Buying a house - the hidden costs?

odonnell

Hi guys...

The Mrs. and I are looking to buy a house in Dublin sooner rather than later - and be damned with the bursting bubble. We are still fairly oblivious to the various ins and outs of the process and I was wondering, could someone give me a run down of the 'other' costs involved in buying a house?

By this i mean, we know how much a month we can afford in terms of mortgage repayments - but then, what about legal fees, insurance ...etc. What should be be adding in on top of mortgage repayments to get a REAL idea of the REAL outgoings every month?

Dont worry about price of decor, fixtures and fittings...we're well up on that one.

Cheers folk!

O'D

Saruman

Legal fees, you are looking at about 1000 or so, little more or less. No reason to pay more than 1000.
Some providers will either pay for them or else give you money towards it. Some, like Rea it comes as part of your package, they then refund you their commision as you are paying them to arrange it.
Shop around.
you will also need to get a valuation done on the house. thats around the €150 mark.
Beware of rising interest rates.
Oh you also need to factor in House insurance and Life assurance (or mortgage protection). You need to have these before you will get the mortgage.
Oh and as you seem to be a first time buyer, you will have tax relief at source for 7 years! In other words you get paid money (or money taken off) your mortgage each month by the government. Make sure you request it as its not automatic as you might think!!! I went 2 years before i realised i was not getting it.. now i am though and getting it backdated

patrickolee

In some developments you may have to pay a management fee, which could be 1000 a year, or more. You should also factor in house insurance, which for me is around 300 a year. Life insurance is also needed if you're getting a mortgage, this is around 400 I think for me. If you think you might lose your job in the future you can get income protection. It is quite costly and fairly hard to claim on I'm told, and probably not worth it in the long run.

Other than that all I can think of is the standard costs, like bin charges, elecy, gas, etc.

Degsy

You'll also need 5-10% of the cost as a deposit when you close.Solicitors allways charge VAT on their fees and often factor in things like land registry Charges..get a breakdown of everything they're charging for and then be prepared to ad 20% onto the whole lot.Sometimes the Lender will require a structural/electrical survey of the place and for this you will need to hire specialists,not just an estate agent.

mkem

Do yourself a favour and get Colm Rapples Family Finance Book. It's updated after each Budget. There is plenty of information as regards house purchases. My personal tip is shop around for prices on solicitors as there is a big difference in charges from one practice to the next. Best of luck !

jdivision

patrickolee wrote:

In some developments you may have to pay a management fee, which could be 1000 a year, or more.

More like e1500 to e2700 in Dublin.

Del2005

jdivision wrote:

More like e1500 to e2700 in Dublin.

Thats dependent (sp?) on the features the complex has. Lifts, undergrond car parks and electronic gates all add loads of money to the charge. Look for a place with your own front door and none of the above and it can be reasonable.