Do's and don'ts for first time buyers

Jen Pigs Fly wrote: »

Oh, and HTB is for new builds/self builds only. Did not see this mentioned.

You get 5% of the house cost up to the max of €20,000. It depends on tax paid though, if you’ve paid €10k tax but qualified for the full €20k you only get the €10k.
You also need to submit returns for the last 4 years and pay back any tax owed.

Ah, so the HTB doesn't work if I seen a previously owned house? I was hoping this would be the case.

I don't know anyone who has applied for this scheme and has used it so I haven't a clue what the process is for it but thanks for letting me know :-)

Jen Pigs Fly wrote: »

We had the usual DDs, rent, vhi, his car loan, phones, etc. We kept them all but I cancelled a subscription I had to a clothes company (popfit how I miss you!) and use my parents Netflix.
I also had a little woods account but it didn’t seem to come up at all so I just left it, I don’t pay DD to littlewoods I just go in monthly and pay back my minimum so maybe that’s how it went under the radar.

We haven’t painted the house, we got floors in and kitchen in. Then we got stung with lockdown. So we have our tv, sofa, bits and bobs, master bed and second room bed, 3rd room is currently used as storage! We have a kitchen table, it’s all we needed. Very handy having someone who can paint and such though. My partner he was able to put up the curtains, assemble furniature and fix problems that arose.

I should note - if family members are giving cash as a gift towards the deposit/house purchase, they will need to sign an affidavit for the banks that they are relinquishing all claims to the house. Gifting furniture and such it grand though. My broker and solicitor fixed all that up for us. The bank deemed a small inheritance I got that I used to pay back a car loan as a money lend towards the house. My dad signed the affidavit. Was crazy, the money came in a year before we even we for approval.

If I spoke to a family member, I could try and get a gift sum if it means helping more. Obviously I could make an agreement with them to pay them back over a certain amount of time etc. How much would be too much? Is there a only allowed to be a certain amount gifted? But if it was a case of a family member not being able to gift a sum amount, would that matter?

Honestly I was sad to see some subscriptions go. I do love do love a good browse and if I wanted a good splurge but I knew myself if I kept at it then it would be harder for me now to part with some clothing sites. I think that was the hardest for me to let go haha! My partner was gutted when I told him about the bookies online. Obviously he was unstanding but it was his little thing once every few weeks or when the big races were on but some sacrifices have to be made.

Call me dramatic here but in terms of saving for Christmas and trips away (which I've also accepted might have to be put on the back burner for now) how did you manage to put away enough for those? More so occasions. I've a couple of birthdays coming up and I've tried to see how could incorporate deposit savings and "raniny day" savings and its not possible at the minute. It's one or the other for now. Did you find it hard to save and still afford the other little bits or did you find it was a case of people will have to understand that I'm prioratising one thing at a time?

SozBbz wrote: »

Honestly when it comes to Christmas etc, maybe tell family and friends that you're not doing christmas this year as you're saving for a house. Or if thats too extreme, opt for a secret santa type scenario that means you buy for only one person?

This is probably going to come across as annoying because I was always the sort of person who saved anyway, so when I wanted to buy, I had savings ready so never saved for a house as such, but I think genreally being good with money boils down to avoiding mindless spending.

Whats actually important? Personally I love going away so I'll always prioritise that. I have areas where I actively resent spending money and will shop for bargains such as insurance, utilities, groceries (love Aldi - think Dunnes in particular are a rip off). I rarely ever buy take away coffees and I hardly spend any money on my hair for example (2/3 trims a year). I stopped allowing myself to be influenced on instagram to buy every new bit of makeup etc.

Go through your spending, take a months bank statement (maybe not a quarentine month as its not the norm) and see where your money is really going. Are all the purchases necessary? Are there items you could cut without impacting on your quality of life?

I'm with you on Aldi. It's the only place I will walk into to buy any groceries. Even if I just need milk on a Wednesday, I'll treck to Aldi just because its cheaper! At one point I've questioned whether I've turned into the lot on TLC on that program, Cheapsakes but really, if I can find a good bargain in Aldi then I'm sold. I refuse to go into bigger stores just because I know I can get better, regardless of brand names. Food, toiletries etc, its always Aldi. I might venture into Lidl if I'm feeling like a rebel haha. Maybe Dealz if I fancy a nosey but even Dealz has caught me out a couple of times and I've had to hide what I bought because they've been the most pointless items I could of easily ignored to buy but sure.

