First time house buyer

deadfingers

Hey,

I wish to purchase a house and I would like to ask a few small questions.

How does stamp duty work for a first time buyer? For example if I bought a house for 300k and the stamp duty was 25k would my house cost 325K.

When buying a house what are the hidden pitfalls? Solicator fee's, architectures fee?

What is the growth rate of house prices at the moment, I have heard that it could be 20% and then also heard that on a 3 bed it would be around 3%?

Is there any insurance that you can get that to cover mortage repayments in the case that you are out of work for a period of maybe 3-5 months?

Also do people get that feeling that they are putting a chain around there necking buy trying to buy on there own in this crazy house market?

dochasach

deadfingers wrote:

Hey,

I wish to purchase a house and I would like to ask a few small questions.

How does stamp duty work for a first time buyer? For example if I bought a house for 300k and the stamp duty was 25k would my house cost 325K.

I don't think a first time buyer is liable for stamp duty unless the buyer pays more than 317k http://oasis.gov.ie/housing/buying_a_house_or_flat/stamp_duty.html

When buying a house what are the hidden pitfalls? Solicator fee's, architectures fee?

This website has some information on these hidden fees:
http://www.propertyfile.net/hidden.htm

What is the growth rate of house prices at the moment, I have heard that it could be 20% and then also heard that on a 3 bed it would be around 3%?

It could be, it would be? I've seen a few estimates that if you take the february appreciation and multiply by 12 you get something like 10%. But all of these are guesses, often from biased sources such as estate agents and mortgage lenders. The truth is that no one knows. No one even knows whether it will be a positive or negative number by years end. I suspect we probably have another 6-18 months run up but things turned so suddenly in places such as Florida and Las Vegas that I can't even be certain of that. It's even difficult to get an accurate measure of past price increases.

Is there any insurance that you can get that to cover mortage repayments in the case that you are out of work for a period of maybe 3-5 months?

Yes, if you do a low down payment loan (< 20%) it will probably be required.

Also do people get that feeling that they are putting a chain around there necking buy trying to buy on there own in this crazy house market?

Of course. If you stretch yourself on a 100% ARM mortgage and just get by eating ramen noodles, what do you do when the ECB raises rates to 5%? 5.5%?

There is also no guarantee that the "property ladder" will go up, it is possible to owe more than a house would sell for. If this happens, you are stuck, you can't move to a different city or emmigrate for a new job because when you sell the house, you'll still owe the bank the remainder. In this case, a "property ladder" becomes a "property albatross", a curse on its owner. Owning can be wonderful but too few people are aware that there is a significant downside risk, especially in this environment.

Tazz T

And there's an article on FT.com that says interest rates will almost certainly rise next month. There's a 1 in 4 chance that the rise will be a 1/2 percent adding around 70 euro to the average monthly mortgage payment.

IMO it'll only take a couple more of them to bring the housing market to an abrupt halt.

gamer

up to 317k ,theres no stamp duty, houses in dublin going up circa 15percent ,depends on area, you buy house ,you can get 1 tenant,earn, up to 7200euro rental income ,tax free, see revenue .ie , also you get tax allowance on your mortgage and you have somewhere to live,or maybe you wanna pay rent ,INDEFINITELY.