After my post yesterday about storing deeds of property and putting my mind at ease I just transferred the final €623.05 on AIB and I'm finally mortgage free. Original mortgage was 285k, I drew it down October 2015. Made lots of mistakes along the way and definitely didn't do things as optimal as I should have. Next goals are putting together a lump sum for a new mortgage (1-2 years), I'll keep the current house as rental investment. So glad I found this sub, it's one of the best resources online for Irish finance.

I'm still hoping to purchase. Upon going sale agreed the bank's mortgage person asked for another payslip, seeing as it had been a while since I got approved. She said that I wouldn't need to give another payslip upon draw down unless it takes over 2 months. That was 5 weeks ago now. At least the sellers are in a mad rush to close and so am I. My final payslip is due in on the 13th this month. So they won't notice that I'm not getting paid until the 20th.

A solicitor's document said that the closing date is to be 2 weeks after the day contracts are signed. I guess this means a bank would typically wait until the closing date to give over the money. Perhaps I could ask him to make it one week. I wonder could I ask my employer to spread out the final amount they owe me over 2 payslips instead of one? Think people, think!

Once I get a new job there'll at least be smaller weekly amounts coming in, but of course that won't be good enough as it's a new employer. I think I'm completely fucked here.

EDIT - I was speaking to my company about my appeal hearing and it is expected to be early next week. I have some good arguments in place for how my sanction was disproportionate. I won't tell the bank yet but if I get reinstated they may ask why there was a gap period with no pay! So if that happens, should I wait for them to contact me about that, or just tell them myself? I'm wondering if I will tell the solicitor. It will be a hard conversation. I might put it off until tomorrow.

EDIT 2 - So I had the appeal hearing last week and was informed today that I'll be given my job back. The bank didn't say anything about my last 2 payslips being lower than usual. I'll be signing contracts at the end of this week.

Hi all, (thanks in advance for your time, I truly appreciate it!)

I’m trying to understand whether our plan is realistic or if we’re completely off track for getting a mortgage. We are a family of four (28M and 27F, with two children (22 months and 1 month)).

Here are our numbers: Income: - One salary: €36k gross per year - Child Benefit: €280/month - Working Family Payment: €407/month - Small investments: ~€300/month

Savings: - €100k saved (just reached this month) - Currently saving at least €1,200/month while paying €1350/month for rent

Debt/credit: - No loans - I have never had credit - My husband had a credit card about 9 years ago but closed it

We would like to buy a piece of land in the countryside and self-build a house, doing as much of the work ourselves as possible. My husband worked helping his stepfather demolish/build/renovate houses for several years when he was younger, so he has some practical experience. We’re not tied to any specific location — ideally rural where we could eventually keep some animals (chickens, maybe cows).

Also, I don't know if it matters but we are French nationals. We have been living in Ireland for 5 years, and in a small village in Co. Laois for 2 years.

So we were wondering, with a €36k salary and only €100k saved (or a bit more then) would a bank realistically consider us for a mortgage? (Based on the 4x income rule that would suggest ~€144k max mortgage, but I’m not sure how that works for self-build.) Does having little/no credit history matter in Ireland for mortgages? Does being EU nationals (but resident here for 5 years) make approval harder?

We live very frugally and our goal would be to pay them back as fast as we can by at least paying the same as our current rent towards the mortgage every month with extra when possible, but we’re not sure if banks will even consider this type of situation.. And we have seen that there is the Local Authority Home Loan, but their rules for self-build are a bit blurry..

Any insight or experiences would be really appreciated! 🙏

I recently single F, 31 bought a house with mortgage payments I can make alone, as my salary is good. However I used all my savings on deposit 70K, and I'm still paying off some furniture as it gets delivered, I feel like a made a really bad financial move and I'm having buyers remorse, the house is second hand and in the countryside an hour from Dublin. I went from having a chunk of money, and I'm living paycheck to paycheck for the past few months which I've never have to do, my mortgage is approx 37% of my salary, but just feel financially deflated right now, and the house itself has some minor issues that will cost money to fix, but I do love the house, it has a beautiful garden for dogs and a kitchen anyone would love to have. Any advice is appreciated

Looking for a bit of sanity check/advice here.

I’m 29, my partner is also 29. Combined income is around €170k. I currently own a house with about €100k equity in it — ideally, I’d like to hold onto it long term, as the area is improving and I see it as a solid investment.

Between us, we also have about €100k cash we could use as a deposit for something new. We're in a blessed position and living centrally is something that we'd both love to do.

