Saving/Applying for a mortgage 2015/16/17/18/19

Essien

Any tips on looking for life/home insurance?

My mortgage lender are obviously suggesting to go with them, but I believe there's value in shopping around. However, I've no idea where to start or what I should be looking for.

el Fenomeno

Essien wrote: »

Any tips on looking for life/home insurance?

My mortgage lender are obviously suggesting to go with them, but I believe there's value in shopping around. However, I've no idea where to start or what I should be looking for.

I'm also at this stage so would be interested to see what advice others have.

averagejoe123

Essien wrote: »

Any tips on looking for life/home insurance?

My mortgage lender are obviously suggesting to go with them, but I believe there's value in shopping around. However, I've no idea where to start or what I should be looking for.

I went through this process of getting multiple quotes and got the best home insurance quote from Aviva via Chrome insurance (broker). 50 year old house with a reinstatement value of €300k came in at €285 p/a

The best value I got for Mortgage protection from Royal London. If you go through bonkers.ie they will do a cost comparison for you. Think it works out about €300 p/a for a 360k dual policy for a couple in their mid thirties in good health

dudara

Essien wrote: »

Any tips on looking for life/home insurance?

My mortgage lender are obviously suggesting to go with them, but I believe there's value in shopping around. However, I've no idea where to start or what I should be looking for.

IMO, it’s the same as buying any other form of insurance. Ring as many places as you can and get the best quote for the level of protection that you’re after. Different insurance companies apply different criteria and target a different customer segments, all at different times, so you never really know which one who’ll give you the best deal until you go looking.

When it comes to life insurance, I’d recommend starting the ball rolling on that sooner rather than later. If for some reason you have any medical issue or something they don’t like, then it can slow down the process.

ILikeBoats

Just go to Lion.ie they make it very easy

Kevhog1988

Out of interest is it better to have a joint savings account as a couple or two savings accounts?

zreba

theemigrant wrote: »

Out of interest is it better to have a joint savings account as a couple or two savings accounts?

Two.
For your own piece of mind.

averagejoe123

theemigrant wrote: »

Out of interest is it better to have a joint savings account as a couple or two savings accounts?

It doesn't really matter. Me and OH had 7 in total. Bank added total balances at 1 July 2018 and at 31 December 2018 and divided the difference by 6 to get average monthly savings. It may be stricter if you are looking for exemptions or have a non standard application.

TheShow

theemigrant wrote: »

Out of interest is it better to have a joint savings account as a couple or two savings accounts?

it doesn't matter, just as long as you can show evidence of regular saving. Obviously one account would be the easiest as only one set of bank statements to produce.

Charlie

Exchanged contracts on Friday and we’re set to get keys Friday week. We went from first viewing the house to contracts exchanged in about 9 weeks. Part of that is down to good fortune and keeping on top of things, but this thread has been an invaluable source of information and has genuinely helped guide us through the minefield that is buying a house. Thanks to all who have contributed.

One last question (hopefully ) In terms of getting utilities setup in our new home, is that something we can have lined up in advance for when we get keys, or will we physically need to be in the house before we can get he ball rolling on that? If it makes a difference, it’s a 2nd hand home that’s currentlh lived in/connected up.

el Fenomeno

I've asked similar before, what are people's opinions on the below 2 offers?

KBC's rates are best, both fixed and variable.

• Loan amount: €382,500
• Total cost: €634,367
• Fixed for 5 years
• 5 years of €1,429.69/month (2.8% interest rate)
• 30 years @ variable rate (currently 3.3%)

PTSB's rates are higher.

• Loan amount: €382,500
• Total cost: €707,653
• Fixed for 5 years
• 5 years of €1,515.08/month (3.2% interest rate)
• 30 years @ variable rate (currently 4.2%)

But TSB have the 2% cashback offer, which comes in at just shy of €8k which would be a big help for fees and furnishing.

