What expenses are there owning a home?

armabelle

My wife and I have some cash saved up and want to buy a house. What other charges come with buying a house other than the cost of the house in Ireland. Say we saved up 250k and buy a house for 250k. Are there other charges above that besides stamp duty which is 1% in Ireland if I am not mistaken?

Also, once we have the house and have moved in, are there any charges we have to pay or can we be free of any monthly expenditure?

odyssey06

Property Tax
House Insurance
Water Charges
Refuse Charges
Management Fee (if in shared estate or apartment complex)
TV Licence

HeidiHeidi

Heat
Electricity
Repairs

Also legal fees for the purchase

eeguy

Unless you find a perfect home you may need thousands for appliances, furniture redecorating, plus maintenance of everything.

You'll probably get the place insulated to the nines and throw LED bulbs into everything too.
Even things like buying a lawnmower and garden tools can set you back serious dosh.

armabelle

odyssey06 wrote: »

Property Tax
House Insurance
Water Charges
Refuse Charges
Management Fee (if in shared estate or apartment complex)
TV Licence

As far as I can see these are all optional except for property tax right (wont be looking in an estate or shared complex)? Oh and don't have a TV.

eeguy

If you want your marriage to survive buy a decent dishwasher.

odyssey06

armabelle wrote: »

As far as I can see these are all optional except for property tax right (wont be looking in an estate or shared complex)? Oh and don't have a TV.

Refuse charges optional? What are you going to do with your waste?

Treating House Insurance as optional is not a course I would advise.

mansize

House insurance is compulsory for a mortgage

armabelle

eeguy wrote: »

If you want your marriage to survive buy a decent dishwasher.

neither of us like dishwashers and find them to be useless applianes, we wash the old fashioned way

armabelle

mansize wrote: »

House insurance is compulsory for a mortgage

no mortgage, 250k cash

K.Flyer

armabelle wrote: »

As far as I can see these are all optional except for property tax right (wont be looking in an estate or shared complex)? Oh and don't have a TV.

What would you plan to do with your household refuse?
You either pay to have it collected or bring it to the civic dump centre and pay there.

armabelle

odyssey06 wrote: »

Refuse charges optional? What are you going to do with your waste?

Treating House Insurance as optional is not a course I would advise.

yes I understand it is necessary but I was only enquiring about the home charges for now. So like property tax was a good one. Is that 0.18% monthly? or annual?

iguana

odyssey06 wrote: »

Refuse charges optional? What are you going to do with your waste?

Treating House Insurance as optional is not a course I would advise.

I don't really pay refuse charges. I minimise rubbish, recycle at the bring centre. Dogs and compost bin takes care of food waste. And for anything else I use a Big Bin a few times a year which takes 2 sacks of rubbish for €7.

I own my house outright. It needed about €10k worth of work when I bought it, but I got a very, very significant discount on the asking price (about 45% off as the issue was structural, so unmortgageable). I had budgeted an awful lot more for the work, so it's been a very pleasant surprise. That kind of luck is very rare though. I pay electricity every 2 months, media package monthly, house insurance, tv license and property tax monthly. White goods and most of the previous resident's furniture came with the house. I sold quite a bit of that and replaced it with either furniture I bought second hand or things I owned previously, like our beds. So that cost me around €500. And I've probably spent about €200 on paint, varnish, a garden strimmer, etc. Got lots of other stuff, like my lawnmower, free from relatives or stuff given away on adverts. I bought fruit trees, compost, set up a mini veg and herb garden which cost €50-100, but hopefully they'll eventually save me money. My biggest spend has probably been on garden toys, like swings, trampoline, large paddling pool.

Gumbo

mansize wrote: »

House insurance is compulsory for a mortgage

No it's not. It's advisable but not compulsory. Mortgage protection is compulsory.

thomasm

Solicitors Fees
Surveyors Report Fee
BER Cert Fee if not in place(not sure if this is vendors expense)
Valuation Fee

Sleeper12

kceire wrote:

No it's not. It's advisable but not compulsory. Mortgage protection is compulsory.

You have these mixed up. House insurance is compulsory. The mortgage company owns the house or at least has a steak in it. You must have house insurance to protect their investment.
What would happen if the house burned to the ground without insurance.

Dr.Rieux

Sleeper12 wrote: »

You have these mixed up. House insurance is compulsory. The mortgage company owns the house or at least has a steak in it. You must have house insurance to protect their investment.
What would happen if the house burned to the ground without insurance.

