Saving/Applying for a mortgage 2015/16/17/18/19

Black_Knight

REFLINE1 wrote: »

Looks like there is some sort of " Help to Buy scheme" in the pipework with the new govt. Will be interesting to see what that entails.

My guess is that house prices will just increase by whatever the scheme is.

SarahMollie

Black_Knight wrote: »

My guess is that house prices will just increase by whatever the scheme is.

A scheme like that will only ultimately help the construction industry.

Glen_Quagmire

REFLINE1 wrote:

Looks like there is some sort of " Help to Buy scheme" in the pipework with the new govt. Will be interesting to see what that entails.

Personally I hope so anyway, many first time buyers like me are struggling to get on the ladder with the current lending rules

SB_Part2

Glen_Quagmire wrote: »

Personally I hope so anyway, many first time buyers like me are struggling to get on the ladder with the current lending rules

How so?

The rules are there so people don't lose the run of themselves. There's no point in buying a house you can't afford to pay the mortgage on.

Glen_Quagmire

SB_Part2 wrote:

How so?

SB_Part2 wrote:

The rules are there so people don't lose the run of themselves. There's no point in buying a house you can't afford to pay the mortgage on.

I'm paying rent and saving and don't have any loans or credit card debt so I won't lose the run of myself. I would hope to have a mortgage that will be less than what I'm paying out on rent and saving at the moment. I can't speak for other FTBs though.

Utah

We've talked to a few mortgage advisors now.
They're all of the opinion we 'meet the criteria' to increase the LTV to 90%. i.e. reduce the deposit amount to 10% in total. They have a quota of exemptions they can fill.

Would they just tell us this to get us as customers?

retalivity

Question:

We are the highest bidders on a property that is a bank sale. I had provided the estate agent with a redacted version of our Approval in Principle letter, blacking out the actual amount that we had been approved for (as I didn't want them to know what we could potentially bid to), Now, they have put our offer to the Bank selling the property who have requested that we provide them with the full letter, including amount. Is this ok? We do not yet have a solicitor lined up for the whole conveyancing process, wondering whether I should get them on board first?

Jet Black

I'd be a bit wary of showing them if you're still bidding and not sale agreed. I bought from the bank and they wanted to see the full amount but at that stage the bidding was over. Buying from the bank is completely different from a regular person. It can be much more stressful and drawn out.

retalivity

It is effectively over, we are the last bidders as the others we were against pulled out. The ad is still up on myhome.ie, but its only been us and these other guys offering and counter-offering for the past 2 weeks.
I was ready to respond straight away with the non-redacted letter until i started thinking on whether a solicitor should be involved (i havent even got one yet)

Rew

We had to do this for a bank, I got the bank to issue the AIP letter for the actual amount and with the details of the house (thats the first step of completing the mortgage anyway). Banks appoint an agent to sell a bunch of places who then employ EA's so your dealing with layers of redtape. Inversely the banks agent wants to cut time wasters as soon as possible. We didnt complete on that sale it was goin to take way to long and the EA was lying at all stages. They did shift it after us pretty quickly though.

Jet Black

I'd say get a solicitor now then. I didn't as I was trying to rush and just sent him it with the figures. It worked out okay for me in the end but if it falls through the EA will know what you have for future dealings.

I honestly don't know if the bank will accept the solicitors word as any dealings I've had with buying from them was difficult. It took three months to accept my offer. The EA said he couldn't get a reply and I had given up on it before getting a phone call to say they accepted. They were slow to do anything and wanted signed contracts back in 7 days or they'd pull the sale. There was still things outstanding that my solicitor needed to check that couldn't be done in that time frame. But the biggest and worst thing was no loan approval clause. This means that once I signed the contracts if I didn't complete the sale I'd loose my deposit and could be sued. This was probably one of the most stressful decision I've ever had to make. I was told that banks are not putting loan approval clauses in the contract to cover costs if the buyer pulls out. Makes sense from there side but the thoughts of loosing years of saving was very disheartening.

retalivity

Jet Black wrote: »

But the biggest and worst thing was no loan approval clause. This means that once I signed the contracts if I didn't complete the sale I'd loose my deposit and could be sued. This was probably one of the most stressful decision I've ever had to make. I was told that banks are not putting loan approval clauses in the contract to cover costs if the buyer pulls out. Makes sense from there side but the thoughts of loosing years of saving was very disheartening.

fcuk that....is that standard with bank sales???

Rew

retalivity wrote: »

fcuk that....is that standard with bank sales???

Yeah they look for unconditional contracts

Jet Black

retalivity wrote: »

fcuk that....is that standard with bank sales???

It is with KBC/IIB who I bought from, I'm not sure with other banks but if I had to bet my deposit again I'd say they're the same. My solicitor was excellent and tried everything she could to get it put in but they refused said I was getting a 'bargain' property, which it wasn't at the time.

Rew wrote: »

Yeah they look for unconditional contracts

I wish I knew that before placing a bid.

Rew

Jet Black wrote: »

This was probably one of the most stressful decision I've ever had to make. I was told that banks are not putting loan approval clauses in the contract to cover costs if the buyer pulls out. Makes sense from there side but the thoughts of loosing years of saving was very disheartening.

