Do I have enough savings?

Tipsy McSwagger

Ok so planning on getting a mortgage for 180K at the most. Between myself and my gf we have around 30K in savings, 3K of which is in the Credit Union. So there’s enough there for the deposit of at least 18K but I’m worried about the extra fees and actually furnishing the place and not been flat broke after all is done. Should I wait and get the saving to 40K or start looking now?


Edit - we also have to be out of our apartment within 4 months

Alkers

Tipsy McSwagger wrote:

Edit - we also have to be out of our apartment within 4 months

Start looking immediately, you can always furnish the place from dinedeal and the like, you don't need to buy everything new.

GingerLily

How do you expect to save the extra money? Is your rent significantly lower then your mortgage payments would be?

I think you should start looking ASAP and save while your waiting for the house.
No need to be in a hurry to do it all at once!

Sleeper12

Tipsy McSwagger wrote:

Edit - we also have to be out of our apartment within 4 months

As above. Star looking. I think it's unlikely that you will find a place & buy it within the 4 months but you may get lucky

Tipsy McSwagger

GingerLily wrote: »

How do you expect to save the extra money? Is your rent significantly lower then your mortgage payments would be?

I think you should start looking ASAP and save while your waiting for the house.
No need to be in a hurry to do it all at once!

Our rent is 400 a month as we are basically apartment sitting, on a good month i can personally save over a grand a month. We have no kids and the only money we owe is a 5K car loan.

Sleeper12

Tipsy McSwagger wrote:

Our rent is 400 a month as we are basically apartment sitting, on a good month i can personally save over a grand a month. We have no kids and the only money we owe is a 5K car loan.

Happy days.

davemie

The sooner you get into your own place, the more you will save on rent. When I first moved in I had a mattress on the floor and garden furniture in the kitchen, nothing else other than clothes.

myshirt

davemie wrote: »

The sooner you get into your own place, the more you will save on rent. When I first moved in I had a mattress on the floor and garden furniture in the kitchen, nothing else other than clothes.

No need to brag.

There was a chap on here a couple of months ago, family of 5, and all they had one set of shoe laces, and they didn't even own a shoe.

Op, I second what the posters have said here. Get the process going. End to end these things can take the four months. You will have saved more by then, and you will manage once you get in there.

Best of luck.

Tipsy McSwagger

myshirt wrote: »

No need to brag.

There was a chap on here a couple of months ago, family of 5, and all they had one set of shoe laces, and they didn't even own a shoe.

Op, I second what the posters have said here. Get the process going. End to end these things can take the four months. You will have saved more by then, and you will manage once you get in there.

Best of luck.

Cheers, we should have at least another 5K saved by then. Have already been to the bank and the guy said we are ideal candidates.

SteM

Ideal candidates or not you could be pushing it to find a place to buy and have it over the line in 4 months. Best of luck.

4ensic15

Tipsy McSwagger wrote: »

Cheers, we should have at least another 5K saved by then. Have already been to the bank and the guy said we are ideal candidates.

You should clear the car loan. It is bound to be at a higher interest rate than any mortgage and you are making nothing in interest on your deposit.

standardg60

Understandably you may be a bit risk averse as a first time buyer but this is an absolute no brainer..start looking asap. You have been able to save a substantial deposit due to a very low rent which will be impossible to achieve elsewhere.

A couple of pointers..firstly pay off the car loan before you apply for the mortgage. I know it will eat into your savings but any prior commitments will drastically affect your loan offer, banks will only look at your monthly outgoings regardless of the size of the loan.

Secondly, and maybe more importantly, do have a serious conversation with your gf that you're both committed to a 25 year plus relationship and all that entails and you'll be wiser than most.

jimmycrackcorm

Tipsy McSwagger wrote:

I’m worried about the extra fees and actually furnishing the place and not been flat broke after all is done.

When we bought our house we only had a two seater couch, a cardboard box for the TV to sit on and a cheap double bed. It's not that long ago either.

But it was home.

denismc

moloner4 wrote:

spoiler spoiler spoiler

Most banks are offering some kind of cash back deal at the moment. Aib is offering 2k legal fees so agree a price with your solicitors before hand.
If you can get the solicitor for less than 2k you can pocket the rest.

4ensic15

Cash back deals often come with the overhead of a higher interest rate. All that glitters is not gold!

conf101

4ensic15 wrote: »

Cash back deals often come with the overhead of a higher interest rate. All that glitters is not gold!