Both are compulsory if you've a mortgage. Home insurance is certainly advisable without a mortgage.

Gumbo

Sleeper12 wrote: »

You have these mixed up. House insurance is compulsory. The mortgage company owns the house or at least has a steak in it. You must have house insurance to protect their investment.
What would happen if the house burned to the ground without insurance.

Ohh I'm not saying it's not needed, but I've gone through 3 mortgages and 2 re-mortgages since 2006 and not one bank asked for house insurance. Mortgage protection policy (ie a life policy) is compulsory and funds won't be released without it in place.

CiniO

thomasm wrote: »

Solicitors Fees
Surveyors Report Fee
BER Cert Fee if not in place(not sure if this is vendors expense)
Valuation Fee

I don't think those are compulsory... Are they?

My understanding is that when buying a house (for cash) person needs to pay solicitor to arrange legal deeds stuff, pay stamp duty, and house is his.

Then after that paying property tax is compulsory once per annum.
And if one would like to keep basic utilities like electricity and water, payment of bills on those is required, as otherwise they will be cut off.

I'm not sure about BER cert.

Would there be anything else?

Sleeper12

CiniO wrote:

I'm not sure about BER cert.

House sale can't go through without ber but its the seller pays for that. Ber is also good for 10 years so seller may already have one if they got an insulating grant

mewe

kceire wrote:

Ohh I'm not saying it's not needed, but I've gone through 3 mortgages and 2 re-mortgages since 2006 and not one bank asked for house insurance. Mortgage protection policy (ie a life policy) is compulsory and funds won't be released without it in place.

Don't know what bank you've been using because for us house insurance was compulsory and funds wouldn't be released without it.

Gumbo

CiniO wrote: »

I don't think those are compulsory... Are they?

My understanding is that when buying a house (for cash) person needs to pay solicitor to arrange legal deeds stuff, pay stamp duty, and house is his.

Then after that paying property tax is compulsory once per annum.
And if one would like to keep basic utilities like electricity and water, payment of bills on those is required, as otherwise they will be cut off.

I'm not sure about BER cert.

Would there be anything else?

Surveyors report is for peace of mind to the buyer. With no mortgage, it's optional.

BER cert is compulsory when placing the house on the market. So it must have one issued by the seller, so the OP wouldn't have to worry about it.

mewe wrote: »

Don't know what bank you've been using because for us house insurance was compulsory and funds wouldn't be released without it.

That's strange. I used a broker (Omega Financial) in 2004, but can't recall what bank. They had letters rather than a name if you get me, then bank of Scotland in 2006, PTSB in 2013 and Ulster Bank in 2015. Maybe I slipped through the cracks. Still, I agree it's 100% needed.

CiniO

kceire wrote: »

Still, I agree it's 100% needed.

I'd strongly argue with that.

From one side you indeed own a property which is worth sh1t load of money, and it would be pity if it all went up with smoke in a fire.

On the other hand - what are the chances like? How many houses get burnt per year in Ireland?
I'd say people have much bigger chance dying in car accident or dying with some disease, than having their house burnt.

If you don't live in flood liable area, there's hardly much more that can damage the whole house.

Anything else, like break in, pipe burst, etc, will probably be cheaper to fix yourself when it happens, than paying house insurance premium for years.

4ensic15

CiniO wrote: »

I'd strongly argue with that.

From one side you indeed own a property which is worth sh1t load of money, and it would be pity if it all went up with smoke in a fire.

On the other hand - what are the chances like? How many houses get burnt per year in Ireland?
I'd say people have much bigger chance dying in car accident or dying with some disease, than having their house burnt.

If you don't live in flood liable area, there's hardly much more that can damage the whole house.

Anything else, like break in, pipe burst, etc, will probably be cheaper to fix yourself when it happens, than paying house insurance premium for years.

There are numerous property claims on property. I had a major claim within 18 months of moving in. Not insuring is utterly illogical. pipes burst, oil can leak (more expensive to repair than a fire). Just because the odds are low doesn't mean it won't happen. When it does happen it could be ruinous.

armabelle

thomasm wrote: »

Solicitors Fees
Surveyors Report Fee
BER Cert Fee if not in place(not sure if this is vendors expense)
Valuation Fee

Are these compulsory when buying a home? How much do you think these could cost on a 250k house?

thankyou!

iguana

armabelle wrote: »

Are these compulsory when buying a home? How much do you think these could cost on a 250k house?

thankyou!