When I was in my early 20s I never even taught of savings. I probably never uttered the word from my mouth. I would of rathered spending. Honestly I've regretted that now. Not just for the fact that I could of bought a house earlier but moreso, I would understand the value of money. Me and my partner were still living with parents at the time so we taught sure money, that's something you can spend. But now it's, money, that's something we can save. I used to laugh at people who saved in their teens/early twenties but sure who's laughing now because those guys are the ones I cry out to be haha!

I've taught of explaining to family members about the Christmas presents. I've just got my partner and parents so really it's 3 people so I'm lucky in a sense that I don't have a huge family. This year however I think me and my partner might get some small stuff, stocking fillers as such and my parents vouchers. For the immediate family, I'm sure they can come to an understanding and accept that this year won't be the year for splurging.

Black_Knight wrote: »

FYI, gifts of up to 3k euro from a parent are exempt from inheritance tax. Technically parents on both sides could gift 3k each, and it's all ok.

Loans from parents could complicate things. The bank might see them as having some ownership in the property.

That's what I was worried about. I've it in my head that if we recieve money from family as a gift, would that mean, if complications did arise for mortage payments (I can promise it won't after the stress of saving and finally get a mortage the last thing we will do is ruin it for ourselves) would they get in trouble or would they have ownership. My parents have said they will help if needed but I think there's a lot of pride in myself and partner that we would rather do it ourselves and not ask for help but I won't say no to a new kettle or toaster haha.

stresshead101 wrote: »

This has been a very interesting read.

Firstly, good luck with your house buying process! It's definitely a journey full of emotions but so worth it in the end! Myself and my partner have our keys a month now and our process was filled with many bumps, but it really is a great feeling!

One thing that may make the process a little less stressful is to make a set arrangement to save the deposit and extras.

Myself and himself set up a joint current account (which is now used to pay our mortgage) and decided on a fixed amount that we would save each month. When we opened our account, we made two single deposits of what we had saved already for our 'house fund' and then saved a set amount at the same time every month. We were able to save extra in our personal accounts whenever we had it and every now and again we would make a single deposit to the house. This meant that we had our own savings that we could use for guilt-free special occasions.

If your aim is save your deposit and other fees over 18 months, definitely sit down and calculate how much you *need* to save per month and then work off that. Everything extra is a bonus then, and it just takes so much stress away!!

In relation to the actual house hunting, one thing I read that always stuck with me was..
"Buy what you can't change, and change what you can"
Basically, sit down with himself and write a list of things all that you want out of a house. Then separate them into things that you can't change (eg. SW facing garden, rear entry, off street parking, etc.), and things that you can (eg. triple-glazed windows, modern kitchen, carpet stairs, etc).
When you go looking, know that everything on your list won't be met but look for things that you really want and wont be able to fix later. You can change a kitchen or carpet stairs, but you cant make a North facing garden sunny.

You won't enjoy living in a house if only your basic needs are met. Something to think about.

Thank you so much for this post and a huge congratulations on your new home :-)

Luckily we've already decided on how much we can save each month and I think it helps greatly that we are saving separately as it doesn't seem as pressurising to find out if the other has saved more or less. We pretty much have decided that from our own accounts we save a set amount and every now and again we inform each how much we have. Funnily enough it has encouraged us more as we can say we have X more amount rather than saying I personally only have X amount. Once we've hit what we needed then of course when the time comes to get a mortage it'll be set jointly but for now I think the encouragement from both our savings is exciting is more.

This time last year when we made the decision on saving we were so stuck on what we were doing or how to save or what to save but we continued to put by whatever we could. There wasn't an exact amount saved each week but since the start of this year we sort of knuckled down and said right this is what the situation is but after that we ended up lost again because we weren't sure how much we actually had to save. Thanks to this thread though, it's been made so much easier we actually feel we could reach our target by next year if we keep sticking to what we are doing and of course the advice and tips from this thread has me on such a positive high that I know if it's possible for a couple with no children, 1 child or 10 children and still able to rent then it's absolutely possible for us.

Corruptedmorals wrote: »

We got AIP a year ago, went sale agreed in June, drew down in February about an hour before the letter of offer extension expired and got keys start of March.

If you're buying and a title issue is discovered, think heavily about the delay this could cause. We knew it would delay the sale by 6 weeks at least but wouldn't have thought our September closure date would move 6 months in total. Worth it now but we lived at home. This scenario would be even more of a nightmare with rent involved.

