Affordable House

laurak265

tomcollins97 wrote: »

How does the council get the money to buy the houses from the developer if it is not from taxes?

Well if the builder has to pay the council 14k per house built for damages to roads and connection to services...thats a good chunk of it! Then remember i get a mortgage for my house and i pay it to the council and pay it back to the lending institution so thats where it comes from! The houses i'm talking of moving into have only just be handed over to the council to allocate!! So its not like the council had spent your taxes on them months ago!

laurak265

tomcollins97 wrote: »

Working just as hard as everyone else but because of being a single mother getting a cheap house - I wish we were all as lucky & our main worry was not being able to afford sky! The rest of the taxpayers are covering the cost of this 'affordable' housing

I am not getting a house cheap because i'm a single mother. I am buying an affordable house because i don't earn enough money to buy a house in my area. Single people also take this up as do low income couples! I'm not moving into an estate of single mammies!! Please don't think that i'm using my child to get a house, He will of course be living with me because it would be our home but its not because of him i'm getting it!

My main worry was not that i wouldn't be able to afford sky! If you actually go back and READ my post it was all my bills...esb, gas, bins, tv licience and the cost of furnishing my house! Sky was on the bottom of the list!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *sshole!

tomcollins97

laurak265 wrote: »

My main worry was not that i wouldn't be able to afford sky! If you actually go back and READ my post it was all my bills...esb, gas, bins, tv licience and the cost of furnishing my house! Sky was on the bottom of the list!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *sshole!

no need to be offensive just because you do not like/agree with my opinion. Resorting to name calling is not the way to conduct a discussion. You are never going to agree with everyone who posts to boards.ie - that goes with the territory. When you post a question you should be prepared for answers you do not like. If you really do not agree with the post you can reply, however name calling is not the most effective way of getting your point across in an eloquent & adult manner.

laurak265

tomcollins97 wrote: »

no need to be offensive just because you do not like/agree with my opinion. Resorting to name calling is not the way to conduct a discussion. You are never going to agree with everyone who posts to boards.ie - that goes with the territory. When you post a question you should be prepared for answers you do not like. If you really do not agree with the post you can reply, however name calling is not the most effective way of getting your point across in an eloquent & adult manner.

Were you answering my question?? My question was...Was there anyone who had been in a similar situation and had they any advice for me? You actually called my a typical single mother...using the system to get a house! You don't know me and you don't know how hard i struggle NOT to be what you just called me!

CiaranC

tomcollins97 wrote: »

I CHOSE to put a roof over my head

No, you chose to pay a large mortgage. You could just as easily have rented.

tomcollins97

laurak265 wrote: »

Were you answering my question?? My question was...Was there anyone who had been in a similar situation and had they any advice for me? You actually called my a typical single mother...using the system to get a house! You don't know me and you don't know how hard i struggle NOT to be what you just called me!

Likewise you do not know me or my daily struggles to put a roof over my head. I am not in your situation.

Previously I did go on the list - but by the time I was called my income had just risen above the threshold. By that time I had decided not to persue social housing for a number of reasons:

• The council owns the equity you make on the proprty for a number of years. This leaves you stuck in the system as if in 10 years time you want to move you will not have earned enough equity on the property to have kept up with the housing market so will still be on the bottom rung of the ladder
• An apartment was what I would have be offered, as I had no children. If this had changed I would have had to reaply for a house & possibly move area
• Resentment from neighbours. A number of people do not like the idea of their next door neighbout paying a much lower mortage than they do. This is not just my opinion. RTE had a program on a few weeks ago that interviewed a number of people in social housing units in Grand Canal Dock. A number of people had been relocated from inner city areas. They generally felt resentment towards them from people who had paid full price for their home. So much so that they set up their own social housing residents association
• I did not want to live in an area where I and my future children would not be able to keep up with the social background of others who lived there. For example, more affluent areas tend to have more expensive pubs, cafes, shops, restaurants etc. Any future children would be going to a local school where they would mix with local kids who would potentially come from a more privalaged background - this could lead to issues in school such as bullying. Not having the right runners, labeled clothes etc.