The solicitor's fee is compulsory and will also come with land registry fees. Shop around for a solicitor as fees can vary. And when you get your cheapest quote do some research on that solicitor because sometimes the fee reflects the service. But not always, my solicitor was the one who gave me the cheapest quote and she was just fantastic with what was a difficult purchase.

A survey isn't essential when you don't have a mortgage. But unless you or your partner are qualified in this area, you'd be an idiot not to get one. Properties have problems that can be difficult for an untrained person to see but could cost you tens of thousands (or more) to rectify. Skipping the survey can be a false economy. As is skipping insurance.

armabelle

Dr.Rieux wrote: »

Both are compulsory if you've a mortgage. Home insurance is certainly advisable without a mortgage.

yes many things are advisable when you can afford then :P

filbert the fox

armabelle wrote: »

Are these compulsory when buying a home? How much do you think these could cost on a 250k house?

thankyou!

you wouldn't pay €25,000 for a used car without a mechanic so why would you not employ someone to check out your quarter of a million euro investment?

armabelle

iguana wrote: »

The solicitor's fee is compulsory and will also come with land registry fees. Shop around for a solicitor as fees can vary. And when you get your cheapest quote do some research on that solicitor because sometimes the fee reflects the service. But not always, my solicitor was the one who gave me the cheapest quote and she was just fantastic with what was a difficult purchase.

A survey isn't essential when you don't have a mortgage. But unless you or your partner are qualified in this area, you'd be an idiot not to get one. Properties have problems that can be difficult for an untrained person to see but could cost you tens of thousands (or more) to rectify. Skipping the survey can be a false economy. As is skipping insurance.

Oh ok so there could be something wrong with the house and we buy it and have a big problem on our hands? Something like that?

Ok please could you tell me if this is correct. So to buy the house we have a cost of 250 000 on a 250 000 house and also

1) Solicitors fees (requirement)
2) Stamp (requirement)
3) Survey fees (optional but recommended)

then to maintain the house we have

1) Property tax (requirement)
2) Electricity, heating, waste and internet (we don't own a TV so no license)

Is this correct?

filbert the fox

armabelle wrote: »

Oh ok so there could be something wrong with the house and we buy it and have a big problem on our hands? Something like that?

Ok please could you tell me if this is correct. So to buy the house we have a cost of 250 000 on a 250 000 house and also

1) Solicitors fees (requirement)
2) Stamp (requirement)
3) Survey fees (optional but recommended)

then to maintain the house we have

1) Property tax (requirement)
2) Electricity, heating, waste and internet (we don't own a TV so no license)

Is this correct?

Water charges haven't gone away you know. Also there's talk of a charge for technology to "catch" those people who only watch telly on line.

armabelle

filbert the fox wrote: »

Water charges haven't gone away you know. Also there's talk of a charge for technology to "catch" those people who only watch telly on line.

I don't "watch" telly online or anywhere else and I am only talking about charges today not the possibility of any other charges. So do do you think that the list of charges above are complete?

armabelle

filbert the fox wrote: »

you wouldn't pay €25,000 for a used car without a mechanic so why would you not employ someone to check out your quarter of a million euro investment?

I might though, how do you know me?

frozenfrozen

light bulbs

armabelle

frozenfrozen wrote: »

light bulbs

oh no, now I we are over our budget

frozenfrozen

armabelle wrote: »

oh no, now I we are over our budget

knives, forks... spoons are a big one people sometimes do not consider

seamus

armabelle wrote: »

Are these compulsory when buying a home? How much do you think these could cost on a 250k house?
thankyou!

Solicitor's fee will be around 1% of the property value, but it depends on the solicitor. Beware of solicitors who charge fixed fees - they're conveyor belt outfits who won't properly check documentation and are no good for anything except a really straightforward purchase.

You will have stamp duty, which is 1% of the property value.

The bank will employ a valuer to review the property and you will have to pay that fee. It's usually €150.

If the property is over 10 years old, I would strongly advise a surveyor. This person will find things wrong with any property, even one that's brand new, that's what you pay them for. Mainly you're paying them to create a "to-do" list for after you move in, but also to spot any massive problems that mean you should walk away.
How much you spend depends on how in-depth you need them to go. A standard pre-purchase survey which lasts 3-4 hours will cost between €400 and €600.

You won't have to pay for the BER, the vendor pays for that.

These are immediate costs that you will pay when or before you buy the property.

Ongoing costs, the others have listed above. Mortgage protection and house insurance are compulsory. If you don't have either of them, the bank can theoretically call in your mortgage and take you to court.

