Mortgage - Where to start

PeterRabbitt

Hi all,

hoping i might get some advice or opinions. Feels like when it comes to mortgages, everyone has an opinion whether they actually have experience or not.

Myself and partner (with one dependent) are looking to start saving in the hope of getting a mortgage in the future. I'm just wondering where we start. We earn c.€70k between us and at the moment are saving roughly 1200 per month and have been for the last 4 months or so. we have about €6k saved so far. Area we are looking to buy is priced at €320 -380k.

I suppose the first question is, do we continue to just keep saving away as we are?
Is it too early to go to a bank and ask about mortgages?
Do we book some time with a mortgage advisor and see if he can help us get mortgage ready?

any advise of people who have done similar or ar going through similar would be great.

thanks,

PR

DonalK1981

You will need at least 10% saved, so 32-38k for the deposit as the max mortgage anyone will lend is 90% of the home value.

There are calculators online as well to see what the 70k joint income with one dependent will limit the amount the banks give.

That might not see them willing to lend the 290k - 340k you want, which would mean you would have to come up with more than the 10%

Static M.e.

My 2 cents.

Is it too early to go to a bank and ask about mortgages?

No. Not if you want to learn what it takes to apply for a mortgage. What you should find interesting is that they will require from you, in terms of paperwork records, before they let you apply. You should also research \ ask about what banks do not like to see on your bank records (Gambling etc.). Use it has an exercise to clean up your bank accounts over the next couple of years and see how much you will need to save.

Do we book some time with a mortgage advisor and see if he can help us get mortgage ready?

Probably too early if you have 2 years to go..

Q&A

Static M.e. wrote: »

Is it too early to go to a bank and ask about mortgages?

No. Not if you want to learn what it takes to apply for a mortgage. What you should find interesting is that they will require from you, in terms of paperwork records, before they let you apply. You should also research \ ask about what banks do not like to see on your bank records (Gambling etc.). Use it has an exercise to clean up your bank accounts over the next couple of years and see how much you will need to save.

This is excellent advice. The mortgage process can take a bit of effort but at your stage it will be a good training process.

Bank statements will be key. Try and pay your rent and other big items through your bank. I've heard of people who pay the rent in cash and have no rent book finding it hard to get a mortgage because the bank have nothing to work on. Basically itemised statements will make life a lot easier than having large cash withdrawals that could be for anything.

You could look into savings account with Ulster. They have just launched a special savings accounts targeted at first time buyers which have cash bonuses. I think BOI might have had the same thing not can't see any sign of a cash bonus.

As have been said you'll need a 10% deposit, so in your case at least €32k. They will also want to see spare money to cover legal fees, stamp duty as well as life expenses.

You'll typically get 3.5 times you're income so for you that would be 245k. They can give extra but it's typically harder to get so be mindful of that. If they do give you more it'll be 4-4.5 times for income. Typically though they will still expect you to have 10% of the deposit so savings is the key bit for you guys right now. It's a virtuous circle though. The more you save the more you can show you have room for a higher mortgage.