The above is my opionion. If you do not agree I'm sure you will let me know! Regarding the 'typical single mother' comment this is how your original post read to me. Not having all the info, certain assumptions were made based on the information available at the time. But, when using boards.ie which is an anonymous message board you should not get riled so easily! No one knows the details of everyones situation so will make assumptions & form opinions which you will not always agree with

tomcollins97

CiaranC wrote: »

No, you chose to pay a large mortgage. You could just as easily have rented.

Rent & mortgage are roughly the same - depending on where you are living. Rent gives little security, you are in someones else's property, living with their choice of decor & possibly furniture. For example, putting nails in walls for pictures is not possible, you are not in a home, you are in a house. I chose not to live my life that way. So yes, I suppose I, like thousands of others, chose to be crippled by a large mortgage.

laurak265

Tom, its monday morning and i haven't the energy to fight with ya! Thank you for your input and experience of Affordable housing it much appreciated.

PS I only mentioned i was a single mother so that people replying would understand that i had 2 mouths to feed and 2 backs to cloth and that inflatable furniture wouldn't be an option for me (Sharp toys and all)

tomcollins97

laurak265 wrote: »

Tom, its monday morning and i haven't the energy to fight with ya! Thank you for your input and experience of Affordable housing it much appreciated.

PS I only mentioned i was a single mother so that people replying would understand that i had 2 mouths to feed and 2 backs to cloth and that inflatable furniture wouldn't be an option for me (Sharp toys and all)

Its not a fight! Friends??

laurak265

tomcollins97 wrote: »

Its not a fight! Friends??

Yep!

DonJose

tomcollins97 wrote: »

Its not a fight! Friends??

laurak265 wrote: »

Yep!

Now that you two are friends, you can move in together and split the bills

laurak265

DonJose wrote: »

Now that you two are friends, you can move in together and split the bills

Good plan batman!!!

Sheera

tomcollins97 wrote: »

Previously I did go on the list - but by the time I was called my income had just risen above the threshold. By that time I had decided not to persue social housing for a number of reasons:

[*]Resentment from neighbours. A number of people do not like the idea of their next door neighbout paying a much lower mortage than they do. This is not just my opinion. RTE had a program on a few weeks ago that interviewed a number of people in social housing units in Grand Canal Dock. A number of people had been relocated from inner city areas. They generally felt resentment towards them from people who had paid full price for their home. So much so that they set up their own social housing residents association

Sorry to be pedantic but is this not a discussion about affordable housing and not social housing? People who avail of affordable housing are for the most part professional people who just do not earn enough to buy their own property in the current market. Social housing is a different matter. I can not imagine that there are major social or cultural differences between those who buy a property at market value in a particular development and those who buy it at an 'affordable' housing rate.

tomcollins97

Sheera wrote: »

Sorry to be pedantic but is this not a discussion about affordable housing and not social housing? People who avail of affordable housing are for the most part professional people who just do not earn enough to buy their own property in the current market. Social housing is a different matter. I can not imagine that there are major social or cultural differences between those who buy a property at market value in a particular development and those who buy it at an 'affordable' housing rate.

Apologies, I do mean affordable housing and not social housing.

Surely if someone can afford a house at 500k & someelse buys in the same location at a fraction of the cost there will be substantial income & possibly social differences??

astrofool

tomcollins97 wrote: »

Apologies, I do mean affordable housing and not social housing.

Surely if someone can afford a house at 500k & someelse buys in the same location at a fraction of the cost there will be substantial income & possibly social differences??

It depends, a single buying a house might have a similar income (& lifestyle) to a neighbouring couple, but obviously can only spend half as much on the property.

Also, this scheme is open to people who are earning above the national average, the discrepency is going to be nowhere near as huge as with social housing.

tomcollins97

astrofool wrote: »

It depends, a single buying a house might have a similar income (& lifestyle) to a neighbouring couple, but obviously can only spend half as much on the property.

Also, this scheme is open to people who are earning above the national average, the discrepency is going to be nowhere near as huge as with social housing.

What happens with affordable housing if you buy when single but end up married a few years down the line? Is there any claw-back feature where you will end up having to pay more if there is a joint income in the house?

laurak265

tomcollins97 wrote: »

What happens with affordable housing if you buy when single but end up married a few years down the line? Is there any claw-back feature where you will end up having to pay more if there is a joint income in the house?