My thoughts are - I want to go with TSB because we're not going to be flush with cash when we get the keys, and the cashback would really help out. On the other hand, the Total Cost is €70k more. But I don't know how important/relevant that figure is as we'd like plan on switching after the 5 year term.

My concern would be if we went with TSB to avail of the cashback offer, and then there was another recession in the next 5 terms and if we ended up in negative equity, we wouldn't be able to switch and would then be locked in to TSB's variable rate (which is almost 1% higher than KBC).

averagejoe123

If you have decided to fix for 5 years I would go with TSB. You will be able to fix again at the end of the term. You will be receiving €8k up front and only paying back a little over 5k extra in the 5 years. You will also reducing your mortgage balance over the 5 years which will reduce the potential negative equity.

z0oT

After one draws down and fixes for an initial period of 1/3/5 years, is it possible to leave the mortgage run over onto the variable rate for 1/2/3 months after that fixed period has elapsed, pay off a big lump sum and re-fix again?

It's a sort of long term plan I have looking at the rates now. It's all dependent upon having low fixed rates though which might not be the case forever.

GingerLily

I went for ptsb because that 2% was needed upfront to furnish (new build so needed floors etc), even if it cost me slightly more in the short term (5 years), it would have still been better value to me to get the cash back.

averagejoe123

z0oT wrote: »

After one draws down and fixes for an initial period of 1/3/5 years, is it possible to leave the mortgage run over onto the variable rate for 1/2/3 months after that fixed period has elapsed, pay off a big lump sum and re-fix again?

It's a sort of long term plan I have looking at the rates now. It's all dependent upon having low fixed rates though which might not be the case forever.

No problem doing this with any of the banks. Even 1 day is fine. Some banks let you overpay by a certain amount even when you fix.

pmb

Hi all,

Any thoughts on exemptions? Basically we will be looking for quite a large family home - probably around the 750k mark. Realistically we can only afford to pay a 10% deposit.

We have 30k now, in hand and there is about 55k in equity in our house. However being April 2nd (based on last year) do you think there is any value in us applying or should we wait until January?

I think as well you need to have a clear 6 months of ongoing savings, if I'm honest we only started saving in January so what are your thoughts?

mur223

Has anyone found Ulster bank very slow to deal with? We decided to apply for KBC too as it is almost 4 weeks now for them to make their mind up, if we hear back from KBC before UB can we change to Ulster bank at a later date? We are in a bit of a rush as buying a new build off the plans and solicitor needs proof of approval soon enough to keep the builders happy.

hanaimai

mur223 wrote: »

Has anyone found Ulster bank very slow to deal with? We decided to apply for KBC too as it is almost 4 weeks now for them to make their mind up, if we hear back from KBC before UB can we change to Ulster bank at a later date? We are in a bit of a rush as buying a new build off the plans and solicitor needs proof of approval soon enough to keep the builders happy.

Banks have to let you know their decision within 10 business days of applying. Have they been in touch at all in that timeframe? The clock does pause if they require extra information etc.

I went with Ulster Bank last year and I don't recall any delays myself. I'd make a complaint if they're going over the timeframe requirements.

Prospector1989

pmb wrote: »

Hi all,

Any thoughts on exemptions? Basically we will be looking for quite a large family home - probably around the 750k mark. Realistically we can only afford to pay a 10% deposit.

We have 30k now, in hand and there is about 55k in equity in our house. However being April 2nd (based on last year) do you think there is any value in us applying or should we wait until January?

I think as well you need to have a clear 6 months of ongoing savings, if I'm honest we only started saving in January so what are your thoughts?

We've been approved for an exemption (4.2 times our combined salaries). Waiting for letter of offer as we speak. We're currently living in the house we're buying so once we get the letter of offer everything should move quickly.

Speaking from experience.
We started the application process in August....
We had over a year of consistent savings back then.
With an exemption, the bank will scrutinise everything.

