First time Buyers Basic info

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celtictiger

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Hi All, i've been on this site a while and find it very usefull so thanks for all the info thats been posted in the past, im just wonderingif there is a site or link for first time buyers to get to grips with the whole house buying monster, i've just been giving approval with EBS at a rate of 7% and i said thanks very much ..but to be honest ..i haven't got a clue what this 7% means, would i be better of trying to get 8% or 10%??? or is 0% better for a borrower ? if the ECB interest rate goes up is that better or worse ? I know this is basic stuff but I haven't got a clue what it means.. Is there a a basic info to start off with before trying to decide on tracker or fixed ..whatever that means ???
 
Surely your mortgage interest rate is not 7%? If it is then that is an absolutely crazy rate of interest to be paying. And how can you reasonably think that paying 8% or 10% is better than a lower rate? And where can you get 0% (free money!)?

Have you read ANY of the existing threads or resources on this site, the IFSRA site or maybe the [broken link removed] (no matter who you are borrowing from) for example?
 
im guessing he was given approval of 93% of purchase price maybe? so he has to pay 7% as a deposit. 0% would mean 100% mortage?

Can the OP clarify?
 
Clubman, i never thought 8% or 10% was better than 7%, i just don't have a clue about the whole mortgage payback % values, and yes EBS did mention 7% on a 300k apporval and as i have 150k savings there could be no mistake on needing 7% deposit, sorry if this info seems a little distracting but there just seems to be so much you have to know and if you miss out on one part of taking out a mortgage it could cost you a lot in the long run, so im just trying to find somewhere that runs through the whole process from start to finish in the most simplest easy to understand terms and maybe get myself on the property market with as little stress as possible,
 
As far as I can see most APR's for fixed rates end up being lower than the nominal rate because the APR is calculated using the fixed rate for the fixed term and the (usually) lower standard variable rate for the remainder. In what I would guess would be a fairly typical scenario of say a 2-5 year fixed rate and say a 20 year term (and thats probably conservative these days) the weighting is heavily skewed by the variable rate being applied to the balance of the term
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Clubman, this is what im talking about as to not being able to understanding the jargon that goes with taking out a mortgage, i copied this form a post about EBS stopping 3% and 5% fixed morgtages . ..... can you see how confusing this can be ..??
 
Umm. While I know that's fairly technical, remember that you don't have to understand all details of all financial calculations. But you could start with a rule of thumb that the lower the rate the better. If you're comparing products, just make sure that you're comparing the same thing - either get the "nominal rate" for all of them, or better, get the "APR" (Annual percentage rate).

Unless you have a bad credit history, or are looking for a very long fixed rate, 7% is very high at the moment. You should be able to get a tracker rate of a small fraction under 5% - and that will make a massive difference to your monthly payments.

Shop around, and particularly if you're not good on the details and calculations, consider going via a good broker. Have a look at the Financial Best Buys forum, where there's a list of brokers here:

I used REA years ago, and they were very good - very kind to panicking first time buyers! L D Ferguson is a regular Askaboutmoney poster, and comes across as very knowledgable and helpful. But everyone on the list has been recommended in glowing terms by various askaboutmoney posters over the years. Really could be worth it...
 
thanks Dreamerb, i guess i just got a fright as i was offered 190k by PTSB and 300k by EBS with the same info pack(p60, up to date wage slips, savings statments) and just find the whole experience a bit much, i'll have to further investagate the 7% mentioned on phone to EBS. will let you all know how i get on ..thanks again
 
IFSRA have a good summary guide to mortgages and the EBS link also covers some of the issues.

If you have €150K then you should consider using this to reduce your borrowings. In general it doesn't make a lot of sense to be borrowing while maintaining significant savings.

I would urge you to get independent, professional advice from an authorised advisor or good multi-agency intermediary perhaps. Not from tied agents employed by individual lenders.
 
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