In Part 3 of our House Buying Guide, we jump into Mortgages.
- What is a Mortgage?
- How Much Could I Borrow?
- How Much Will I Repay?
- How Long Will It Last?
- + My Tips on getting yourself Mortgage Ready!
Our interview is with Martina Hennessy, MD of Doddl.ie, one of Ireland’s leading mortgage brokers. She talks us through the application process, why you should talk to a Broker, what the mortgage market is like out there and some things to watch out for when preparing for a mortgage application.
Listen to the Irish Home Show
Watch on YouTube
At the end we have our fun features – In, Out and Away & New Home vs Old Home – plus a round up of this week’s news you need to know.
Find out more about the house buying process at www.IrishHome.ie and Follow us on Instagram @IrishHomeMagazine
If you are starting your Home Buying Journey, order the Irish Home Buyer’s Journal here…
This week’s episode is sponsored by Churches Estate Agents, which is my agency. We have offices and agents across Dublin, Wicklow and Kildare. If you are thinking of selling or letting a property, or if you know anyone who is, we are the friendly estate agents and will look after everything for you. Free Valuations. No Upfront Fees. No Sale, No Charge. Email me directly for more info.
Our Theme Music is by Finn O’Hara, find him on Spotify.
Transcript
📍
Hello. And welcome back to episode three of the Irish home show. In this first season, we are taking you through every stage in house buying journey. So far we’ve covered savings. In our first two episodes, we talked to money experts, 📍 📍 Carol Gavin and Kas Moony. They gave us some fantastic tips about getting the right money mindset about saving for a deposit for a home, and also practical steps in how to put your money aside.
If you’re not already following them, I really recommend following them on Instagram. Uh, Kel is at Mrs. Smart money, HQ and Kaz is at Irish budget.
By now you should understand what you need to save in order to buy a house in your area or in your target area. You’re gonna need enough money for a deposit, which will be if you’re a first time buyer, at least 10% of the value of the house. And you’re also gonna need money for purchasing costs. Now this week, we’re gonna cover all the rest involved in buying a house and that next crucial stage and often the most nerve wracking is mortgages
In a second. I’m gonna take you through the basics of mortgages, our mortgage 1 0 1. And then after that, I have a fantastic interview with 📍 Martina Hennessy. She is the managing director of do, do I E they’re one of Island’s leading mortgage brokers. They are fantastic. Not only what they do in helping people get a mortgage for their first or their next home but Martina is also fantastic at spreading information about the latest in interest rate changes, mortgage applications, and eligibility in the Irish mortgage market.
Finally stay tuned to the end of the show, where we go through our features in out and away and new home versus old home. Plus some of the latest news you need to know.
If you’re not already following us, please go to find us on Instagram at Irish home magazine, you can see all our visuals from the show, including any properties we mentioned here, and you can go vote on your favorite property in our, in, out, in away and new home versus old home features. If you’re not subscribed to this show, please click, subscribe wherever you get your podcast.
And if you get a. Give us a five star review. It really helps us find new people. So without much further ado, let’s get on with episode three, mortgages.
📍 So what is a mortgage and how do I get one? That’s a question. I think a lot of you’re asking and I’m gonna go, you a brief overview of the mortgage process and how to get yourself set up for success. When applying for a mortgage,
I must first start by saying I am not a mortgage broker or financial advisor. I’m a lowly estate agent. I’m not qualified or regulated to give financial advice, but I’ve been through the process myself. I talk to a lot of experts all the time, and I see people out there in the mortgage buying process who are always giving me advice and tips on how they’ve got through it.
So I’m gonna pass those on to you now, first of all, let’s cover what is a mortgage? Essentially a mortgage is probably the largest loan you’re ever gonna have in your life, but it’s also gonna be the cheapest because the mortgage is based on an asset.
Your property, the banks can lend at a far lower rate than you’d normally get a loan at for a credit union or a car or a credit card bill.
You can get a mortgage from any of the mainstream banks. And there are a few other lenders out there as well. You may see from time to time, you may think I’ll go straight to my usual bank. I’ve been with them for years. I’ll go and get a mortgage with them. Sometimes it’s best to just have a look around and see what’s out there in the marketplace.
You’re not tied to the bank. You’ve always been with. You’re gonna have to provide the same information and documents to any of them anyway, to apply. So why not shop around, or go on better and enlist a mortgage broker to go out there and find the best loan for you while your bank can offer you a few rate options and different terms, a broker can assess that whole market.
And they’re also quite knowledgeable. They can tell you, look, that bank probably won’t lend to you. That bank will get you more money, or that bank will give you a lower rate. So I highly recommend talking to a.
When you’re approaching a bank or a broker, they are gonna first assess your eligibility for a loan. This is gonna look into your income, your outgoings, , and see how much they think you can afford to borrow. It can feel quite invasive, but look, take part in the process, provide the documents needed and you hopefully will come up the other side, , with mortgage.
Banks are limited to how much they can lend you. We mentioned it on one of the previous episodes. Uh, there are central bank rules up, been around since about 2014, which means that a bank can only lend you three and a half times a multiple of your income.
So our imaginary couple on 80,000 a year together, they would be able to get three and a half times 80,000. That’s about
📍 308,000 euros plus their deposit. They could probably buy a house of around 📍 340,000 euros. Now the banks are allowed a few exceptions to that rule and they can then up to about 4.5 times your income, but they’re very rare and I wouldn’t rely on getting.
All banks will also stress test how much you can repay as well. If they assign you an interest rate today, they’re also gonna see if you can afford that repayment in a couple of years time, if that interest rate has gone up,
they will take the monthly repayment that you are gonna have to pay. And they’re gonna times that by at least 1.3, to see if you could afford that if interest rates rose. So if you were gonna have repayments of 1200 a month, they would say, look, can we see if they can afford 15, 1600 a month just in.
The final important question is how long will your loan be? That really depends on you. You can choose how long the term of your loan is, but it is limited by your age. They will try and let your loan run out before you retire. So at around 65, if you’re 30, then you can have a 35 year loan that would take you up to retirement at 65.
But if you’re only 50 and now buy you probably only get a 15 year load with most lenders. It’s something to be aware of, especially if you’re buying later. If you’re trying to repay the total value, a loan over 15 years, instead of over 30, it’s gonna be a lot more expensive to repay every month.
So where do we start with a mortgage application?
Well, the key is to start at least six months, possibly even 12 months before you’re planning to apply for the mortgage. , if you’re following on with our home buying journey, perhaps you’re using our journal, you’ll see. We have you planning to save your money for at least a year before you are applying for a mortgage. Now it could be six months. If you can save that quickly, but you need a minimum of that to probably get your finances in order so you can make your best possible application.
We’ll talk about this in a minute, but the banks will ask for certain documents, such as your payslips and your bank statements, going back three to six months. When you make an application, they’re gonna look through your accounts and see what you’re spending your money on, and whether they think you can afford the repayments that you’re gonna have with a mortgage.
