(Sophisticated) mortgage broker or direct approach best option (good salary, etc)

Rebelbrowser

Hi all

I know there are threads like this a lot but as the picture keeps changing every few months I just wanted some up to date views.

My wife and I want to move house from our present 3 bed to a 4/5 bed detached. My wife doesn't work but I have a job with v good annual income and prospects. We have an "investment property" thats way under water but its a two bed apt in a good rental area where it has been rented at good rent for every single week since it was bought back in 2006. We have a new house in mind and propose selling our present 3 bed house (will sell for a little more than the present borrowings on it) and will need to pay about €170k more than those present borrowings to buy the new house (i.e. need present mortgage plus €170k). We have savings to cover the 8% if borrowing 92%.

I am dealing with "the pillar banks" at the mo. On the first call they were both comfortable my income supported my application (and more). I am dealing with one (who my loans are with) through my local branch who know me and my employers and I am dealing with the other through their switchboard. With the first, because my local branch know me (perfect credit record, etc) and know my employers, they are trying to give me what I want and were quite confident. However the credit committee in Dublin don't want to know - local management are still pushing however. Apparently the investment property fails the stress testing (even though there's a very good tracker mortgage on that). The other bank seem even more risk averse and I'm getting nowhere there. I would probably do better there if I started again through my local branch (savings are based there). I called one other foreign bank too who offered me about €50k less than I need but its a start.

I just wonder, are there sophisticated brokers out there that could do a better job for me in negotiating with the banks? I feel, for example, that if I lengthen my term on my investment property (I'm only late thirties and term presently ends when I'm early fifties) or some such that I can get over the stress test issue. But am I right in thinking that Irish mortgage brokers are more for people trying to get their first loan and not great at cutting more sophisticated deals? As I said, because I've a good job and can present my own figures / prospects well I am being listened to in the first instance by the banks (though at "computer says no" level in one of them admittedly). Would a broker be able to do better nonetheless?

Thanks in advance for any help.....

Oral Surgeon

From my own recent experience, I would recommend going solo or may be solo with a broker in tandem but not just a broker.

I dealt with the bank myself. I had a complicated situation like yourself. I am a self employed sole trader in an uncommon profession. I had to explain my business to the bank and no one knows that better than me...

A colleague had major trouble trying to explain his business and even the concept of preliminary tax to a "good" broker. After 8 weeks of messing around with the broker, he got a mortgage himself in 4 days....!!

If you are confident in your figures and know that you are not massaging it to suit yourself unrealistically... then keep pushing...

The investment property does not need to pass the stress test, as long as you can supplement it and keep your minimal disposable cash then thats ok too. If it is on a tracker, you likely will not be able to lengthen the term without losing the tracker, be careful...

Good luck

OS

Rebelbrowser wrote: »

Hi all

I know there are threads like this a lot but as the picture keeps changing every few months I just wanted some up to date views.

My wife and I want to move house from our present 3 bed to a 4/5 bed detached. My wife doesn't work but I have a job with v good annual income and prospects. We have an "investment property" thats way under water but its a two bed apt in a good rental area where it has been rented at good rent for every single week since it was bought back in 2006. We have a new house in mind and propose selling our present 3 bed house (will sell for a little more than the present borrowings on it) and will need to pay about €170k more than those present borrowings to buy the new house (i.e. need present mortgage plus €170k). We have savings to cover the 8% if borrowing 92%.

I am dealing with "the pillar banks" at the mo. On the first call they were both comfortable my income supported my application (and more). I am dealing with one (who my loans are with) through my local branch who know me and my employers and I am dealing with the other through their switchboard. With the first, because my local branch know me (perfect credit record, etc) and know my employers, they are trying to give me what I want and were quite confident. However the credit committee in Dublin don't want to know - local management are still pushing however. Apparently the investment property fails the stress testing (even though there's a very good tracker mortgage on that). The other bank seem even more risk averse and I'm getting nowhere there. I would probably do better there if I started again through my local branch (savings are based there). I called one other foreign bank too who offered me about €50k less than I need but its a start.

I just wonder, are there sophisticated brokers out there that could do a better job for me in negotiating with the banks? I feel, for example, that if I lengthen my term on my investment property (I'm only late thirties and term presently ends when I'm early fifties) or some such that I can get over the stress test issue. But am I right in thinking that Irish mortgage brokers are more for people trying to get their first loan and not great at cutting more sophisticated deals? As I said, because I've a good job and can present my own figures / prospects well I am being listened to in the first instance by the banks (though at "computer says no" level in one of them admittedly). Would a broker be able to do better nonetheless?

Thanks in advance for any help.....

Rebelbrowser

"A colleague had major trouble trying to explain his business and even the concept of preliminary tax to a "good" broker."....

Yeah, that's exactly what i was afraid of. My gut instinct is that the broker won't "get" my position and thus make a hash of representing it to the bank. My brother, who is a banker in the UK, tells me that over there even high net worth individuals go through brokers but that seems to be because they have matching high level brokers.