A Guide To Your Home Buying Journey

Getting Ready to Apply For A Mortgage

Buying a new home is probably the biggest and most exciting financial decision you will ever make. For many people it is also the first time that they will start thinking about a home mortgage. Apart from picking out your dream home, it involves a lot of personal planning and organisation. And that’s where we come in by making your mortgage application process as simple and as streamlined as possible. Our job is to tailor a solution to suit your individual needs not only for the immediate home purchase but also to ensure that you have flexibility going forward in the event of life changes such as job loss or health issues. To fully understand the mortgage process we have set out the steps to how we can you on your mortgage journey.

How Much Should You Borrow? How Much Can You Borrow?

At Aspire Wealth Management, we will advise you on how much you may be able to borrow and on the best terms that suits your personal circumstances. Before we do this, we need to gather financial information on your earnings, saving, existing borrowings as well as personal expenditure. Typically we find that our Mortgage Questionnaire elicits all the relevant information to help us understand your specific needs. Once we understand your requirements, we can identify the most appropriate lender, loan term and rate for your new home purchase.

Mortgage Approval in Principle

Before you go house hunting you may want to want to get an outline approval of the maximum amount that you can borrow and on whatever conditions such a mortgage might be granted. This is where our Approval In Principle service helps by seeking credit approval for you for the most suitable mortgage product to meet your needs. Once the Financial Institution is satisfied with the information submitted, they will issue an outline advance approval which means you can go house hunting with confidence. This “Approval in Principle” is then valid for 6 months allowing you to focus on the search for your new home. To help us apply to lenders all you need to do is complete our Application Form.

Mortgage Switcher or Financing Home Refurbishment

If you already have a family home and are looking to either get a better long term rate to make savings or need to borrow more to enhance your home we can advise on the options open to you. A 0.5% reduction in interest rates on a loan of €300,000 could save €6,079 on a 20 year term or €20,832 on a 30 year term. To help us identify the savings that you might be able to make all you need to do is complete our Application Form.

Mortgage Application Checklist

We have developed a checklist to assist you in gathering all the necessary documents that are needed for a mortgage application.

Getting a Valuation on the Property Being Bought or Remortgaged

Your chosen property will need to be valued to find out how much it is worth as lenders have different interest rates available for loans that have different percentage values to the value of the home. In some case a Green Mortgage rate may be available depending on how recently the home has been built. The valuation will need to be conducted by a valuer from the Financial Institutions Panel and we can assist in organising this.

Choosing a Solicitor

To deal with the legal requirements of the mortgage you need to appoint a solicitor. This is called the ‘conveyancing’ process and the solicitor is responsible for ensuring that the seller has full legal ownership, and the property is not encumbered by other loans. If you do not have a solicitor, then don’t worry. We can arrange for a solicitor from our panel to act for you.

Mortgage Protection & Home Insurance

Before you close the mortgage transaction you will need to arrange the appropriate Life Assurance and Building Insurance to protect both you and the property. Again, we can assist you with this.

Closing The Mortgage

The mortgage lender will issue a Loan Offer Pack to you and to your solicitor. This will contain your formal Letter of Offer and outlines full details of your mortgage and the terms and conditions of your loan.

Your solicitor will co-ordinate the relevant legal paperwork with the lender’s legal team as well as any and the vendors’ solicitor. They will also go through the contract with you to ensure you are satisfied with all the finer details. Once the legalities have been agreed by all parties the lender will issue your funds to your solicitor. They complete the purchase or refinancing and arrange for the distribution of money to all the relevant parties. If you are a first-time buyer then all you have to do is for you to collect the keys to your new home.

A Guideline to Fees and Costs Associated with taking out a Mortgage:

Solicitor’s Fees: You will need a solicitor to act on your behalf to complete the legal work required. It is wise to get quotes from solicitors as costs may vary.

Valuation Report: A valuation of the property must be carried out by a valuer form the Financial Institutions Panel prior to loan approval. We will arrange this for you. A valuation costs in the region of €185.00.

Stamp Duty: This is a tax you pay on a property purchase. The rate is 1% for properties up to €1 million and 2% thereafter.

Structural Survey: This is primarily for second-hand homes. You may wish to have structural survey carried out on the property this will detect any defects with the property. This is something you would arrange yourself directly with the Structural Surveyor.