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It’s so achievable – it really is.
SUCH IS THE opening salvo of speaker Sarah Ridge, Grand Canal Hub manager with KBC Ireland at the company’s Mortgage Lounge at Dublin’s Mansion House this week.
What is a mortgage lounge when it’s at home you may ask? Well it’s a sort of mortgage tour for first time buyers/the uninitiated with professionals from the various strands relevant to any house application bringing people through the whole process from start to finish – so solicitors, estate agents, and, of course, mortgage providers.
About 400 people have shown up for the event, running the full length of the spectrum: old (some of them checking things out for their children, some present out of curiosity), young, national and non-national, couples and singles. And, per the above quote, positivity is the name of the game. “Think of it as a series of steps,” says KBC’s Conor McGowan.
It’s KBC’s effort (another is planned for Cork over the coming weeks) to stamp their brand across the mortgage market now that the company has committed to maintaining its Irish business going forward. No window for sharing the information that the Belgium-headquartered bank is “the largest mortgage provider in Ireland” goes a-begging.
To be fair, the presentations are not mere lip service – they’re informative, particularly from a legal and numbers (what size mortgage are you entitled to under Central Bank rules being an obvious point for one, the help-to-buy scheme explained for another) point of view, and there are no evident complaints from the various attendees.
Unmanageable
“Yeah, well we might have been a bit hazy beforehand but we’re fairly well-informed after this,” say Helen and Karl, a couple who have recently returned from abroad and are looking to buy in the “greater Dublin area” before the end of the year.
We’re just looking to get our ducks in a row really. Rents are only going up, so we’re looking to get cracking.
That rents in Dublin are becoming basically unmanageable (Daft.ie’s latest report, released this week, shows rents around the country are rising at their fastest rate on record) is the single prevailing thread to emerge from talking to attendees. If there are any nerves that people might over-commit themselves, or that another crash could be in the offing, or just at what can be an intimidating process generally, they aren’t particularly evident.
Jerome and his wife, Nigerians who have been living in Swords, Co Dublin, for over 10 years, say they are “sick of paying more to our landlord than we would in a mortgage”.
“It’s just pointless,” he says.
The couple are not seeking new information, rather they are looking to confirm what they already know.
We’re fairly far along to be honest, we know most of what we need to know. Now we want to be done with it in the next couple of months. Why keep paying the landlord?
‘It’s the right time’
“It’s just the rents alright, they’re only going one way” agrees Ronan, a microbiologist from Co Meath.
He’s looking to buy (alone, “at the moment”) in north County Dublin and says that he’s “lucky to have a good job which means I can save”.
I won’t be looking to buy beyond my means like, so I’m not really worried about it. I just came to educate myself really, to make a start.
Tara Moran / TwitterBring a notepad to viewings & a developer to asses potential costs! Simple but great advice from @SherryFitMcGill at #KBCMortgageLounge 🔨
— Tara Moran (@tazmorano) February 16, 2017
Henry, a 32-year-old aircraft leasing agent based in Dublin, but looking to build with his partner in the west of Ireland, says “he knows very little about what’s involved, at the moment anyway”.
Rent isn’t really an issue for him. “It’s just the right time relationship-wise, for us both,” he says.
It’s a point that KBC themselves are keen to hammer home.
“Some may say the market is a little tricky at present, but really there’s never been a better time to buy,” says McGowan. “Rents are more expensive than a mortgage would be, so why not?”.
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Of course it was an Irish budget; it took much from those that need most, and took nothing from those that have most.
Just one example…three rows of social houses across the street from me…car or two in front of each of them…trips to the post office every week…work?…what for?…we have everything for free…i hope i will see them soon leaving home in the morning to go and work hard, just like me!
Good man. There are jobs out there.temporary maybe. Interns maybe. Free college or fas courses maybe. But defo no excuse to be at home all day
Agree wholeheartedly with the Senator – the budget reflects profound ideological choices about the kind of Ireland we want.
