Property Ladder 2020, New Home Owners

Astro127

Hi so just thought I would make a post, on what everybodys going through at the moment or plan to do
About getting on the property ladder in the near future.

How are you finding it?

What are your pros and cons?

Is anyone doing the following, if so how are you getting on, would you prefer to
1 buy a new build
2 buy old and renovate
3 build your own home

hi!

Astro127 wrote: »

Hi so just thought I would make a post, on what everybodys going through at the moment or plan to do
About getting on the property ladder in the near future.

How are you finding it?

What are your pros and cons?

Is anyone doing the following, if so how are you getting on, would you prefer to
1 buy a new build
2 buy old and renovate
3 build your own home

Finding it depressing really. Plan is to either
1) wait things out and see if the market changes
2) buy a old and renovate but even that is out of our price range
3) buy an new build further out- have a longer commute to work and be further from friends and family

Leaning towards 1.

DubLad69

hi! wrote: »

Finding it depressing really. Plan is to either
1) wait things out and see if the market changes
2) buy a old and renovate but even that is out of our price range
3) buy an new build further out- have a longer commute to work and be further from friends and family

Leaning towards 1.

I'm leaning more towards number 1 myself. I want a new build but at the moment the ones within my area in Dublin are somewhat outside of my price range.

My plan is to keep saving until I find the right house. I dont want a 'starter house that I will have to change in 5-10 years time. I'm lucky that my pay and ability to save far outgrows any potential price increases and I'm not paying rent.

The alternative is to move about 20 minutes outside of my search zone. Which would put me 45 minutes from both work and friends/family.

Shelga

I’m finding it sh*te.

Plan is to find a rich husband. Hell, any husband. It is the only way to buy a half-decent place in Dublin.

hi!

DubLad69 wrote: »

I'm leaning more towards number 1 myself. I want a new build but at the moment the ones within my area in Dublin are somewhat outside of my price range.

My plan is to keep saving until I find the right house. I dont want a 'starter house that I will have to change in 5-10 years time. I'm lucky that my pay and ability to save far outgrows any potential price increases and I'm not paying rent.

The alternative is to move about 20 minutes outside of my search zone. Which would put me 45 minutes from both work and friends/family.

Pretty much identical situation. Anything we could afford now are small 3 beds which need a lot of work. Means most savings are gone and will quickly outgrow a 3 bed if we have kids.
Depressing really.

Yellow_Fern

hi! wrote: »

Pretty much identical situation. Anything we could afford now are small 3 beds which need a lot of work. Means most savings are gone and will quickly outgrow a 3 bed if we have kids.
Depressing really.

If you occupy the run down property you can claim the costs against your taxes. If it is a three bed and if you have have more than two kids what is the issue? Two kids of the same gender can share a room?

lawrencesummers

Shelga wrote: »

I’m finding it sh*te.

Plan is to find a rich husband. Hell, any husband. It is the only way to buy a half-decent place in Dublin.

So it appears women have to delete their internet history from time to time as well.

Ticking and Bashing

I'm constantly looking at the accommodation and property threads here! My obsession has gotten out of control since covid19! For a single buyer it's incredibly difficult to own your own home in a relatively nice location. I'm getting tired of paying almost 1000eur each month on house share rent. For me the dream is a small bungalow, Dublin / Kildare, with side entrance, a garden and a clear boundary with the neighbours, ideally close to a nice park / walking route! The kitchen and living areas having good amount of sunlight would be perfect. I've been tracking some properties on homebid.ie and watching bids going 40k over asking price. It's absolutely insane. I'm new to the property search so still researching areas, house buying process, mortgages etc. It's a lot to take in!

DubLad69

Yellow_Fern wrote: »

If you occupy the run down property you can claim the costs against your taxes. If it is a three bed and if you have have more than two kids what is the issue? Two kids of the same gender can share a room?

These 3 bed houses also tend to have small living rooms or kitchens. And while sharing a room might be find for children it wouldn't be ideal for teenagers. You are also then left for zero room for an office or home gym.

The_Brood

Complete and utter nightmare in Dublin at least. We can only afford to buy old, but have been outbid for almost 10 houses now that have gone heavily above the asking price. Demand seems to be through the roof, hasnt been affected one bit.