I'm going to be honest here; if your budget is €250k and you're looking for things that you don't have to pay for, then you can't afford to buy. Set your budget accordingly. Set aside at least 5% of your budget for unforeseen expenses, both before and after you move in.

If you absolutely empty your bank account buying it, the first thing you'll find when you move in is a €3k repair or expense that you need to do immediately.

And €500 on a surveyor now will save you €30,000 when they point out that the plumbing system is probably fncked and the roof is going to need to replaced in the next 10 years.

Don't scrimp. It won't save you money.

CiniO wrote: »

On the other hand - what are the chances like? How many houses get burnt per year in Ireland?

Lots and lots. A house doesn't need to be burnt to the ground to become expensive. Even a small fire can cause damage that looks relatively minor from the outside, but needs a six-figure sum to repair to safe standards.

If you're not in a detached property it's also essential because any fire damage is your cost. If your neighbour's house goes up and takes yours with it, your neighbour doesn't pay for the damage to your house, you do. Them's the rules.
So if you don't have insurance, you will end up leaving both you and your neighbour homeless while his insurance company waits for you to get your sh1t together so the properties can be rebuilt.

As others have said, fire is not the only issue. Burst pipes can cause damage in the five figures. And again, a burst pipe on someone else's property that damages yours, is your expense.

Many of the scenarios in which your house will be damaged to the point of being unliveable are completely outside of your control.

Not having house insurance is like saying, "sure what do I need car insurance for, I'm a great driver". Needing to use your home insurance is far more likely than you think.

regi3457

but don't you pay mortgage protection only if you take out a mortgage?

tina1040

In my experience, surveyors don't check the plumbing system.

It seems to me they walk around looking for obvious faults. They don't check heating, water pressure, leaks.

iguana

OP, one thing that you have to think about when you buy, is will you want to move to a bigger/more expensive house in the future. I get the impression that you are aiming to have a particular lifestyle one that is debt free with minimal outgoings. If that's the case, then do bear future life changes when you buy as if you need to trade up and can't afford to do so outright, it will be very difficult to adjust to having a mortgage after a decade of not.

seamus wrote: »

The bank will employ a valuer to review the property and you will have to pay that fee. It's usually €150............


........Ongoing costs, the others have listed above. Mortgage protection and house insurance are compulsory. If you don't have either of them, the bank can theoretically call in your mortgage and take you to court.

The OP is talking about buying outright, so bank requirements don't apply. And while it's never a good idea to empty your savings account to buy, the fact is that when you don't have to spend a large amount of your income on rent/mortgage, it's extremely easy to save a moderate sum very quickly. Especially for someone who has a history of saving €250k prior to that.

shaunr68

Ours, small cottage in the sticks.

Well and septic tank
No telly
No gas supply
No phone (two little used PAYG mobiles, Skype for most outgoing calls)
No insurance (silly money wanted to cover 200 yo stone cottage. Insurance would cost 5% of value of house, per year!)
No bin collections - very rural, refuse companies won't come down the private road. Recycle, compost, burn paper etc in stove, leaves us with one small bag of food packaging and wrappers every week, which gets binned outside the supermarket from whence it came.

That leaves us with:

Local Property Tax 90/year
Electricity 45/month
Mobile Broadband 40/month

regi3457

iguana wrote: »

OP, one thing that you have to think about when you buy, is will you want to move to a bigger/more expensive house in the future. I get the impression that you are aiming to have a particular lifestyle one that is debt free with minimal outgoings. If that's the case, then do bear future life changes when you buy as if you need to trade up and can't afford to do so outright, it will be very difficult to adjust to having a mortgage after a decade of not.



The OP is talking about buying outright, so bank requirements don't apply. And while it's never a good idea to empty your savings account to buy, the fact is that when you don't have to spend a large amount of your income on rent/mortgage, it's extremely easy to save a moderate sum very quickly. Especially for someone who has a history of saving €250k prior to that.

Why is it not a good idea to empty your savings account to buy a house? If it gets you to live rent or debt free, I say that is pretty nice

regi3457

regi3457 wrote: »

Why is it not a good idea to empty your savings account to buy a house? If it gets you to live rent or debt free, I say that is pretty nice

Because you have nothing to fall back on if you need cash for something unforeseen be it house related or otherwise.

If I had 250k saved I've probably look at getting a mortgage of 50 to 100k and keeping 50 to 100k in cash in my savings account for unforeseen expenses and just to have cash reserves for the month you want to go on an expensive holiday or need to buy a car etc.