That means you have a chance to spend the next six months getting your accounts in order, keeping them nice and tidy, having the savings, going to the right places, having all your bills, being paid on time and having no nefarious sort of Paddy power statements or excessive bills on, on anything else going out.
If you’re working hard and saving away, you’re probably being quite strict with yourself. And I know it is tough. We discussed this last week with Smoy. Uh, we don’t want you to be completely restricting your lifestyle, but a six month sprint can put you in really good shape to get a very good loan and the house of your dreams.
Once you’ve started out saving and being really careful with your money. The next step is to go and check your credit score. You can go to the central credit register, do AE and quickly find out your score. It takes a couple of days to come through. That is a good place to start to see how you are looking as a borrower to the banks. That’ll take into account any previous loans, whether you’ve repaid them any outstanding debts. This is a good opportunity to clear up your finances. If you have an outstanding car loan or a credit union loan, it’d be a good opportunity to pay them off.
As we said last week with CA uh, you are better off to settle some of your debts rather than keep savings in one account and a debt in another account, let them cancel each other out and just have savings.
The next trick to keep clean finances over the next six months before you apply for a loan is to make sure all your bills and direct debits go out on time. And none of them are bouncing. The bank wants to see that you are gonna be consistent and be able to repay your payments every month.
They don’t wanna see balanced bills or credit card fines for being late payers.
I joked about knowing nefarious things in your bank account, like betting or Bitcoin acquisitions. Uh, I know a lot, a lot of people may be into these things these days, but look, the banks don’t look favorably on them at the moment as they are unproven sources of consistent wealth. So keep them aside, uh, keep out of that for the next six months while you’re apply.
Now the other reason why we’re doing this so early is because it is really tied in with your savings. If you are saving a consistent amount every month, that is gonna be proof to your bank, that you can make the mortgage repayments. So if I’m putting away a thousand euros a month, they can say, look. He has that thousand euros.
He’s not using it for anything else. That will be the thousand. That’s gonna go to mortgage repayments.
However, don’t forget. Rent will also count towards that. When you buy a home, you’re not gonna be paying that rent anymore. You’ll have moved outta that rental property. So if you are only saving 500 Euro months, but you are paying a thousand Euro month on rent, there’s 1500 Euro. The bank can see that you are gonna be able to make repayments.
All that rent you’re paying isn’t wasted. It is good proof of income, even if it isn’t going into a savings account every month.
You can never be too early, enlisting the help of a mortgage broker
they can sit you down up to six months before you make an application and go through your accounts and see what you’re doing, right? What you’re doing wrong and help you to correct it in time.
They will also prepare your application. So you have the best possible chance of getting a loan or getting the best 📍 possible. Don’t panic. If at first you don’t succeed, you are always able to go back and make another application. Spend another few months saving.
You’ll always look a little bit better on paper. Every.
Don’t forget to shop around whether with banks or with your broker. There are different banks that will lend different amounts to different people. There are green loans with cheaper interest rates. If you’re buying a B3 or above house, uh, there are different loans. If you’re self-employed and different banks that you should perhaps look at,
Don’t worry about the exact interest rate you are gonna sign up to right now in this process, you won’t fix that in stone until you are much closer to having a house sale agreed and closing the sale interest rates might change between now and then a good broker will keep you informed and find you the best rate at the time it
Finally one crucial thing that everyone forgets about when applying for a mortgage mortgage protection and life insurance, I’ll be talking to NA O’Connor from beat the bank in the next few weeks. It’s something that everyone by law has to get. When they’re taking out a mortgage, it essentially is an insurance policy to cover.
If you get sick and can’t work, you lose your job. Or unfortunately, if one of you passes away, uh, it allows the loan to continue to be repaid. It is a requirement. You’re gonna have to get one. It shouldn’t be too much of a problem, but for some people, if you have perhaps a preexisting condition, you just want to get in there early and see if you are eligible and you can qualify.
It can be something that can SC your whole purchase right. At the last minute, if you’ve forgotten about it. And it’s also worth shopping around with the likes of beat the bank so that you can get the best rate, rather than just going with the one that your bank pushes.
Now enough for me, let’s go talk to Martina Hennessy from Donald a and get her expert advice and up to date information about applying for a mortgage in 2022.
📍 📍
So today I’m joined by Martina Hennessy. Who’s the managing director of Doddl.ie who are one of the leading mortgage brokers in Ireland. Martina. How are you?
I’m great. Thank you, Ben. Great. Thank you for having.
Good though. It was great pleasure. Um, as this series of my first season of the Irish home show is designed to guide, uh, mostly sort of first time buyers through the process of buying their first home we’ll have covered savings.
Uh, the next major step is, uh, obviously getting a mortgage. It’s probably one of the steps that is most daunting for, uh, buyers who fresh to the market. I’m wondering, can I, you know, can I get a mortgage? What am I eligible for? Is there any hope that I can, uh, you know, buy a house and, and afford something at the moment?
Um, is it, is it really scary to get started on this process? Or how do you find it?
Yeah, but I think for anybody who’s spent so much time saving has so made so many sacrifices in trying to build up a deposit. When it comes to the mortgages, they like fingers crossed going. I hope this works. I forget what I need.
I hope, you know, I can borrow as much as I need to, to buy where I want to buy. So it is stressful for people and it is daunting for people, especially. So until they have their approved principle, they’re very. Um, about whether they’ll be able to, to borrow the level they need to, you know, because again, we are restricted under central bank lending rules at three and a half times, multiple, which is restricted for a lot of people who want to buy in their urban areas.
So if something’s looking for an exception really has a big impact, the level they can borrow. Obviously impacts how much they can spend or purchase on a new home. Um, and so therefore it is scary for people who are going through that mortgage application process to, until they have the approval principle in hand, they’re very nervous.
So that, and I think that’s to be expected. And I think a big thing about that is just to understand. What’s required and what, you know, what the process is so that when you come to it fresh, you kind of know what to expect, you know, the timeline of when you might get approval or what might be required for you.
So it’s all about, I suppose, getting organized, making sure your dicks are in a row. And, and I suppose getting in early and getting some advice as to what’s required to make a successful application, it makes it so much less daunting rather than going God. I hope I’ve done everything right when you about to submit the application as opposed to have planned for it.
So the big thing is always planning and it makes it so much less daunt. Well,
that’s all of that. Exactly what I want to cover. So the first step, you know, I have a couple or someone saving up on their own. Uh, they may be halfway to their savings goal for their deposit. What is their first step? Uh, do they go to their bank that they may have been with for 10 or 20 years?