Good question...i don't know but i have never heard of it happening so probably not!

jam_mac_jam

tomcollins97 wrote: »

Working just as hard as everyone else but because of being a single mother getting a cheap house - I wish we were all as lucky & our main worry was not being able to afford sky! The rest of the taxpayers are covering the cost of this 'affordable' housing

oh, I didnt realise that only single mothers could apply for these houses thats quite strange seeing as there are plenty of people without kids getting them. When did they change the rule that only single mothers could get them?

jam_mac_jam

tomcollins97 wrote: »

What happens with affordable housing if you buy when single but end up married a few years down the line? Is there any claw-back feature where you will end up having to pay more if there is a joint income in the house?

Nothing, it is no way based upon your status as married or single

Sheera

tomcollins97 wrote: »

Apologies, I do mean affordable housing and not social housing.

Surely if someone can afford a house at 500k & someelse buys in the same location at a fraction of the cost there will be substantial income & possibly social differences??

Not necessarily - some jobs/professions are just higher paid than others (obviously), eg. I work in the public sector & earn a lot less then some of my friends in the private sector, or who are at different stages in their careers. I can avail of affordable housing, some of them can not, or choose not to because they earn enough to buy privately. But we are all from the same background & same social grouping.

There is also the question of singles v couples in terms of spending power as astrofool mentioned.

tomcollins97

jam_mac_jam wrote: »

oh, I didnt realise that only single mothers could apply for these houses thats quite strange seeing as there are plenty of people without kids getting them. When did they change the rule that only single mothers could get them?

Where did I say only 'single mothers'? I was posting in the context of what th OP had psoted

tomcollins97

jam_mac_jam wrote: »

Nothing, it is no way based upon your status as married or single

What I mean if what happens if a single income household buy an affordable house, but down the line becomes a double income household which pushes the total income above that which is allowable for affordable housing?

SimpleSam06

Sheera wrote: »

Not necessarily - some jobs/professions are just higher paid than others (obviously), eg. I work in the public sector & earn a lot less then some of my friends in the private sector, or who are at different stages in their careers.

Do you mind if I ask you which section of the public sector that might be? Because public sector pay generally has been increasing three times faster than private sector for the last ten years, and it started out pretty much the same.

cassiedoll

hi folks,

i have been on the waiting list for a year for an affordable home and i got a telephone call from DCC to say that i had been selected for an apartment with a purchase price of e215,000. i was told that i need to have approval in principle and e3000 deposit by wednesday the 17th of September.

i actually checked out the floor plans for my 1 bed apartment...and believe me you could barely see it on the screen....

i rang all the relevant banks and im looking at mortgage repayments of approx. e1200 a month....this does not include management company fees, gas, esb, etc etc.....this will cripple me financially and i am not in a position to ask for a payrise with the way the economy is going.

will the re-mortgage repayments etc. be worth it all for a small 1 bed..

i dont know any1 personally who is this situation and its a big gamble i think....

i spoke with one girl who got a one bed apartment in santry for e180k....

i dont know what to do and i dont have much time

tomcollins97

cassiedoll wrote: »

hi folks,

i have been on the waiting list for a year for an affordable home and i got a telephone call from DCC to say that i had been selected for an apartment with a purchase price of e215,000. i was told that i need to have approval in principle and e3000 deposit by wednesday the 17th of September.

i actually checked out the floor plans for my 1 bed apartment...and believe me you could barely see it on the screen....

i rang all the relevant banks and im looking at mortgage repayments of approx. e1200 a month....this does not include management company fees, gas, esb, etc etc.....this will cripple me financially and i am not in a position to ask for a payrise with the way the economy is going.

will the re-mortgage repayments etc. be worth it all for a small 1 bed..

i dont know any1 personally who is this situation and its a big gamble i think....

i spoke with one girl who got a one bed apartment in santry for e180k....

i dont know what to do and i dont have much time

My advise would be no. Check out the small print & what equity you could walk away with after 3, 5, 10 years etc. You could be in a situation where your circumstance change & you need a bigger place, you see & have to give the bulk of any profit back, and suddenly find youself back on the bottom rung of the ladder or apply to affordable housing again. That said, if a one bed suits your circumstances & you feel that you would be happy in it long term well maybe it is the right thing for you to do.