The_Brood

Ticking and Bashing wrote: »

I'm constantly looking at the accommodation and property threads here! My obsession has gotten out of control since covid19! For a single buyer it's incredibly difficult to own your own home in a relatively nice location. I'm getting tired of paying almost 1000eur each month on house share rent. For me the dream is a small bungalow, Dublin / Kildare, with side entrance, a garden and a clear boundary with the neighbours, ideally close to a nice park / walking route! The kitchen and living areas having good amount of sunlight would be perfect. I've been tracking some properties on homebid.ie and watching bids going 40k over asking price. It's absolutely insane. I'm new to the property search so still researching areas, house buying process, mortgages etc. It's a lot to take in!

Exactly. Any predictions of a decline in demand because of the virus seem to be severely underestimating how many people are looking to buy in and around the Dublin area. It leads me to believe that for whatever reason residential statistics are far from painting an accurate picture.

Graham

Yellow_Fern wrote: »

If you occupy the run down property you can claim the costs against your taxes.

Is this a new thing?

hurikane

Absolutely hate the phrase "property ladder" it makes me feel ill.

Graham

Why? Property ladder used to be a generic term for buying a small/lower priced house apartment as a 'starter home', trading up as a household grew and income/resources/capital-appreciation allowed.

hurikane

Graham wrote: »

Why? Property ladder used to be a generic term for buying a small/lower priced house apartment as a 'starter home', trading up as a household grew and income/resources/capital-appreciation allowed.

Starter home also makes me feel ill. The thoughts of having to buy a house, hoping for capital appreciation, then buying another house. Then maybe doing the same again.

Graham

hurikane wrote: »

Starter home also makes me feel ill. The thoughts of having to buy a house, hoping for capital appreciation, then buying another house. Then maybe doing the same again.

Buying something more affordable until careers progress and some of the mortgage has been paid down and equity built up before moving on to something larger/higher priced. Sounds quite traumatic.

BrokenArrows

We are completing in the next 2 weeks.

I'd be more concerned about it however we got a good price so we have a buffer if the market dips.

hurikane

Graham wrote: »

Buying something more affordable until careers progress and some of the mortgage has been paid down and equity built up before moving on to something larger/higher priced. Sounds quite traumatic.

It does when you factor in what happened to people in the recent past. Bought houses in the middle of nowhere which ended up worth a fraction of what they paid for them. Bought apartments and were stuck in them with families and couldn’t sell due to negative equity.

Yellow_Fern

Graham wrote: »

Is this a new thing?

Renovation costs are commonly deductible in many countries and these schemes tend to be mos generous if you live in the house

Graham

Yellow_Fern wrote: »

Renovation costs are commonly deductible in many countries and these schemes tend to be mos generous if you live in the house

Here?

Yellow_Fern

Graham wrote: »

Here?

Yes as understand there is a tax allowerence for in the RoI

Graham

hurikane wrote: »

It does when you factor in what happened to people in the recent past. Bought houses in the middle of nowhere which ended up worth a fraction of what they paid for them. Bought apartments and were stuck in them with families and couldn’t sell due to negative equity.

There was no suggestion of buying a house in an area with low demand.

Property markets have always been cyclical, negative equity has always come/gone. A bigger/more expensive property is just as likely to experience these shifts, with a larger mortgage to boot.

Sarn

Yellow_Fern wrote: »

Renovation costs are commonly deductible in many countries and these schemes tend to be mos generous if you live in the house

Apart from the SEAI grants, I’m not aware of any tax deductions for renovations as an owner occupier here.

hurikane

Graham wrote: »

There was no suggestion of buying a house in an area with low demand.

Property markets have always been cyclical, negative equity has always come/gone. A bigger/more expensive property is just as likely to experience these shifts, with a larger mortgage to boot.

If you bought a house and weren’t planning on using it as a step on the "property ladder" you wouldn’t be at the mercy of the cyclical property market.

Dolbhad

We started looking in 2018. We were not under pressure to buy at the start and the market really seemed to take off then. We are outbidded on everything so decided to keep saving and work towards a pay increase in work and to avail of an exemption. 2020 was going to be the year. Our position before covid was mortgage approved with exemptions. Had a budget of 380k. Stock wasn’t great but we were optimistic that prices seemed to have stabilised and we had nice budget to try. Then covid hit.

Our exemption is now gone which was worth a fair amount. We were told to expect no exemptions until January. Now we are under pressure to buy now as our rental situation isn’t stable.