Or do they come to someone like yourself or
broker? I’ve gonna be slightly biased on this one, but I suppose that’s okay. What I would say, what I would say is, you know, for anybody who’s looking to get mortgage approval, there’s so many different, even though there. So many banks, okay. And two have left the market recently in terms of mortgage ending, there are so many options that are still there with regards to how much you can borrow with regard to mortgage interest rates, with regard to cash back offers.
And I think for anybody who’s looking to take a mortgage, the worst thing they can probably do is just go to one bank, their own bank because their own bank can only tell them what rates and terms and offerings they have. You know, relative to what they can pro they can offer them, but they can’t tell them that the bank on the other corner, they won’t tell them that the bank on the other corner has a better range or they could borrow more potentially based on different underwriting policy.
So the, I suppose that the, the advantage of a broker is that we offer market based advice. So when you come to a broker, they will look and say, okay, well, what are you looking to achieve? And you know, how much are you looking to borrow? Do you need an exception? Are you looking for cash? What are you looking at in terms of rates and you try and refine.
So when I speak to a client, I’m always trying to think. Okay, great, great, great, great, great. Get that. And you’re trying to refine in your own head what, uh, the will suit the client best. And then you’ll really go back out to the client with the information saying, look, based on our discussion. This is how I think we should approach it.
These are the areas you could. Express concern about or you’re nervous about, or, you know, you don’t think you might be the ideal candidate because of, but look, these are the positives and you’re building a profile. So as brokers, when we’re submitting an application or any mortgage advisor, whether it’s with a really good mortgage advisor in a branch or with a broker, what you’re doing is you’re just trying to establish what the requirements are for the client and what the bank will want to see.
So when you’re making a mortgage application, it’s really important to. How the bank assess it because we all hear stories of, oh my God, the banks, they don’t want to lend, they do want to lend. That’s how they make money, but they can only lend from a consumer protection point of view, where they can see that income is sustainable and where they can see that you have repayment capacity that you can show that you can afford to repay the mortgage that you’re proposing to take out.
So I suppose they’re the things to be, to be mindful of when you’re making an application, when you’re preparing to make an application, if you’re looking to work with either a broker or directly going to your. Do it early enough. So you have a sense of what the requirements are, but I think if you’re going to your own BA bank, it’s really important also that if you’re not gonna go to a broker, you’re gonna look at market and you’re gonna do your own research.
You can’t just go to one lender because there’s such a variance between lenders and rates and options on the market. At the moment, you’ll only get one set of advice and you’ll only get one figure in terms of how much you can borrow that’s that lender is criteria. However, There’s the other seven lenders that are available to borrow from you.
Won’t get their insight as to what you could borrow from them, what their rates are. So it’s really important to either do your own research or to go to a broker who will offer you that market based.
Yeah, I think that’s really good advice. You know, it seems like, although everyone hears about this 3.5 times your income figure, which is sort of the, um, the cap set by the central bank, it does seem that the banks, uh, vary on what they’ll offer you.
I put in a, um, a, I did it for myself just to see what I would get these days. And they, whatever bank it was would only lend me sort two and a half times, you know, depends on you. I four kids, that’s the problem. So it really depends on your four. Yeah. so we’re, we’re we’re out to the market. we’re thank God.
Thank God. I wouldn’t have afforded it. I moved into this house the day. Our first daughter was born. So after that it wouldn’t have happened, but, um, it does seem that, um, the different banks have different affordability. And as you say, you know, with a broker, they’ll be able to say, well, you know, look, this particular bank would be better suited for you, perhaps if you’re in a certain profession or if you’re self employed, I understand some other banks are better than others.
So at least with a broker, as you said, is an independent advice. And you know, like a financial advisor as you guys are as well, you know, they can give you advice saying this is the best bank to apply to. And this is how to process the application to get the best. .
Yeah. And, and from a broker’s perspective, a broker gets paid when you draw down your mortgage.
So effectively as brokers, we get paid a commission by the lender you choose to take your mortgage with, but to be really clear, it’s the same commission we get, regardless of the lender and the same rate you get by going to the lender or the banks directly. So I think sometimes people go, oh, where’s the catch, you know,
this’s back or something, but you are in it to win it.
You know, you, you are. You know, no sale, no charge you, uh, if you don’t get the mortgage through for them, we don’t successfully, you know, process that application and get them all the way to a house. Um, you know, you don’t get paid either, so you’re in it to, to for success. Absolutely. Very good. Very good.
Okay. So I, we’re gonna go to a broker. I’m gonna turn up and, you know, maybe I’ve been saving for the last six months, 12 months, 24 months, whatever it has been. What am I bringing to you that I need to, uh, show you my proof of everything? What is the shortlist?
So, absolutely. So the bank’s always, when they’re lending, they need to look and say, what’s your income?
How can you show us that your income is sustainable? Are you in permanent employment? Are you on a contract? So, first of all, looking at the income documentation, we have to provide a salary search to the lenders. And that shows what is your income? It’s certified by your HR department. Stamped to say you’ve earned X gross.
Basic. You had a bonus this year. Did you have a bonus last year? Um, do you have overtime? What are you earning currently per your contract and what have you earned in the past? So what bonus did you get last year? Did you get one the year before? Because a lot of lenders, when we are looking at that three and a half times income, multiple, where they can vary is if you have variable income.
So if you have variable income, they’ll say, okay, we’ll take bank a. 50% of last year’s bonus bank B might want to see for three years and take an average. So that’s, that’ll determine based on how much you want to borrow. We will, as a broker, we would look and say, well, okay, this bank a will lend you X, Y, or Z, but the income documentation is the first bit.
So three months bank statements, um, salary cert, and an EDS. So it’s a EDS is the old form P 60, that shows your income for last year, right up to. December, in some cases, if somebody’s just newly joined a role, or if they’re on a contract, we might look to get a copy of that contract or give some background information as to that person’s prior employment, their education status, just again, to beef up, the fact that the banks are looking at how sustainable the income is.
So if you’re in a new role, They’ll want to know. Well, what, what did you earn in your prior role? Is it consistent or have you taken a massive leap in salary, which might indicate that maybe it’s, it’s a little bit riskier to take that salary when you just did the higher salary when you’re just in the new role.
So we’ll do a lot of work on understanding what the client’s current position is with regard to income. And then we’ll also look at evidence or a payment capacity. So the income documents are payslips salary. EDS, which is the equivalent of your old form P 60. Then we look at the, in, at the bank statements and this is everybody’s going, oh my God, it’s scary.
This is what you free too much. I know I
spend, I know . Yeah. And actually all of the lenders are trying to establish is your EV first of all, see your income is going into your bank statements and that’s all clear and consistent and clear and clean. And then they’re looking when they look at repayment capacity or evidence of repayment capacity, they’re not trying to say.
It’s always, you know, having a Chinese on a Friday or love Sarah. I’m sure they love
looking through that. They’re trying to see and seeing your habits
yeah, yeah, no, absolutely. But I suppose they know people live, so all they’re trying to see is what can you show us over the last six months? That’s a really clear wind of the six months part application that you can afford the proposed mortgage.