BTW, what lender have you gone to - the payments seem very hig for a mortgage of 215k

cassiedoll

tomcollins,

i should have stated that im not getting a 100% mortgage...im putting 15k of my own money so i am only getting a mortgage of 200k and i think the repayments are scandalous

i have spoken with Haven Mortgages, the EBS, First Active, Bank of Ireland and im waiting on IIB to get back to me

they all seem to be in or around 1200...if teh repayments were only 1000 i could to it

astrofool

What % interest rate is each offering? You will definitely benefit by going to a broker in this instance (you don't have to use them in the end), but you should get a better rate offered.

Haven and EBS are the same company, also check out AIB.

tomcollins97

cassiedoll wrote: »

tomcollins,

i should have stated that im not getting a 100% mortgage...im putting 15k of my own money so i am only getting a mortgage of 200k and i think the repayments are scandalous

i have spoken with Haven Mortgages, the EBS, First Active, Bank of Ireland and im waiting on IIB to get back to me

they all seem to be in or around 1200...if teh repayments were only 1000 i could to it

In the present climate I would suggest saying no & renting for a while. One beds are about 800 to rent which would mean you could save 200 a month to put towards a mortgage in a few year. If you don’t mine me asking, what age are you? You need to bear in mind that you will also be using up your 1st time buyers stamp exemption on this property. Having to find stamp for home number two will make it even harder to move to a different place in a few years should you wish to do so.

In the early years of your mortgage the majority of the payment goes towards the interest owed.As your mortgage term matures your repayment goes more and more towards the capital amount borrowed. At the end of your mortgage term the loan is fully paid off. So, if you were to pay a mortgage for a few years would you be any better off than renting? If you pay for 5 years on a 20 year mortage you will not have paid poff a quarter of the capital after 5 years, just a lot of interest & a bit of capital. So by renting for a few years you are not really ‘throwing away’ money. My advise would be to rent a bit longer & save what you can to put towards a better place.

For example, on a 200k loan the starting payment will be on average: interest + capital monthly repayment is €1,365. Interest only is €900. So each moth you are only paying off €465 of the capital owed at the start of the loan!

cassiedoll

hi astrofool...as far as i was aware AIB dont offer affordable housing mortgages..

and apparently its in the pipeline at the mo for PTSB to join this sort of lending

cassiedoll

i rented for 5 and half years and moved back in with my parents 2 years ago and im now 27 years old..

as i am trying to eliminate costs i couldnt afford to get a mortgage broker and would be doing most of the work myself...i work in a solicitors office so i wont be paying legal fees.

i understand bout the first time buyer....and that was a big issue for me before i even applied to A.H.

insofar as the interest rates and capital...im not 100% clued in on it..

if i dont take this opportunity i dont know what DCC will come back with ...could be worse could be better but i dont know if it will be cheaper. And if you turn down the 3rd property they offer you ....you go back to the very bottom of the pile.

the other option i thought of was pumping even more the 15k in to this property to bring my mortgage down even further but that leaves me with absolutely nothing in the bank.

and on your calculations below it doesnt sound very good.

tomcollins97

cassiedoll wrote: »

i rented for 5 and half years and moved back in with my parents 2 years ago and im now 27 years old..

as i am trying to eliminate costs i couldnt afford to get a mortgage broker and would be doing most of the work myself...i work in a solicitors office so i wont be paying legal fees.

i understand bout the first time buyer....and that was a big issue for me before i even applied to A.H.

insofar as the interest rates and capital...im not 100% clued in on it..

if i dont take this opportunity i dont know what DCC will come back with ...could be worse could be better but i dont know if it will be cheaper. And if you turn down the 3rd property they offer you ....you go back to the very bottom of the pile.

the other option i thought of was pumping even more the 15k in to this property to bring my mortgage down even further but that leaves me with absolutely nothing in the bank.

and on your calculations below it doesnt sound very good.