I would ideally like to wait the year out but we don’t have that option now. We have had to change what we are looking for due to having a lower budget and go further out.

Cork isn’t any better. Seems properties are getting bids in on first viewing and going sale agreed quickly. Granted people seem to underbid at the start but seems to quickly get over asking and then out of our range.

Auctioneers I spoke to (I come across them for work so they can be more honest) were surprised at how busy it is since covid and expected a slow down. Some said they expect the drop to hit by Xmas/New Year with Brexit and a potential second wave are telling clients to sell now. But the stock is crap.

HTB increase won’t help us as we wouldn’t have paid 30k in taxes to claim back.

Yellow_Fern

Sarn wrote: »

Apart from the SEAI grants, I’m not aware of any tax deductions for renovations as an owner occupier here.

It looks they rescinded it. That is extraordinary backward of the gov. The SEAI grant are often terrible. with solar panels, you are far better off installing it yourself and getting and electrician to connect it.

Smiley11

Sarn wrote: »

Apart from the SEAI grants, I’m not aware of any tax deductions for renovations as an owner occupier here.

Correct. Home Renovation Incentive was scrapped so having the Greens in government is currently the only hope of grant increases or introduction of new grants at the moment. I'm open to correction if there are any other form of renovation grants available though as I haven't researched it lately.

Graham

hurikane wrote: »

If you bought a house and weren’t planning on using it as a step on the "property ladder" you wouldn’t be at the mercy of the cyclical property market.

No but the risk there is developers would only ever build 3 and 4 bed semis in the suburbs and those first time buyers wouldn't actually be able to buy.

Now I think about it, that sounds quite familiar.

hurikane

Graham wrote: »

No but the risk there is developers would only ever build 3 and 4 bed semis in the suburbs and those first time buyers wouldn't actually be able to buy.

Now I think about it, that sounds quite familiar.

So the solution is to gamble on a a starter home, on the the property ladder?

Now that I think about it, it sounds very familiar.

Graham

hurikane wrote: »

So the solution is to gamble on a a starter home, on the the property ladder?

Now that I think about it, it sounds very familiar.

Not at all, much better to continue renting and complain that your constitutional rights to a 4 bed semi-detached forever home in the burbs is being denied and it's all really rather unfair.

We could of course continue as we are and just blame multiple successive governments for their inability to build half a million affordable semis inside the M50. That plan has worked out well so far.

SteelyDanJalapeno

Ticking and Bashing wrote: »

I'm constantly looking at the accommodation and property threads here! My obsession has gotten out of control since covid19! For a single buyer it's incredibly difficult to own your own home in a relatively nice location. I'm getting tired of paying almost 1000eur each month on house share rent. For me the dream is a small bungalow, Dublin / Kildare, with side entrance, a garden and a clear boundary with the neighbours, ideally close to a nice park / walking route! The kitchen and living areas having good amount of sunlight would be perfect. I've been tracking some properties on homebid.ie and watching bids going 40k over asking price. It's absolutely insane. I'm new to the property search so still researching areas, house buying process, mortgages etc. It's a lot to take in!

Never heard of homebid.ie
Just had a look there, incredibly infuriating website!
Search function does not work at all once you go past the home page

hurikane

Graham wrote: »

Not at all, much better to continue renting and complain that your constitutional rights to a 4 bed semi-detached forever home in the burbs is being denied and it's all really rather unfair.

We could of course continue as we are and just blame multiple successive governments for their inability to build half a million affordable semis inside the M50. That plan has worked out well so far.

So it’s that or gamble on a "starter home"?

Graham

Don't panic. You'll be relieved to hear you can't buy a starter home.

As a state we're not building any because smaller/more affordable homes are not mandated to any reasonable amount in any new developments and the population at large want the aforementioned semis.

It appears we're going to continue to piddle around delivering nowhere near enough expensive semis while large amounts of the potential home-buying population are stuck renting or living at home with Mam n Dad.

It's like we're doubling down on an experiment that isn't working and hoping for the best.

hurikane

Graham wrote: »

Don't panic. You'll be relieved to hear you can't buy a starter home.

As a state we're not building any because smaller/more affordable homes are not mandated to any reasonable amount in any new developments and the population at large want the aforementioned semis.