So if you want to borrow 300,000, how can you. As, as in the bank that you can sustain that mortgage repayment based on your track record of the last six months. So as a really broad rule of thumb, I would say for every a hundred thousand that you want to borrow, you should show repayment capacity of 500 euros per month.
So if you wanted to borrow 300,000 show 1500, and that kind of will get you over the line with almost all lenders. And that can be the rent that you’re paying. Savings on a monthly basis, or if you had to car loan or a loan, a personal loan that was gonna be discontinued that can all be taken into account as repayment capacity or evidence repayment capacity.
And the banks look that really narrow window of the six months immediately preceding application. So sometimes clients say to me, but I had my full deposit, so I stopped saving. Yeah, I can’t do that. So it’s yeah, really right up to date, current consistent savings is what they want or at, particularly at the moment, like, you know, The weddings have been for the, for the majority of people who are buying, you know, the 34 year old brigade, they have multiple weddings a year and weddings have been postponed.
So they’re going well. I had a wedding in July, June three in August. I had two head parties. And so therefore they didn’t save
that month. Yep. This is a year of weddings, apparently. I mean, yeah. That’s, you’re dropping thousand Euro over weekend just, and you’re dropping your normal habit. Yeah, yeah, no, I imagine it’s very tough.
Yeah. You’re
dropping your normal habit of savings. Yeah. Yeah. Of savings. So it’s trying to just keep that consistency, beware that it, it is even if you have your deposit, it’s that six month window that you just need to be mindful that don’t deplete your savings. Don’t withdraw funds, you know, for holidays, where possible keep your savings consistent park.
Standing order direct of whatever it is out every month and try not to touch them because that’s what the lenders are looking at. And even if you miss one month within that six months of savings and don’t you repay with Cassi the bank go, well, your mortgage has to be paid every month. So you need to keep this consistent.
Even if John and Mary were getting married, paid, you know, they, and outside of that, and once you show repayment capacity for the proposed mortgage, the bank have no great issue with whatever else you spend your money on. Whether it’s discretionary spend on clothing. Whatever lifestyle, except for the obvious, which we all hear about, you know, the increased credit risks of like, you know, getting, or, you know, a large guy.
Yeah. So like, but they’re the normal, like if they’re in your statements, you’re not mortgage ready
anyway. Fine, fine. So they’re looking through the major things and, and it’s worth reassuring to you the point that, you know, there’s savings and rent. And obviously, you know, if you are, if you’re trying to show that you can save 1500, eight month for.
If you’re spending a thousand a month on rent, if you’re lucky, few who can yes. Rent something for that much. And then you’re fi saving 500 on top that counts, you know, that’s 1500 quid, which they know is absolutely, you know, saving, which would be to your mortgage. Cause obviously you won’t be renting anymore when you move in.
So absolutely that’s the most important thing. And then major outgoing things like childcare, I presume any other loan. Uh, all those sort of things, but they’re not gonna sweat. The small stuff is what you’re saying, as long as it’s not too, uh,
overwhelming. No, exactly. And they’re, and they’re not trying to catch you out.
They’re just trying to see that it’s really clear. And I suppose the clearest way to show repayment capacity is if it’s your rent, make sure it goes out by EFT from your account so that there’s no cash payments that, and then if it’s savings, just try and keep it consistent to one account or, you know, See that it’s a buildup in that account, as opposed to just in your current account, it’s always a good discipline.
I think the transfer, the savings amount out because otherwise it gets muddied and, you know, one month. You might have something allocated in your salary for a particular spend or insurance or whatever. And it just, it, it doesn’t keep it as clear and consistent as it should be transferred out to a savings account.
Leave it in the savings account. Don’t have too many savings accounts, like I will have clients to, but you have all the, some things like that in
Beverly. And then you’re trying to get your, they’re very hard to read those banks
and you’re trying to get through a documentation. Yeah, it’s hard to get it.
So from a, from a documentation point of view bank, Six months, current account statements, six months saving statements, and that’s all statements. So that’s not just your main current account or your main saver. If you have a credit, you need account, they’ll want to see that also, um, ID and address verification are also required.
And if you have credit cards or loans in general, the lenders can now see those on what’s called central credit register. So it’s a CCO, so they will run a credit check and they’ll be able to see there’s a lot more detail on the CCO than was on the old form. Irish credit bureau. Yeah. Which was the prior, um, I, I.
Reporting tool for the banks so they can see your, your mortgage, your credit, um, card, um, transactions for the last 24 months. They can see your loans. So they get a lot of information from that. So it’s mainly the current account and the savings accounts that they’re really focusing on when it comes to application.
What
about those other loans? You know, credit card, car loan, or credit union, are they big red flags or as long as they’re being paid, uh, and you’re still within your you’re still saving. What you need to save
is that. . Yeah, but I think from the point of view of any form of credit. So if even overdraft on your account and, and many people would just say, well, look, it was on my account.
I’d go into it. I clear it over every month I get paid. I go back outta it. It’s better off to try and clear your overdraft. So your account, you know, is not, I know is not overdrawn because it’s not seen to be a positive, even though it’s just was there two years ago and you’ve still had it and just let it roll.
It’s better to clear it, clear it, and just come back into a positive position in terms of O O. Your app or your bank statements? Sure. Um, in terms of cars and car loans, you know, the banks are aware that people will have car loans, but I suppose the big thing is the level of the monthly repayment, because when the banks are looking at how much you can borrow, they look at your net income and they take a portion of that as being able, or the ability of that to service the mortgage.
Sure. But if you car loans, they will take that car loan off and a net amount is what can be used to service the mortgage credit cards. If you have a credit card, just make sure or at least try to ensure that it’s cleared. Monthly that there’s no big rolling or sitting balance there because that’s not viewed positively either.
If you’re just paying minimum balances and it’s a large portion, the credit limit or the credit, sorry, the balance is a large portion of your income. It’s not seen as a positive. So those type of things are things just to be mindful of. So as well as saving, it’s like, it’s trying to make sure you’ve.
Everything kind of at a happy medium, you’re trying to save, you’re trying to pay your rent, but you’re also trying to keep your, your debt at a minimum. So just being aware of what’s the bigger priority. Sometimes don’t overstretch yourself on your savings. That could be to the detriment of your not paying your credit card or sure.
You know, you know, putting your account into a detrimental position in terms of overdraft. So it’s a happy medium that an advisor should be able to give you steer on
also. Yeah, that sounds like a good point. You know, keep your savings at a level where you can consistently, uh, save that amount without having to dip into it.
So an emergency. You don’t have to, oh, I need to take 500 Euro outta that savings account. Yes. Let that savings account sit. Even if you’re not quite putting as much into it every month, as, as you might be able to insert in.
yeah. A absolutely. And, and the ideal. Yeah. And you’re better off having it as a consistent amount.
