Affordable Housing - The Idiots Guide

johnjay

hi Dub,

I applied about 3 weeks ago, and got called for an interview next week. From what I read most of the properties that Fingal offer are either apartments in Meakstown (between Finglas, Ballymun and the M50) or houses in Lusk or Ballbriggan, however they had a smaller number in the past in places like Tyrellstown and Swords. From what I hear, the process takes about a year from the time of application to when you find somewhere. John

jdivision

dublin15 wrote:

Has anybody recently purchased a house through the affordable housing scheme in fingal??What are the steps involved?How long does the whole process take??Where were you offered?

Check previous post by myself

dingoxh

I got an offer of a 2 bed aptm from DCC in hampton wood yesterday by post. they say the agent ( hok) will contact me in a few days to arrange viewing....

Did any1 else receive good news this week?

johnjay

Hampton Wood? From DCC?

I thought that was in the Fingal area??? :eek:

dublin15

dingoxh wrote:

I got an offer of a 2 bed aptm from DCC in hampton wood yesterday by post. they say the agent ( hok) will contact me in a few days to arrange viewing....

Did any1 else receive good news this week?

When did you apply for this scheme?my gf and i had an interview 3 weeks ago and are waiting on word.How long were you waiting for approval?

BC

dublin15 wrote:

When did you apply for this scheme?my gf and i had an interview 3 weeks ago and are waiting on word.How long were you waiting for approval?

You don't do interviews for DCC. Its a straightforward lottery. I presume you applied to Fingal?

Johnjay - I applied to DCC and Hampton Wood was on the list I got from them...

johnjay

BC wrote:

Johnjay - I applied to DCC and Hampton Wood was on the list I got from them...

Fingal have properties across the road from Hamton Wood in Cityside.

Any idea what sort of property you are being offered? Price?
How long have yo been on the waiting list?

J

dingoxh

Yeah, its a two bed aptm with parking...the price in brochure DCC sent out a few months ago was between €205000-220000. so i' ll wait and see what the end price will be . I was on list for around 14/15 months. I had 30 points out of 30. then they changed the system to a pure lottery which peeved me a bit as i was priority with my max points but it seems to have all wortked out for the good.

johnjay

Well, I got my approval from Fingal. I'm a bit disappointed, they have only approved me for €140k which is less than I expected or can afford to repay. I have to wait now until they offer me something in that price range. I'm not very hopeful.

johnjay

I had my interview with South Dublin CC last week. All went well. The nice lady I talked to thinks there will be no problems. She's putting me through for 165k over 25 years, though she said they may rise this to 185k over 30 years if a suitable property came up. She says the waiting list is a year and a half though, so I'm hoping something will come up in Fingal before that. J

dublin15

Hi Johnjay,

We have a viewing with Fingal next week in Tyrellstown for A 2 bed apartment! we got approved in mid August, I think there a lot of properties becoming available in the near future.

johnjay

Oh, well done!

I got approved a few weeks after you. Any idea what it will cost you? How did they contact u, phone or letter?

Tyrellstown is quite nice. The village center has almost everything you would want. The only problem is that its a little far out from the city, and I have heard that traffic is awful out there in the mornings. Still though, I think I would find it very hard to turn it down if I got offered out there.

dublin15

We got a phone call, the property we're viewing is €148,000. We are currently living and working in Blanchardstown so dont think we'd find the traffic a problem. Although from my knowledge it can take over an hour to get into the city centre in the mornings by car!! Fingers crossed now, will post how we get on!!!Hope you hear something soon!

johnjay

dublin15 wrote:

We got a phone call, the property we're viewing is €148,000. We are currently living and working in Blanchardstown so dont think we'd find the traffic a problem. Although from my knowledge it can take over an hour to get into the city centre in the mornings by car!! Fingers crossed now, will post how we get on!!!Hope you hear something soon!

Ah, maybe you got an offer so quickly 'cause you already live in the area. I'm in Lucan so I am outside the Fingal area. Well, you couldnt do much better than Tyrellstown so. 148k is a very good price too. Repayments will be just over 800 a month, which is very reasonable.

Best of luck with it, I hope it all works out well.

J

dublin15

Thanks will keep you posted!!:)

inigo

Hi all,

Can I hijack the thread? I've got a few questions about Affordable Housing after all. Feel free to move it... Here we go.

I have seen a common application form for all councils. Would it be better to apply this way (instead of to each council individually) in terms of having a better chance to get something, decide later? Any reasons why I should choose any of the options?

Also it'd be the girlfriend as applicant 1. She was probably earning just about enough to be eligible but her contract has improved a lot this year. Would the fact that it is last year's income they take into account result in a straight rejection or would she be interviewed and then say she's got a higher income and would have no probs to repay the mortgage?

It's also possible she could earn "too much" this year to be eligible and that's when I would come into play. I haven't been working full-time strictly speaking. I'm still a full-time student but my grant run out more than a year ago. This means that appart from the little money I got last year I never got a P60. I am working part-time at the moment though and could contribute to the mortgage. So would it be better to apply jointly? Could we actually do it if we're not married?

We both have (or have had) a saving record (although mine on a student grant would seem pretty laughable!). We have been in rented accomodation for the last 4 years or so (same place) and never missed a payment (standing order).

I know, lots of questions! I would apreciate any help though. Thanks a lot!!

johnjay

Common application form: I have no idea. I applied to the councils on their individual forms before the new single form came out, I haven’t even seen it!

Your girlfriends income will be based on last years P60 (which would have ran from Jan to Dec 2005). I'm not sure what happens if she is just below the limit - they may let it through. If not, you can always wait till Jan 2007 to apply, and then you will be looking at 2006's P60.

