Mortgages - Help!

[Uladh]

Whats happening with the housing market at home anyway? is it as bad as the media make out or is there still buying and selling going on? how much has property dropped?

[Candyman]

Right Lads, resurrecting this thread, as I am thinking of making a purchase, where best to start looking for a decent mortgage. (NI purchase).

Use an Independant Broker as they can source from the whole of the market. If you use say a bank of specific building society they can only offer you their products which might not be the best!!! It'll save time also running about different banks etc as the broker can view ALL lenders automatically....

[Minder]

Right Lads, resurrecting this thread, as I am thinking of making a purchase, where best to start looking for a decent mortgage. (NI purchase).

Use an Independant Broker as they can source from the whole of the market. If you use say a bank of specific building society they can only offer you their products which might not be the best!!! It'll save time also running about different banks etc as the broker can view ALL lenders automatically....

Do they not just end up selling you a Halifax mortgage for instance with their own fee on top?

[screenexile]

Best find a broker who won't charge you a fee! I am working in a mortgage brokers at present but we deal mainly in Sub Prime lending so we would use Sub Prime companies which charge people an arm and a leg and give us a good whack of commission. We also charge a Broker Fee of between 1-2% as well so best stay away from people like us.

I would say go to the Mortgage Shop as I've heard they are very good with the customer service and have a good range in the market.

Also I think that now for the next 3 months or so will be a good time to buy as I can't see house prices dropping much further than at present, I'm also a firm believer that if you see something which you think is a good deal you should go for it as you could be waiting for years for house prices to drop this low again and it may  never happen so if you're comfortable with a place and can make the mortgage payments comfortably then go for it!

[maxpower]

Right Lads, resurrecting this thread, as I am thinking of making a purchase, where best to start looking for a decent mortgage. (NI purchase).

Where abouts you based, i'm in Financial Services myself so i could point you in the direction of a few good mortgage brokers.  

[passedit]

I can't see house prices dropping much further than at present

Based on what exactly Screen?

Prices in NI are only starting to fall, the banks are shit scared to lend especially in NI as it has the highest earnings to house price ratio outside of London. Estate agents are moving one property a week if they're lucky.

[Canalman]

Would personally hold off buying until the New Year at least. Work in a property related field in Dublin and can tell you the market is imo WAY WORSE than is being reported in the media. Still alot of Vendors living in cuckooland expecting the big sale price and wiil eventually have to lower the asking price.
Only good news is the "panic selling" by investors has not yet started as in London in the 90s.

Stay well away from apartments.

[Candyman]

Would personally hold off buying until the New Year at least. Work in a property related field in Dublin and can tell you the market is imo WAY WORSE than is being reported in the media. Still alot of Vendors living in cuckooland expecting the big sale price and wiil eventually have to lower the asking price.
Only good news is the "panic selling" by investors has not yet started as in London in the 90s.

Stay well away from apartments.

Best piece of advice on here....  So many have had their fingers burnt even before the market collapsed!!!!

[blast05]

Use an Independant Broker as they can source from the whole of the market. If you use say a bank of specific building society they can only offer you their products which might not be the best!!! It'll save time also running about different banks etc as the broker can view ALL lenders automatically....

I'm sorry , but why anyone goes near a broker is beyond me.
It takes about 15 minutes of research on the web to find out what rates are available in all companies that provide mortgages in Ireland.
Add to that, once you talk directly to the banks you are more likely to get an even better deal. For example, i was in AIB last Monday looking to switch a mortgage from my 'principal primary residence' to a holiday home which i may rent out for a week here or there. If i had gone through a brokers, this would have been considered as an investment property ( i checked this before when i was moving mortgage 2 years ago) ... however the guy i was dealing with said there would be no problem with the home owners rate ("once you are straight up with the revenue if you rent it but thats your own business"). The difference in rates is 5.95% versus 5.2%.

[Candyman]

Use an Independant Broker as they can source from the whole of the market. If you use say a bank of specific building society they can only offer you their products which might not be the best!!! It'll save time also running about different banks etc as the broker can view ALL lenders automatically....

I'm sorry , but why anyone goes near a broker is beyond me.
It takes about 15 minutes of research on the web to find out what rates are available in all companies that provide mortgages in Ireland.
Add to that, once you talk directly to the banks you are more likely to get an even better deal. For example, i was in AIB last Monday looking to switch a mortgage from my 'principal primary residence' to a holiday home which i may rent out for a week here or there. If i had gone through a brokers, this would have been considered as an investment property ( i checked this before when i was moving mortgage 2 years ago) ... however the guy i was dealing with said there would be no problem with the home owners rate ("once you are straight up with the revenue if you rent it but thats your own business"). The difference in rates is 5.95% versus 5.2%.

not all... 

[Abble]

I can't see house prices dropping much further than at present

Based on what exactly Screen?

Prices in NI are only starting to fall, the banks are shit scared to lend especially in NI as it has the highest earnings to house price ratio outside of London. Estate agents are moving one property a week if they're lucky.

i'd say that drop off in buying started approx sept 07.....then gradually until start of '08 everyone was starting to cop on there was aproblem and since that we've seen the huge reductions in apartments and houses...few of us regularly drive by a huge hoarding advertising new build houses....
end of 07 (when developer was praying there wouldnt be a crash)these houses were being sold at over 200k
during the summer 08.....down to about 160k
now this week we see 138k

and this is now coming back some close to pre-boom figures for new build decent housing in my opinion....this of course may not be the same in all areas but i'm pretty sure there could be a v slight further fall but nothing mammoth. all that really needs sorted is the fecking interest rates/mortgage fees !!!

[Arthur_Friend]

Get a fixed for three years and get used to paying that amount and then forget about it.

[passedit]

Watch the first ten minutes of this program. Pay particular attention to what the fp says about NI. Also please note that my avatar was changed before this program went out.

http://www.itv.com/News/tonight/episodes/Crunchtime/default.html

Then go to this site

http://www.nationwide.co.uk/hpi/historical.htm

pick the FTB HPI option at bottom. This data is three months old, don't even think about buying anything until the NI HPI hits 4.


Abble, anecdotal evidence is just that. I've been looking to buy for about 9 months now. One of the houses i was looking at dropped it's advertised price by £100,000 on monday. I still wouldn't touch it with a barge pole at this time. Banks can't lend at previous multiples so no one can afford to get on the ladder, so there is no impetus to push further up the ladder.

EDIT the guy in the clip above contributes to this website. A bit depressing (in more ways than one) but still worth a look.

http://www.housepricecrash.co.uk/index.php

[Sideshow Bob]

http://www.channel4.com/video/the-price-of-property/catchup.html  is well worth a look. Anyone who is thinking of buying at the minute needs their head examined. Prices are going to drop much much more.

Edited to add, watch this weeks programme (22nd). Some crazy decisions, some people are losing a lot of money.

[Canalman]

Absolutely correct Passedit. If the banks won't lend as much, then the prices will fall. This "correction".... ahem has imo alot more to go.

On the positive side we don't have to listen to people waffling on about their "property portfolios" or their apartments in Spain, Romania etc. The old "interest only" mges are being converted big time by the banks and people in Dublin are finding it alot harder to get tenants when renting out.

Watch holiday homes bomb out in the next 6 mths...mark my words.

Still galls me to still hear these "Chief Economists" on the radio spouting off.......clowns one and all.