Mortgage providers to restrict rural lending

We were mentioned in the Irish Independent today in a story about lenders restricting mortgage credit in rural areas. They are doing this by lowering LTV’s or coming up with requirements on population size for LTV’s (Loan to Values).

Mortgage broker Karl Deeter of Irish Mortgage Brokers said lenders were now discriminating against those seeking loans to buy property in rural areas. “If you are not buying in Dublin, Cork, Limerick or Galway cities they do not want to know. This is all part of a growing trend to discriminate against properties outside of the cities,” Mr Deeter said.

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EBS rate hikes, the benefit of mutuality?

EBS have announced a rate hike of 0.6% which is a follow on from their last 0.6% hike that was levied against variable rate mortgage holders on the 1st of May, this brings their margin increases to a total of 1.2% for the year to date.

Today’s Indo lead with this story (by Charlie Weston) and rightly pointed out that by the time this is over, a person with a €300,000 mortgage over 30 years could expect to pay just over €3,000 a year (after tax) in increased mortgage payments. For a person on the average industrial wage this is like a full months wages before tax being sucked away by the financial system. Tax hikes and wage cuts aside, this will ultimately reduce the money that is being spent in the economy and it will disappear into the financial system where banks will use it to de-lever further.

The contention for many people is that they are being punished, not for what they have done …

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Who cheats more? Politicians or bankers? With Dan Ariely

Legendary Behavioral Economist Dan Ariely presents a piece about trade off’s between instant gratification versus long term gratification, reward substitution, cheating, trust/revenge, global warming, executive pay and many other fascinating topics. This video is fascinating and for me is a real insight into the psychology behind economics that is so often over looked in classical economics. This is explained in simple terms that we can all understand and relate to, hope you enjoy!

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Marian Finucane Show: 26th June 2010 – featuring Irish Mortgage Brokers

We were delighted at the invitation to join the Marian Finucane show on RTE 1 last Saturday for the second time this year, we were asked to go on alongside Angela Keegan of MyHome.ie to talk about property prices, mortgage lending criteria and property tax.

The RealPlayer version is here

You can check out an MP3 of it here

Or go to RTE and go through the list of shows to find it here

If you were listening to the show and have any questions relating to it please feel free to call us or email your query. We hope you enjoyed the show and if not then listen back to it!

We hope to be on this show again soon and help to raise the debate of Property Tax again.

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Are 100% mortgages the problem? Is LTV a symptom or a cause?

An article in the Independent yesterday pointed toward 100% mortgages being a significant attributer to the bubble, I would wager it was a symptom rather than a cause, the IBA meanwhile has called for all mortgages to be made on a non-recourse basis.

The good thing is that people and organisations are trying to find a way to avoid a repeat of the property bubble, and they are not one off events as the UK can testify.  There are however, significant factors contributing to what happened.

1: lenders didn’t price risk, they didn’t even ‘price at all’: Banks have utterly failed to do the job they were designed to do, namely that of profitable intermediation, we had huge amounts of competition on lending, that drove down criteria requirements and also compressed margins, then along came trackers, these had low margin price promises – Bank of Scotland brought them into Ireland and have since left. I spoke with a Bank exec. yesterday and he …

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Self-Employed first time buyer?

Q: I am a first time buyer but I am self employed. Is it true the banks will not lend to me?

A: No not necessarily. If you have been self employed for 2 years or more and have Certified Accounts and Notice of Assessments (Tax Returns) for the the last 2 years proving your earnings than mortgage lenders will accept an application from you.

If they will approve you and how much they will approve you for will ultimately depend on how much you earn, your savings record, your day to day money management record in the last 3-6 months and your credit history record.

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Mortgage Broker Qualifications – the basics.

If you are dealing with a mortgage broker it is a really good idea to find out a little about them, here is a quick list that we think should help you to navigate the financial waters and avoid potential sharks.

1. Are you individually regulated?: While many people work for a ‘regulated company’ they are often not regulated themselves, this means that if you have an issue that the recourse is to the company and if the person has done wrong they may lose their job but they can still go work somewhere else, we believe that by having individually regulated mortgage advisers it gives people the right message, that each individual in our organisation individually stands over their advice and actions, to the point that any issues fall directly upon their shoulders.

2. What qualifications do you have?: While there are many financial qualifications (ACCA, ACA, CPA, CFA, BComm, MScEcon etc.) the retail broker specific ones are QFA (qualified financial adviser) and LIAM dip (Life Insurance Association Mortgage Diploma), you should make sure that your adviser has at …

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‘Thrift’ and why it will be the next fashionable trend

If the Celtic Tiger brought the fashion of consumption and SUV’s then certainly the polar opposite will come true in a downturn, and that will be the emergence of ‘Thrift’ as a way of doing things. Today we will look at some popular thrift websites, as well as how recycling will come into play in the way we do things for the coming years.

The older generation must be secretly laughing at us, they were frugal and appreciated the value of money, I have heard this said on radio, the television, and even on the streets. I suppose it never hit me too much personally because I’m not a flash type of guy, I own a car but I cycle to work (partly due to my feelings on environmental responsibility and party because its faster than sitting in traffic), I could afford nicer clothes but I don’t feel the need to be impressive in that department so my banged up civvies will suffice (as far as I’m concerned). …

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'Thrift' and why it will be the next fashionable trend

If the Celtic Tiger brought the fashion of consumption and SUV’s then certainly the polar opposite will come true in a downturn, and that will be the emergence of ‘Thrift’ as a way of doing things. Today we will look at some popular thrift websites, as well as how recycling will come into play in the way we do things for the coming years.

The older generation must be secretly laughing at us, they were frugal and appreciated the value of money, I have heard this said on radio, the television, and even on the streets. I suppose it never hit me too much personally because I’m not a flash type of guy, I own a car but I cycle to work (partly due to my feelings on environmental responsibility and party because its faster than sitting in traffic), I could afford nicer clothes but I don’t feel the need to be impressive in that department so my banged up civvies will suffice (as far as I’m concerned). …

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