It appears we're going to continue to piddle around delivering nowhere near enough expensive semis while large amounts of the potential home-buying population are stuck renting or living at home with Mam n Dad.

It's like we're doubling down on an experiment that isn't working and hoping for the best.

In that case, I’m surprised you aren’t suggesting to buy a home with a sibling, sit on it, then flip it in a few years and both be able to buy a "starter home" each then.

Shelga

I also find there is a lot of conflicting advice given regarding "starter homes" (a term I also find depressing)- either: get on the ladder, or- don't even consider buying a home you wouldn't live in for the rest of your life.

There is no option for single people in Dublin but to buy a "starter home". That's if they can somehow scrape a deposit together- extremely difficult without family help, or living at home for 3-4 years.

Graham

hurikane wrote: »

In that case, I’m surprised you aren’t suggesting to buy a home with a sibling, sit on it, then flip it in a few years and both be able to buy a "starter home" each then.

I'd struggle to think of a worse idea to be honest.

hurikane

Graham wrote: »

I'd struggle to think of a worse idea to be honest.

I’m surprised it’s not the same mantra as below.

Graham wrote: »

Buying something more affordable until careers progress and some of the mortgage has been paid down and equity built up before moving on to something larger/higher priced. Sounds quite traumatic.

brisan

Ticking and Bashing wrote: »

I'm constantly looking at the accommodation and property threads here! My obsession has gotten out of control since covid19! For a single buyer it's incredibly difficult to own your own home in a relatively nice location. I'm getting tired of paying almost 1000eur each month on house share rent. For me the dream is a small bungalow, Dublin / Kildare, with side entrance, a garden and a clear boundary with the neighbours, ideally close to a nice park / walking route! The kitchen and living areas having good amount of sunlight would be perfect. I've been tracking some properties on homebid.ie and watching bids going 40k over asking price. It's absolutely insane. I'm new to the property search so still researching areas, house buying process, mortgages etc. It's a lot to take in!

Auctioneera would have a bigger selection of properties
Daft and Myhome would be the 2 main sites for house purchases

Graham

hurikane wrote: »

I’m surprised it’s not the same mantra as below.

Bit of conclusion jumping on your part I'm afraid.

I think shackling yourself financially to a mortgage/property with anyone other than a partner is a supremely dumb idea.

Yellow_Fern

Graham wrote: »

Bit of conclusion jumping on your part I'm afraid.

I think shackling yourself financially to a mortgage/property with anyone other than a partner is a supremely dumb idea.

It can cause a lot of stress and issues but if you have a very clear rock solid relationship like many siblings do then its feasible.

Graham wrote: »

It appears we're going to continue to piddle around delivering nowhere near enough expensive semis while large amounts of the potential home-buying population are stuck renting or living at home with Mam n Dad.

It's like we're doubling down on an experiment that isn't working and hoping for the best.

Seems to be a fair amount of apartments being built around the edge Dublin these days.

hurikane

Graham wrote: »

Bit of conclusion jumping on your part I'm afraid.

I think shackling yourself financially to a mortgage/property with anyone other than a partner is a supremely dumb idea.

Not much of a jump though. You’re still gambling.

Graham

Yellow_Fern wrote: »

It can cause a lot of stress and issues but if you have a very clear rock solid relationship like many siblings do then its feasible.

To each their own. Problems generally arise later in the arrangement when one sibling wants to move on, move a partner in, buy a home with a partner, sell the house, rent out their room, loses a job, wants to go travelling for a year.

If you can make it work, fair play to you.

Yellow_Fern wrote: »

Seems to be a fair amount of apartments being built around the edge Dublin these days.

Yup. Mostly for the REITs.

The Wordress

I really thought 2020 would be my house buying year but I'm not hopeful at the moment. Our mortgage application with my own bank was 90% there in March. Covid really upset the apple cart for us. My husband's job is just about hanging on. I have a good salary and savings but my husband is a disaster with money. He is pushing 40 with no savings. He also had a loan that he missed repayments on last year. The bank that our mortgage broker applied to, dug a little deeper with his credit rating and were not happy with the missed repayments. Understandable. We're stuck in limbo waiting for statements to send on to broker to send to ICS. Hopefully we will know in a week or 2.

Anyway, I dunno if it's a divorce or a mortgage I want at this stage :mad:

dotsman

hurikane wrote: »

Starter home also makes me feel ill. The thoughts of having to buy a house, hoping for capital appreciation, then buying another house. Then maybe doing the same again.

