Three Things to do Before Taking out a Mortgage

Let’s face it mortgages are daunting; with interest rates, terms, and credit scores. Many things can make finding a mortgage a challenge but what are the most important things you need to know before taking out a mortgage? Well, you’re in luck, these are three main takeaways that you should know before taking out a mortgage.

SAVE SAVE SAVE

When preparing yourself to take out a mortgage, being financially secure is extremely important. You will want to have enough to make sure you have enough for a good down payment. This isn’t the only reason you want to be saving though. You will also want to have enough in your account for any unexpected expenses that may pop up due to things such as closing costs, and inspections. Liquidity (cash) is just as important as saving for a down payment. Banks and other financial lending institutions look at the balance of your accounts prior to approval to validate your ability to afford your desired home.

Along with saving, you will want to keep your account in order. Avoid overdrafts, late …

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Why Use a Mortgage Broker?

You may not know whether or not you want to use a mortgage broker or why people use them in the first place. How do they help and what do they do? Let’s go over why people use mortgage brokers and what they do for you.

First of all what is a mortgage broker? A mortgage broker is a person that is working with you and the lenders. He is the middleman that will be advising you (client) on the mortgage that is going to work best for you.

Unlike banks, mortgage brokers can work with you and multiple lenders. They’re the middleman when it comes to getting you the mortgage that is going to work best for you. They can shop around for you, work with multiple banks, and work with you on problems that may occur. Since you are working one on one with a mortgage broker, they can also explain things and perhaps give you advice on how to improve in certain areas.

Working with a professional mortgage broker allows you the opportunity of possibly having them …

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Who are Finance Ireland?

We are sometimes asked ‘who are finance Ireland’ because people don’t know the company. In short, they are a broker only lender, this is yet another reason you should never go to a bank directly, they couldn’t tell you about their rates and products if they wanted to and in this instance their prices are amongst the best there is!

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How to buy properties in Bulgaria

Hello my name is Hristo Dimitrov. I’m a student from Varna Bulgaria. I’m new to Irish Mortgage Brokers.

Today my topic is how to buy properties in Bulgaria

 

-First time buyers

When Bulgarian people are buying a home, they have some problems researching the right home for themselves.

They are also not familiar with how to buy a home. They always have problems and some may come across real estate fraud. So I will show you some helpful tips to follow:

Estimate your budget.

It is important to know how much money you are willing to spend on buying an apartment and navigating the cost of housing in your city.

Don’t do it yourself

Get a mortgage. If your own funds are not sufficient but you have a stable income, get a mortgage. Today, banks issue loans for ten to thirty years.

Get ready – wait for a new building.

Primary housing, that is, apartments in new buildings, are, on average, cheaper than second homes. They also have no legal history. And if the developer sells the property, …

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Help To Buy For First Time Buyers

The name provides a definition for itself. First time home buyers are people in the market buying a home for the first time. Compared to other home buyers, such as trader-up borrowers and mortgage switchers, first time buyers have different benefits and restrictions when borrowing than other borrowers. The Central Bank of Ireland requires a 10% down payment for first time buyers. Now, for first time buyers, a 45,000 euro down payment for a 450,000 euro home may be somewhat daunting. However, the Central Bank has offered assistance for their first time buyers to keep them in the market. The Central Bank offers a help to buy program. This benefit allows for first time buyers of new houses and apartments to take a 5% tax rebate off of properties less than 500,000 euros. In a recent case at Irish Mortgage Brokers, a married couple came looking for a mortgage on their first home. The couple did not have a home in mind at the time, but based on their income, the couple had roughly below 500k to spend. Both individuals …

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The Qualified Mortgage Patch

In less than a year, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is letting the “Qualified Mortgage Patch” (QM Patch) expire. Why does this matter for first time buyers?

The QM Patch states that mortgage buyers must have a debt-to income ratio less than or equal to 43% in order to buy a home. This rule was created to protect borrowers from racking up too much debt. Removing the QM patch could have drastic effects for the European economy. Let me explain:

I grew up living in the United States during the Mortgage Crisis of 2007. It started with many investors looking for low risk high reward profits. They turned to the housing market to buy those loans. Banks would convert thousands of marketable securities and turn them into shares for investors to buy. They believed the investments were safe because house prices were rising dramatically during this time and credit unions gave many of these securities AAA ratings. AAA rating is the best rating a house can receive.

Investors loved these loans because they were very profitable. They started pushing the …

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Inflation Rates Return to Normal

 

The current housing prices in Dublin have been talked about extensively recently. The newest trend shows that housing prices have reached peak affordability and now some of the wealthy classes of people are having trouble affording homes. Current house prices in Dublin are more than nine times the average salary making them unattainable for the majority of people because mortgages can only be 3.5 times your salary. Additionally, these numbers have not been seen since the Celtic Tiger Era, however, the central bank has been more careful this time and increased borrowing rules unlike during the Celtic Tiger Era. Prices are now beginning to slow down because simply nobody is able to afford them.

Inflation has also cooled off recently with a decrease from 12.4% last May to 2.8% a year later. Dublin has seen a significantly smaller inflation rate with an increase of prices from the current year to May of .6%.

The region of Dublin had the highest median price of 366,000 Euros which is just over 9 times more than its average salary of 40,000 Euros. …

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First time buyer steps explained

Being able to take out a mortgage has become a major hassle for all types of home buyers, but especially first time buyers. Recently, a 2018 study by the Central Bank reported that the best position to be in so that your request for a loan can be approved by one of the 7 largest lending banks is in a couple with a substantial down payment already available.

This is most likely the case because a couple can bring in two salaries, making a steady stream of income more reliable even if one person were to lose their job. Additionally, having a large down payment reduces risk for the lender. If you were to foreclose on a property, meaning you couldn’t afford to pay your mortgage anymore, there would be significantly less consequences on the lender side.

Although this is an ideal situation for approval, it is not the only solution. Plenty of first time buyers are individuals without extremely high credit scores and salaries, but there are a few key parts that must be fulfilled in order …

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Bank Refusal to Loan to First Time Buyers

Current issues with mortgage regulations are preventing many first time buyers who qualify for many exemptions from the harsh Central Bank mortgage rules. Data form Central Bank shows that only 17% of mortgages issued last year included mortgage exemptions. Lenders are entitled to issue exemptions for 20% of the value of the loans they issue to first time buyers. This gap in issuance of exemptions has left first time buyers are left desperate and frustrated by the difficult restrictions placed qualifying for mortgage exemptions. Exemptions are needed but people are not receiving them because of the scope for banks to lend more.

The requirements to qualify for the exemptions are extremely complex. This complexity of the rules of exemption is the reason why banks are unable to understand how many exemptions can be used, which in turn makes banks reluctant to approve exemptions. Qualifying for exemptions allow a minority of higher earning home buyers to borrow more than is allowed.

According to the Independent, it is estimated that banks have only issued income exemptions to 11% of first time …

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RTE Primetime featurs Irish Mortgage Brokers

We were asked to take part in an interview on Primetime about house prices and whether or not they were starting to show signs of falling. Our view is that they will fall in time (probably in a damaging way) but that it won’t be soon because supply is still above demand and price indicators like rents are still rising. This is damaging for first time buyers and those stuck paying high rents.

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