...went great! it completely cleared up the reservations I had about the max $15k extra payments, and I found out that this bank DOES offer split loans between variable and fixed - which i couldn't find on the website (I think I was looking in the wrong place). I am going to talk to my boss's wife (bank branch manager of another bank) to see if she thinks her bank can do better, and I will probably talk to BF's friend N as well (he is a loan validator at yet another bank). So we have plenty of advice from all ends, from people who DO want the best for us regardless of their professional interests.
We found out that we are only $4k away from a 5% deposit on $350 000 - which will bring our Mortgage Insurance down to around $7k or a bit over
(I thought some members here might be happy to hear that! savings: around $4000) 
BF talked to his mum after we left the bank, and she has put 4k into BF's bank account today, so it can be counted as 'savings', just in case we need it. So that's it! We just need to concentrate on saving even more, just so we can have a buffer. The pressure has eased in terms of having a specific number - we now have that number. Anything else is a bonus that we can use for renovations.
So in the next week or so we will decide if we will go with Westpac or BOQ, and basically this means we are now 100% able to put all our effort into LOOKING FOR OUR HOUSE!
I think we are both really excited. YAY.
I can't believe this is really happening.
our bank visit...
January 6th, 2009 at 03:33 am
January 6th, 2009 at 03:57 am 1231214267
January 6th, 2009 at 05:00 am 1231218034
January 6th, 2009 at 06:31 am 1231223484
January 6th, 2009 at 06:43 am 1231224190
we will drag it out as long as we can, but we do sort of have a time limit. it helps that we have been watching the market for a few years, too.