What I'm really tyring to say is that a one bed at 27 is not a good buy. Hold out for a least a 2 bed. If you have a one bed & times get tough you have no room to rent!

cassiedoll

thank you very much tomcollins.....really appreciated.

an i think your right.....

i'll probably be waiting another 2 years for DCC to offer me sumting else

The_Conductor

tomcollins97 wrote: »

What I'm really tyring to say is that a one bed at 27 is not a good buy. Hold out for a least a 2 bed. If you have a one bed & times get tough you have no room to rent!

I wouldn´t make any assumptions regarding renting a room out- the number of people doing this (according to the Revenue Commissioners) has plumetted. Quite simply its no longer seen as a good idea by potential letters- particularly in light of the number of rental properties available outright countrywide.

SimpleSam06

cassiedoll wrote: »

thank you very much tomcollins.....really appreciated.

an i think your right.....

i'll probably be waiting another 2 years for DCC to offer me sumting else

Smartest move you could make. Run away, far and fast. That dinky little postage stamp apartment will be worth half what they say it is in a few years, maybe less. Keep saving, in a few years you probably won't even need assistance to buy a house!

SkepticOne

cassiedoll wrote: »

hi folks,

i have been on the waiting list for a year for an affordable home and i got a telephone call from DCC to say that i had been selected for an apartment with a purchase price of e215,000. i was told that i need to have approval in principle and e3000 deposit by wednesday the 17th of September.

i actually checked out the floor plans for my 1 bed apartment...and believe me you could barely see it on the screen....

i rang all the relevant banks and im looking at mortgage repayments of approx. e1200 a month....this does not include management company fees, gas, esb, etc etc.....this will cripple me financially and i am not in a position to ask for a payrise with the way the economy is going.

will the re-mortgage repayments etc. be worth it all for a small 1 bed..

i dont know any1 personally who is this situation and its a big gamble i think....

i spoke with one girl who got a one bed apartment in santry for e180k....

i dont know what to do and i dont have much time

Before going for this it might be worth approaching the builder directly for a private deal. My view is that the "market value" on which the discounted "affordable" price is kept deliberately high by builders since that way they maximise the amount gullible county councils pay them. There are stories of developments where the only apartments being shifted are "affordable" ones. This suggests that the subsidised price is in fact the real market price. Personally I would wait a couple of years for the government to run out of money to bail out builders. Then you will see substantial falls.

jdivision

tomcollins97 wrote: »

or apply to affordable housing again. That said, if a one bed suits your circumstances & you feel that you would be happy in it long term well maybe it is the right thing for you to do.

AT the moment you can't apply again for affordable housing after you've bought one. I think the OP hasn't taken mortgage interest relief into account when calculating her repayments

Sheera

SimpleSam06 wrote: »

Do you mind if I ask you which section of the public sector that might be? Because public sector pay generally has been increasing three times faster than private sector for the last ten years, and it started out pretty much the same.

I'm not necessarily comparing like with like - my point was that people from the same social background can have big variances in salary, depending on career choice and those who avail of affordable housing are not necessarily any different socially or culturally than those who buy privately.

Cassiedoll - repayments of €1200 seems a lot for a mortgage of €200k. What is the term of the loan? I wouldn't take the apartment just because you are worried you won't get anywhere else - only take it if you like it and can see yourself living there at least in the medium term.

laurak265

cassiedoll wrote: »

tomcollins,

i should have stated that im not getting a 100% mortgage...im putting 15k of my own money so i am only getting a mortgage of 200k and i think the repayments are scandalous

i have spoken with Haven Mortgages, the EBS, First Active, Bank of Ireland and im waiting on IIB to get back to me

they all seem to be in or around 1200...if teh repayments were only 1000 i could to it

Cassiedoll,

My mortgage would be 870 for €199500 with ebs and that includes home insurance!!! Ring ebs in citywest and tell them laura kavanagh told you to ring. Ask for shane...hes my brother!

HOpe this helps!

subway

laurak265 wrote: »

Cassiedoll,

My mortgage would be 870 for €199500 with ebs and that includes home insurance!!! Ring ebs in citywest and tell them laura kavanagh told you to ring. Ask for shane...hes my brother!

HOpe this helps!