And then if you can top it up, if you’ve got a bonus or overtime, then it shows that you have more, but keep that standing more of the same and try not to take any money out of it. In particular, in the six months immediately proceeding application. Okay.
So you’ve done your six months in, we’ve been golden, uh, boys and girls, and not done any gambling, not done any, uh, not gone to any weddings, not gone on any holidays.
We’ve you can sounds really bad. It like, we complete sort of priest for, uh, for about six months, uh, before we make the application. Um, and, and then, so we, we put in our documents, how long are banks sort of taking these days for, to process an application? How long will I know if I have approval and Princip?
Yeah, it’s a, it’s a tricky one at the moment because the banks are all extended in terms they’re finding somewhere. Yes. The cause we’ve lost two lenders, KVC and ster. You know what? Would’ve normally been a 10 day, you know, approval time, a turnaround work, 10 working days approval turnaround is now gone out to.
Four, oh, God weeks with the lenders who have the really strong rates. So it’s just been mindful that it can take time. If the lender comes back with a query or there’s something in the CCR that you need to clarify or whatever it might be. It can take a little bit of time. So I would say, you know, expect it to take four weeks.
It will take probably less than that. Cuz the banks are really catching up. There’s also been a surgeon switch applications from again, the exiting lender. So that’s put straight on the. Throughout their whole process, whether you’re first time buyer or a switcher, whatever it is, whoever you, whatever kind of product you’re looking for.
So just be mindful of that. It takes a little bit of time, um, in terms of when approval actually issues, it’s valid for six months with some of the lenses, but some of the other lenses now start to extend the approvals out to 12 months. Yes. Which is great because then at least you have that approval for 12 months.
Now you will have to. Additional documentation. Once you go over the six months. So even the lenders who have the 12 months approval, you’ll have to still submit a pay slip and up to date, income docs, you know, our pay slip and update bank statements. Sorry, once you go over the six months, just so they can see it’s the same.
So the one thing to call out is when you have your approval, They’re they’ve placed reliance on a point in time when you made the application. So just be careful and conscious that any changes that you make can impact that because it’s only approval and principle. So if they want to see your savings account and you can see massive depletion of the savings account in the two months after approval, cuz you, you know, you went I’m free or if you’ve changed jobs, things like that.
Just be mindful that until you draw down your mortgage, they’re still gonna review your application at intervals or they can. For additional documentation. So just be careful of that because sometimes people change jobs and they go, oh my God, I didn’t think it would make a difference. I’m on a better salary, but it would make a difference if you have your yes, probationary period within that new role.
So things like that discuss with your advisor. so
you are, you are saying, so we’ve gone from six months of being good to maybe 12 months of being good from the six months to get approved. And then, you know, after I did a poll the other night on our Instagram of how long it took people to find a house from being mortgage approved.
And I’d say about 50% of the responses were over a year. Yeah. Uh, and you know, How, you know, 20, 30, 40 viewings, you know, people took cause they’re so little on the market at the moment, people are taking, you know, six months, 12 months to find or find the right home or to win, win the bidding. So now I had something the other day from bank of Ireland, uh, with a mortgage from bank of Ireland and they had 12 month approval and it was actually.
It was so much better. She was so much more relaxed. You could say, look, I like this. I like this apartment, but I don’t need to rush into bid on it right now. You know, I can take my time. There might be more property coming on in, in, in autumn. Yeah. I said, absolutely. And you’ll find others who go, I need to get this agreed next week because my mortgage approval’s gonna run out and I don’t want to go through the whole thing.
So, no, certainly the longer though is mortgage, uh, approval periods can be, I think it’s better for everyone involved.
Brilliant. Yeah, we’ve been absolutely lobbying the lenders to do that. So bank of Ireland ands both have 12 months, but we’re trying to engage with the other lenders to say, look, this is the market.
It’s not that anybody’s just trying to, it’s too hard, hard to buy it. You it’s too, you know, it takes that length of time. And like you say, we would’ve clients who would’ve. Got their approval last year, that will be coming back for re-approval now. And that is much the same process. You still have to show your income and your affordability.
So it’s just being mindful. It’s not that you have to really lock down your life for a year as you buy, but it’s more so just being conscious that just because you have approval, doesn’t mean that the bank can’t come back to ask for something you don’t want to be disappointed in six months time thinking, oh my God, now I have to wait another six months before I can get, you know, things in a word or again to apply.
So just be conscious of it is what I’d say. Okay.
Okay. So we have a couple who’ve applied for their mortgage and say they’re on between the two of them a hundred thousand a year. Uh, typically they should be enough to borrow three and a half times their income on that 350,000. What if they needed a bit more, what if they couldn’t find anything in their area?
You know, they’re buying a new home and the, the nothing really is on the market for a lesson sort of four 50. What are their chances of getting one of the few exemptions that they’re allowed from the central bank? Yeah.
Yeah. And I was gonna say, exceptions are very popular, but that’s not the right word for them.
They’re much sought after. Okay. So all lenders can offer loan to income exceptions, which is the, the exception you’re talking about. There, they can offer loan to income exceptions on 20% of their book of business. So a bank can go above the three and a half times multiple of income on 20% of the mortgages that they do.
Right. So I suppose in the point of view, if that couple felt, you know, it was affordable for them to go a little bit higher, that they were just being constrained, um, and their incomes were gonna increase and, you know, the affordability was there and they wanted to apply for an exception then. Absolutely they could do so.
So, um, depending on availability, but the lenders, so at different types at times of the year, the lenders might pull back an exception. So they might say, God, you know, we’ve, we’ve given an awful lot. Quarter and they’ll pull back and how they do that is they make it more difficult to get an exception. So, um, but at all point, and I suppose again, from a broker point of view, because we’re dealing with multiple lenders, we’ll know who’s open and closed for exceptions.
Some other lenders will only allow exceptions when your sale agreed because when they bank that exception on their side, and I know that’s gonna be frustrating for you Ben as an agent, but when they find the exception on their side, They then can’t, it’s like, so if they bank the exception of their side, they have to hold it for that six or 12 months, but it’s a real chicken and egg.
Yes. It’s like, well, how do I know how much I can borrow over? Can’t get the exception banked.
Yeah. Now I can understand that they just can’t work for their system. Cause they have all these, uh, exemptions, exceptions tied up, uh, for people who, who may not find a house within that six months. So I understand, but it is, uh, my, my sister-in-law recently bought last year and they’ve managed get an exception, but they didn’t know they were gonna.
Until after they were said agreed. But obviously they were making offers on a, on a house. Yeah. They couldn’t afford if they were only gonna get three and a half times income and, and
that’s, it was not great for the market. Yeah. Either.
No, I guess not. I guess it’s pumping up prices a bit as well. It was only that their, their broker had reassured them to look.
