First time buyers who don’t buy new homes

First time buyers have been asking ‘what about those of us who are not buying a new home? Why don’t we get any help like the people using help to buy?’. The answer is that you do, at least for the remainder of 2017.

There is still a DIRT relief for first time buyers scheme in action, it started in 2014 and is ongoing until the 31st of December.

The scheme doesn’t help you get a deposit, rather it’s a refund after you buy, see the notes below taken from the Revenue.ie website:

Section 266A of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 provides for refunds of Deposit Interest Retention Tax (DIRT) for first-time buyers who purchase a house or apartment to live in as their home. It also applies to first time buyers who self-build a home to live in.

Who can claim it?

A first-time buyer of a house or apartment who purchases or self-builds a property between 14 October 2014 and 31 December 2017 may be entitled to claim a refund of DIRT.

The first-time buyer must not have …

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Mortgage interest relief set to end, but is it worth it?

Mortgage interest relief ‘tax relief at source’ or just ‘trs’ is a credit available to first time buyers who purchase their first home prior to the end of 2012. Currently it is due to be discontinued from 2013.

At the moment it is applied as follows:  up to a maximum of €10,000 interest per buyer can be applied so you take your total interest paid for the year and add it up.

Say you buy for 200,000 with a 10% deposit and an interest rate of 4.5% the cost per year is €1000pm over 25yrs. The interest portion is as follows:

(200,000 * .9 [90% mortgage) * 4.5% = 180,000 * 4.5% = approximately €8,100 a year will be treated for TRS reasons which is 25% for the first two years reducing to 22.5% for the next three years and 20% after that.

The 8,100 gets 25% relief = €2,025 or about €169 a month. In the example above when you get this credit it will mean that your ‘cost’ is €1,000 – €169 or €831 per month.

Because the …

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Tom Parlon, preaching to the subverted.

I don’t often take swipes in this blog but today there is a difference, somebody or some one (preferably a qualified psychiatric professional) has to have a serious one to one with Tom Parlon of the Construction Industry Federation (CIF) because he has finally crossed the Rubicon that divides reality from fantasy land and turned his attention towards the utterly insane, namely by stating in the Sunday Business Post that the solution to the economy is more houses.

Just when we are hearing how there is a massive oversupply, how in three years 250,000 houses were built to satisfy a demand of about 130,000 required, and when prices are falling out he comes with this little gem. Supply outstrips demand, and his response is ‘more supply’. Perhaps it would be wiser for the CIF to employ an actual builder or engineer to do his job rather than a politician who has no experience in doing the job of the people he represents.

In his article he points out that for every 10,000 houses built that …

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Mortgages in Ireland, a little bit about mortgage brokers.

Just a quick note to readers, Irish Mortgage Brokers is an intermediary, we go between you and the bank to arrange finance. You can go direct yourself and get the same mortgage, however, over half of the market uses and intermediary to arrange their finance, this is normally because they don’t really how to get a mortgage in Ireland or because they find using a broker easier than dealing with the job directly. And some people just prefer the personal touch of a broker over that of call centres and branches.

If you want to find the best Irish mortgage rates you can do so in a simple phone call or online application, click on the ‘home’ button above and apply over the web or call us on 01 6790990 and an agent will be able to assist you. The people we tend to work with are clients looking for a First Time mortgage in Ireland, people who want to find out how to remortgage a property, commercial lending, and trading up/down.

We are regulated by the Financial Regulator as …

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First Time Buyers can’t catch a break

First time buyers are being told ‘now is the time to buy’ in the papers. I think it’s time to spell out a few home truths for the prospective buyer just so that they are 100% sure of what they are getting into. Buying a home is fundamentally a good thing, doing so without knowing the facts however is not.

Firstly, property is in a downward market at the moment, that’s not opinion, its a fact. You can dress it up as a ‘re-adjustment’ a ‘balancing out’ or an ‘inter-cusp reductionary period’, heck, call it ‘my granny’ for all I care, it’s still down, plain and simple. So if you put an offer on a property and an Estate Agent tells you ‘you have to sign soon or you’ll lose the place!’, then lose it (unless they accepted an offer so low you have to snap at it!) no guilt, no apologies, and don’t you dare pay full asking price! The current Irish property market favours the buyer not the seller. I would even advise our clients to offer below …

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First Time Buyers can't catch a break

First time buyers are being told ‘now is the time to buy’ in the papers. I think it’s time to spell out a few home truths for the prospective buyer just so that they are 100% sure of what they are getting into. Buying a home is fundamentally a good thing, doing so without knowing the facts however is not.

Firstly, property is in a downward market at the moment, that’s not opinion, its a fact. You can dress it up as a ‘re-adjustment’ a ‘balancing out’ or an ‘inter-cusp reductionary period’, heck, call it ‘my granny’ for all I care, it’s still down, plain and simple. So if you put an offer on a property and an Estate Agent tells you ‘you have to sign soon or you’ll lose the place!’, then lose it (unless they accepted an offer so low you have to snap at it!) no guilt, no apologies, and don’t you dare pay full asking price! The current Irish property market favours the buyer not the seller. I would even advise our clients to offer below …

Read More →