Purchasing a house is the biggest investment most people make in their lives, so it pays to know what you’re doing. Understanding the process is important for buyers, as this will ensure a smooth, hassle-free experience from start to finish.
Assess Your Finances
Regular costs
Identify your budget to determine how much you can afford to pay every month (currently and for a number of years into the future). This will ensure you are future proofed to comfortably pay your mortgage and have a good standard of living, too.
Incidental or one-off costs
Make sure you have also allowed for all of the extra costs for services and miscellaneous fees that will inevitably pop up when buying a home in Ireland. Make sure that you include your solicitor’s legal fees, engineer’s report fees, mortgage deposit costs, stamp duty and house insurance, when you sit down to calculate your budget.
Deposit
Most mortgage lenders in Ireland currently require you to have saved a percentage of the full price of the property (your down payment). They may lend you anywhere between 90% to 92% of the cost of the property. So you will have to finance the remainder with your savings.
Hiring a Solicitor
You will need to engage the assistance of a solicitor to take care of the legal documentation and Irish law statutory requirements. Your solicitor will oversee the legal process when transferring the ownership of the property that you are buying from the current owner to yourself. As you begin looking for the right property, be sure to hire a solicitor to take care of all of the conveyancing and associated tasks, which is legal work that is carried out when you buy or sell a property.
Your solicitor will look at all the documentation to ensure the sale is legal and act as an intermediary between the house owner and you. Conveyancing charges can vary, so be sure to contact several solicitors to compare prices first.
Find your dream home
Looking for property has never been easier, thanks to the Internet and the availability of property websites and multi-vendor property portals. Most estate agents and auctioneers now have their own websites that list property for sale in your preferred location and within specific price brackets. Keep in mind that some individual sellers (private home owners selling their houses themselves) often advertise their property in the papers, so do your research in the local newspapers and publications.
Every home on sale should have a Building Energy Rating (BER). The BER tells you how energy-efficient the property is. This ensures you are making an informed decision when comparing different properties and the prices being asked.
If you like a property, be sure to get a property inspection done. This will identify any major defects in the property that you may not be aware of when doing a cursory review over the property. Your engineer will do a full professional inspection of the property and identify if there are any problems with the property that you should be aware of before you enter into negotiations with the vendor.
Make an Offer
Once you find your dream home, and you are happy that the property is structurally sound and meets your requirements, then it’s time to make your offer to the property owner. Hopefully they will accept your offer and you will then move on to the legal process of the purchase. Ensure that your solicitor checks every aspect of the contract and the title document before signing. Once everything is in order, it’s time to sign the relevant contracts and draw down the mortgage from your bank or lending institution.
Protect your investment
Our final tip is to get the correct house insurance to adequately cover you and your property into the future. You will require property insurance once the property documents have been signed. Britton Insurance can offer you help and advice on how to go about finding the best house insurance in Ireland. We can assist you in finding the best insurance company that is suitable to you and your particular home insurance requirements. We compare what is available on the insurance market ‘at the time of requirement’, by reviewing up to 15 insurance companies and the policies that they have on offer for home insurance, which allows us to find you the best deal on offer to us, at any given time.