English · دری Dari
An Afghan mortgage broker for Shepparton
Shaheera is Afghan, speaks Dari, and spent more than twenty years inside Australian banking before starting Exceed Finance. Most of the families we have helped into their homes are Afghan. We are based in Melbourne and work with clients right across Australia, so if it is easier to have this conversation in Dari, you can.
Why it matters
Nobody should be buying a home through a translator
Plenty of people manage everyday English perfectly well and still find a loan contract hard going. Offset versus redraw, lenders mortgage insurance, comparison rates, what a lender actually means by "genuine savings". These are not everyday words in any language.
What usually happens is that a son or daughter comes along to translate. They do their best, but they are translating terms they have never had to use themselves, on the biggest financial decision the family will make. Details get lost. Questions people are embarrassed to ask never get asked at all.
You can just ask Shaheera directly instead, in Dari, and take as long as you need. There is no cost for the conversation and no obligation at the end of it.
- Twenty years of Australian lending experience, including senior roles at ANZ
- 35+ lenders compared, not one bank's product range
- Free to you on residential home loans, with everything disclosed in writing
Rated 5.0 from 25 reviews
Families trust Exceed Finance for plain, honest advice, with no jargon and no pressure.
What you get
Straight answers, in your language
Shaheera speaks Dari and has spent more than twenty years in Australian lending, including senior roles at ANZ. Our service is free to you on residential home loans and everything is disclosed in writing.
Buying in VIC
In Shepparton the numbers actually work in your favour
Victoria gives an eligible first home buyer a full stamp duty exemption up to $600,000 and a sliding concession up to $750,000. In Melbourne a lot of buyers sail straight past both. In Shepparton, where the median house is somewhere between $470,000 and $520,000 depending on who is counting, most first homes sit comfortably under the full exemption. On a $500,000 house that is close to $22,000 of duty you do not pay.
The Australian Government 5% Deposit Scheme has a price cap of $650,000 for regional Victoria. Again, most of Shepparton fits under it. Five per cent of $500,000 is $25,000, and with the guarantee you skip lenders mortgage insurance, which on that loan would otherwise cost more than $10,000. Building new adds the $10,000 First Home Owner Grant on top.
Duty and the grant are set by the State Revenue Office Victoria, and the 5% scheme by Housing Australia through participating lenders. The thresholds move, so check sro.vic.gov.au or get your own advice before you sign. What we do is work out what it means for the deposit you actually need, and which lender on the panel will take the income you actually have.
Being honest about it
We are not in Shepparton, and it has not mattered
Exceed Finance is based in Melbourne, about two hours down the Goulburn Valley Highway. We are not going to pretend to have a Shepparton office, because we do not have one and you would find out.
What we do have is a credit licence that covers all of Australia, a panel of 35+ lenders who all lend in regional Victoria, and a process that has been done by phone, video and secure document upload for years. Nobody needs to sit across a desk from anybody for a loan to settle. When it is worth doing in person, Shepparton is a drive, not a flight.
Brokers in Shepparton are not in short supply. What is genuinely hard to find is one who can explain a guarantor structure or how a lender treats seasonal income to your father in Dari, without anybody having to translate it for him.
1,144 people in Greater Shepparton were born in Afghanistan
2021 Census, Australian Bureau of Statistics. Shepparton has the largest Afghan community in regional Victoria. Most families arrived from about 2005 onwards, first for orchard and farm work, and a lot of them stayed, bought and built.
Where we can usually help most
The situations that come up again and again
Seasonal, farm and factory income
Orchard work, packing sheds, abattoirs and cannery shifts do not produce a tidy payslip every fortnight. Some lenders average it over a year, some want two, some will not touch it. Picking the right one is most of the job.
Pooling money as a family
Buying together is common in Shepparton. Whether that is best done as a joint application, a gift with a letter, or a guarantor loan changes what you can borrow and who is on the title. Worth deciding on purpose.
Visa and residency questions
Rules vary by lender and visa subclass. Worth knowing where you stand before an application leaves a mark on your credit file.
