Looking to move to Dublin? Consider living in these areas

The city of Dublin is one of the most popular hubs for relocation for people from all over Ireland and the world. Divided into a north and south side by the Liffey River, Dublin has many great neighborhoods within its 24 postal districts. Boasting a population of 1.2 million people, more than 25% of the entire country’s population, Dublin is a busy city packed with a variety of inhabitants and lifestyles. Whatever type of lifestyle you’re looking for, there is a great neighborhood in Dublin that can suit your needs. Here is a brief look at some of the best locations in Dublin.

City Center South

Looking to live a city lifestyle, with great food and diverse nightlife? If so, City Center South may be for you. Though it may be a little more affluent and expensive to live in than its Northern counterpart, North Inner City, or D1, City Center South, known as D2, provides a great experience for those looking to live in a central location with lots of tourist attractions. Nearby attractions include the iconic Temple Bar, …

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Mortgage arrears in Ireland fall despite pandemic’s economic effects

Over the past year, the covid-19 pandemic has caused many economic challenges for Irish citizens and people worldwide. Between level 5 lockdowns, business closures, and soaring levels of unemployment, it would be logical to believe that people may be falling behind on payments, especially mortgages, which are most people’s largest and most important monthly payment. However, recent data shows that the number of mortgages in arrears actually  decreased during the first quarter of 2021, despite level 5 lockdowns and record high unemployment rates.

Recent data from the Central Bank shows that the number of family home loans in arrears decreased by 2,838 during the first three months of 2021. During this period, the Covid-adjusted unemployment rate hit its peak of 25.1 per cent in early January, as thousands of businesses were forced to close their doors due to level 5 lockdowns. This is surprising given that the number of people behind on their mortgage payments actually decreased, while conventional wisdom would expect to see an increase in arrears. This contrast suggests that government supports, such as pandemic unemployment benefits, have …

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5 Negotiating tips to make sure you get the best house price

When buying a home, you can expect to negotiate with the seller or estate agent for a better price. In fact, many homes end up selling below the asking price, since most sellers ask for slightly more than market value to account for negotiations. Your ability to negotiate could have a huge impact on whether or not you pay the best possible price for your property. Here are some tips to help prepare you for this part of the home buying process.

1. Don’t be afraid to negotiate

While asking for a better deal may seem awkward at first, it is completely normal to haggle for a house price. The reality is that haggling and negotiating happens regularly in the real estate business, and many homes sell below asking price every day. Most sales people are not offended by you asking for a better price, and it is often quite the opposite, as this signals your interest in buying the property. However, it is crucial to ask politely and avoid any hostility and confrontation during negotiation.

2. Research the local …

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Is state intervention required to stop ‘cuckoo’ funds from buying homes?

We spoke to Newstalk about the idea of whether the state needs to intervene to stop ‘cuckoo’ funds from buying up homes. This is because the sale of a housing estate became a national press story due to a fund coming in to buy it up.

It is understandable that people are upset, there are buyers who had set their hopes on living in those properties, but that emotion can’t eradicate the fact that renters are people too and they also need homes, family homes. Or that there are people who may not want to buy or can’t afford to who need family homes.

These things all need to be considered and it isn’t as simple as saying it’s universally good or bad, the clip will help to make this clear.

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5 Things to Consider when Viewing a House in Ireland

As a first time buyer, viewing houses can be exhausting. There are countless things to consider, such as the layout of the home, the location and nearby schools, and much, much more. This can be a bit overwhelming when viewing open houses, as there is so much to observe you might miss some key details about the property. In this article, we will discuss 5 key things to observe and be aware of when viewing houses, so your dream home doesn’t turn into a nightmare.

1.How long has the property been on the market?

The first question you should ask the estate agent is how long the property has been on the market. If a property has been on the market for more than a few months and still isn’t selling, there’s usually a reason why. While this could come down to a number of things, from price to hidden structural issues to low demand, this is a good gauge of potential red flags.

2. Account for renovation

Many people make the mistake of buying houses that appear to be …

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Economic Results of the New US President

The swearing-in of the new US President; Joe Biden, has caused many discrepancies in the world stock market and the value of the dollar this past Thursday. Stock prices are skyrocketed, and the dollar fell as investors began to bet major stimulus. Surprisingly, Asian stocks have reached all-time highs overnight and are predicted to keep rising. MSCI’s global index shows that nearly 50 countries added 0.3% to the 76% rally since the market crash due to COVID last March.

It has been reported that Republicans in the US Congress have stated they will cooperate with the Biden administration in the US’s top priority $1.9 trillion fiscal-stimulus plan to get the economy up and running. There are still some oppositions against the plan, but the final amount is expected to fall at least 5% of the US gross domestic product. Chief economist at BNY Mellon investment management; Shamik Dhar states that the benefit of a larger stimulus is viewed as outweighing the negative impacts of regulation and taxes. He supports this fiscal-stimulus plan and expects the monetary policy to remain largely …

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Tips to Switching Your Mortgage

Changing your mortgage plan may very well be the best or worst decision you can ever make. If done well, it could relieve you of a lot of financial stress and help save you a large amount of money. This seems like such a big task, so we have broken it down and listed a few tips on how to get started!

First, understand your current situation. What are your scheduled payment amounts and how does that affect your budget? What type of mortgage do you have right now? Do you have an interest-only mortgage, a pension mortgage, an annuity mortgage, or a different type of mortgage? Most importantly would be the current interest rate you are paying. And all these factors can make a difference when changing mortgages and if that transition is for you. For example, with a standard variable rate (the rate you will be charged at the end of your fixed interest rate), switching can save a lot of money.

Second, make sure to do your own research and speak to multiple banks and mortgage brokers. …

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Property Tax: We need to talk about sticks.

People often discuss economic incentives in terms of ‘sticks’ and ‘carrots’, it’s an adage that refers to getting a donkey to work, you use a carrot to entice it forward or a stick to give a more coercive physical encouragement.

When it comes to property tax the rules in Ireland are damn near shambolic. Our property tax rates are some of the lowest in Europe, for that reason under-occupancy reigns supreme and nobody has to pay the price for it other than those who are on the outside looking to get in (ie: mostly renters).

We have a tendency to under use property, this isn’t just well to do older people living in big houses on their own, it happens in low-income homes too, to an extent that you just don’t see in almost any other well run European country, in fact, elsewhere almost the opposite is true. (see the table below).

In fact, when it comes to people in the lowest quintile of income, we are exceptional because many of them own their own homes outright, this is …

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RTE 1: Claire Byrne Live features Irish Mortgage Brokers, 17th September 2018

We took part in a panel discussion about the ‘take back the city’ campaign. While we are in favour of solutions to housing shortages, taxing dereliction and land, we are not in favour of taking people’s property. This has to be balanced against why property rights were established in this country and we also questioned why they went after private property rather than the abundant and abandoned state owned property which includes council owned homes that are not being used.

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TodayFM ‘The Last Word’ features Irish Mortgage Brokers

We were asked to take part in a segment called ‘Home Truths’ on TodayFM during the Last Word with Matt Cooper. The segment featured Karl Deeter and David Silke from the housing agency.

We were discussing the rental market and certain issues that go along with it, our main point is that there shouldn’t be a housing crisis, but that we managed to manufacture one.

The audio clip has the full segment on it.

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