Myths Associated with Acquiring Mortgages in Ireland Debunked

Purchasing a house can be both thrilling and terrifying for many people. We’ve all encountered the myths and tales about what you should or should not do while buying a house. But don’t be put off by these mortgage misconceptions. I have debunked two of the most popular ones for you below.

First, the most obvious myths that people hold is that they are unable or rather cannot afford to buy a home. The truth is, if you can afford to make rental payments on a monthly basis, you might be able to purchase a home as well through monthly mortgage payment. Speak with a competent mortgage provider to see how much mortgage you can afford. You can receive a pre-qualification, which is a fast, non-binding assessment of how much cash you might possibly borrow. A mortgage pre-approval may be available from some lenders. Pre-approval, unlike pre-qualification, implies you’ve provided verification of your loan, income, and savings. You know how much you can borrow once you’ve been pre-qualified or pre-approved.

Secondly, a myth that most people have is the idea that …

Read More →

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.

Read More →

Sadly another client died, but we did our job right

Working in this business can be tragic at times, the nature of the industry is that we have seen many businesses and individuals financially ruined, but at least they are alive and well, ‘your health is your wealth’ as the saying goes.

Sometimes however, our customers don’t have that either, and people die. We can’t stop that, and we can’t help make it better in any way for the people affected with the exception of the financial implications.

A client of ours passed away earlier in the month, they had two houses and two mortgages. When we were first dealing with them we stressed the importance of protecting your family from the financial impact death brings, it is the greatest wealth destroyer of all (indeed, the greatest destroyer in general).

Our clients took our advice, covering their mortgages in full and in addition to that a further lump sum on the life of the breadwinner. Taking out this cover was a selfless act, the person who has ultimately …

Read More →

Why brokers should not be part of the Valuation process

When you deal with a lender they will often ask for various income documents to prove your ability to repay or service the loan you are planning to undertake, assuming you are creditworthy and get underwritten you then have to look at the asset being purchased, in our firm we primarily deal with mortgages on residential properties, and that would be the asset under consideration.

The lender will require a ‘Valuation’ for that property so that they can determine the value of the asset they are lending against, normally they will only let you borrow up to a certain LTV (loan to value). In Ireland property valuations are commonly done by estate agents, there are two types, the kind you get when you want to sell a house – which is more akin to an opinion, and then the kind you get when you are buying a property which is different in that the valuer is going on official record and putting both their insurance and good name …

Read More →