At a guess, I'd say you'd need at least 6 months consistent savings (AFAIK the banks do consider mortgage/rent repayments when looking into your ability to repay).
I don't know how the banks are managing their exemptions this year. Our broker told us in September that one bank he knew were still giving them but the rest had "run out".

It probably wouldn't hurt to talk to a bank/broker just to see where you stand?

Prospector1989

mur223 wrote: »

Has anyone found Ulster bank very slow to deal with? We decided to apply for KBC too as it is almost 4 weeks now for them to make their mind up, if we hear back from KBC before UB can we change to Ulster bank at a later date? We are in a bit of a rush as buying a new build off the plans and solicitor needs proof of approval soon enough to keep the builders happy.

Very slow to deal with for us currently. We're going through a broker which is potentially adding to it but he's never delayed getting back to us. We're sticking with them as they're the only ones offering us the exemption we need.

GingerLily

pmb wrote: »

Hi all,

Any thoughts on exemptions? Basically we will be looking for quite a large family home - probably around the 750k mark. Realistically we can only afford to pay a 10% deposit.

We have 30k now, in hand and there is about 55k in equity in our house. However being April 2nd (based on last year) do you think there is any value in us applying or should we wait until January?

I think as well you need to have a clear 6 months of ongoing savings, if I'm honest we only started saving in January so what are your thoughts?

Are you only looking for a LTV exemption or are you looking for an LTI exemption too?

drinkingwater

mur223 wrote: »

Has anyone found Ulster bank very slow to deal with? We decided to apply for KBC too as it is almost 4 weeks now for them to make their mind up, if we hear back from KBC before UB can we change to Ulster bank at a later date? We are in a bit of a rush as buying a new build off the plans and solicitor needs proof of approval soon enough to keep the builders happy.

Less than a week (last October) to receive the offer letter from Ulster Bank.
And yes you can change it at a later date, we changed from boi to ub, an extra trip to the solicitor but that's all.

tobsey

pmb wrote: »

Hi all,

Any thoughts on exemptions? Basically we will be looking for quite a large family home - probably around the 750k mark. Realistically we can only afford to pay a 10% deposit.

We have 30k now, in hand and there is about 55k in equity in our house. However being April 2nd (based on last year) do you think there is any value in us applying or should we wait until January?

I think as well you need to have a clear 6 months of ongoing savings, if I'm honest we only started saving in January so what are your thoughts?

Assuming a 30 year mortgage for €675k, your stress tested repayments will be about €4k per month. Then depending on the bank you'll need an additional 2800-3300 per month. If you have kids you also need 250 per child plus the cost of childcare. So with no children you need a net take home pay of around €7k if you have no children, rising about €1k per child per month if you have to pay childcare, roughly.

You'll need a combined gross income over 190k too because you can't get both LTI and LTV exemptions at the same time.

If you're already paying a mortgage every month then the banks might be flexible with the figures because you're already paying life insurance, buildings insurance etc. that are all new costs for first-time buyers. But the above are rough figures you'd need to have in mind when you start. Different banks will have different rules for how they handle exemptions. If you are in the ballpark of being able to show the figures above then you're high-income clients from the banks point of view so they'd be interested in doing a deal if you can.

D.Q

Hey guys,

Literally just starting down the savings route, back living with the parents since christmas, saving 1k direct debit each month.

Will be a single applicant, earning aprox 45k per year. Doing some preliminary mortgage calculators on the main bank's sites. Is there any reason that permanent tsb seem to offer way more than the other banks? PTSB offering 240k, AIB,BOI offering 180k. This obviously translates to huge differences in the quality of houses I could realistically be thinking about buying.

I know it isn't a binding offer, and also aware things could be hugely different down the line, but just curious. Is it a sales ploy? Hidden charges? Trying to be as relaistic as possible in my planning/expectation.

GingerLily

D.Q wrote: »

Hey guys,

Literally just starting down the savings route, back living with the parents since christmas, saving 1k direct debit each month.