You know, I can see your income there. I think you’re gonna be okay. Yeah. And so what is your best way to prepare yourself to, to make it look like that you are the best candidate for one of these exceptions? Is it just having low, low expenses and you’re saving a certain amount, you’re earning, earning a certain amount, but is it that you can save a lot more?
You have a better affordability ability to repay what’s the best way to, to get,
and I, yeah. There’s no magic rule about it. It’s really comes down to the banks will increase the multiple of income. So from three and a half, they’ll go, some lenders will only go to four. Some will go to four and a half, 4.7, five times depending on your income.
So if you’re earning, you know, less than 40,000, it’s difficult to get an exception. If you’re earning, you know, 60,000 it’s it’s, you know, you probably could go to 4%, four times multiple multiples of income. If you’re earning above that and you have really strong income, they’ll generally go higher. So it’s down to their own underwriting policy.
So if they’re giving you an exception to central bank lending rules, they park the three and a half times to some degree, and they look at your net income and the portion of net income. Servicing the mortgage. So they generally won’t go over 50% of your net income supporting your mortgage, the proposed mortgage.
So they’ll work it that way as opposed to a gross multiple of income. Um, so in terms of how to get the exception, it’s really, it’s down to availability a lot of the time, but it is also income, but you know, not on a, how can I make myself. You know, in a better position relative to, with regard to income, because income is income and it’s just what the lender will allow you on the basis of their own underwriting policy.
And then affordability has to come into place. So if you’re looking for a mortgage of 400, instead of three 50, you have to show, you know, that to achieve the exception you have to show like you would for any standard mortgage application that you can afford that 400,000 by way of a stress tested, repay evidence, repayment capacity.
So that 500, um, Euro per month for, you know, 300, that was thousand 500 has to then go. 2000 a month that has shown repayment capacity. So again, um, the lenders again, do want to lend and if they have exceptions and if they feel that the applicant has shown the affordability and has that strong, sustainable income, they will grant exceptions.
If they’re available once the client is sale agreed. In most cases, there are some lenders that will offer exceptions without having to be sale. Agreed. So, you know, there, there there’s different options there and market different lenders take different strategies, but there’s. Um, I suppose golden ticket or golden root to actually getting an exception.
It’s just, again, looking at the different lenders policies and sometimes people don’t need the exception. So again, coming back to that lable income, you might have had three and a half times multiple of your gross, basic, and you know, then since you’ve gotten a bonus or overtime, and maybe there’s more that we can get under that income multiple without having to have an exception.
So we would always work through that with our clients before we would go for an exception just to see, well, this is your max. And then we know that once you secure a property, if the exceptions are available, Band gay will give you X bank. Y will give you Z and you’ll know, and that’s again like your sister-in-law.
You can give the comfort of saying all things being equal and the exceptions being available, you would be eligible for an exception of X amount. So that gives you some, I suppose, leeway. The big thing I suppose, is it’s really difficult when you’re bidding at the moment, not to kind of say, oh God, you know, extra 20,000 or 25 will get me to where I need to be.
Yes. And I totally get. So difficult, but then I suppose it’s trying to maintain that along with, I suppose, what the, what the repayments are, you know, what your affordability is and kind of where you want to cap things.
Yeah. Sometimes, you know, the bank may lend you a certain amount, but just because they can, maybe you really should think maybe you should.
I, uh, you know, wouldn’t I be able to afford this. Am I gonna have to cut back on, you know, keep living like a monk for in the next 10 years or 20 years? I I’ve really maxed out my repayments every month and I have nothing else to spend. So, uh, yeah, sometimes you’re better off just sort of mediating that a bit and say, look, what can I come to be for?
Yeah. Rather than what will they give me?
And it’s hard. It’s really hard because again, such a challenge at the moment to buy given property prices and you know, like, you know, it, you know, if you’d see a property, especially new bills, when you look at them, you’re kind of saying, oh God, there’s so much more, you know, they’re, you know, they’re expensive.
So it can be that challenge in trying to. Can maintain your budget where you want it to be, but also securing that property. So it is, it is a difficult one.
Okay. Okay. Now finally, let’s um, move on one last question. You’ve you’ve got your mortgage, uh, you’ve gone sale. Agreed. Uh, and I think at that stage is gonna be your final decision on what type of mortgage you are gonna get.
You’ve probably been coached by your Mo broker. You’ve probably looked at sort of comparable rates, uh, during the course of your house hunting journey, but it’s really only when you go said agree that you finally have to sort of sign on a dotted. What’s happening with interest rates at the moment. What are people choosing?
And what’s the future for that?
Yeah, so absolutely. When you go say green, do you decide, then you go back to the bank that you’ve looked at and selected, or first of all, you speak to your mortgage advisor and think, is this still the right bank for me? Because it might have taken time for you to get your approval in place.
Rates might have changed in the meantime, and your requirements might have changed. So you kind of do re on, does this still make sense with the lender that we’re propos. Then you start looking and saying what the rates are, what, what are the rates like? So right now rates are the lowest they’ve been for 14 years, but there is an imminent, um, increase in the ECB based rates.
Yes. And cost funding cost for the banks have increased substantially over the last six months. So it is expected that rates will start to increase. So even now, when you are doing your own budgeting and we would send rates schedules out to clients that can be adjusted, you need to bear in mind that these are the lowest rates and rates will start to increase.
So a lot of our. And when they’re looking to borrow now, especially as first time buyers, they want to lock down security. They want to know what would my rate be every month for the next five years, for example. And the only way to lock down security is to fix your rate. So there’s two types of rates, there’s variable rates, which can increase your decrease at the lenses discretion.
And then there’s fixed rates, which are. For one right out 30 year terms. So the market has changed quite a lot in terms of rates, especially over the last two years, because the introduction of avant money finance Ireland, ICS has meant that there’s been a wider range of products on market, more competi, more competition, competitive level, so you can get mortgage.
Terms that are fixed right out to 30 years, which is like a huge, wow. Length of time. Yeah. We could never get those before it was 10 years, but the thing is they’re, they’re keenly priced and the downside of fixed rates at that length of time are that sometimes there can be, you know, there’s a break penalty potential.
Um, there, if you break out early, so they’ve capped those break penalties and there’s overpayment options. So a lot of the lenders have addressed some of the concerns in relation to longer term. And they’re priced well, so right now, and historically I should say we’ve been a nation of short term fixers.
So we fixed for two, three and five years. Say we’re worried about that’s fine. Yeah. So now a lot of our clients have been looking at 5, 7, 10 year fixed rates just to lock down the security on the basis that we do expect that rates will increase. And again, because we’re at a, in a timeline right now, we’re at a 14 year low on rates.
