We have been working for quite some time on creating an online mortgage process. The first time we did this was about 12 years ago but that was too far ahead of its time and the banks basically laughed at us. That has changed and now in 2019 we hope to make the proposition of an online mortgage process a reality, we’ll make it possible for people to do most of the process over their phone in an easy to use mobile environment. Stay tuned and we’ll let you know when this choice becomes available!
The Sunday Independent mentioned Irish Mortgage Brokers in their article yesterday. We were making the point that being ‘middle class’ today means less than it did in the past when it comes to housing.
Karl Deeter, of Irish Mortgage Brokers, argues that today’s middle-class lack the conventional trappings of previous generations.
“Many have been badly hit with negative equity property, others are unable to save the 20pc deposit that the Central Bank demands. Their cost of living is very high, their wages haven’t improved in real terms. They’re facing huge rent hikes. They pay an awful lot of tax.
“And yet the Government thinks they will have somehow been able to save for a 20pc deposit [to buy a home]. Where do they think the money is coming from? They’re the group that have been hit hardest. They can’t rely on State help like those below them can, and they can’t avail of the sort of tax arrangements that the elites can. They’ve borne the brunt of the recession and they’re bearing the brunt of this so-called recovery.”
We had an opinion piece on mortgages published in the Irish Examiner yesterday, you can see it by clicking on the image above or here.
Mortgages in Ireland have yet to establish a truly ‘online’ presence, so if you got here by searching for an ‘online mortgage’ or something along those lines then I’ll break the bad news first, it ain’t gonna happen. What you can do is make an initial mortgage application online via this site, and one of the representatives from Irish Mortgage Brokers will call/email you back.
The actual process generally tends to be that you will speak to a qualified consultant (our team have qualifications varying from ACCA <accountant>, QFA <qualified financial adviser> to LIAM(dip) <mortgage diploma> along with various university certificates, diplomas and degrees in many topics), your consultant will help determine what you can or cannot obtain in the lending market for a property purchase and from that point it will be up to you to decide if you’d like to proceed.
After that you will (usually) meet with us and we’ll gather the various documents the bank need to underwrite the mortgage and …
Today we will cover some very practical tips which may help you get a better price when you are looking at a property. We suggest you take this list and print it, then as you are looking at a property check the various sections and use it as a rationale for your asking price, there may be things that were overlooked as well, so at worst this will help to ensure you don’t make unnecessary errors in deciding whether or not a certain property is good or not.
1. Is the garden in need of work? – If so you could ask that they either correct it or that you want more money off, a garden is generally a good selling point so if it is not well presented it can be a ‘red light’ telling you to go through the place with a fine toothed comb.
2. Does the fencing/walls need repair? – again, if there are any issues ask that they are remedied or they can discount the price by what it may cost to put the issue …
This is an interesting animated film on the origins of the crisis, it holds with the view that banks were only ever a part of the problem and not necessarily the sole cause. Central banks have a lot to answer for, as does all of society because when you stop saving and instead spend somebody else’s savings it means that eventually, when it comes time to repay your loans that not only is the money not there, but the productivity has likely suffered as well – income based on lending gives the artificial appearance of wealth but it is a mirage.
part 2
Lately we have been witnessing a resurfacing of property promoters in the press after a long period of silence. We want to reassert our advice that people should do their own homework before embarking on a large asset purchase be it property or otherwise.
How can you tell if it makes sense to buy a property? Our suggestion, as a financial firm, is that you talk to a financial adviser, you determine your own circumstances, you look at your own unique situation, and that you don’t base your opinion on what you hear on the radio or TV from people in the property business. The people who are restarting to champion property now are doing so under the banner that ‘it is cheap to buy’, part of the ‘cheap’ is due to exceptionally low interest rates, which invariably will go up some day.
That is not to say ‘don’t buy property‘, far from it, what we are trying to tell people is ‘make prudent decisions’, don’t buy any asset you can’t afford …
Part of the way you can get a view of a lenders margins is by looking at the deposit margins they offer because deposit margins usually reflect – at least to some degree – lending margins. This is because there are two sides to a balance sheet with any bank, on one hand you have deposits which you attract in order to fund lending so if you have low deposit margins that is probably indicative of having low lending margins (although not always!), however, if you have higher deposit margins it is almost certain that you have high lending margins.
NIB released their results today so we’ll take them as an example as well as Anglo Irish Bank to demonstrate the way that you can read into certain elements of how a bank is run from the outside and also on the type of business they engage in.
For a start you’ll need to know that average margin on a mortgage with many banks is less than 1% and that is from …
Part of the way you can get a view of a lenders margins is by looking at the deposit margins they offer because deposit margins usually reflect – at least to some degree – lending margins. This is because there are two sides to a balance sheet with any bank, on one hand you have deposits which you attract in order to fund lending so if you have low deposit margins that is probably indicative of having low lending margins (although not always!), however, if you have higher deposit margins it is almost certain that you have high lending margins.
NIB released their results today so we’ll take them as an example as well as Anglo Irish Bank to demonstrate the way that you can read into certain elements of how a bank is run from the outside and also on the type of business they engage in.
For a start you’ll need to know that average margin on a mortgage with many banks is less than 1% and that is from …
