Any point talking to a bank/broker (Just started new job)?

[Black_Knight]

Myself and my fiancee are looking to start the process of finding/buying a house to call our home. We've both just recently started new jobs and as such we're both still within our 6 month probation period (hers ending in April, mine in July), but realistically there's no cause for concern there. I understand that banks will see otherwise.

Is there any point in us beginning talks with brokers etc at this stage, or should we wait until closer to April? The only change between now and April would be the amount we've saved for a deposit, and taking our current savings and our current salaries it seems we're in a good position to buy. I guess we'd just like a professional opinion on our standings.

So, waste of time, or good to get the ball rolling?

 

[44brendan]

No harm in talking to a broker at this time. broker will put you straight on all issues required in order to progress an application. I.e. things like length of employment track record required, amount of deposit, available loan based on your earnings etc.

 

[Dave_Curry_IMC]

Some banks will issue an approval in principle (AIP) with a condition that they will not proceed to loan offer until probation is completed. This way, you can make offers on properties armed with the AIP (which some estate agents will insist on seeing before they will even accept a bid).

You could get the ball rolling, but if your probation will not be completed until July, you can't really make an offer until June. With this in mind, it would probably be best to get your AIP no earlier than May, as it will only last for up to 6 months.

A key consideration for some lenders is whether your employments are both continuous, i.e. no significant gap between employments.

I completely agree with Brendan's point - a broker could advise you on where you stand, and what changes (if any) you could make to give yourself the best chances of approval with multiple lenders.

Best Regards,
Dave Curry, Irish Mortgage Corporation

 

[Black_Knight]

Cheers guys.

Our employment has always been continuous. Biggest gap was 2 weeks my fiancee took between ending one job and starting another. Ive heard before where 1 person in the application isn't full time employed (contract/in probation period) that the bank would take half their salary into account (ie. 3.5 X (SalaryA +(SalaryB/2)). That's kinda what we're banking on (no pun intended), since that sum would put us somewhere around what we would need to borrow. Deposit wise we should be fine. Of the house values we're looking at we'd have about 15% deposit, and more than enough for the new 10% and 20% rules.

 

[Dave_Curry_IMC]

Some banks may take 50% of the second income into account, but usually only when that is the lower of the two incomes in the joint application. Otherwise, depending on the employment history, and other strengths of the application, they might still consider taking 50% into account. The fact that both of you are currently on probation would make getting this policy exception less likely, so you might need to wait until April. That said, you could certainly get the ball rolling. A good broker will discuss your application in detail with the lenders before submitting it for a formal assessment. This should give you a lot of certainty about whether to apply right away, or to wait until conditions are a little more favourable.

 

[Black_Knight]

Thanks Dave. Agreed about April. That would be the earliest we'd have penciled in to go after properties (pending what banks/brokers say). At the moment we're getting a feel for prices of areas/houses/sizes etc, but no harm getting the ball rolling to see where we currently/will stand.

Im biased, but I can only say the rest of our application would be solid. No dependencies, no existing loans, neither of us have even had a loan. For simplification lets say our mortgage would be around €1000pcm. We're regular savers at the moment (wedding), saving about 50% more a month (€1500 savings) than what our prospective mortgage would be, and also paying rent to the tune of what our mortgage would potentially be (€1000). Outside of that we're probably saving ~50-60% of what our mortgage would be (~€500), into our own personal savings for a house deposit.

Switch out rent for mortgage and we're regularly saving over 2k pcm after paying our mortgage.

That all said, anyone know a decent broker in Cork?

 

[Black_Knight]

April is nearing, and we've been tipping away at daft/myhome, even viewed 2 open houses. Looking to get a bit more serious now, since we've seen 1 or 2 places online that we might actually be interested in, and get talking to a broker, so if anyone has any recommendations for brokers in the Cork area, im all ears!