Equity release for people over 60

There is a growing need for equity release for people who have properties with a lot of equity but who also don’t have money or an income to sustain them. This is often the twin forces of property prices that have risen so strongly in the last 30 years coupled with greater financial needs or low pension provision.

In this video some of the details are described and mentioned by David Brady of Spry Finance.

Spry Finance Q&A from Seniors Money on Vimeo.

Some points worth noting are that at times you may borrow money and make no repayments and this creates a reverse amortization or ‘growing loan’ effect. That said,  you can also pay the interest and in that case the loan doesn’t grow.

Equity release loans are underwritten on the borrowers age and the value of the property, because there isn’t an expectation of repayment you don’t have to qualify for the loan based on earnings the way you would with a regular mortgage.

To find out more you can make an enquiry …

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Obtain a loan of up to 4x your income

The European Central Bank set a ceiling in 2015, allowing borrowers to take out loans from lenders who wish to lend them up to 3.5x their income. However, the ECB recently declared that as a borrower, you may request 4x your income. The loan-value caps will remain the same as before the change, so first-time buyers will be able to borrow 90% of the property’s value, while second-time buyers will be able to borrow 80% of the property’s value.

One unique suggestion received by the ECB was that borrowers earning less than €60,000 be able to obtain a loan of up to 4.5x their income. After the rate crash, the mainstream banks removed development lending. Thus, smaller builders needed alternative finance providers to realize some projects because the extent of the limits was affecting them. Clients now have their own criteria for obtaining a mortgage due to domestic inflation (which was 8.6 percent in September), rising cost-of-living crises, and rising interest rates on loans.

ICS Mortgages, a non-bank lender, tightens its loan acceptance criteria. So, if you take a loan …

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What you need to know about ECB’s raising interest rates

The European Central Bank raised interest charges more than what they initially announced. Over the past few months, the rates have increased by around 1.25%. The clients have not yet been reached by institutions including Bank of Ireland and Permanent TSB.

Customers have a lot of pain for the future because there are a lot of uncertainties. They now have to deal with high mortgage interest rates in addition to inflation, rising electricity and fuel costs. New customers face a direct problem because their five-year fixed rates increase by 2%. As a first-time buyer, you will receive a rate of 5.95%. Long-term fixed loans rise by 1.49% to 1.58%. (depending on size and running time). As a result, banks such as AIB, ESB, and Haven must raise their rates for new and switching customers. The current customers are not affected. Customers with tracker mortgages face an increase in interest rates due to contractual obligations. Some of the new customers must take an expensive rate, which means they must pay 240€ more than before the ECB increase.

If the AIB, EBS, …

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AIB Mortgages

AIB advertised their mortgages extensively. Therefore, the first thing you notice when you visit their website is a section on mortgages. They have an appealing and good structured website where you can find a calculator, make an appointment, and learn some information about your situation. A video about a couple who obtains a mortgage from AIB is also available. In this video, the clients explain how that works. They claimed to be extremely glad to accept the mortgage from this bank because everyone there is polite and helpful. AIB has professionals that can explain everything to you about mortgages and your options. They also have an App that gives clients a good overview. Additionally, the fact that clients can upload their documents from home makes everything simpler for them. You may find a wealth of general and situation-specific information on mortgages on their website.

AIB has a community spotlight on their website where you can watch a video about the important work being done for the local community and the advancement of the transition to a sustainable living. They …

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Increasing rates across the continent

According to a recent poll, Ireland’s average mortgage rate is 2.64%. This is only 0.01% higher than it was the previous month, when it was 2.63%.

Irish rates have decreased as the economies of the rest of Europe have gotten more expensive. With the release of these new figures, Ireland actually dropped out of the top five most costly Eurozone nations for the first time in five years.

Ireland’s rate of 3.10 per cent, is higher than the average rate of 2.21 per cent in the Eurozone. Still, Ireland’s rate is lower than it was a year ago: 5.95 per cent this time last year.

The average interest rate on Irish fixed-rate mortgages is 2.49 percent and 3.77 percent on an Irish variable-rate mortgage.

Ireland now has the Eurozone’s eighth-highest mortgage rates, trailing only Germany and the Netherlands. Households in these countries, on the other hand, tend to take out much longer-term fixed rates than Irish households (up to 20 years or more), which typically have higher rates.

The average interest rate across the continent is increasing. Latvia has the …

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Are Irish banks the most generous in Europe?

Mortgage rates are rising, but at the time of writing they are higher in Germany than in Ireland, that isn’t the strange bit though.

What’s really strange is that the risk free rate in Ireland is higher than the mortgage rates available. In other words, financially speaking it is safer (if by ‘safe’ you mean accepting a lower return) to lend to a person in Ireland on a house than it is to lend to the Irish government. This is insane and it won’t last.

The response will need to be one of two things.

Banks stop lending Banks raise mortgage rates (or perhaps a little of 1 and a good dash of 2).

Take a look at government bond yields from last week, if a bank has a choice they can lend to the Irish government at 2.8% but they lend to people at closer to 2%. This is typically seen as an impossibility in financial markets so it will only last for a short time because as a rule there is no arbitrage, markets close them down …

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Negative interest rates are both gone and here at the same time.

Many commentators are talking about the end of negative interest rates in nominal terms and it’s true, interest rates are rising but in real terms they are still negative. Look at mortgage rates (for instance), you can borrow at 3% and below and meanwhile you have property price appreciation at 15% meaning that in real terms you are paying -12%.

If you can ever get something on a continuous basis at -12% that indicates ‘buy’, and that’s what people are doing, but notice that we mentioned ‘continuous’, the reality is that there is no arbitrage most of the time and this will be closed down by either rising costs, falling prices or some other outcome that we can’t forsee. Trees don’t grow to the sky, they never have and never will so the trajectory of house prices must rationalise but it’s hard to see how or where at present because the demand side seems so demonstrably strong.

I bumped into Kieran McQuinn on Pearse Street today and in our brief chat mentioned how the price changes are not sustainable, he …

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Irish Mortgage Brokers featured in the Irish Times

We were mentioned in the Irish Times in a piece by Cliff Taylor about the increase in the number of people seeking to refinance their home.

Rather than a fear of higher interest rates, Karl Deeter, of Irish Mortgage Brokers, believes it is primarily driven by people facing tightening (link to article here)

The crux of the point being made is that as inflation is affecting people and rates look set to rise that it is naturally driving people to consider ways to get better prices on one of their biggest outgoings and to get some assurance on what the price levels of their outgoings will be.

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European mortgages explained: Switzerland

Mortgages in Switzerland have a basic, straightforward idea but are subject to rather strict lending rules. Banks are currently using a 4.5% theoretical interest rate as a reference. Some are even using a 5% sample rate. On top of that, they are accounting for 1% amortization per year. And depending on the bank, they will account for between 0.5% and 1% in maintenance costs. Furthermore, the cost of the chosen property can’t be higher than 33% of the income. So the 5% of the mortgage needs to be smaller than 33% of the income. In general, the mortgage will be 80% of the house value.

If you live in Switzerland with a residency permit B or permit C, you can apply for a mortgage and buy a property in Switzerland. If you don’t have residency, it’s slightly more complicated. Under the Lex Koller law – which limits purchases of Swiss property by foreigners – non-residents must apply for a license to buy from their cantonal authority.

There are a few additional costs when buying a Swiss home. These generally equate …

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