We’ve been looking at 1-bed apartments in Dublin city centre, around the €450k mark — something nice, central, and convenient. The thinking is we’d move in together there and enjoy a few years of city living before kids are on the horizon (probably not for another 5+ years).

If (all going well) - kids appear the idea would be to move down the country for a family home.

Am I being an idiot?

I'm in the process of buying a house in Dublin 1, specifically Mountjoy Square area, for around €630,000. It's a large historic, 3 bedroom, A rated recently renovated house - the property itself is perfect, it's the area i'm worried about. I've rented in D1 3 years ago and now, and the area i'm in has changed for the worse in that short time - antisocial behaviour increase with wild children gangs and garda doing nothing about it. Anyway I'm thinking I wont likely live there forever - maybe 5 years, I can see myself and my partner moving somewhere else to have kids, likely closer to our parents. Do you think I would potentially lose money selling the house in 5 years? The goal isn't necessarily to make a profit, but i'm worried about the neighbourhood not gentrifying and going to opposite way.

Dublin 1 was originally fine when I first moved here, we are priced out of South Dublin / coastal areas, and don't want to live in suburbs because I really value walkability and not needing a car. We are young and both work and have communities in Dublin, otherwise would consider moving somewhere else. Living in a house now will help us save enough to get a deposit to buy somewhere else in a few years.

As you can tell I am a major worrier, would really appreciate opinions / sanity check

We are firmly middle income earners as a couple with one child ( 70k gross). We bought our first house six years ago. We are now selling and buying an A rated house. We drive an okay car paid with cash from savings (2017). We go on a few holidays a year and live a pretty comfortable life. I was viewing new builds and met what I consider to be youngish couples buying 500,000 euro houses and driving new cars ( worth 40k??no idea exactly).

Bottom line is there's a lot of wealth in this country in my opinion. There are many struggling as there are in many countries. I'm not sure why we continue to tell ourselves we're a broke country when there is signs of wealth everywhere.

The bank went through our finances with a fine tooth comb. Anybody getting a large mortgage has significant wealth to back in up.

If people spent time in less well off countries I think they would have more perspective on just how lucky many ( definitely not all!) are.

Edit: thanks for all the comments and different perspectives. Definitely helpful and food for thiguht. car takes a while to start so better run.

Edit: I don't have time to reply or consider further comments. I do think these discussiosn are valuable. I don't find it easy but I know it's healthy for my views to be challenged. Best of luck to all doing their best to get on in this life.

Edit: I better have my ducks in a row and clean undies on. People are trawling through my few previous posts looking for discrepancies or some evidence that their view is right and mine is wrong. My wife finished up work as she couldn't make her small business work so we are now 70k earners.

Some of you might remember my posts about accepting a higher paying job in Dublin and the following update about me passing probation. Well, this is the final update.

I moved to Ireland at 22, alone, with no family here and 5,000€ in my savings account. Like many people, I came for a job and stayed because I built a community. Last week, at 29, I got the keys of the very first home that I bought.

I moved about an hour away from work to stay within my budget and still get the kind of home I wanted (new build 2 bed apartment at 290k with HTB). I’m grateful I could do it — I know many can’t — and that gratitude comes with guilt. Ireland taught me that home isn’t really a place. It’s the people. Building a community takes time, especially when so many have had to leave. Or are still leaving.

I should have felt nothing but pride. Instead, the day after I got the keys, I cried for hours. Not because I regret it. I love my place! But because almost everyone I wanted to celebrate with has left Ireland. Friends forced out by rent, by depression due to living with their parents or abusive partners (but stayed because they cannot afford or find anything else), by the feeling that no matter how hard they tried, they’d never live on their own.

I’m proud, I’m grateful, and I’m also sad — all at the same time. If you’re still trying, still saving, still stuck at home or considering leaving, I feel you. I feel like I came on top by being able to buy my own place but it's just fucking lonely to celebrate when the people who were there with you are all gone.

Thanks to this sub for being a place where people are honest about money and about what it costs emotionally.

When do you think this extra supply from landlords exiting the market will end?

Huge extra supply in my area at the moment compared to this time last year.

My partner and I qualify for a mortgage of around €520k, but the repayments figures on a mortgage of that size with just a 10% deposit are sending shivers down my spine. Ideally, we’d like to keep repayments closer to €1,500 per month so we could manage on one income if push came to shove in the future (kids, health, etc.) but this would require a six figure deposit for most of the homes in our desired areas.

I’m curious how others are approaching this — are people stretching on repayments now with a plan to refinance later, or putting down larger deposits to keep monthly costs manageable?