Will be a single applicant, earning aprox 45k per year. Doing some preliminary mortgage calculators on the main bank's sites. Is there any reason that permanent tsb seem to offer way more than the other banks? PTSB offering 240k, AIB,BOI offering 180k. This obviously translates to huge differences in the quality of houses I could realistically be thinking about buying.

I know it isn't a binding offer, and also aware things could be hugely different down the line, but just curious. Is it a sales ploy? Hidden charges? Trying to be as relaistic as possible in my planning/expectation.

PTSB are including an LTI exemption, BOI aren't. You may not get an exemption, even if the initial calculators suggest you will.

You won't know until you apply, best talk to someone in a bank to get an idea if you would be eligible.

Your not saving enough at the moment to qualify for a 240k mortgage, if it not paying rent.

pmb

tobsey wrote: »

Assuming a 30 year mortgage for €675k, your stress tested repayments will be about €4k per month. Then depending on the bank you'll need an additional 2800-3300 per month. If you have kids you also need 250 per child plus the cost of childcare. So with no children you need a net take home pay of around €7k if you have no children, rising about €1k per child per month if you have to pay childcare, roughly.

You'll need a combined gross income over 190k too because you can't get both LTI and LTV exemptions at the same time.

If you're already paying a mortgage every month then the banks might be flexible with the figures because you're already paying life insurance, buildings insurance etc. that are all new costs for first-time buyers. But the above are rough figures you'd need to have in mind when you start. Different banks will have different rules for how they handle exemptions. If you are in the ballpark of being able to show the figures above then you're high-income clients from the banks point of view so they'd be interested in doing a deal if you can.

This is fantastic information thank you for all your help.

Our combined income is €201,000 plus bonuses so we kind of thought that this would be enough which seems right. What I'm currently in the process of is cleaning the accounts. Since January I have been focusing on reducing outgoings and ensuring there is consistent savings to demonstrate the propensity to manage a 4k a month.

I suppose what is standing out is that an exemption won't necessarily work. There seems to be NO information of their availability. Last year I understand they were fully exhausted by May but this year there doesn't seem to be any information on when they would be used. Does it look likely to be the same?

Thanks
Paul

D.Q

GingerLily wrote: »

PTSB are including an LTI exemption, BOI aren't. You may not get an exemption, even if the initial calculators suggest you will.

You won't know until you apply, best talk to someone in a bank to get an idea if you would be eligible.

Your not saving enough at the moment to qualify for a 240k mortgage, if it not paying rent.

Thanks for the response.

The idea was to have the 10% saved in 2 years.

I am paying rent in cash of 350 a month as well, don't know if this makes any difference.

How much should I be saving do you think?

GingerLily

D.Q wrote: »

GingerLily wrote: »

PTSB are including an LTI exemption, BOI aren't. You may not get an exemption, even if the initial calculators suggest you will.

You won't know until you apply, best talk to someone in a bank to get an idea if you would be eligible.

Your not saving enough at the moment to qualify for a 240k mortgage, if it not paying rent.

Thanks for the response.

The idea was to have the 10% saved in 2 years.

I am paying rent in cash of 350 a month as well, don't know if this makes any difference.

How much should I be saving do you think?

You want to aim for 1.5k between savings and rent to get your max exemption.
It depends on what the stressed rate will be when you apply and what term your going for,if your going for an exemption though you need to be doing more than the bare minimum.

Paying rent to your parents in cash is a big problem.

Amirani

D.Q wrote: »

I am paying rent in cash of 350 a month as well, don't know if this makes any difference.

You should pay this by bank transfer, on a regular basis, with an indicative name to the transaction. If you do this then the bank will consider it as part of your demonstrated repayment capacity. You need to have been doing it for a minimum of 6 months, same with your savings direct debit.

Paying cash won't cut it.

bigslick

big syke wrote: »

Anyone have a surveyor recommendation in South Dublin? Have a few names but all are busy for the next 2-3 weeks !

averagejoe123 wrote: »

PM sent

Would appreciate PM as well please