In some cases yes and in some no. When I was getting my mortgage last year PTSB and EBS had the best cash back deals. PTSB had the worst interest rates at the time but EBS were one of the best. It definitely pays to look around.

cruizer101

4ensic15 wrote: »

Cash back deals often come with the overhead of a higher interest rate. All that glitters is not gold!

Thats true and it is does make it harder comparing mortgages but at the same time 2k now can be worth a lot more than paying back 4k over the life of the mortgage.
Also no reason you can't change mortgage down the line (I'm sure sure some of the cashbacks offers probably have conditions to stop people doing that too soon so need to check those out).

Definitely get the ball rolling though OP, I recently applied for a mortgage with AIB, KBC and UB and found UB were quickest to get back with AIP, so might be worth trying them.

BronsonTB

I would personally avoid KBC if at all possible based on my own personal experience. Others here will differ but I would rather warn the OP in advance rather than after the horse has bolted. (A Mortgage is a long term investment)

MrStuffins

BronsonTB wrote: »

Avoid KBC if at all possible.

Why?

.......

This post has been deleted.

ifeelstupid

4ensic15 wrote: »

You should clear the car loan. It is bound to be at a higher interest rate than any mortgage and you are making nothing in interest on your deposit.

This!
Clear your car loan first, repayments on this are taken to account when applying for a mortgage and can reduce your borrowing capacity significantly. Get advice from a good broker (ask friends for recommendations) and this will save you a lot of legwork

Edit: also clear all credit cards (if any)

Wheety

BronsonTB wrote: »

Avoid KBC if at all possible.

I'm with KBC. Have Mortgage, current account, savings account and a credit card. Never had an issue with them.


OP, I agree with others. Start looking and get the ball rolling (if it's something you both definitely want and are committed to). Having your own place is great. We slept on a blow up mattress on the first night, just to be in our house

You'll survive without every piece of furniture immediately and if you still have a thousand Euro left over each month, you have the joys of traipsing around furniture stores to look forward to.

I presume this is outside Dublin because of prices mentioned?

baldbear

Start looking now as it will open your eyes to the whole process & avoid those cash back gimmick deals. Over the life time of the mortgage they will screw you.

Furniture? ha all you need is a mattress. With no kids you it won't be much of a big deal getting bits and pieces for the house.

Good luck.

BronsonTB

MrStuffins wrote: »

Why?

Read the countless issues in the 'Ask KBC' threads.
Customer service & communication after you sign up to them is poor.
They seem to be great at the best deal but then when you're an existing customer...slow to sort any issues.

From Personal experience also.

Glad you have no issue with them Wheety - gives a balanced view for the OP.
I unfortunately cannot recommend them.

Wheety

BronsonTB wrote: »

Glad you have no issue with them Wheety - gives a balanced view for the OP.
I unfortunately cannot recommend them.

I suppose I haven't had an issue to raise with them with them so can't really comment on customer service in this regard. I do most things online.

Actually, I was offered an overdraft over the phone and without really thinking it through accepted. It was meant to be free but they charged a fee. I rang them and said I was told it wouldn't cost me anything. They reviewed the tape and refunded me.

Then I decided I didn't want it and was told I'd need to put it in writing. I dropped in a letter and 2 weeks later the overdraft was still available. I rang and told them I had dropped in a letter and they found it on someone's desk, apologised and cancelled the overdraft.

2 issues over the same overdraft and both sorted quickly enough.

C3PO

BronsonTB wrote: »

Avoid KBC if at all possible.

Couldn't agree with you there! We've had our mortgage with KBC during some really difficult years and always found them very helpful when it came to interest free periods etc. And that's on a tracker!

Tipsy McSwagger

Cheers for all the answers. Can I just ask about bidding on a property? If it's 180K what should the bid be, would a bid of 160K be a Mickey take?

Heres Johnny

Tipsy McSwagger wrote: »

Cheers for all the answers. Can I just ask about bidding on a property? If it's 180K what should the bid be, would a bid of 160K be a Mickey take?

Nobody knows. If the 180 is ambitious by the vendor based on what other similar houses have sold for then an offer of 160 is fine to start and may come into consideration.

If similar have been selling for 200 or more and demand is high then the 180 is just an invitation to offer and the low offer probably won't be considered at all.

But all that can happen is they say not accepted so have a go.

You should figure out what similar properties locally have sold for to get an idea. The 180 is actually meaningless.

I got my house valued recently and I'm probably going to sell. It was 285k as that's what similar have sold for. I could put it on market for 250k and generate massive interest in it or for 325k and see what serious offers come in.
Either way people can bid what they like but I think its worth 285k and will be looking for that amount.