What our clients say
Roger and Bee Smyth – the Roger Smyth Family Trust
I have known, worked with, and been a client of Noel’s for well over a decade.
I first dealt with Noel whilst I was living and working in Singapore (at the time he was running New Zealand Home Loans). More lately we have worked with each other since my wife Bee and our wee girl returned to Hawke’s Bay.
Pre Covid-19 Noel helped me and my wife Bee with funding to secure the purchase of our new family home up on Tironui Drive, in Taradale, Napier. The purchase was not a straight-forward transaction – in fact it really was quite technical – right out of left field. Noel, through his many contacts, secured the finance to enable us to go unconditional.
What I have always liked about Noel is that he does not sugar coat – he cuts to the chase and he gets the job done.
Does Team Smyth recommend Noel? Too right we do, and wish him well with his latest venture Greenlight - mortgages & insurances!!!
Cards on the table – Noel is my brother-in-law – he is married to my sister Leanne.
It would be fair to say that a few years back Heinrich and I were struggling away up in Auckland and cash flow was tight. I fell pregnant and, more or less at the same time, Heinrich was made redundant without compensation- troubling times.
Noel talked to us about the viability – the likelihood, the reality – of home ownership up in Auckland and all the BIG city stresses – purchase prices of way over $650,000- $700,000’s for very “average” family homes. He planted the seed of us returning to “the Bay” for lifestyle and other family reasons. He mapped out a financial plan for us – a path forward, a road map to take and within 12–18 months our short-term debt situation was sorted, and within a matter of months after that we moved into our very first family home over in Hastings.
Like others before us, and no doubt others after us, Noel negotiated a really sharp deal for us by way of interest rates and cash concessions. Heinrich and I have referred at least four couples to him. No sister-in-law bias here but we really do rate him, and we are happy to be clients of Greenlight - mortgages & insurances.
Tiffany Head and Heinrich van Aswegen
Brenda and I were strong supporters of Noel whilst he was representing the Mortgage Express brand, and we know that his new venture, Greenlight - mortgages & insurances will be successful. It is his brand that is changing, not the way that he deals with his clients and professional intermediaries.
Noel used to present at our real estate sales meetings about what he does and what he referred to as “financial health checks”. About having your current situation reviewed, including your mortgages, life insurances, home, car and contents, and KiwiSaver. In his words “you often don’t know what you don’t know”, and you know what – you don’t!
My wife Brenda and I decided to take up Noel’s offer and we asked Noel to put us through the “financial health check” process. It was consultative, it was engaging and there was no pressure from Noel to do anything except digest what was being recommended. I am not going to go into specific detail here, but through us taking Noel’s advice, within four years we are almost 100% debt free. Had we not had the “financial health check” that end goal would have been many years out. The banks do not help their customers with this sort of stuff – they just lend you the money.
We have actively referred about 20-30 clients to Noel over the last four to five years, and that does not include our own son and daughters. Noel has looked after them and they are all now proud home owners. One of our daughters and her partner lives and works up in Auckland – that was not a problem. A few Zooms, a couple of Skypes and voila – great interest rate and great cash concessions- deal done.
We rate you Noel. We see him as a friend and as a confidante. All the very best with Greenlight - mortgages & insurances!
Team Fulton from Harcourts, Taradale, Napier
We arrived in Hawke’s Bay from the UK in 2015. We had some money in the bank for a house deposit but no connections and no understanding of how the house-buying system worked in New Zealand. We’d run our own businesses in the UK but were starting again from scratch and we had no idea if we’d be able to get a mortgage or not.
We were given Noel’s business card and he got to work for us, passing on his connections so we could get everything together for the bank. Within a remarkably short time we had a mortgage offer and then a home, in spite of the fact that we hadn’t even had time to set up our businesses.
Several years later we are incredibly thankful we were able to buy our house so quickly, saving us a small fortune in rent. It would have been impossible to do this without Noel’s help. We would recommend him to anyone looking for financial help, especially for people coming to Hawke’s Bay from overseas and needing expert help with the complexities of the New Zealand house-buying system. We wish Noel and Wendy all the best with Greenlight - mortgages & insurances.
Martin and Nicki Lampon
My mortgage was coming of fixed rate (a very good, fixed rate) and I decided I would engage a mortgage advisor rather than try to fumble through the process on my own. I am so pleased I did this! Lucky for me I found Wendy Sheehan at Greenlight Hawkes Bay was rather close to me in CHB. I engaged Wendy asking for help with my upcoming issues. The communication was top notch. I am someone that needs to know “why”, and Wendy was great explaining everything. I will never try to do any of my mortgage and insurance alone again as Wendy made it all so easy! On top of that, Wendy made sure I understood everything (The why) and that has been extremely valuable to me.
Bianca Lord
My Family and I have been living in Waipukurau for almost 9 years and around July 2023, we started taking an interest at looking to buy a house. At first we were hesitant about it because we didn't know where to go for assistance.
We were very fortunate when someone I know recommended Wendy Sheehan to us. Wendy is very lovely and after meeting her in person we knew we could trust her 100%. Wendy discussed everything we should know about when applying and having a mortgage and she made sure we understood it very well. She is really good at explaining things and we decided to go for it. Wendy got everything sorted quickly and smoothly and by the time we knew it we got the house we had our eyes on.
A big thank you to Wendy and Greenlight - Mortgages & Insurances for helping us into our first home.
Reyes Family