The last thing you are hoping for is capital appreciation.

Some idiots during the last boom thought it was great. They were usually the ones who lost big in the recession.

mojesius

The Wordress wrote: »

I really thought 2020 would be my house buying year but I'm not hopeful at the moment. Our mortgage application with my own bank was 90% there in March. Covid really upset the apple cart for us. My husband's job is just about hanging on. I have a good salary and savings but my husband is a disaster with money. He is pushing 40 with no savings. He also had a loan that he missed repayments on last year. The bank that our mortgage broker applied to, dug a little deeper with his credit rating and were not happy with the missed repayments. Understandable. We're stuck in limbo waiting for statements to send on to broker to send to ICS. Hopefully we will know in a week or 2.

Anyway, I dunno if it's a divorce or a mortgage I want at this stage :mad:

Would you have enough to apply just with your own salary/savings? My husband minds our daughter and only works weekends. He missed about 10 weeks last year due to an op which the banks flagged so we just went with my salary to avoid complications. He's still on the mortgage application but they don't need anything related to his accounts as we're using all my earnings/savings accounts. Not sure if this would work or if the red flag for the loan would still be an issue but maybe worth checking!

firstlight

Trying like everyone else to get a place. It is depressing as f***

In an ideal world a small dog box in laoise or Carlow. A renovation job with hopefully an acre of land. I'm more interested in space than the house. I'm from Dublin and need out of the concrete jungle

John Hutton

Have a budget of about 160 to 200k. (Will be buying by myself) Work in Dublin city centre, obviously won't get something there, so I'll be looking further north on the train line, Drogheda probably, which is pushing my "hour from work" rule. But what can I do?

Will probably end up with a three bed semi, ex council built house. Will be some challenges here, crap BER rating among them but at least will be a solidly built house! Hoping for one with a decent garden where I can put up a decent shed as a little workshop. Don't mind a bit of a "doer upper" where it needs modernisation. It needs to be livable though, where I can do a room at a time while I live there.

Have my deposit saved, just going to wait and see what happens with the market, won't be buying until next year.

Lucky in that I'm only paying 400 a a month in rent at the minute and have a job which will not be affected by covid.

The Wordress

mojesius wrote: »

Would you have enough to apply just with your own salary/savings? My husband minds our daughter and only works weekends. He missed about 10 weeks last year due to an op which the banks flagged so we just went with my salary to avoid complications. He's still on the mortgage application but they don't need anything related to his accounts as we're using all my earnings/savings accounts. Not sure if this would work or if the red flag for the loan would still be an issue but maybe worth checking!

Could you tell me who you applied to for your mortgage?

Yes, that is the road we are going down... Using my salary and savings to apply for a mortgage as a single income family. The bank still wanted to see my husband's bank account and the broker still thinks we won't get a mortgage if the bank isn't happy with the missed repayments as we are jointly assessed as such.

The way things are going, I wouldn't mind waiting the next 6 months out. It is a gamble with not getting credit too though.

Duke of Url

First time buyer here and just got the keys to our new build home. We have a joint mortgage and applied for htb jointly also.

em_cat

Graham wrote: »

Bit of conclusion jumping on your part I'm afraid.

I think shackling yourself financially to a mortgage/property with anyone other than a partner is a supremely dumb idea.

I use to think that, however my OH did that with his sister and it’s worked out fine, giving us a place to live during the recession while she built up her career abroad, has ensured she had a place to live to when she returned and when we move, of which we will be within a year as we’ve just bought an infill site and about to go for planning. Or they can decide to sell, neither is interested in becoming landlords. Will caveat that you’d need a pretty solid relationship though.

mojesius

The Wordress wrote: »

Could you tell me who you applied to for your mortgage?

Yes, that is the road we are going down... Using my salary and savings to apply for a mortgage as a single income family. The bank still wanted to see my husband's bank account and the broker still thinks we won't get a mortgage if the bank isn't happy with the missed repayments as we are jointly assessed as such.

The way things are going, I wouldn't mind waiting the next 6 months out. It is a gamble with not getting credit too though.

We went with PTSB through a broker.

I know, it's such a tricky time to buy. I doubt banks will get any tougher than they currently are and prices may go down in some areas in the next year.

Best of luck with whatever you decide to do!