Building instead of buying
A lot of families in the newer estates around Kialla and North Shepparton have built. A construction loan runs differently to a standard one and the $10,000 grant only applies to new homes.
Simple from start to finish
How it works from anywhere in Australia
Free chat
Phone or video, in English or Dari. We work out your goals and what you can actually borrow.
We compare
We search 35+ lenders and shortlist the ones that fit your situation and your state.
We apply
Documents come in by secure upload. We package and submit it, and chase it for you.
Settlement
We see it through to approval, and stay in touch afterwards.
Common questions
Questions we get asked a lot
How much deposit do I need to buy a house in Shepparton?
Often less than people think. With the Australian Government 5% Deposit Scheme an eligible first home buyer can buy with a 5% deposit and no lenders mortgage insurance, and the regional Victoria price cap of $650,000 covers most of Shepparton. On a $500,000 house that is a $25,000 deposit, and because it is under $600,000 there is no stamp duty for an eligible first home buyer either. Lenders still want to see how the deposit was saved, and a gift or pooled family money has to be documented a particular way. Rules and caps change, so confirm your position with the State Revenue Office or your own adviser.
Is there a Dari-speaking mortgage broker for Shepparton?
Yes. Shaheera at Exceed Finance is Afghan and speaks Dari, including Hazaragi. We are based in Melbourne and licensed to work with clients anywhere in Australia, so we look after Shepparton clients by phone, video and secure upload. You can go through deposits, borrowing power, contracts and the whole loan process in Dari instead of having a family member translate it for you.
Can I get a home loan in Australia on a temporary or partner visa?
Sometimes, and it depends on both the lender and your visa subclass. Some lenders will not lend to temporary residents at all. Others will, usually with a larger deposit. Permanent residents are generally treated like citizens by most lenders, so if permanent residency is close, timing can matter more than which lender you pick. There is a separate question about whether you are allowed to buy the property at all, which is covered below. Worth sorting out before you walk into a bank branch, because a declined application leaves a mark on your credit file.
Do I need FIRB approval, and can I still buy an established house?
If you are not an Australian citizen or permanent resident, you count as a foreign person under the foreign investment rules, and that includes most temporary visa holders. Two things follow. You generally have to notify the Australian Taxation Office before buying any residential property, whatever it costs. And between 1 April 2025 and 30 June 2029, foreign persons are generally prohibited from buying established dwellings, with only limited exceptions. New and near-new dwellings, and off-the-plan purchases, are still open with approval. This is set by the Foreign Investment Review Board and administered by the ATO. It sits completely separate from your home loan, and the exceptions and fees change, so check foreigninvestment.gov.au or get your own advice before you sign anything.
My parents want to help with my deposit. Will the lender accept that?
Usually yes. Most lenders accept a gifted deposit from family, but they will want a signed letter confirming it is a gift and not a loan, and many want the money sitting in your account for a period before settlement. Some also want to see genuine savings alongside it. It is very common among our clients and it is manageable, as long as it is set up properly rather than explained after the fact.
I work casual shifts and some of my income is irregular. Can I still borrow?
Often yes. Lenders treat casual, shift, overtime and second-job income very differently. Some will use it after six months in a role, others want twelve, and some count only a portion of it. Matching your income pattern to a lender that accepts it is a large part of the job, and it is a common reason an application knocked back at one bank gets approved somewhere else.
Do you charge for this?
Our service is free to you on residential home loans. Everything is disclosed to you in writing before you commit to anything, and as a licensed credit representative we operate under Best Interests Duty, which legally requires us to act in your interests rather than our own.
Around Shepparton
Clients across the Goulburn Valley
Shepparton has the largest Afghan community in regional Victoria. Most families arrived from about 2005 onwards, first for orchard and farm work, and a lot of them stayed, bought and built. We work with clients right across the Goulburn Valley and the rest of Victoria, and everything is done by phone, video and secure upload.
- Shepparton
- Mooroopna
- Kialla
- Shepparton North
- Tatura
- Cobram
- Echuca
- Seymour
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Have the conversation in your own language
Tell us where you are up to and we will tell you honestly where you stand. Free, and no obligation either way.