REA Mortgages

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eimear25

Registered User
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hi all

quick question - do REA charge a fee even if you don't use their solicitors? Are they worth going through?

Thanks
 
Somewhat biased reply here but in answer to your first question there is no fee and no commission refund if you don't use the REA package and in answer to the second part - we'd like to think so!

60/70% of our business is by way of referrals and repeat clients so we must be doing something right....

Sarah

www.rea.ie
 
I have used REA and took the option to use their solicitors. When I deducted the refund from my total bill paid my legal bill (including all conveyency, VAT etc.) cost around €800 which is very competitive imho.
 
I e-mailed thhem a couple of times with a view to using them for my last move but they never got back to me...
 
How does REAs package compare with PrimaFinance who have this Euro499+VAT legal fees offer ? Is the REA refund upfront or do you have to fork out the full amount first and wait for the refund later ?
 
thanks Sarah
i probably wouldn't use the package as I work in solicitors office myself and would get the work done here. Do all lenders charge commission and if so, how much? also, how much is the package?
 
redstar said:
How does REAs package compare with PrimaFinance who have this Euro499+VAT legal fees offer ? Is the REA refund upfront or do you have to fork out the full amount first and wait for the refund later ?
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You pay upfront and they refund it to you within 90 days, usually < 45 days I believe. I'm using REA and I found the solicitors good, professional all around. Best tracker mortgage avail, considering LTV ratio, was recommended (UBank UFirst Tracker).
 
The "Prima finance" offer is €499 plus vat. The V.A.T. €104.79, makes it €603.79. The total outlay on a normal new house purchase with mortgage is in the region of €750.00, which would bring total Prima finance cost to circa. €1,353.79. So, the "cheapest" package to some extent depends on the size of your REA refund, which is in turn based on the commission rate and the size of the mortgage.

As a separate but related issue, I don't believe it is economically viable for any solicitor to offer an adequate conveyancing service for €499, and this offer is only available if you use Prima as a mortgage broker. I therefore assume (but am open to correction) that the Prima-Finance solicitor gets some sort of top-up from Prima-finance out of the mortgage commission, so as to make it viable.

I don't like the idea of a solicitor being paid by somebody other than the customer. I can't quite put my finger on what it is that I don't like about it, but I think it is a step on the wrong direction. Once a solicitor starts relying on referral fees, top up fees, commissions etc., instead of simply charging a fee direct to the client, I think it perhaps weakens the position of absolute independence from which all legal advice should be dispensed. This is not, of course, to say that any solicitor on the Prima finance panel is giving anything less than 100% independent advice. But, rather like Caesar's wife, I think I would prefer not to give even the remotest cause for complaint.

For this reason alone, I prefer the REA business model as being more transparent.

Although a practising solicitor, I have no connection with either service.
 
eimear25 said:
thanks Sarah
i probably wouldn't use the package as I work in solicitors office myself and would get the work done here. Do all lenders charge commission and if so, how much? also, how much is the package?
Click to expand...

Hi Eimear,

If you don't want the legal side of the package there is no fee and no commission refund. All the lenders we deal with pay us 1% with the exception of Bank of Scotland (0.9%) and the EBS (0.5%).

Sarah

www.rea.ie
 
I'm an ex-client of REA.

My experiences with REA was initially ok and was told that I would certainly have no problem with getting a mortgage. But it all turned sour when it came to actually getting the mortgage ...

When I had found a house, I told REA to proceed with getting a mortgage, REA turned around and said that no lender would give a mortgage because of my residency status in Ireland. At the start I had asked REA if this was an issue and they said no.

In the end, I had a lovely chat with my bank, they said they were delighted to give me a mortgage! I asked them if they had any problem/issue regarding my residency status in Ireland and they said NO!

I would not recommend anybody to a mortgage broker at all - for me, the whole process with the bank was totally painless!
 


How much are your legal fees for someone who has mortgage sorted elsewhere
 
I have also had a bad experience with REA recently. They could not get a mortgage for us based on residency status and once again my bank had no problem giving us a mortgage. I was very disappointed with the whole service provided by the company.

My sister had originally recommended them to me as she was getting a mortgage at the same time, but since says she would not recommend them again as she has had more hassle from them than help.
 
Summer said:
I also emailed them and never had a reply.
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One of their company never showed up to an appointment with a colleague of mine. Tried to back down by saying meeting was later/earlier, though she had an e-mail with the guy giving the meeting time on it.
 
I was able to arrange an appointment for the next day via email outside the9 - 5.30 hours. No problems so far.
 
I have recommended a few people to Rea and they were all happy with the service. I did tell them to ask for Sarah, so it may be like any other business - it depends on whom you deal with.

Having said that, I am a great believer in dealing directly. If you are not borrowing ten times your income and 100% of the value of your house, you are better off looking at the best buys tables and applying directly. But it you are at your limits, a broker can get you a loan where you might not be able to get one otherwise.

Brendan
 
I'm pretty stupid...and when I spoke with Rea last year I could not comprehend why I would need to pay out just to get it back later...my point was why not just send the reduced bill from the outset...which is straight forward for stupid people like me.

At the time though the solicitor they provided was in Dublin & none in the Real Capital which meant that I would have to travel up there to sign contracts etc...a real paid in the This post will be deleted if not edited to remove bad language...so I didn't go with them.

ninsaga
 
We are now going to apply directly to First Active and see if we have a chance with the 100% mortgage ! Worth giving it a go !!! Plus it cuts out the middle man.
 
Hi Everyone

Sarah has started her extended summer holiday


yes of course we are disappointed to hear that some clients have had a tough time, with regards to the emails I personally respond to all emails that come in to our company email addresses ie mortgages@rea.ie, merrion@rea.ie, so I would be unhappy to think I missed any

with regards to missed appointments, we normally meet our clients in our offices, so I would hope that I would be contacted at leonard@rea.ie to discuss why an advsior failed to meet a client, as this is not common practice

as a side issue, all REA clients are sent a customer questionnaire after their mortgage is closed, and to date we have received very few complaints regarding our service

so if anyone wishes to contact me to discuss any service issues, I would be happy to investigate and report back directly to you

Deirdre Leonard
www.rea.ie
 

Your right ninsaga, you are pretty stupid! moaning about an obviously neccessary procedure that rea must go through as regards to refunds, but the fact that you are refunded anyway, whats the problem?, also, are you complaining because they havent a solicitor in "the real capital" [wherever that is?], if so its hardly something to moan about, their a private company not a national service.
 
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