First Time Buyer - Best Advice?

sandford

I've been trawling the internet trying to find the best places to look for advice.

Myself (full time employed in private sector) and my partner (self employed) are looking to buy our first house in Kildare. I've tried the online calculators for all the main lenders/banks, yet the amount we can borrow seems to vary massively?

I'm looking at brokers, but not sure if I should go down that route or deal directly with banks? Is there anywhere I could find advice on this or is it really matter of opinion?

Another thing I can't seem to find an answer to, is would we have better success if we were married? Or does that matter much? I should add, we have a baby, though I know he will count as a dependant.

Would very much appreciate advice from anyone, particularly those who are self employed and have been down this road!

Parchment

Why not just go to some banks and apply? Its not that hard and you will have a definitive answer.

ThisRegard

Broker I think is the best bet. A good one will have knowledge of what each bank looks for, such as in terms of savings history, stress tests for example, as well as the rates out there at the moment. Could save you a great deal of wasted time going from bank to bank.

Alkers

You may as well apply to all of the banks yourself, there's only 6 or seven in any case.

Parchment

Simona1986 wrote: »

You may as well apply to all of the banks yourself, there's only 6 or seven in any case.

Exactly - once you have filled out one form, the rest are pretty much the same.

Paddytheman

Hey Sandford, have recently started the process ourselves, went to our bank first who gave X as a ballpark figure reducing significantly when we mentioned Creche fees would be imminent. Then went to a broker who recommended several options, highlighted the most likely banks and best rates and advised getting applications in immediately as Creche fees weren't on our statements. He will advise you how to minimise the info you give to improve your chances.

Have recently pointed another friend in his direction as he was having problems and was refused a mortgage, Broker was happy to speak with him and advise him how to structure his finances to improve his chances for his next application, this guy doesn't charge either. Would deffo go down this route!

tradesman

I would echo paddytheman's post. A good broker will have way's of getting you over the line! Common sense appears to be not so common with banks etc.

09_09_09

Paddytheman wrote: »

Hey Sandford, have recently started the process ourselves, went to our bank first who gave X as a ballpark figure reducing significantly when we mentioned Creche fees would be imminent. Then went to a broker who recommended several options, highlighted the most likely banks and best rates and advised getting applications in immediately as Creche fees weren't on our statements. He will advise you how to minimise the info you give to improve your chances.

Have recently pointed another friend in his direction as he was having problems and was refused a mortgage, Broker was happy to speak with him and advise him how to structure his finances to improve his chances for his next application, this guy doesn't charge either. Would deffo go down this route!

Could you please PM me the name and address of the broker, if possible. Thanks.

sandford

Paddytheman wrote: »

Hey Sandford, have recently started the process ourselves, went to our bank first who gave X as a ballpark figure reducing significantly when we mentioned Creche fees would be imminent. Then went to a broker who recommended several options, highlighted the most likely banks and best rates and advised getting applications in immediately as Creche fees weren't on our statements. He will advise you how to minimise the info you give to improve your chances.

Have recently pointed another friend in his direction as he was having problems and was refused a mortgage, Broker was happy to speak with him and advise him how to structure his finances to improve his chances for his next application, this guy doesn't charge either. Would deffo go down this route!

Great info thanks! Could you pm me also with Broker details? Be good to deal with someone recommended:-)

--homeslice--

Paddytheman wrote: »

Hey Sandford, have recently started the process ourselves, went to our bank first who gave X as a ballpark figure reducing significantly when we mentioned Creche fees would be imminent. Then went to a broker who recommended several options, highlighted the most likely banks and best rates and advised getting applications in immediately as Creche fees weren't on our statements. He will advise you how to minimise the info you give to improve your chances.

Have recently pointed another friend in his direction as he was having problems and was refused a mortgage, Broker was happy to speak with him and advise him how to structure his finances to improve his chances for his next application, this guy doesn't charge either. Would deffo go down this route!

I'd also love the details of your man!! please!!

Ayuntamiento

Simona1986 wrote: »

You may as well apply to all of the banks yourself, there's only 6 or seven in any case.

It's not hard at all to gather together the required information and send it to the banks. However, from that point onward I found it impossible to deal with the bank that I was with. They constantly lost documents that I'd obviously sent them several times before and in general were slow and incompetent. Does it vary depending on bank? My adviser was so ridiculously dumb. Unfortunately the adviser is the monkey and the underwriter is the organ-grinder.

fits

Your partner will likely need three years of accounts. A good broker is probably the best bet.

Alkers

Ayuntamiento wrote:

It's not hard at all to gather together the required information and send it to the banks. However, from that point onward I found it impossible to deal with the bank that I was with. They constantly lost documents that I'd obviously sent them several times before and in general were slow and incompetent. Does it vary depending on bank? My adviser was so ridiculously dumb. Unfortunately the adviser is the monkey and the underwriter is the organ-grinder.

Varies bank to bank but also branch to branch, we had some terrible experiences and other great ones but have heard from others the complete opposite. Luck of the draw really but if you do your research and don't rely on what the advisors tell you you'll be fine. Realistically, you want to go with the bank with the lowest rate or will approve you with the highest amount. We've had advisors resend our application to the underwriters after hearing we were approved for more elsewhere and it came back favourably, they are businesses after all.

riclad

Every bank has a different process and formula for dealing with mortgaage applications , say you wanna borrow 100k,you,ll need to be earning 33k approx,
3-3.5 times your income .
And you,ll need 10k in savings for deposit.they also look at savings, can you save x amount Every
month ,for years .

Parchment

Ayuntamiento wrote: »

It's not hard at all to gather together the required information and send it to the banks. However, from that point onward I found it impossible to deal with the bank that I was with. They constantly lost documents that I'd obviously sent them several times before and in general were slow and incompetent. Does it vary depending on bank? My adviser was so ridiculously dumb. Unfortunately the adviser is the monkey and the underwriter is the organ-grinder.

It varies - dependant on the person you get as well as the bank.

We were both with BOI - they were ok to deal with but their mortgage wasn't even at the races. Had ok experiences with TSB & EBS too.

Poor experience with KBC.

AIB were outstanding and still are to deal with - we are going with them for our mortgage and they could not be more helpful. Our advisor is a pleasure to deal with and while AIB looked for more documentation from us, it all was easy to provide them with. I think they have a great mortgage process in place.

Ayuntamiento

We were dealing with Ulster Bank and they were actually shockingly bad. I couldn't recommend them less to deal with.

dar100

went with AIB through the online system, didnt even speak to anyone, was very efficient

bleary

I went with aib too in the end, the online system was a disaster but the branch were great, kbc are grand in the branch but they don't seem to have the systems to actually deal with customers and Ulster bank have huge delays , I was warned off of them due to this.

ThisRegard

It just shows it's probably down to who you are dealing with rather than the institution itself. We went to Ulster Bank via a broker and had no issues and a quick turnaround.

How long ago were you warned off them? May not have been the best advice as they had the best rate for a while.

athtrasna

Saving /applying for a mortgage thread here

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057501206

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