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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Mortgage Broker vs. Bank: What’s the Difference?

Buying a house is one of the most important decisions of your life, which is why you need to make sure you pick the right lender when applying for a mortgage. However, there are many different types of lenders, each offering different products and rates for your mortgage, so it can get overwhelming. 

 

The first type of mortgage lender is a Direct Lender. A direct lender is a financial institution that originates, processes, and funds the loan all by itself. In other words, the company you work with is the one loaning you the money. Direct Lenders include big banks like Bank of Ireland, credit unions, and specialized financial companies that deal primarily with home loans and mortgages. An example of a specialized mortgage company like this is Quicken. 

 

The second type of mortgage lender is a Mortgage Broker. A broker is the “middleman” that helps you find the best possible rate for your home loan. Brokers work with multiple mortgage companies and compare rates to find the best lender for your specific situation. 

 

Now that …

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Banks or brokers? Which to choose when applying for a mortgage

In applying for a mortgage, there is always the question of whether to go directly to a bank or to go through a broker. There could be advantages and drawbacks to either approach; the former could be faster and/or less expensive, but brokers can provide valuable assistance before and during the application process that make them a viable alternative. Ultimately, which of the two is the better option is based on the individual, and they should consider personal knowledge, experience, and preference when applying.

Firstly, going straight to a bank allows one to avoid paying a broker’s fee. Additionally, there may be an added level of trust associated with conducting negotiations directly. Assuming one has a high credit score, healthy income, and otherwise checks all of the boxes banks are looking for, it could prove to be faster than going through a broker. However, failing to do so might lead to one’s application being rejected out of hand. If an applicant is aware of such complicating factors, they should consider going to a broker instead.

If an applicant isn’t aware …

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What does “Get Rich Quick” even mean?

It is not uncommon that you probably have stumbled upon these ads where people claiming, “Want to know how I got rich quick? Watch my video for more!”. They show off their riches while standing in front of large mansions and Lamborghinis and if you continue to listen, they most likely tell you an inspirational story about how they came from rags to riches. We know this cannot be real, but we all have a small voice in our head saying, “Is it actually possible?”. Are they actually teaching us useful financial advice that could put us in jeopardy or are they just a regular old conman?

We may typically think of a conman to be the same thing as a thief or a liar but a true conman does not force us to do anything. They do not forcefully steal our possessions away from us, rather they trick us into giving up our own things. They are manipulators and we are obsessed with them. We see them in movies and comics but fail to see them in our day …

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Paying Off Mortgage During the Pandemic

Many people have found themselves struggling financially as the COVID pandemic drags on for longer than expected. In this, having to pay your mortgage may be one of the largest stressors for most. With that, there are some actions you can take to help deal with this.  

Always ensure effective communication with your lender. Speak with them if you are struggling to manage your finances and come up with a plan or budget system to repay your mortgage. If you are unable to repay, do not cancel or stop your direct debit without speaking and communicating with your lender first. On top of that, if you are unable to repay your mortgage in full every period, if you can repay it in a smaller amount than usual, then you should do that.

But even with everyone’s financial struggles during this period, the lender is not exempt from helping their clients. The lender may find that many of their clients are having issues with paying the mortgage in full and should be accommodating. But with that, the lender must also keep …

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How are online mortgages changing the mortgage industry?

How are online mortgages changing the mortgage industry? Not long ago, the idea of doing a mortgage online seemed almost impossible, yet here we are seeing mortgages being done online. They may not be for everyone but with so many things moving online, why not mortgages? With COVID 19, it seems to be the perfect time for this industry to grow.

You can simply link your bank account or upload your bank statements, tax information, proof of assets, and any other documents that are needed securely online. This saves the time of having to collect these documents and is much more efficient. Being able to apply online, takes away the manual work of entering data which can also help reduce the number of errors that can occur with traditional ways of applying. You are also able to sign online which keeps you from having to interact in person during these times.

For those of you who are not the best at keeping your paperwork organized, this may be the answer for you. It is much easier to organize and find …

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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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The Last Word on TodayFM features Irish Mortgage Brokers, 30/04/2020

We were part of a discussion around Covid19 and mortgages on Matt Cooper’s ‘The Last Word’ show on Today FM yesterday. The other participant was Brian Hayes of the Banking and Payments Federation of Ireland.

For our part we were impressed with the fact that the banks have been able to do more than 2,000 mortgage restructures per working day since the pandemic driven mortgage breaks were announced. To put that in perspective, it took six years to do 100,000 restructures after the financial crisis. This time around that figure could be achieved in a little over two months, that is something to be commended.

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Dublin property prices 2012-2013

This post is a guest blog by a person who doesn’t want to be named.

The two year period between January 2012 and December 2013 was a remarkable period in the movement of the prices of houses and apartments in Dublin. The period started in January 2012 with house prices dropping by -21.7% from a year earlier while apartments dropped slightly less at -18.4% and yet by the end of the period.

In December 2013 house prices were rising by 15.3% annually with apartments rising further to 20.8% annually. Another feature of this period was the manner in which the prices moved, with house prices steadily slowing down their annual decline all through 2012 and from January 2013 to December 2013 having continuous positive increases in annual prices.

However apartment prices showed a lot more volatility over the period entering positive territory in February 2013 when compared to a year earlier but dipping back into negative figures for the next three months with the result that it was June before apartment prices showed increases on the same month a year …

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RTE Sean O’Rourke Show: Karl Deeter & Ronan Lyons on Central Bank rules

Last week on the Sean O’Rourke Show Karl Deeter and Ronan Lyons (Trinity College & Daft.ie) had a good robust debate about lending rules and whether restrictions were good or bad. This week in light of the actual changes that occurred they had a second conversation on the outcomes.

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