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

KJ

fermanagh_man wrote: »

Closing date August 19th

I think this will be our forever home, unless we come into money in the future

Do you mind me asking at what stage you got your closing date? Is it in the contract, or is it something thats agreed after signing?

Wesser

Got mortgage approved from Kbc! Surprised as I am not living in a town that I want to buy in neither do I have a job there...... Yet..... But my job is very mobile....
Whoop!

Approved in principle.... Awaiting more documents..

Wesser

Feel so jealous of all of ye who are finished! Feel like it's a massive mountain in front of me!!

Santy2015

Sheeeeeeeet!! I'm officially a homeowner

fermanagh_man

KJ wrote: »

Do you mind me asking at what stage you got your closing date? Is it in the contract, or is it something thats agreed after signing?

We signed contracts earlier in the week and the sellers solicitor called our solicitor today to confirm she received them and our closing date.

sadie1502

Well done santy2015 congrats. Best of luck to you both.

fermanagh_man

Santy2015 wrote: »

Sheeeeeeeet!! I'm officially a homeowner

Congratulations!!
you started this thread 11months ago and today's the day you got your keys
Quite a journey I bet

mirrorwall14

Wahoo!! Congratulations, that's just awesome!

Santy2015

mirrorwall14 wrote: »

Wahoo!! Congratulations, that's just awesome!

Thanks everybody. It's been huge. Can't believe it really. Keys in the hand says it all. This time 2 years ago, there wasn't a hope in hell we were buying a house. I got promoted twice, herself got a pay rise and full time work, we got engaged, and saved like crazy.
This is only the beginning. It'll probably be 3 or so weeks before we actually move in as stuff needs to be done, but no rush. Need to have patience now. This thread has helped loads and me. I'll stay involved, it's not over till the fat lady sings. This house is what I'd call our home, if circumstances allow in the future maybe a bigger purchase or build might happen but I'd be 80% sure this is our forever home. Some space for an extension if needed but not a huge one

krazyklown

Adding to the chorus here - we got our keys today. Feel i owe the thread the most pertinent information as I have religiously followed this every day and the insights have helped us enormously. So thanks to everyone for sharing & best of luck - keep the faith - dont overcommit and play it like a game.

First Time Buyers
Approval application - Dec 15th
Approval received - Dec 23rd - Ulster Bank
Sale Agreed - May 25th
Contracts Received - June 27th
Final Payment - July 15th
Keys - July 22nd

Total Solicitors Fees 2195 (Professional Fee 1000)
Engineer Report 500


Met bank, applied for max mortgage we could afford. We were expecting our first child at the time of applying, advisor told us if our approval expired (6 months) what we could borrow would be considerably reduced due to having a dependent.
We had been saving religiously for the previous two years and had our deposit saved so were ready to go. We had no other loans and a perfect credit history.
Started looking straight away after Christmas. We were looking for our forever home as I am 34 and I wanted to get something where we could be in 20 years time. Thus we were looking for a 4 bedroom or 3 bedroom with potential. We needed somewhere quiet too as wife sometimes works nights and sleeps in the day. I also wanted something that had good transport links to city as theres the possiblity i may work there in the future.
We were looking for something in the Lucan Maynooth Leixlip triangle but considered going outside of that.
We were approved up to 300k but mentally we were only prepared to spend around 250k. That changed over time as we could see there was nothing close that would meet our needs. Viewing so many houses helped us understand what we were truly looking for and what we didnt want.
Around April we were hotly pursuing a property that had alot of potential. We had 240 on it, no other bidders. Wasted alot of time, thought it was the EA delaying to get other interest. Eventually we were told if we offered 245 they would go sale agreed. We did and the seller backed out of selling. I think it was a ruse to empty the house of difficult renters. We continued searching during that time but were very disappointed as we thought we were close.
Nothing seemed to come up that we felt was right until a house we had viewed in Feb came back to the market. We liked it previously but didnt pursue as it was hotly contested at the time (and went over 300k).
We viewed it, was on market for 279. As our approval was running out, and we felt it was marginally undervalued we put the asking on it straight away. This seemed to blow away the other interested parties. Stayed at that for 11 days. Eventually another bidder came in at 280. Straightaway we put 281 (wanted to see how they would react). They came back at 282. We put 285. They came back with 286. We put 291. Our bidding strategy was to bid straightaway (like within an hour of being told of a counter bid) and increase the size of our increments to give the impression that we had alot of reserves (even though we didnt, risky i know, but i felt it was the quickest way to get done). Stayed at 291 for a week. Asked the EA for a decision then as to whether go or no go. He said he would get back to me. He didnt for nearly a week. I emailed him saying that we felt the vendor didnt seem to be interested in closing any time soon, that we were going to put an offer on another place as we couldnt wait indefinitely for a reply (said it in a really nice way, like almost apologetically that we may not pursue it). He rang me back straight away saying there was a bank involved and they had to approve the offer (as it was less than the original sale agreed, they were reluctant). I said thats grand, they can take their time and we will keep looking for an alternative. Following day they accepted our offer.
Then funny request number 1 - he wanted us to do a survey before they would go sale agreed, said sure ye would be doing it anyway. I rejected this ourtright as we wouldnt be doing it without some form of commitment.
Then the funny bit number 2 - they wanted to see proof of funds. Sent the approval letter showing the hundreds eg 2xx,xxx so they couldnt tell exactly how much we had to offer. Came back apologetically, saying the bank wanted to see the exact amount - admitted it was unusual and not his style. Took his word for it and sent the full approval which was for 260k. Came back again and requested proof that we had the deposit to make up the difference. Again, i felt he sounded genuinely exasperated so i sent him a screenshot of our savings account balance. This was accepted and they formally went to sale agreed.
We were quite nervous at this point as we had our baby. I contacted our mortgage advisor in the bank and she confirmed that they would honour the original approval until it expired. We had a month left at this point.
Survey threw up a problem with a sewage drain and some other minor details. Reviewed it with my dad and a couple of other people i trust and decided to press ahead. Probably could have used it as leverage to reduce offer but we didnt want to hold things up, we were anxious to get moving.
Everything else went smoothly enough - had to give solicitor a poke or two (but only once a week) to keep things moving. We reacted quickly to everything and emphasised our desire to get the deal completed.