The will look favourably on her new increased income to help with repayments. The lady in SDCC calculated my "ability to pay" by taking the figure that I had earned this year "Year to date" from my last payslip, subtracting my PAYE and PRSI "YTD", dividing it by the number of months so far in this year, and using this figure in a table to see what I could afford to pay back. So, in other words, the more your girlfriend has been paid so far this year, the better that figure will be.

I'd say you should apply jointly. I don’t see any reason why not, plus it will bring down your average income. You will also have a better chance of getting a 2+ bedroom place, single people may get a 1 bed.

No, you don’t have to be married.

If you have a savings record and a good rent-history, then good. The dont seem to mind loans, but big credit card bills and overdrafts are a no-no. SDCC even made me write to my bank and cancel my over-draft eventhough it has never been very substantial.

I must say that I found both Fingal and South Dublin Co Co VERY helpful during my interviews. You should give them a call with any questions you may have. SDCC also have a walk-in office in Tallaght where you can visit and talk to one of their staff.


Hope this helps

J

inigo

Excellent stuff J. Thank you very much!

PS: http://www.affordablehome.ie/uploads/documents/common%20application%20form.pdf

inigo

The application for DCC is gone... I finally put both our names. Fingers crossed now! Thanks again for the advice!!

johnjay

dublin15 wrote:

Thanks will keep you posted!!:)

Any news yet, Dublin15?

dublin15

went to have a look.Was very nice however they were all gone and we were put on a cancellation list.A bit crappy when you get your hopes up.Its just a matter of waiting now...........

johnjay

dublin15 wrote:

went to have a look.Was very nice however they were all gone and we were put on a cancellation list.A bit crappy when you get your hopes up.Its just a matter of waiting now...........

Ah Crap!

What sort of place was it?

Stephen P

Just thought I'd share my experience with being on the Affordable Housing list.
I'm on the SDCC list since March '06. Myself and my girlfriend were told that we would be waiting a maximum of 10 months, so that would mean we would hear by Jan. '07. SDCC's area is divided into 2 area's, the Naas Road is the dividing line. So when applying you can choose both sides of the Naas Road or just one. We picked the North of Naas Road (Lucan, Clondalkin, Palmerstown & Newcastle). Lucan & Clondalkin are 2 that seem to have the most properties but at the moment there's not much being built so I can't see it being 10 months before we're offered somewhere, I'd reckon 12 months maybe more. Adamstown will have some Affordable Housing Units, which I heard will be available early next year but I have my doubts about that. SDCC have a scheme under Sustaining Progress which closed last Friday, that scheme will be like a lottery but it's totally different to the normal Affordable Housing Scheme that SDCC have. You have to apply to that separately and that mortgage if you're successful is given by a bank, whereas under the normal scheme the council give you the mortgage. My girlfriend changed jobs within the past few weeks so we wouldn't have qualified for that scheme. But if you change jobs after you've been accepted on the normal scheme that doesn't matter.

underpants

Most of the affordable housing schemes ask to see a record of savings?? They want to see 3 consecutive months where you've saved 650 euro a month and you have to continue on saving at least that amount until your offered a place.
Doesn't anyone know anything about this or have any experience dealing with the councils and not having records showing that much saving??
I could start saving that much now but then that would mean I couldn't apply for another 3 months, or can I just apply now and start saving that amount from now and that would be enough to cover me?
help!

podge018

Okay, im not sure if you're asking a question, or know it all already but here's the facts.

With your application you need to show proof of the last 3 months savings of €650. You need to carry on this saving until you are approved, and if you are approved you need to carry on saving until you get offered a house and are up for final loan approval.

underpants

so basically its a waste of time applying now if I havent saved at least 650 a month for the last 3 months?
Even if I start saving straight away and prove that I can afford 650 a month and have no bills/loans/other payments that would mean I couldn't afford 650 a month, its not good enough?

podge018

Here's what it says:

 Evidence of a savings record in the sum of €650/€750 per month over a 3 month period prior to application. This level of savings must be maintained until Final Loan Approval issues. In the case of applicants living in the family home and paying “Keep”, this is not reckonable as part of a savings record.
 Rent may be taken into account as part of a savings record if there is proof of rent i.e. Standing Order and/or Lease Agreement. In addition, an adequate savings record is required at time of application.

So unless you have proof of 3 months prior to application, no, there's no point applying as your application would be ineligible. As it would be if you don't include anything else that's requested on the checklist.

inigo

podge018 wrote:

Rent may be taken into account as part of a savings record if there is proof of rent i.e. Standing Order and/or Lease Agreement.

This can save us. We've been paying over €1000 rent every month for the last 3 years or so! Standing order too...

jdivision

inigo wrote:

This can save us. We've been paying over €1000 rent every month for the last 3 years or so! Standing order too...

SSIA payments also count

gary the great

A few more questions:

FOr a couple is it 650 a month between us? And if so does it have to be a joint account? Im currently putting max into the SSIA so that counts for 25o plus i always have wages left over so it could show up as 650 a month. But we'll make sure to ensure we save at least 650 a month.

ANother problem, although my GF worked full time this year and last year, I was in college and working part time so didnt earn to much. My GF earned about 28k though, id say last year i earned about 7k. And although im now in fulltime employment, thats only since the the start of october so my yearly income for this year will be crap aswell. Will we have to wait till Jan 2008 before we apply? Or if we apply will it be my GF who actually gets the house or will i be on the mortgage too? Will they take into consideration that im working now so our joined income is largely increased (by 27k) and that throughout college i kept an SSIA that now has a considerable amount, due in April?

Thanks for any help!