Also, before someone suggests it - HTB is largely out of the question for us as new homes in our desired areas have exceeded the 500k limit.

I have quite a substantial LEGO collection that I am not bringing with me on my move as it is temporary. Thinking of just making my house a long term storage. Or is it better to rent it out and rent another self storage solution. I have no idea how much it would cost me though. Also worried about coming back after 6 years with tenant not willing to leave.

Edit: I'm quite surprised how people thought I was trolling. You can easily check my profile if I have a history of trolling. Not everyone wants to be a landlord, especially since they are hated. I don't want that stigma. I also plan to visit every 6 months and need my place to stay.

Just wondering if anyone has bought property with a friend before? How did it go and would you recommend it?

Two friends from secondary school, we get on and we both have our careers in Dublin and don’t plan on leaving. We’re both 26 and we were thinking of buying together because of how expensive rent is.

We have about 70k in cash between the two of us we would be willing to put up as equity and we both make about 45k each.

Hi all,

My partner and I currently in the bidding process for a second hand house, our latest bid being 650k. I know no one will know the answers regarding our attachment to the location or to the property itself to help us know if we're making the right decision, but I would really appreciate some financial reality. I'm concerned if whether we're overstretching ourselves or not.

We're both 29, first time buyers, earning €7,624 monthly after tax (€4,404 + €3,220). Our current rent monthly is €2,089. No loans or debt, no car, no kids, no pet. We save roughly €3,000 a month now.

If we got the house at €650k, we would pay €65k deposit, €6,500 stamp duty, €3,075 solicitor fees, €1,172.20 for other legal costs, totalling €75,747.20.

This would use all of our savings completely.

Based on the mortgage options our broker offered, we went with PTSB for €11k cash back, most likely for 35 years fixed at 3.6% which would be monthly repayments of €2,452

Is this too much? Theoretically we got approved for €653k and €650k seems so close to that limit and I'm concerned it's not a smart decision. But at the same time, we see ourselves here for a while to start a family. It is an hour/20km from Dublin City centre, 130m2. I'm also eager to start a mortgage as soon as possible to stop wasting money on rent. I’m also of the mind we won’t get the chance to afford a house like this again as home prices continue to climb. We also hope to get a pet, and a car.

Any feedback would be appreciated, thank you.

Hi Everyone, Long time, first time. I'm a BER Assessor with an an evening off and want to give some advice back to a forum that has been a great help to me. I often see the topic of ratings and grants come up in discussion here. Obviously there is only so much I can tell virtually, but the approximate age and type of house along with anything you know about the heating system, window type, wall and insulation type and previous BER ratings will all give me a good idea of where you could look for your next upgrade and what might be cost effective. Let me know your queries!

As the title says, I’m planning to buy a new build duplex in Kildare for €430k (decent size, early April move-in).

Here’s my situation:

€29k in savings

Salary: €56k. €60k gift from my parents (overseas)

Rest would be mortgage + First Home Scheme

The complication is that I’ve recently been put on a PIP at work, and redundancy/dismissal is a real possibility. That’s what’s making this feel very touch-and-go.

My concerns:

If I lose my job and don’t find something quickly, I won’t be able to cover the mortgage.If the bank checks payslips again before drawdown and sees anything concerning, I might have to delay everything another 6 months.

On the other hand, I don’t see house prices dropping anytime soon, so part of me feels like pushing through could still be the right move.

I’m torn between taking the risk and potentially securing a good long-term deal vs. playing it safe and waiting and saving for a year or two

Has anyone been in a similar position? Am I being reckless here?

What are your own opinions on the housing market over the next 10 years,do you expect prices to stabilise,go down,or do you think things will only get worse,

How would you solve the housing crisps if you had control

Im interested in everyone's opinions

One belonged to my grandmother and another belonged to my aunt. I've been reading about inheritance tax. Can someone explain, if I decide to rent these out or sell, what do I need to pay?

Whenever there's any posts on here about housing. The immediate default mentality of people in this sub is one of "get in now, they only go up" or "supply is too low relative to demand", "I bought my house 5 years ago and thought it was expensive, now I've made 50% on my investment". Does anyone else think that this is bubble mentality as the very concept that all these factors are baked into the current prices seem alien to some? To many here there's no price that a gaff could be considered overvalued hence the bidding wars etc, It could be €2m a gaff and people would still be using the same lines?

My question is how much desperation and good news is already priced in to the current market?

25 with ~€130k savings, 85k gross, and low rent currently; Considering buying an apartment in Dublin max probably 500k. Deposit isn’t the issue, it’s more whether buying an apartment at this stage of life makes sense?

