tenant has three years left, a lender sees relative stability. When that same lease is down to six months, the income stream looks far more vulnerable, and the lender's risk assessment changes accordingly.

This is why three different lenders can quote three different rates on the same property. Each lender typically has internal thresholds around remaining lease term that trigger different risk gradings, and those gradings feed directly into your LVR and the rate you're offered. Some lenders may be comfortable with six months remaining, others might require a minimum of 12 or 18 months before they'll offer their sharpest pricing. One lender refusing the deal entirely isn't unusual in this context.

The practical takeaway is worth acting on before you approach lenders. Ask specifically what remaining lease term their commercial policy requires to qualify for standard rates. If your current lease falls short of that threshold, negotiating a renewal or extension with your tenant before refinancing could potentially move you into a better risk category and unlock meaningfully lower pricing.

A commercial broker familiar with these lender-specific policies could potentially save you significant money here, not just time.



Content is general information only and not personalised credit advice. Loan eligibility, rates, repayments, fees and lender policies vary and can change. Speak with a licensed broker for advice tailored to your situation.

09/08/2026

Two commercial properties can show identical yields on paper, and one of them could be quietly costing the landlord tens of thousands more each year.

When a commercial property is advertised with a gross lease, the landlord covers most or all of the outgoings, including council rates, insurance, body corporate fees, and land tax. That quoted yield might look attractive, but once those expenses are subtracted, the actual return landing in your pocket could be meaningfully lower than the headline figure suggests.

A net lease structure shifts those costs to the tenant, meaning the rent received is closer to a true return with far fewer deductions eating into it. Some leases fall somewhere in between, often called a modified gross or semi-net arrangement, where certain outgoings are split between landlord and tenant depending on how the lease was negotiated.

This distinction also matters when a lender assesses the property. Many lenders will look at the net income figure when calculating serviceability, so a gross lease with high outgoings could potentially reduce your borrowing capacity compared to a comparable net lease property with a similar advertised yield.

Before making any offer on a commercial property, it may be worth asking the selling agent directly whether the quoted yield is net or gross, then requesting an outgoings schedule so you can recalculate the true return yourself.



Content is general information only and not personalised credit advice. Loan eligibility, rates, repayments, fees and lender policies vary and can change. Speak with a licensed broker for advice tailored to your situation.

07/08/2026

Most borrowers sign commercial loan documents without realising the terms themselves reveal exactly how the bank has categorised their deal.

When a lender caps your loan term at 15 years instead of offering 20 to 25, that's not standard practice. It's a signal that the lender has internally categorised the deal as higher risk, and that shorter term quietly inflates your repayments without the rate ever moving. Many borrowers never question it because they assume all lenders offer similar terms.

A margin loaded more than 1% above the lender's standard commercial rate is another flag worth examining closely. Some lenders apply this quietly, and it can translate to tens of thousands in additional interest over the life of a loan. Combined with a requirement for both a directors' guarantee and additional residential security, this kind of structure may suggest the lender lacks confidence in the deal on its own merits.

Annual review conditions requiring full revaluations every 12 months can also be revealing. In many cases, this clause gives the lender the ability to reprice or reduce your LVR based on updated valuations, which adds ongoing uncertainty to what should be a stable funding arrangement.

If you're being offered an LVR below 65% on a metro property with a solid lease in place, it's worth taking those terms to a second lender. The pricing may not be justified, and a different lender could potentially assess the same deal more favourably.



Content is general information only and not personalised credit advice. Loan eligibility, rates, repayments, fees and lender policies vary and can change. Speak with a licensed broker for advice tailored to your situation.

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1/225 Pacific Highway, North Sydney
Sydney, NSW
2060

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