When we were selling agreeing to the loan approval clause for the buyer was incredibly stressful. By giving it we stood to lose out a few thousand if the buyer was flakey. That said after talking it over with the solicitor we gave it. The clause is that the bank has to refuse the mortgage and to do that either the buyer would have to have lied to them or our house would have had to have had a serious flaw. On balance we reckoned it was a small risk. If we had been trying to buy another house and sign contracts for that I don't know that we could have taken that risk though!

Jet Black

My loss would have been tens of thousands. Years of savings gone and a bleak future if they sued. I think once the buyer signs he should be responsible for any fees on the sellers side, not the entire deposit then some.

Rew

Jet Black wrote: »

My loss would have been tens of thousands. Years of savings gone and a bleak future if they sued. I think once the buyer signs he should be responsible for any fees on the sellers side, not the entire deposit then some.

True but only if you were buying a house with a serious defect or had failed to live up to your end of the mortgage contract with your bank. You your self would have known how big or small a risk that was so like us you decide what your willing to accept. BTW that clause is relatively new, law society brought it in as the market crashed (or so I was lead to believe)

Michael D Not Higgins

Utah wrote: »

We've talked to a few mortgage advisors now.
They're all of the opinion we 'meet the criteria' to increase the LTV to 90%. i.e. reduce the deposit amount to 10% in total. They have a quota of exemptions they can fill.

Would they just tell us this to get us as customers?

If your LTI is low and the rest of your financial situation is good (eg no other debts), then you're probably suited for an exemption.

However be careful, as them saying you would qualify is not an official offer. Neither is approval in principle. You'll probably get it if they're telling you that you will but be wary since they have a limited number per quarter and could make you wait months to apply for the next round of exemptions.

Utah

Would it matter where your solicitor is based? Do you meet them often? I have a recommendation for a solicitor who is based an hours drive from where we are looking to buy, just wondering does that matter. Thanks

Rew

Utah wrote: »

Would it matter where your solicitor is based? Do you meet them often? I have a recommendation for a solicitor who is based an hours drive from where we are looking to buy, just wondering does that matter. Thanks

How far are they from where you live now? When I bought I used one hours from where I lived and bought, when I sold I used one about 45 mins away.. Each time I went once to sign the contracts. Spoke on the phone or email a fair bit.

Utah

Rew wrote: »

How far are they from where you live now? When I bought I used one hours from where I lived and bought, when I sold I used one about 45 mins away.. Each time I went once to sign the contracts. Spoke on the phone or email a fair bit.

Only 10 mins from us at the moment so would be handy.

loveisdivine

Met with our broker this afternoon, he say's we will definitely get approval it's just a matter of how much

mirrorwall14

Guys we met with a broker, provided all documents and he is applying for us. However we're just sitting talking and a fee structure was never discussed. Is that normal?

Rew

mirrorwall14 wrote: »

Guys we met with a broker, provided all documents and he is applying for us. However we're just sitting talking and a fee structure was never discussed. Is that normal?

Bank pays the broker a fee for referring you.

Naid23

Rew wrote: »

Bank pays the broker a fee for referring you.

Probably safe to double check it. Friends of mine are going through a broker at the moment and they are paying a fee to the broker(which i was shocked at) whereas the one we are using does not charge anything to us. So check so theres no surprises.

Sono

why don't people apply directly themselves? It's not hard to apply once you have all the necessary docs which the bank will tell you that you need.

Rew

Naid23 wrote: »

Probably safe to double check it. Friends of mine are going through a broker at the moment and they are paying a fee to the broker(which i was shocked at) whereas the one we are using does not charge anything to us. So check so theres no surprises.

I didn't realise any did, yeah def double check

Sono

Sono wrote: »

why don't people apply directly themselves? It's not hard to apply once you have all the necessary docs which the bank will tell you that you need.

That's the route I'm going down, don't get the appeal of using a middle man. I'd prefer to deal directly with the bank. Even worse if people are paying them to do something they can easily do themselves.

Konata

mirrorwall14 wrote: »

Guys we met with a broker, provided all documents and he is applying for us. However we're just sitting talking and a fee structure was never discussed. Is that normal?

Many (not all) brokers are paid by means of commission. Advantage for you is that you don't have to pay a fee for their service. Disadvantage is that the broker may be incentivised to recommend you a particular mortgage because they get paid more commission if they sell that product. Good to be aware of that possibility when a broker is being paid commission but one would hope most of them are working in your favour!

Sleepy

A broker knows the market, they can help you apply to the bank most likely to lend to you / give you an exemption / lend in complicated circumstances etc.

They also help ensure your paperwork is in order and that it presents you in the best possible light for the application: e.g. by advising you to wait another month before applying so that missed Direct Debit / Paddy Power Withdrawal from 6 months ago won't have to be shown on your statements etc.

I'm from a banking family and have heard a friend of my father's who's a branch manager say that if he was applying for a mortgage these days, he'd go through a broker himself to avoid the hassle of dealing with the various lending departments of Irish banks.