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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 How to Choose the Best Mortgage Lenders in Ireland

Currently, there are 10 mortgage lenders in Ireland. These include Ulster Bank, ParmanentTSB, KBC Bank Ireland, ICS Mortgages, Haven, Finance Ireland, EBS, Bank of Ireland, Avant Money, and Allied Irish Banks. All of these mortgage lenders are financial institutions which give home loans to people who aspire to own a home.

You are probably thinking about how to pick the best of the 10. When choosing the lender that best suits your need, the major factor to take into consideration is the amount of mortgage you want to borrow. Each of the 10 mortgage lenders in Ireland will make an assessment of your assets, debt, and credit score, each differently. You should note that the Loan to Value Ration (LTV) is  the most important pieces of information that the lenders will look. LTV is calculated by dividing the money you are borrowing with the property’s estimated value. With the LTV, the lender will be able to understand the risks involved with lending you the mortgage. Normally, the LTV of a loan is 80 percent or less. It is important to …

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Is it Expensive to own a house in Ireland?

Dreaming of owning a house in perhaps one of the best tech countries in the making? The yearly rate of house owning in Ireland has finally fallen to less than one percent as the cost of owning houses has been continuously falling. In Ireland, you must conduct the majority of your property searching on your own. Real estate agents will only display you homes that they have listed, not those that have been listed by other agents.

Once you’ve narrowed down your desired area, start looking in local newspapers and internet. Create searching notifications to get notified as soon as homes matching your requirements become available. You must also contact and enroll with properties for sale agents in your desired region. A property assessment should be a condition of any purchase you place on the property. Because the seller in Ireland would be under no duty to reveal faults in a property, you should just get a full survey to see whether there are any before completing the purchase. Certified auditors in Ireland are represented by the Association of Certified …

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Looking to buy a home? Here are 5 things to avoid

Thanks to the internet, the buying of property is now an easy process in Ireland. There is plenty of information that is available for you whenever you wish to undertake a research on the process of buying a home. Despite this being the case, many people in Ireland fall into common traps. This posts aims to highlight five major things to avoid so that you can purchase your next property in a stress-free manner.

Ignoring the math

Without a doubt, the most important step to take when considering to buy a home is working out exactly the amount of money you will have to spend to purchase it. While this can be very obvious, a majority of people do not often work out the amount of money they would need to spend, and this leave many of them facing serious financial shocks later down the line. One of the most common mistakes is concentrating only on both the deposit and the purchase price without knowing that there are other fees like survey fees, solicitor’s fee, and Stamp Duty. The …

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Why are Mortgage Interest Rates so High in Ireland?

Recent reports from the Central Bank of Ireland indicate that mortgage holders in Ireland are still paying much higher interest rates as compared to most of their  neighbors in Europe. Therefore, why are people in Ireland paying high mortgage rates and is there a way to reduce it? Currently the  interest rate for a first-time buyer is at 2.79 percent, which means that it is now the highest in all of the 19 countries in Europe together with Greece. Despite the fact that the interest rates have dropped by 0.11 percent as compared to last year, they are still way more than what is being charged in other places in Europe where the average rate is as little as 1.31 percent. 

In a report by the Banking and Payment Federation of Ireland (BPFI), the mortgage for a first-time-buyer in Ireland is approximately €225,000. Basically, this means that someone who borrows this amount with the hopes of repaying it in 30 years ends up paying an extra of €167 per month and over €2,000 annually as compared to other countries …

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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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5 Ways to save for a Deposit

Saving up to buy a home can seem like a big challenge. Your home is likely the biggest purchase you will ever make, and unlike saving for retirement, this payment is a large sum of money that you will need to access soon. This may seem challenging, but with a solid savings plan, anyone can save enough to put a down payment on their dream home. In this article, we’ll cover 5 easy ways to start saving for your down payment today.

 

Budget your money wisely

The first and most important step in any savings plan is budgeting. To build your budget, examine your bank statements and credit card payments to see where your money is going. Make sure to keep track of how much you spend on necessary payments, such as rent, utilities, and student loan payments if you have them. Next, consider how much you spend on eating out, entertainment, and other nonessentials. While you are saving, it is a good idea to set limits on each of these categories and stick to it, setting aside the …

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Costs you Should be Aware of before Buying a House

There are more costs associated with buying your first home than just the 10% deposit. There are many additional fees, duties and taxes that you should be aware of before buying your home. 

 

The first fee you should be aware of is the stamp duty. The stamp duty is not included in your mortgage, so it’s a good idea to save this fee up in addition to your 10% deposit. The stamp duty is calculated at 1% of the selling price on a home or residential property of up to €1m, and 2% of the selling price on homes and residential properties above €1m. This stamp duty may change however, and full details are available on the Revenue.ie website. 

Legal fees are another hidden cost of buying a home that you should look out for. There are a lot of legal aspects that have to be accounted for when officially transferring ownership of the property to you, so you should find a trusted real estate lawyer to take care of this transfer. Legal fees will vary depending on …

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Is it Getting easier to be approved for a mortgage in Ireland?

The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns have had many effects on business throughout the world and in Ireland. Every industry has been affected by this pandemic, and many in negative ways. However, this is not exactly the case with the mortgage industry in Ireland.

 

The mortgage industry in Ireland has remained remarkably buoyant over the past year. This is especially significant due to the fact that the country has been under level 5 lockdowns since March of 2020. While one would expect mortgage drawdowns and approvals to decrease like most economic activity, what happened instead was surprising. For the first quarter of 2021, BPFI reports that there were 9,091 new mortgages worth €2.1 billion drawn down by borrowers. These numbers represent a 4.5% increase in volume and a 7.3% increase in value when compared to the corresponding quarter of 2020. This was also the most drawdowns approved in Q1 of any year since 2009. 

bpf

March 2021 was also a strong month for mortgage approvals, especially when considering First Time Buyers (FTBs). In March of 2021, a …

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Types of mortgages and lending rules

Irish law has specialized sets of lending rules depending on the type of mortgage application. Types of applications are split into three different categories: first-time buyers, remortgaging or switching, and buy-to-let buyers. Depending on which of these categories an application falls under, different loan-to-value (LTV) and loan-to-income (LTI) limits will be used. The former refers to the minimum deposit a borrower must have on a home before getting a mortgage loan. The latter refers to the maximum amount of money borrowers can receive in relation to their yearly gross income; while this is normally capped at 3.5 times one’s income, lenders can provide additional allowances of varying amount depending on the type of application.

Firstly, there are first-time buyers. These applicants are those buying a house for the first time, so the deposit required by LTV limits is understandably less steep. They will need to have a minimum deposit of 10% of the home’s total value. For example, if the price of a home is listed as €250,000, a 10% deposit would amount to €25,000. Lenders are allowed to have …

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