199,500 at ebs lowest rate of 5.6 works out to 1080 per month over 35 years.
even stretching to 50 years it only comes down to 989 per month.

what rate / term are you on?

laurak265

Its over 35yrs but because its affordable (which is the point) the first 5 years repayments are the cheapest aparently and then it goes up but you have had 5 yrs to get to the point where you can pay more then! Make sure you enquire about the affordable mortgage! Maybe you have i'm not sure!!

cassiedoll

hi folks,

well i have rang DCC and told them i am not taking the apartment.

The one thing i have to say that even if i was going to take this aparment, none of the AH lending institutions were very reasonable and i understand that with the current market climate.

For the one bed apart. Bank of Ireland were only willing to give me e160k so even if i was in a position were i only had my booking deposit and may another 5k to my name i would still have to come up with almost e45k.

First Active would only mortgage me up to e182k.

Ulster Bank were offering e180k and i am still awaiting a reply from Haven and IIB but i dont hold out much hope with them.

after going through various scenarios with the banks. First active would give me a mortgage of e230k for a 2 bed and Bank of Ireland (who were offering me the lowest mortgage for the one bed AH) would give me e220k for a 2 bed.

according to First Active i could pay the mortgage, taking into consideration my tax relief and if i rented a room.

I have spent hours on the internet comparing prices and my AH one bed is e215k and in Geraldstown there is a one bed for e200k.

I am going to shop around over the next few weeks/months and see what i can come up with cos' from what i can gather AH isnt the best option.

laurak265

The lending institutions obviously know that the apartment was seriously over valued! DCC are going by an old valuation i'd say and will prob have to bring the price down otherwise no one would be able to buy one! If the institutions wouldn't give you anymore then they wouldn't give anyone else it either!

Best of luck with everything

daisling

Laura is the house through Kildare count council?

laurak265

No through wicklow but i think its split half kildare and half wicklow with where the estate is! Blessington manor??

daisling

Hey me too and here is one in the eye for the begruggers out there I'm a single mum too. Ha Ha. :P It has been a long time waiting for these houses. Have you had any update when did the council contact you.

laurak265

Howdi neighbour!

Eh they rang me at the beginning of sept i think it was, to say they were doing evaluations on everyone cos they were ready to allocate the houses and just asked did i want to be evaluated this time round and i said yes. I haven't heard anything since but i'm sure it can't be anymore than another couple of weeks. I sent them my mortgage approval in principal and all.

have you heard from kildare??

daisling

Hi I am waiting to here from Wicklow about the ones on the Naas Road and Kildare on the Blessington Manor ones. There is a bit of a price difference on the two beds. 168,000 with wicklow and 210,000 with kildare. Kildare have no 3 beds and 3 beds with wicklow are 199,000. You should talk to kildare too give yourself the best chance. I think wicklow are deciding this week but I call so often I dont want to ring again. I have been waiting since december 2006. If you get any news let me know. I have seen in both houses and they are nice inside. Like you have no money for furniture, my son has breathing problems so have to get foors down then will do a trip to belfast. It is difficult to save and if I get a three bed my 35000 savings will all go on deposit as that will bring me to 36% of monthy pay. It is painful as I had banked on being able to spend some of it on the nice things.

laurak265

I live in wicklow so would i not have to deal with wicklow? I want a three bed and the 199k is what i was told my house would be so if kildare have no 3 beds i may stay with wicklow! I will be just putting down carpets everywhere, the cheapest ones and cheap second hand furniture! Down the line when i have a few quid i can change it all!

My bro works for ebs and he said i didn't need a deposit as the mortgage is for way less than the market value so why do you have to pay a deposit when i wouldn't have to!

daisling

The 35% rule the council wont approve you unless your monthly repayments including payment protection are equal or less than 35% of take home pay on their figures mine would not be on a mortgage of 199,000, so I would need to get a mortgage of 164000 to bring me inside. I do have mortgage approval for a higher amount but that is useless if you cant prove you can afford it to the council.

jdivision

laurak265 wrote: »

My bro works for ebs and he said i didn't need a deposit as the mortgage is for way less than the market value so why do you have to pay a deposit when i wouldn't have to!

They generally ask for a 3% deposit.
You have to prove you can save as part of the approval process so you should have the money to hand (unless you're paying major rent)