Buying a property, considering locations, mortgage, cost?

bo0li5eumx12kp

Alright so I'm pretty much a property blank slate.

Up until this point, my general outlook has been happy-go-lucky, little in the way of serious planning for the future.

Not that I really consider this future planning, I guess the chips have basically fallen such that I'm prepared to stay in one spot for a lengthier period of time and considering rental costs, over a 10 to 15 year period it appears simply much better value to buy, than rent long term.

So basically posting this cause, I have no experience with the property market, pitfalls, do's and don'ts, and any general principles associated with purchasing I have zero current awareness of.

I'm sure many of ya'll have awareness though, as purchasing is a serious endeavour and assuming most buyers do their groundwork, maybe I'll pick up on the general specifics from the more enlightened - ya'll!!

- Reason I want to buy: Previously accommodation was just a place to keep the rain off my head. More recently, where I live - it's more like, "my place".
How I live there, the setup, how I furnish and orientate it - it's all me.

- The cost factor - long term renting, the worry of renting etc, again, I want "my place". As above, 15 years renting a one/two bed place would easily cover the cost of actually buying it (not factoring in mortgage percentages - this is where some of ya'll can probably bring me up to speed).

- Decent steady income, I can facilitate repayments. Up until recently I've kind of bounced around jobs, mostly living the life and not taking things to seriously.
Ironically that has led me to establish more "my own" type of environment, which now I kind of want to "instate", long term.

- The big one - location: Past period I've been renting in smaller towns out west whilst commuting to the big smoke whenever required.
Looking on daft, there's spots available in places like "Steelworks" which location wise is quite nice.

However, despite not being in Ireland, the same general principle will still apply to apartment purchase etc. I can't see myself living in Dublin long term. It's okay for the necessities you need a big city for, but when it comes down to it - it's just not me, not entirely my kind of place (I think it's got potential, but there's other places I'm much happier in, so why not buy there?)
The prices in smaller towns out west and south etc, is faaaaaar more affordable, naturally (what I'm saying is, realistically, regardless of where I may "want", there's practical considerations to take into account).
Where I really want to be based and see myself long term, is Amsterdam (prices are roughly the same or maybe slightly higher than typical Dublin prices for same accommodation in a central location).

Get a nice top floor apartment, one or two bedrooms, balcony, near or in the center, fix it up so that it's all me - I'm laughing.
But like I said, the principles of purchase are reasonably consistent I'd imagine, so I'm throwing that out there for perspective, but sticking with the general theme of what to know and be aware of when purchasing....?


With all that being said - is it as straightforward as seeing the place you like, speaking with the bank about a mortgage, putting a down payment, then going about your day job for the next 10 to 15 years until said payment is basically paid?

Is it that simple?

bo0li5eumx12kp

Other thing to bear in mind is, cost wise, I'm not a family man.

I'll never have to provide for kids etc so, income versus outgoing expenditure is basically your typical professional job, probably start a pension at some point, mortgage repayments, general cost of living and some extra to have some fun with.

When buying I'm sure many would take into consideration potentially have kids and a family etc.
A two bed spot or basically one bed (king bed, large room, lots of clothes storage, shoe space and full length mirror etc) with an extra room is what I'd be looking at long term.

Thoie

Israel Faint Saltine wrote: »

With all that being said - is it as straightforward as seeing the place you like, speaking with the bank about a mortgage, putting a down payment, then going about your day job for the next 10 to 15 years until said payment is basically paid?

Is it that simple?

Yes and no. From the affordability perspective, remember the other costs as well as just the mortgage - life insurance, management fees, utilities, whatever. In general I'd suggest talking to the bank first to figure out what they'll lend you, and limit the places you view to in and around that figure. No point falling in love with a €1.5m place, when your budget is €300k.

Once you've got the keys, then yes, it's mostly about just maintaining the place and paying the mortgage and other bills every month until it's paid off.

There's a period of a few months (hopefully less in Amsterdam) of tearing your hair out, gathering a never ending list of paperwork, signing things, waiting for other people to do things that you have no control over and generally sitting around wondering why the hell everything is taking so long. If you need any work done, then there's weeks/months after you move in of calling tradesmen, waiting around for tradesmen, waiting some more...

In the scheme of things it's all relatively short term, but it's stressful at the time, as you're still trying to hold down your full time job in order to pay for everything!