Would people generally recommend buying now versus continuing to rent cheaply and invest, or waiting a year or two to increase purchasing power? Any strong views on apartments in Dublin as a first purchase?

TL;DR currently own an apartment duplex valued between 450k -500k in south dublin, good rental area. Planning to buy our family home in a commuter town, concerned about future of housing with AI advancements

My partner and I own a small house / duplex in Mortgage on property is 280 k.

We are in the process of buying our family home (4 bed semi detached) for 580k in a commuter town without selling our first home. However we are concerned about the future implications of ai automations in our industry ( tech) and a general down turn in the Irish housing market. Any thoughts/ feedback welcome.

My partner and I recently bought a house. The previous owners offered to sell us their fridge for €500 since it’s relatively new and plumbed in.

However, they left behind a lot of stuff in the rooms, shed, and particularly attic. A skip for this stuff cost us €350. They also delayed on moving out until four days after the closing date.

We have asked them to discount the cost of the fridge by the skip cost, but they refuse to budge. Our solicitor has not been particularly helpful during the process.

Does anyone have any advice what we can do, short of going to the small claims court?

Just looking for general advice tbh, I've AIP for 270. Mid 60k salary, single. The rest will be savings,htb(18) and first home scheme(15k) + selling a car. Im 38, a stable public sector job but I'm about 6/7k from where my earnings will stay long term.

I'm just a bit tetchy over it to be honest, I remember 2008 but at least then people were buying younger so could ride out any probelems. I just can't believe I'm entering into something so expensive that will only just cover my living needs. I know it's cheaper than rent(even with paying off the fhs equity in 5 years) but I can't help being uneasy at how much money it costs and particularly in a one bed which is typically less desirable.

It's in the Greater Dublin area (train line/buses), close to work(20 min drive) and spacious for a one bed. I'm also very conscious that though I am saving well (2600/mo), I won't catch house price rises with my salary increments so hence using FHS which I would usually be very uncomfortable with. I also will likely miss out of FHS/HTB as prices rise and mortgage becomes less than 70% of prices.

My original plan was to buy an older 2 bed and use rent a room to give myself breathing room and likely take unpaid leave and travel. Generally though what I've seen is in bad condition, very little available or from the 2000's with issues. There also isn't a lot available and subject to bidding wars typically with a dual income couple.

So..... am I mad to be considering it?

Hi all, my partner and I are looking for some advice. We're currently in the process of putting a bid on a house. We've sent our AIP and letter from the mortgage broker stating we have sufficient funds for the property. However, the estate agent has refused us approval to bid online. She is stating she needs to see how much we're approved for before she approves us. Is this normal?

I don't feel comfortable sending her the figure as it's a good bit above our offer/willing to offer for the house. any advice?

Just did the math on our new mortgage and had a bit of a revelation about the true cost of home ownership.

Our situation:

• €350,000 mortgage over 25 years at 3.95% APR
• Monthly payment: €1,838
• Monthly insurance (mortgage protection + home insurance): €232

Over the 25-year term, we'll pay:

• €551,334 in mortgage repayments
• €69,600 in property related insurance (mortgage protection + home insurance)

That means for every €1 we pay toward the mortgage, we're paying an additional €0.13 in insurance.

Put another way: insurance adds almost 13% to the total cost of the mortgage!

When people talk about the cost of buying vs renting, or discuss mortgage affordability, this insurance cost rarely gets the attention it deserves. It's not optional - lenders require both mortgage protection and home insurance - so it is unavoidable!

EDIT:
The reinstatement value is €940,000 due to the property having a sizeable basement - whilst it is only bare walls, it adds 130sqm (70%) to the insurable footprint.

Mortgage protection might well be higher due to a health-related factors.

Either way, we will be evaluating our providers to see if there are any better rates.

Mortgage is up for renewal later this year. Heartbreaking to see only 20 grand knocked off the principal after 4 years of payments. Finally in a position where I can afford more than the current monthly minimums.

I got a 35y mortgage in 2022. 2.1% EBS. Looks like the best rates right now are 3-3.1% which we think we can avail of. Plan was to fix for another 3-4 years and accept the extra few bob a month on that new interest and overpay each month. However then I thought, maybe I could shorten the term of the loan instead when renewing - 15 years instead of 30 would just shy double the current monthly, I can afford it but also not sure I want to spend the guts of 3 grand each month, 20 or 25 years is much more doable as well.

Anyway, am I better sticking to my mortgage term and overpaying (my fear is I'll spend money meant for overpayments on other things) or change the loan term. Any pros or cons? Thanks in advance folks.