Balwyn's specialist for self-employed + premium buyers — private-school zoning, Pty Ltd directors, heritage homes turn to Halo Loan

Classic Balwyn structure. Big-4 servicing reads only the $100k director salary, treating $300k retained company profit as 'not distributable' — excluded. By big-4 math, $2.5M owner-occupier borrowable lands at ~$800k (LVR 32%, deposit $1.7M) — unworkable. Halo Loan works with 3 lenders (MA Money / Liberty / Pepper) that accept accountant-signed 'retained profit distributable' declarations, counting the full $400k at 80% add-back haircut for $320k in servicing. That lifts $2.5M owner-occupier borrowable to ~$1.8M (LVR 72%, deposit $700k). Conditions: clean company financials + accountant letter + ≥2 years company history. Rates 6.49-6.79%.

About 45% of Balwyn stock has heritage overlay — knockdown / major renovation needs council secondary review. Three steps: (1) Check planning permit history before buying — overlay class + the last 5 years of council decisions tell you knockdown feasibility. Halo Loan can pull the council database in 30 seconds. (2) Loan splits in two stages — land purchase loan (standard self-employed alt-doc), then construction loan post-planning-permit (4 specialist construction lenders handle heritage overlay). (3) Land + construction blended LVR caps at 80%, rates 0.3-0.5% above owner-occupier. Documentation-heavy — architect plans + builder fixed-price contract + at least one council precedent for similar works.

DTI 6.3 sits above APRA's general 6.0 ceiling — big-4 will decline outright. Two pathways: (1) Restructure rather than add debt: sell a low-yield investment or refinance one investment LVR down to 60%, dragging blended DTI back below 5.5 before adding new lending. (2) High-DTI exception lender: 3 lenders (La Trobe / Liberty / Mortgage House) handle DTI 6.5+ on exception — need accountant-signed cash flow report + high asset coverage + ≥30% deposit + 0.5% rate loading. Which fits depends on the goal — for larger new purchases ($2M+) the restructure usually nets cheaper; for smaller ($800k or less), the exception lender path. We model your net cash flow at pre-check so you can see which costs less.

Trust holding owner-occupier hits two limits: (1) Land tax surcharge — VIC treats trusts as 'foreign trustees' unless the deed expressly excludes foreign beneficiaries, applying a 1.5-2% annual surcharge; on a $2.5M Balwyn property that's $30-50k/year extra. (2) Main Residence Exemption — owner-occupier CGT exemption requires 'individual owner-occupier'; trust holding loses it. Standard play: owner-occupier in individual name (joint spouses, or sole high-income spouse), trust holding investments. Servicing trade-off: trust credit structure servicing reads differently than individual, needs allocation planning. Balwyn HNW households typically run a 'spouse + spouse + trust' three-entity structure with each holding 1-2 properties, optimising servicing + CGT + land tax across entities. We map the structure at pre-check — don't sign contracts first then re-engineer.

Workable, but pathway depends on visa: (1) PR pending on working visa (482/494): FIRB doesn't apply to new builds (owner-occupier requires PR or NZ citizen + 12+ months residence), but the 8% foreign-buyer stamp duty surcharge applies — $160k extra on $2M. Alt-doc + 30% deposit ($600k) + balance $1.4M loan. 3 lenders accept visa-holder + high-deposit combo. (2) PR granted but < 12 months: FIRB usually exempt (visa class + duration), standard stamp duty, but alt-doc runs the 'short income history + high deposit' track. Either way, settle FIRB + stamp duty + visa specifics before calculating the loan. We routinely lock in Balwyn owner-occupier purchases for Chinese HNW families while PR is still pending — paced right, settlement runs 6-8 weeks.