How many people here have bought property on their own?

jayjay2010

The reason I ask this is because I have a friend who is working in BOI for over a year now and she said she has never come across a solo mortgage applicant. I was pretty surprised to hear this.

I bought on my own back in April 2015. I have a friend who is looking to buy on his own this year.

Just curious to see who was able to buy on their own and why they did or did they buy with a partner/friend etc...

Bought on my own 2009.
Most of my friends bought on their own before I did.

titan18

I'd imagine the mortgage rules will make buying on your own very tough. 3.5 times your salary will make it very difficult to get a decent sized loan.

Like, I've been looking recently and whilst due to savings, I could easily afford the deposit needed, 3.5 times my salary wouldn't be close to enough. If I had a partner earning similar, it would be though.

You'd really need to be earning 50k + to have a chance at a decent place imo

Stealthfins

I was one of the lucky ones,in 2003 I was able to buy a 4 bed detached for 169,000 euros off the plan's.

Back in the early 00's it wasn't uncommon for single men and women to buy their own houses and sites.

Just a head's up,higher ground is the new frontage,and yes I bought mine on higher ground 😉

Ursus Horribilis

I bought my house on my own last year. Not with BOI though. Off the top of my head I can think of at least a dozen friends /relatives /acquaintances who bought on their own as well.

amtc

Bought on my own with boi.on 2004

D_D

I bought on my own with BoI at the end of 2013 in Dublin.

Jen44

Bought a house on my own in 2005 just bought a second property with my husband end of last year

xband

Really says a lot about the unrealistic Irish property market.

If one income slips, boom : you're into mortgage crisis.

Looks like property bubble 2.0 is being set up as we speak.

The J Stands for Jay

Stealthfins wrote: »

Just a head's up,higher ground is the new frontage,and yes I bought mine on higher ground 😉

That'll change at the first sign of frost or snow...

I don't know of anyone who bought on their own. You'd want to be earning at least €70k to get a loan for anywhere decent.

heroics

Bought my own in 2007. Still remember didn't go with BOI as they wouldn't ring me back. Even tried 2 different branches as all my banking was with them at the time.

One of the reasons I don't bank with them any more for anything.

spurious

In the 80s I had to put up with all sorts of sexist nonsense trying to borrow on my own as a woman.

mansize

Me 2012

Ush1

Bought on my own in 2012, mortgage with ulster bank.

mcgovern

Got one on my own in 2008, but got something like 8 times my basic salary.

Supercell

Bought on my own in 2011 and don't earn near 70k! Helps to save..

JustAThought

When I was looking to get mortgage B of I were a total nightmsre todeal with - with all their paperwork completed they wanted 2 to 3 weeks to set up a first meeting - wouldn't acccept documents by email or fax : it had to be by meeting -- the house you would want would be gone by the time they opened their first envelope. AIB, Irish Permanent & Ulster Bank had an approval turnaround of about a week ( or a day if you were being rejected!) Small wonder your friend had so little diversity of applicants.

BOO here - thank God - as did about half of my mates. It seemed that all I knew who bought to invest with partners ended up badly - which is a shame.

Uriel.

bought on my own in 2008.
The madness still existed at that time - I applied for and received mortgage approval (subject to giving the bank copies of various documents) in 25 minutes on loud speaker driving home from work... mad.

jayjay2010

jayjay2010 wrote: »

..............

Just curious to see who was able to buy on their own ..............

Bought on my own twice, once in 2005 and the 2nd time more recently, still have the 2005 purchase but don't live in it.

James Bond Junior

Bought on my own last year. Was all ready to go with boi but switched to kbc as they were cheaper.

Icaras

Most of my friends bought as couples during the boom years as did I more recently - on reflection we were all the partying type rather than the saving type.

Jaketherake

We are going back to the days when it was a huge ask for a person to be able to buy a property.
Arguably thats no bad thing.
It was only after everybody in the country could walk into the bank and get a mortgage that prices took off like nobodies business.

But I think the days of one wage buying a property are well behind us.
One example of a huge change in affordability is
Women are now an important part of the workforce and not made or expected give up work as soon as they get married anymore.
This change is a major factor in house prices and here to stay.

mydarkstar

I bought on my own in 2004 with EBS. Mortgage repayment was more affordable then than the going rate for renting a place. 12 years later my "35 year mortgage" now has only 10 years left on it. As an aside, the reps I spoke to in BoI and Bank of Scotland were both rude and obnoxious to me on the phone which put me off them completely.

mel123

I am in the process, nearly there. The new rules were a bit of a blessing and a pain in the @rse.

I second what another poster said. I am banking with BOI for all my life and they were a nightmare to deal with. They were only short of asking me what I had for dinner honest to god. The questions they asked and all the paperwork they wanted (like i bank with them, they can see all my financial activity), totally turned me off. Anyway they made me an offer, i asked them for a bit extra, no way, didnt matter that i was a loyal customer among other financial benefits. At the same time i went thought a broker to see what else was on the market. I got offers from different banks, and they were also offering me a little stretch on the 3.5 rule. BOI came back looking for my business, anyway long story short they made me two more offers with more money. Like why not offer me the most they are willing to give me in the first place instead of all the messing. I didnt go with BOI in the end.

On a side note, I think the new rules are eliminating a very large chunk of sole mortgages, I think we will see less and less of them.

adocholiday

I can't even begin to think how you'd buy a house alone now, especially in the Dublin region. My partner and I, both working full time jobs with well above industrial wage salaries, feel like we are years away from buying our own place in Dublin. Would I be wrong in assuming that most single income mortgages are outside of the Dublin region?

pawrick

Bought on my own at the end of 2013, went to 3 banks incl BOI which I had my accounts with since a teenager to get pre approval and no problem even with a small deposit before finally settling on a different bank who offered a better rate at the time and were better to deal with. Glad I bought when I did and didn't take the jump like so many people I know at the height of the boom with apartments in Dublin or homes in the commuter belt and also with the way rent prices have gone since.

I checked the flood maps of the area I bought in and the ordinance survey maps to get a height level before making the bid as I'm well aware of the flooding issues around Athlone where I eventually bought and didn't want to buy in a risky location but still wanted to be near enough to the river. Had to laugh at some homes advertised as not having flooded in 2009 which would require a boat to get to in any bad winter and people wondering why they were difficult to sell, many of these are ones you now see on the news which should never have been given permission including apartment blocks in known flood spots.

McGrath5

Bought on my own in 2014, haven't looked back since!

jackhammer

Bought on my own in 2013. Initially dealt with BoI who turned out to be a complete nightmare. Got mortgage approval with them, went sale agreed on a house and when I went to draw down the mortgage, BoI pulled the plug (they got cold feet as I was self-employed, but why approve me in the first place). Got in touch with a broker, who got me my mortgage through KBC.

omb0wyn5ehpij9

sugarman wrote: »

...€70k, are you joking?

Should be easily done at half that if you've been saving away

Not in Dublin. Let's look at somebody on an average wage.....€35k * 3.5 = €122,500. 10% deposit is obviously €12,500, but lets just say the person had €22,500 saved. So this person has €145k to spend. You'd be doing well to even get a one bedroom apartment in Dublin for that price (unless you want to live in very undesirable areas)

Earleybird

Bought on my own in 2010 with EBS.

BoI were, and continue to be the worst bank to deal with for mortgages for many reasons but you could argue that at least their comparative prudence in lending effectively yielded a positive result for them after all the carnage!

purplekitty

I bought my house on my own September 2015... in AIB, mortgage applied for in July, moved into house September.