Non-resident mortgage in Ireland: Experience and advice

Richards1983

Hi all -

I'm an Irish citizen living overseas and trying to buy an investment property in Ireland using Irish lenders. I'm finding a lot of contradictory info, and would really like to hear your experience of trying to buy while living overseas.

Also, I'd like to list my experience, in the hope that we can provide a clear(er) picture for people trying to do this in future. I've been in touch with banks and brokers and below is a summary of my experience: 

- The EU Credit Directive of 2016 means that it's harder for people who don't earn Euro. Some brokers have told me it's impossible as a result of the Directive, others have said that it is possible.
- You have to buy either a Buy-to-Let or a Holiday Home. Some brokers have said that I can only but a Holiday Home, others have said that a BTL is possible. Holiday Homes come at a lower interest rate, and the bank views it as a property that would not be earning you any income.
- If you are going the Holiday Home route, you have to be able to prove ties to the area (such as regular visits), and you have to have an Irish bank account with regular transnational history,  
- You have to have a deposit of 30-50%.
- You would have to be making over 80k Euro annually. Non-Euro earners would have their income devalued by 20% to account for potential currency fluctuations.

So, the above gives you an idea of the requirements and the conflicting info. Hope it's of some use.

It'd be great to hear of other people's experience of buying in Ireland while living overseas, and any advice too.

Cheers,
Conor

Richards1983

Also, apparently BOI and AIB are the only lenders who will deal with non-Euro earners. And you can't use a broker to approach them, rather you have to approach them yourself.

Richards1983

Does anyone know if there is a % of the lender's books that they allocate for this kind of lending?

Purplej

Hey Richards1983,
I have just completed the above with Haven Mortgages (broker arm of AIB).
They have been fantastic to deal with, listened, understood why I needed a place in Eire, etc.
However, my income is in Euro.
While at times they are slow to reply, overloaded I guess, I cant recommend them highly enough.
BOI who I had been banking with for 15 years did not get it all all, I did not fit into their standard box.

My recommendation to everyone here is to shop around for good broker; they are worth every penny and in my case
has been great in cooperating with Haven to move things along. Sadly my broker has now retired his business.\
Purplej

TiNcAn

Purplej wrote: »

Hey Richards1983,
I have just completed the above with Haven Mortgages (broker arm of AIB).
They have been fantastic to deal with, listened, understood why I needed a place in Eire, etc.
However, my income is in Euro.
While at times they are slow to reply, overloaded I guess, I cant recommend them highly enough.
BOI who I had been banking with for 15 years did not get it all all, I did not fit into their standard box.

My recommendation to everyone here is to shop around for good broker; they are worth every penny and in my case
has been great in cooperating with Haven to move things along. Sadly my broker has now retired his business.\
Purplej

What rates did you get with AIB through your broker. I received approval in principal from both AIB and BOI despite not meeting all the requirements listed in OP. Just wondering now if I could get a better rate if I play AIB and BOI off one another.

Richards1983

Thanks for the updates lads. I've currently got approval from Haven.

TiNcAn

What rate did you get in the end?

Richards1983

I gather that we won't get into the precise rates till I'm set on a house, but for now it's on the home loan rate (which I think is c. 3.5%).

Yourself?

Richards1983

I gather that we won't get into the precise rates till I'm set on a house, but for now it's on the home loan rate (which I think is c. 3.5%).

Yourself?

TiNcAn

It is classified as a investment/buy-to-let mortgage so the rates I was looking at are around ~4.9%. 
It would be interesting to find out if your mortgage would be a home loan with these lower rates.

Richards1983

That sounds unusual in terms of what I was told -- i.e. that as a non-resident I couldn't get a BTL/investment mortgage, only a holiday home mortgage, which is the same terms as a home loan.

Maybe it's because you're with AIB rather than HAVEN (appreciating that they are both under AIB's umbrella)?

TiNcAn

This is very strange indeed. Do you know what are the restrictions on a holiday home loan?
Can you rent out the property whilst you are not living in the country?

I may give AIB and HAVEN a ring today or tomorrow to get to the bottom of this.

Richards1983

i don't think there are any. i.e. perhaps it's just how they categorised it b/c it naturally can't be my primary residence as i'm non-resident. i'm not allowed to rent it out, but of course in reality there's nothing to stop me doing so.

TiNcAn

Well I guess that if the bank found out that it was being rented in the case of a home loan they would impose some penalties.

My intention would be to rent the property until I return home and I was pretty up front with the bank about that. So they didn't see a big issue with that, but of course are more than happy to charge me higher rates.

I guess it is worth to look into the fine details of both to see which one makes the most sense.

Richards1983

yeah, and you should be able to flip it onto a home loan rate once you're back living in it.

TiNcAn

Just out of curiosity, would you see this only as a holiday home and not rent or airbnb it?

Richards1983

only as a holiday home.

aineNYC

Hi there, 
I've been living in the US for ten years and have rented out my house there.  I get paid in dollars.  I have 13 years left on the mortgage and outstanding loan is $150K.  I would like to remortgage so I can get enough for a deposit here.  I called Pepper Asset (who manage my current mortgage) and AIB and they both said that it would not be possible as I don't reside in Ireland.  Reading the above gives me some hope that there are lenders who would consider my case even at a higher interest rate as I will be renting it out.    
If anyone has any advice or can give me names of lenders I would be very grateful.  I don't want to have to see the house in Dublin but so far I haven't gotten great feedback from those I have asked about a remortgage.
Thanks so much!!
Aine

Richards1983

Hi Aine,
My suggestion would be to go via a mortgage broker as they have the best info. I gather that BOI, AIB and KBC are the only ones who'll deal with a non-resident.

So you have houses in the US and in Dublin?

aineNYC

Richards1983 wrote: »

Hi Aine,
My suggestion would be to go via a mortgage broker as they have the best info. I gather that BOI, AIB and KBC are the only ones who'll deal with a non-resident.

So you have houses in the US and in Dublin?

———————————
Thanks @Richards1983, i’ll try KBC and BOI. AIB have said no. I have the house in Dublin but am renting in NYC. I can’t afford the 20% down payment to buy here which is why I want to remortgage my place in Dublin.