Help me buy a house!

nacimroc · 15-09-2011 12:21am #1

Right, my wife and I put an offer on a house this week which we were given the nod would probably be accepted. We are first time buyers. Finance wise I think we should be fine to qualify so not worried on that side of things.

A few questions....
1. Which banks are giving mortgages out. I was told KPMG (which is bank of ireland?), AIB and ulster bank? Any others?

2. Go with a broker or no?

3.. When getting the mortgage, I presume we need life assurance but is income or mortgage protection insurance required also? If so go through bank or is there much of a difference by shopping around?

4. If we needed 15k extra on mortgage to cover a bit of fixing up the house is that acceptable or is it agreed amount of sale price only ?

Thanks

Victor · 15-09-2011 1:19am

1. KPMG are accountants / consultants. Ask them all, one or none may bite.
2. Your choice.
3. You can shop around, although the bank will likely have a list of pre-approved suppliers. Some suppliers may not meet these requirements and you may be wasting time / money with them.
4. You may get a loan / mortgage for improvements, but that may depend on local ciscumstances, e.g. if there are plenty of good houses locally, they may be unlikely to loan for a dud one. The more fundamental the improvement, the more likely they are to pay for it, i.e. they'll pay for a roof repair, they are less likely to pay for fancy fittings. You will still likely to have to come up with 20% yourself.

podgie. · 15-09-2011 1:49am

As regards to the repairs to the house, you maybe able to claim some of the cost back against your income tax for the year as it will not be classed as a improvement to the house but restoring it's original state. you may save a few euro and best of luck with buying your home,

Victor · 15-09-2011 2:16am

podgie. wrote: »

As regards to the repairs to the house, you maybe able to claim some of the cost back against your income tax for the year as it will not be classed as a improvement to the house but restoring it's original state. you may save a few euro and best of luck with buying your home,

Are you sure? Any evidence of this?

podgie. · 15-09-2011 2:48am

Victor wrote: »

Are you sure? Any evidence of this?

owner-occupier relief. "Owner-occupier relief is a tax relief available to individuals who have incurred expenditure on the purchase, construction, conversion or refurbishment of a qualifying residential property that is used by the individual as his or her sole or main residence"

Victor · 15-09-2011 3:01am

www.revenue.ie/en/tax/it/leaflets/owner-occupier.doc

The first few pages seem to indicate this has expire and was quite limited in any case.

podgie. · 15-09-2011 3:17am

Sorry I was not aware it had expired. I just knew that there was a relief in place that could had saved him money in the long run,

nacimroc · 15-09-2011 10:34am

Thanks for replies. The previous owner ripped out fireplaces, boilers, all curtain rails etc. So it does need some money spending on it to make it reasonably ok to live in. Even if we could get 5-10k added to mortgage to help with this it would be great.

We always banked with bank of ireland and looking at rates between them and AIB they look very close. But as far as I see, banks will give me less of a % if we are not current customers? Seen that on Ulster bank site. They said <90% for customers, <80% for non-customers.

I have been to BOI in the past and they say 92% is fine if buying but 80% if building. This seem normal as I've seen you've mentioned only 80% ?

Help me buy a house!

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