AIB and their app were a dream to deal with the entire time, I really don't think it's necessary to have a broker especially for a straightforward application. After each viewing we immediately made a list of pros and cons before we could allow an asking price or nice estate agent doing the viewing to ignore flaws. If there's more than one viewing on a property you want to make an offer on, get a knowledgeable family member to go to one. Or ring and ask if you can get another viewing. It's a huge purchase involving a lot of money so there's no harm in pushing to be certain before putting in an offer. Another pair of eyes can spot things that will need a lot of money to sort.

Not being the highest bidder often doesn't mean disaster. Have a max price in mind and stick to it. We had someone go over us at the last minute but still got it as we were FTB.

Congratulations on your home :-)

Do you think being FTB can be a positive or negative thing? By that I mean, would we be more walkovers to other buyers or would sellers try and take advantage of that and make us try and bid higher? Or is it a case of, the house is X amount, we love it, we would like to buy it and it's up to the estate agent to sort everything else out?

As you can tell, I've absolutely no idea how it works. I've read various threads about people falling in love with a house then someone pulling the wool from under their feet and they've had to back away because someone else has pretty much said they will happily pay more than what the price actually was. Is this often the case that a house is advertised as X amount but realistically the seller wants more? Is it really that competitive?

As usual, on an evening and with nothing else to be doing. I find myself online looking at potential houses and I showed my partner a house and we both fell in love with it. One more bedroom that we wanted which was perfect. I mean, huge back garden that my partner has always said he wanted because he loves gardening and building plus it looks like the back garden takes all of the sun so I could happily sit outside. Personal drive way instead of parking on the street. The house itself wasnt huge but not tiny either so we could still menuover around. The advertisement said it needed no renovations as its been done over the years and I know I shouldn't go by what the pictures say but it genuinely looks like you could move in straight away and not have to worry about major issues and still add our own bits and pieces over the years. The price the seller was asking for was so shockenly low and the advertisment didn't mention renovations and it said it had all modern features so it looked like the house was looked after over the years. But that usually brings me to a question of, is it low because the seller expects more? In saying that, location wise, my partner reckons its so cheaper because its further outside of Dublin and for that reason alone, I would happily pay the asking price.

I have my partners head done in the last few days because of my constant researching. I just want to know that I'm doing this all correctly. We've sat down and done our maths. We know exactly what it is we want. We have decided that 18 months, maybe a month or two after to get exactly what he need for deposit and fees.

Corruptedmorals wrote: »

It's seen as a positive thing because FTB aren't in a chain. If you are selling a property before buying another this can have problems and delays. If the buyer wants a quick sale they will often choose cash buyer or FTB over those in a chain.

Your offer will depend on how bidding is going or if it has begun. If it hasn't begun, bid under the asking. Not so low that they won't treat it seriously. 10k under would have been the standard but I'm not sure how the market has affected this now. Often a property has 'the asking price' and 'the real price/take it off the market price' they are waiting for a bidder to reach but this won't be revealed until you're bidding already. Again, I would imagine it will be less competitive now and sellers would be more eager to take an offer than to hang around hoping for a magical offer that could well be unobtainable.

Good luck with your search.

Perfect responce. Thank you so much :-)

Sawyer Fancy Beaver wrote: »

Don't get a fixer upper. A homebuyers report is not a clean bill of health. Get a house built within the last decade if possible. Avoid buying the most expensive house you can get a loan for, if you can.

That's exactly what we are hoping for in terms of a newish house. We've realised that a complete fixer upper isn't going to be worth all the saving only to find out that so much has to be done and leave ourselves in a position where we have to take loans out or borrow from parents. From this thread, we've learned so much its been great.

Jen Pigs Fly wrote: »

Himself is the same, he will go out every few Months with friends and such or work mates, especially as were in Kildare and he usually goes into Dublin, so I’d rather spend the tenner petro over the €60 taxi! It is very helpful. Plus our broker said our lifestyle of spending €50 in Eddie rockets or TGIs, cinema, etc looked better than every weekend spending €100 on alcohol, said it looks better. Obviously a bank can’t judge, but they do!

We also found they query taking cash out, so we just ran everything through the bank accounts. Easier to justify €70 in Penney’s than is was to withdraw €100 and justify it. Some may say different, but we kept the bank accounts healthy, kept necessary DDs, bought stuff through it. Was more transparent.

And if you have a resolute they will ask for statements for that too.

It’s just knowing that it’s yours, it still hasn’t sunk in yet, but we out curtains up last week and after the first hole was drilled and we got over the “oh ****” moment it was very freeing!