Sorry for the essay, but i know alot of the above is the type of info i was looking for as we or no one close to us had bought a house, so it was all new to us. At times very frustrating, found ourselves becoming quite paranoid about EA's etc.

If anyone has any questions, probably best to PM me as i am now unsubscribing this thread and subscribing to the DIY one!

flyandrain

krazyklown wrote: »

Congratulations! New journey starts again:D.

Sheeeeit

Santy2015 wrote: »

Sheeeeeeeet!! I'm officially a homeowner

I will be too by September

Santy2015

Sheeeeit wrote: »

I will be too by September

Let the fun/stress begin

Naid23

Bid has been put in on a new house today. Have a good feeling about this one so fingers crossed. Not gonna get too invested in it just yet. :rolleyes:

mirrorwall14

Viewed our first houses today!! I can't believe we are at this stage after the long battle. Still no word on whether we can get our exemption back from Haven unfortunately. One of the two today was definitely not for us. The second has potential but needs a lot of work. We're a bit nervous that there is only 7 potential houses if we don't get the exemption...

Still its nice to be properly viewing!

Sleepy

Closing on Thursday.

Tasden

So much positive activity on this thread!

triple nipple

loveisdivine wrote:

Just got our first approval in principal letter, delighted as we got the 3.5 limit exemption It's only 20k above the limit but it makes all the difference!

How do you(anyone) get a limit exemption?

Santy2015

Sleepy wrote: »

Closing on Thursday.

UNREAL!! Congrats:) we started tiling today and painting our bedroom tomorrow only have keys 2 days

mirrorwall14

triple nipple wrote: »

How do you(anyone) get a limit exemption?

Ask the bank. They have specific calculations as to whether you will be allowed it and also whether they have any left at this stage in the year

Utah

triple nipple wrote: »

How do you(anyone) get a limit exemption?

Yeah just ask. They'll let you know. I do not know what exactly makes you eligible.

Tasden

Santy2015 wrote: »

UNREAL!! Congrats:) we started tiling today and painting our bedroom tomorrow only have keys 2 days

So exciting! I'd say you're close to exploding with hapiness! Delighted for everybody getting their homes. Starting to think it won't be a reality for myself but I'm saving away on the off chance it does happen (if I find myself a rich partner or win the lotto :pac:) so it's great to see all the success stories here

loveisdivine

triple nipple wrote: »

How do you(anyone) get a limit exemption?

We went through a broker and when he asked how much we were looking for I said "We'd like x amount but it is slightly over the 3.5 limit so we know we might not get it" then when the approval in principal came in it was for the higher amount. I don't know if the broker did any negotiating in the background.

mirrorwall14

Utah wrote: »

Yeah just ask. They'll let you know. I do not know what exactly makes you eligible.

I know for the deposit exemption we had to be earning a set amount above the 3.5 times limit which we were. Might be some sort of reverse for the salary exemption?

Michael D Not Higgins

triple nipple wrote: »

How do you(anyone) get a limit exemption?

Usually you get an exemption if you're deemed low risk, pass the underwriting criteria and stress testing, have a larger deposit for LTI exemption, or higher income for LTV exemption. A number of these factors could come into play.

Utah

mirrorwall14 wrote: »

I know for the deposit exemption we had to be earning a set amount above the 3.5 times limit which we were. Might be some sort of reverse for the salary exemption?

Michael D Not Higgins wrote: »

Usually you get an exemption if you're deemed low risk, pass the underwriting criteria and stress testing, have a larger deposit for LTI exemption, or higher income for LTV exemption. A number of these factors could come into play.

Yes, we got the LTV exemption as our combined salaries were seen as good I suppose and our savings + rent was greater than the stressed tested repayments and I think he mentioned something about the disposable income on top of that too. I just couldn't comment on the greater than 3.5 times exemption.

hawkeye_bmr

Seems to be dragging for us now, EA has told us that the seller has signed this morning, hopefully it shouldn't be too much longer now..

mirrorwall14

Oh that's tough hawkeye and frustrating.

Viewed more this morning, none would have us jumping particularly at the offers on them. One is above asking already. More later on!

Edit: The two this afternoon were very promising. One slightly above our budget but doable. Detached too but small sq footage. The second is just beautiful, I love the look. Its a relatively new house with BER C1, very good internal design and a lovely back garden. But, and its a BIG but-its communal parking. I'm just not sure about that.... If it had parking I think we'd have been offering today as it literally ticked every box and is below our budget but with parking I just don't know. Gonna have to drive over several times at different times and see how it is

RoyalMarine

Waiting for lenders in AIB to make a final decision.... Day 4... They said 3-4 days.. Don't think we will hear back today!
Nerves are killing me

mirrorwall14

Oh God I feel your pain RoyalMarine. Fingers and toes crossed for you-the waiting is horrific. We still haven't heard back from Haven a week later about our deposit exemption