K.Flyer

Not having house insurance really is taking a big gamble. People are talking about the damage that fire does, let me tell you that water can also do huge damage. In one case I attended to the bill finished up at almost 60,000 euro.
They were not in the house when a maind pipe in the attic burst sending a wide spray of water across the attic. Upstairs and downstairs was ruined as well as contents.
The o.p. is paying Cash for the property, so the debate of whether Mortgage Protection Insurance is required or not is moot, so maybe leave it for a different thread.

NovaDublin

Delighted to see this thread - I am in a position now to buy - and all of these replies have saved me from posting - I am a newbie here and this is my first post

regi3457

Abel Long Someone wrote: »

Because you have nothing to fall back on if you need cash for something unforeseen be it house related or otherwise.

If I had 250k saved I've probably look at getting a mortgage of 50 to 100k and keeping 50 to 100k in cash in my savings account for unforeseen expenses and just to have cash reserves for the month you want to go on an expensive holiday or need to buy a car etc.

You would take out a loan even if you didn't need one just to keep cash in case of an emergency? This is so backwards. You do realize you have to pay interest to the bank on that loan, why on earth would you want to do that? Why not just take a loan if that unforseen expense comes up?

HeidiHeidi

regi3457 wrote: »

You would take out a loan even if you didn't need one just to keep cash in case of an emergency? This is so backwards. You do realize you have to pay interest to the bank on that loan, why on earth would you want to do that? Why not just take a loan if that unforseen expense comes up?

Because a mortgage is the cheapest money you'll get, and you may not get a loan for whatever emergency arises.

Have to say I would never empty my bank account to buy a house, I would absolutely want to keep some ready cash available for unforeseen emergencies.

I also would never contemplate not having house insurance - it might be seen as dead money, or bad value - but in the event that you actually need it, not having it could ruin you.

regi3457

HeidiHeidi wrote: »

Because a mortgage is the cheapest money you'll get, and you may not get a loan for whatever emergency arises.

Have to say I would never empty my bank account to buy a house, I would absolutely want to keep some ready cash available for unforeseen emergencies.

I also would never contemplate not having house insurance - it might be seen as dead money, or bad value - but in the event that you actually need it, not having it could ruin you.

oh dear

iguana

regi3457 wrote: »

Why is it not a good idea to empty your savings account to buy a house? If it gets you to live rent or debt free, I say that is pretty nice

It's not a good idea if you can help it. If you have €250k saved, it would be sensible, if possible, to buy something for €230k. So after costs you'd still have €10-15k for emergencies. But, as I said, if you don't, it's still really easy to save a quite a bit very quickly when you're not paying rent/mortgage. As well as that, ime, when you own outright at a youngish age it can change your whole lifestyle in a way that makes it easy to save a larger sum than you would have been paying in rent/mortgage. Not having debt/huge rental outlay changes your life.

Michael D Not Higgins

tina1040 wrote: »

In my experience, surveyors don't check the plumbing system.

It seems to me they walk around looking for obvious faults. They don't check heating, water pressure, leaks.

There's only so much you can actually check in a survey. You can't go knocking holes in the walls to check the pipework of a house you don't own. If you want the surveyor to do other things that you feel are important you can ask them to do that and they will quote you a figure for the additional work.

regi3457

regi3457 wrote: »

You would take out a loan even if you didn't need one just to keep cash in case of an emergency? This is so backwards. You do realize you have to pay interest to the bank on that loan, why on earth would you want to do that? Why not just take a loan if that unforseen expense comes up?

It's not even just for emergencies it's for buying stuff for the house or other stuff you might want to spend money on. I'd sleep a lot easier at night having a nice wad of cash in savings account and a small mortgage than emptying my savings account. You will pay back a 50 or 100k mortgage in a few years and pay only minimal interest.

It's well worth the cost of the interest. I've even done similar buying a car, could have bought for cash but got a loan for half the cost so not to use up my savings.

regi3457

Abel Long Someone wrote: »

It's not even just for emergencies it's for buying stuff for the house or other stuff you might want to spend money on. I'd sleep a lot easier at night having a nice wad of cash in savings account and a small mortgage than emptying my savings account. You will pay back a 50 or 100k mortgage in a few years and pay only minimal interest.

It's well worth the cost of the interest. I've even done similar buying a car, could have bought for cash but got a loan for half the cost so not to use up my savings.

I find this logic to be backward. You would put yourself in debt just in case you may need money and pay banks back voluntarily for this money you borrowed which you didn't actually need?

These are strange days we live in.