I even went extra and cancelled my Revolute account. Although I do accept the savings option with the revolute app is very good and its great for savings loose coins as they would say, I found i was spending more than I needed to so I could round up my savings. Maybe when this is all done and Im sat in my new home with a cup of tea (some would say wine but again I barely drink so tea excites me just as much haha!) ill probably sit down and see about getting revolute again. That's definitely nipped for now.

I can't wait for that "ohhhh **** we can actually do what we want" moment. My first freeing moment will probably be the bedroom and sitting room. Our room and sitting room now is so basic and I'm dying to get my hands on some paint and curtains and frames and just go the whole hog and not feel one bit guilty. My partner is dying to get his hands on a garden and build his own little man shed.

I actually won't know myself.

We went down to my parents house the other day, social distant greeting of course, and they are more excited than we are. Mind you they are just happy to know we've gathered as much information as we could especially from this thread. They said when they were buying a house it wasn't half as dramatic as it is now. But hey, that's the fun part I guess.

partyguinness wrote: »

You almost have to go to great lengths to show you did not need the money.

It is worth bearing in mind that mortgage providers are in the business of selling mortgages and there is a 'Mortgage Advisor' attached to every branch with a sales target to hit every month.

Trust me, underwriters are not that bothered if you stop going to the cinema and start shopping in Lidl- they factor living costs regardless.

In other words and within reason, it is easier than you think to get a mortgage and you are in a better position than you may believe.

Do you reckon?

They would rather see you can pay them off and not at all that bothered about what exactly you spend your money on or is it just more so see that you can pay and still afford to live? I'm a little bit confused.

I do get that some days I tend to panic a little bit thinking we cant afford to save because we've rent etc but watching what we have done the last few months in terms of saving, watching what we spend our money on, thinking wisely about what we do need, we are still able to live so i think my main issue lies on what the banks actually want to see, what would prove to them that we are a good candidate for a mortage and not just two young couples saving for the fun of it and chancing our arms, do they want to see how much you've saved or is it a case of what you can afford? Or both?

I know I've asked about 20 questions there but I'm just a little bit confused as to how easy it is to get a mortage if it seems pointless to cancel a lot of subscriptions, go to brokers or save as much as we need, switch shopping stores etc.

coughdrops wrote: »

You don't need to cancel everything - when they look at your accounts, they will expect to see *some* things like shopping and leisure activities, if you can afford them. As long as it is not leaving you broke at the end of the month, and you've budgeted your savings too.

IME it is better to have a consistent saving pattern too - even if it is a small amount each month, and you top it up when you can afford a bit more, that shows you budget for savings. E.G. if you want to save €500 per month, but some months you can't afford that, I'd save €350 per month and the months you have the extra €150 add it in.

Your rent will count towards your affordability too.

When you are getting close to having your deposit saved, spend the 6 months before being a bit more careful on unnecessary spending, but you don't have to cancel everything e.g. your gym or Netflix (I know some people want to, to save faster, that's fine too of course!)

Oh perfect!

Exactly what I was hoping to gather from this. Of course all advice, opinions, tips and tricks are all taking into consideration and I've learned loads, believe me.

So far, all is well in the savings. If found I've more than enough left by the end of the week as I get paid weekly so the day before pay day and I've still a decent enough, even if its €20. I'll throw that into the savings as well. Treat night is once a week so that's our "big splurge" because obviously we can't go out properly. Luckily I'm not a huge shop a holic so it doesn't phase me if I don't splurge on clothes but I will admit, I've seen some great sales online but again, I refrained as to me it honestly seems pointless buying loads in a sale when I know I wont even wear half the stuff I bought plus it works out handy that the wardropes in my current house is tiny so I have no reasons to buy clothes to squeeze into a tiny wardrope!

Mind you, I know ikea will be opening up soon so I'll have to refraine from buying "new house bits". 1) there will be nowhere to even put them in this house and 2) I will end up buying and orange peeler I'll never use just because its in IKEA for €2 haha!

CBear1993 wrote: »

DONT :

Take a monster of a sh*te that results in the same stench in the property when you go to a viewing after getting on very well with the estate agent.

Thréad lightly on water and view all options rather than believing an estate agent is genuine and is giving us what we want?

EireinOZ wrote: »

Me and my partner are saving for a house .I am a public servant and my partner is a engineering. We are both just starting our working career . I'm on 26k and he is on 28k per year. Our rent 600 a month and our car loans are 380 a month . we save about 1500-1600 a month. What is the chance of the banks leading us more than 3.5 times of our income ? We would like to get a house for 300000. We should have our 10 percent deposit in Jan 21

Good luck :-)

I hope someone can inform you with this because I honestly haven't a clue.