The only way to some degree is up on rate movement. Okay. That’s not me. I’m no economist, but like again, being in the market and knowing funding costs and speaking to the banks, it. I suppose a necessary evil that, you know, there will be an increase in rates. So again, if somebody was looking to take out a mortgage now, really do look at those, you know, for me, I would say to my clients, you really shouldn’t be looking at anything shorter than five years and you should be looking at those perhaps long term fix rates or long tail fix rates.
Sometimes people say, God, well, what if I. Will I, you know, and generally mortgages are property specific. So you take out a mortgage, you sell that property. Of course, that mortgage is cleared. Some of the lenders, including finance Ireland will allow you to portrait. So if you have a 10 year fix rate and you’re locking it in now, and the rate is really good, cuz it’s low right now, you can port that mortgage to a new property if you did move on.
And that’s a really big benefit because you’re getting the rate. For mortgage in the future. So there’s a lot of different things like that. That while rates are low, that, you know, mortgage shoulders are, you know, mortgage hopefuls or whatever you might might wanna say, should consider as to how, you know, you might be best to safeguard your, your own financial interest going forward, because there will be rate increases over the next, at least two years.
We’ll start to see a lot of upward movement.
Well, I remember when I think I first bought a, bought a house in London, you know, interest rates were 4%, something like that. And then they came down very quickly during the last, uh, last recession and have been next to zero for, for the last 14 years or so. Um, so yeah, it really does.
It does seem like they’re 10 years or even 20 years are almost no brainers at that point. As long as again, as you say, you read the fine print, can I move? Yeah. A lot of people buying a house, which I think will be there forever. But you never know what changes you might decide. You might have a couple more kids.
You might need a bigger house in a couple years, or you might relocate from work. So it was good to know just what are my break options. If I do need to move it, am I gonna be stung or, you know, can I get out of.
Exactly. And I suppose if you’re locking down for that kind of longer period of time, again, the big call out would be do your research. Don’t just take the first rate you get, because there’s such a difference between rates on market. That if you’re locking in for say 5, 7, 10 years, if you’re paying a half percent more than you should be or unnecessarily paying it, then you could get it another bank.
Then you just need to. That’s gonna cost you a lot. So if you’re locking in for a longer period of time, just make sure you understand what other rates are on the market for you, what you’re eligible for. Cause I think sometimes this first time buyers is we feel like, you know, you’re not really, you feel you’re not in control and you’re kind of just happy to get the mortgage and you’re go, God.
Now have it now desperate.
You’ll take whatever money they’ll give you. Yeah, that’s the situation I probably was in it just, you know, whoever will end me whatever rate. I don’t think it even looked at the rate I would off the time I signed give the. Yeah. Yeah. So, but it can make a big difference. So say on a, on a 1500 Euro mortgage, obviously a, a, a variable at the moment would be 1500 a, um, a five year or 10 year tracker.
The monthly repayments might be. A hundred Euro more or something
like that, what would probably’d be substantially lower? A so if we look at it like, so we’re kind of saying, you know, for every, for, for two and half there’s two and half percent difference would be a hundred euros a month for 135 euros a month for every, so it’s roughly at 50 euros a month.
Okay. Extra, you would pay for every hundred thousand that you borrow. So just to be mindful of that, that’s a, that’s, it’s a big difference because when it’s coming out, like we sometimes think our mortgages as tax just, oh, God has to be paid. Yeah. But really it’s coming outta your net disposable income.
So important that you can keep it as low as possible because you look back and go, oh God, you know, I could, I could do it that, you know, it’s at some point, so absolutely.
You know? Yeah. It’s very hard. Cause probably when you’re buying, if you’re a young, young person buying, you’re probably, you know, hoping to earn more in the future.
But right now that could be quite a lot of money in an extra couple of hundred years here and there. And it’s needless
interest. It doesn’t add anything to you or your mortgage. So you’re paying it course exactly unnecessarily. And so it’s not like you’re getting any benefit by paying that. You’re not, it’s just.
You know, it’s interest is necessary. Even you always have to pay it when you’re taking out a mortgage, cuz nobody lends free money. Maybe somebody might come in, I’d make my job a lot easier, but nobody lends free money. So if you, after you’re taking out a mortgages, just so important to make sure you have that rate as low as possible.
Brilliant. Okay, Martin, that’s fabulous. I think we’ve covered everything, , for a first time buyer getting on the market. , it’s a good time out there. I think for, for people to, to get mortgages, if they can find a house even better. , , people can find you if they need to, , apply.
, you are at do dot I E no E. And where else can they find.
Uh, yeah, well, I, you know, our website has hopefully got a lot of information that might help, but you know, we, we have a let’s begin section on our website that literally can go straight through to an advisor who contact you in 24 hours. Great.
All of our advisors are normal people. You can tell them the words, no version of what you want and what’s happening in your life at the moment or what you expect to happen. And they’ll just try and find the best option for you. So. Don’t be daunted by the process. Everybody has to go through it at some point, if they want to buy and you know, what it’s the banks want to end?
It’s it’s just about making sure you’re in the best positions possible to kind of make a successful application. And that’s what any mortgage advisor is there for to help you to do that. Brilliant.
Brilliant. Well, thank you for talking to me today and, uh, I hope to have you back with talk about other areas of, uh, of the market in the future.
Brilliant. Over
delight shift. Thanks, Ben. Thanks so much.
Find your new home with churches estate agents. Our expert valuation team can help you find rent or sell your property as fast as you need with our help, you’ll find the best places and the most popular. with churches, you have all the support from the same senior agent throughout the lifetime of your sale.
We have a licensed and highly qualified team that brings you trust and safety. During the process, it is fast and easy to get your property on the market. Churches, provide everything you need to professionally present at your home, an exclusive platform and several media partners that improve our online reach.
We do not charge you anything until your property is sold. We’re proud of every house, apartment site, or land visa. Are you waiting to start a new story in a new place? Talk to our team. And live the best moment of your life churches given you more than a house given you your home.
Welcome back. And thanks for staying tuned. Now it’s time for this week’s in, out and away each week, we are comparing different properties in a city on the outskirts of a city and an away option somewhere out of town. This gives you an idea 📍 of where you could live depending on your afford.
This week, we’ve got a bit more at market than last week. We had picked a price of 450,000 euros, and we are going westbound from Dublin, starting in Dublin eight and going all the way out through the deepest parts of kill there.
📍 For our in property this week, this is seven Oakfield place in Portello. It’s on the market for 450,000 euros. It’s one bedroom, one bathroom and 53 square meters. It’s a little mid terrace cottage. Now from the outside, it doesn’t look very much, but wait, till you see inside, it really opens up into this beautiful high vault ceiling living room, uh, with a kitchen behind, it has a really eclectic taste, which is fabulous.
It looks like you’re walking into a church.
Now from this, it appears there’s only two main rooms downstairs and the front living room is what they’re calling a bedroom, But 📍 actually they have a vaulted mezzanine on the upper floor, in the attic space, which is stacked out as a bedroom as well. So I’m guessing they’re using that as the main bedroom and the bed in the front living room is only placed there for official photos.
This bedroom up in the attic is probably not officially a bedroom. That’s well, they’re not calling it there in the ad. Uh, most people would probably see it and recognize it as a room. They would use the bedroom, but it’s not technically within building regs or planning.
Like most of these inner city colleges, you’re barely getting an outside space. There’s a little courtyard garden here with room for a few bikes, but not really much more.
Despite its size. You can’t fault this property’s location. It’s a few minutes from the canals and Ivy gardens and St. Stevens greens just around the corner. This could be a great option. If you wanted small inner city living.
For away this week, we are going to saga, which is a small village, just on the outskirts of Dublin’s just outside the M 50 past city west. So a little bit further out, but it is in, within a good commuting zone. 📍 This is 55 cross forge. It’s on the market at 425,000. It’s got four bedrooms at three bathrooms and it goes to 150 square meters.
So it’s almost three times the size of that property in Portello.
This is a modern, a three rated property built on the corner of a modern estate. It has nothing slate finishes on the outside and otherwise rendered quite crisp and clean.
It’s been beautifully finished inside, very beige and brown kitchens and floors.
But incredible amounts of space, including kitchen, dining room, living room, huge master bedroom with en suite.
Smallish courtyard garden for a four bed house. But look, we’re getting a lot more value for our money than we were in Dublin eight.
Our final property is away. This is number two leash on re uh, just in 📍 Broadford on the outskirts of Kilda. It’s almost on the me border. This is a five bed home for 425 as well. Uh, it’s five bed, three bath, and it’s C1 rated. It was only built in 2006. It’s a lovely looking bungalow, quite quaint inside with country, kitchen interiors, and a lot of pine, uh, but is on a much bigger plant of a garden than the previous property. So you could just go a bit further out. This is just over an hour commute to the outskirts of Dublin, probably a bit further if you had to go into the center of town.
So this is a real, a way option. You’re You’re still on the main M four into Dublin, but this might not be a daily commute location. If you can work from home a couple days a week, this would be ideal.
So which of our three properties would you choose? The one bed inner city property in Portello, the four bed modernist house, uh, on the outskirts in Saggot or the away option out in the far reaches of the border of Kilda five bed house with a lot more garden, all for under 450,000 euros.
Tell us on our Instagram page, which one you would vote for?
Now for new home versus old home this week, we’re going across the other side of the country. We’re going all the way to Galway city and even a little bit further than that, we have found a new build scheme just on the outskirts of Galway town called 📍 Glen Avere. This is just about half an hour commute, not even on the outskirts of Goway.
These four bed family homes go to about 190 square meters. Really good size start from 580,000 Euro. There’s two remaining. They’ve been fitted with floors. They haven’t been fitted with kitchens yet. So you could come in and put your own stamp on it. They seem quite large on the ground floor. Good size, uh, kitchen living rooms, uh, and a bedroom downstairs.
And then upstairs they’re dormed seating. So they’re a little bit smaller on the space, but three good bedrooms up there as well. They’re all on a decent quarter of an acre plot, uh, on the nice little community, just on the road, out of Galway.
So we looked around to see if we could find an old home in the area that would be in a similar price range. And we found this beautiful house in dune east it’s on the market at five 50. So a bit of change there. If you wanted to upgrade it, this is a nice square detached farmhouse looking property, although it was built in 2004 and that’s got it up to a B3 rating, uh, it’s five beds and four bath, and it extends to just over 200 square meters. So it’s a little bit bigger than the, the new builds it’s on the market for five 50.
Now insight is a little more dated. It isn’t those clean, crisp lines like the new build. Uh, it’s a bit of pine and a bit of old fashioned decor. The bathrooms are sort of half tiled in different all sort of colors. Uh, I think this needs upgrade to modern taste and standards, but just look at the amount of garden you get, you get a huge amount of outside space, and this is the trick really with.
Properties, even 20 years old, uh, you get a lot more outside space compared to some of the new bills, which are squeezed onto smaller sites or more properties on the 📍 one a lot.
This is on 0.8 of an acre, um, backing onto some of the wild MOS. They’re heading out on the road towards Clifton. It’s still about half an hour from Galway city. So, which would you choose? The new build? A two rated for 580,000 or the slightly older 2004, uh, five bed farmhouse. Tell me in our comments on our social media, which one you would vote for? 📍
Now in our final segment, we’re gonna go through the latest news that caught our attention this week.
📍 First a headline in the Irish times, bank of Ireland to tighten home lending criteria of mid rising rates. This seems like a bad news story. Now, all banks do a stress test whenever they are looking at your affordability of a loan, um, obviously with increasing rates. At the moment, we just had another 0.7, five interest rate rise from the ECB. the banks are going to be tightening their affordability checks, making sure that you can afford the loan if rates go up in the next year or so, as they’re expected to. So it’s unsurprising. It is bad news for some people who will be either getting lesser amounts allowed to be borrowed or will not be getting a loan at all. So, uh, hang in there, watch out for that.
One bit of good 📍 news. This in the Irish independent property market finally delivers good news for hard pressed home buyers. This is optimistic, perhaps overly. So Price inflation is decelerating. That doesn’t mean they’re getting any cheaper just yet. They’re just not getting as expensive as quickly that may or may not be good news. So far. Uh, house building is at a post crash high there’ll be more new homes built this year than any year since before the last boom, Unfortunately, a lot of those are unviable new build apartments, which are just being bought on mass. So that isn’t as good news as it may seem.
📍 Now a final article that caught my eye. I was just so impressed.
This is drip sea castle estate. It’s on the market for 2.9 million. It’s a lovely old 15th century castle near Blan and cork, but they have managed to make it carbon neutral energy, energy efficient. And it’s just given me hope that any home can be brought up to a high standard, even a castle, which are notoriously drafty, cold and damp. All you need is a private river with your own hydroelectric plants and about 70 acres of Woodland to feed the, uh, gasification boiler. But look, if they can do it, we all can do our bid to save some energy. This winter.
Thanks for joining us for episode three of the Irish home show, we’ve gone through savings and mortgages. And now next week we are gonna be talking about the biggest lender in the Irish market. It’s a bank that has no branches. It has no website. They have usually no interest rates., it’s a bank that some of us are fortunate to have in our very own homes or in our childhood homes.
That’s right. It’s bank of mom and dad,
A sizable chunk of first time buyers are reliant on their parents to help provide money for their deposit or for their house purchase. We are gonna talk to Alan Perel from cloud accounts about how they can legally and tax efficiently lend you money or give you money.
To help you buy a home. We’re also gonna talk about other tax issues, such as capital gain tax. Uh, perhaps if you are selling a family home
in addition to that, we’re gonna have our regular explainers, our features and our news. So please tune back in and follow and subscribe Irish home magazine and the Irish home show. Wherever you can see you next week.