Neither party has outlined any kind of vision beyond balancing the books – this is a massive failing.
I think it was a very good budget.. Its not going to impact much on those who are working. There are currently 10,000 jobs advertised in ireland… So jobs there are, i think the budget was a push to get people back to work.
Alex. When I see the “back to work” slogan used regarding this budget it makes me laugh. Very few employers in their right mind will employ anyone unless absolutely necessary with this proposal for them to pay first 4 weeks of sick pay.
What are we paying PRSI for again? Oh yeah, for when we’re all on the dole!
And even if the 10,000 jobs figure is correct (where are you getting that from, btw?), there are well over 300,000 people unemployed in this country at the moment. And what about the 140 companies that went under in the past month?
“Incentivising” people to go take jobs that aren’t there, by placing them
In danger of poverty, pushing them deeper into poverty. Weak justification, given the circumstances.
Well I think was a good budget. There are politics to how the decisions can be made and they did their best. But they should have put a few euro on the fags. That way unemployed people won’t smoke away their social welfare. And don’t tell me unemployed strapped for cash people should have the freedom to smoke blah blah
Have you something against the Unemployed then Aidan ?
That’s all very well and good, but you are actually speaking about an addiction. And forcing them to quit is infringing on their rights, whether it’s a silly decision to smoke or not.
If a person on the dole had a worse addiction like heroin we wouldn want them to spend their dole on it and smoking is no different.. I dont mind paying tax for the needy or for education and healthcare but you can get fucked if you think im paying for someone to smoke 20 a day and live in the local bookies.. Tax the shite out of bad habits I say…
@yosser. I have something against the unemployed smoking my tax money. As stated. Now please stop with your amazingly silly point
Aidan. You’d never look in the mirror for me and tell the cranky man to stop making his amazingly silly points.
Can they smoke their own tax money? I’m pretty sure the 14% out of work haven’t always been on the dole.
Yeah lads great being on the dole money for nothing ….Working 5 days a week on the black market couldn’t beat it !! You just keep on paying your taxes good lads ….
Unemployed because they chose it as their lifestyle?…YES…because they are too lazy?…f..k YES! They feel far too comfortable with the dole coming to their pockets every week and don’t even think about doing anything towards finding a job. Not all of them of course, but surely a lot of them.
Es war sicherlich ein irischer budget!!
enjoy! :)
Bitterly disappointed to hear Dr Zappone on with Ivan Yates during the week. Dr Zappone talked about how great the Seanad was but guys like me (taxpayers) have no say because I went to the “wrong” university. Another taxpayer (a friend who happens to own and run a shop, and is doing so very successfully during a recession) who pays a lot more tax than I do gets zero say because he didn’t go to college. Another friend, a supremely intelligent guy doesn’t get a vote because he got his degree (a First Class Honours) at Baliol, Oxfod. It is a bit rich cribbing and moaning about inclusiveness when you are happy to partake in the most obscenely undemocratic instituion imaginable.
Huge respect for gay rights work, but the fact that Dr Zappone went out of her way to say how great the Seanad was makes my blood boil.
Dump the euro
Balance the books
Problem sorted
Ooops! One small problem. The public sector might have to take a pay cut. I guess we will just have to make our children pay instead. Simples.
@Rommel the country is in debt. If you can find their own tax money you are some man. Otherwise cop on
@Aidan
Can civil and public servants smoke? After all you’re paying their wages too. Or are they exempt because they contribute tax? The majority of the unemployed have contributed plenty over the years too you know. Why not hammer drink in the budget too?
@Rommel public and civil service can do what they want with their disposable income. Don’t be so silly. Look, ill spell it out for you like a kids story it might help you: So if you were unemployed, you’re sitting with your partner scratching your head over how you are going to financially cope, and her and your feet are sore from walking through Dublin at the anti budget protest and she turns to you and says ‘Rommel, please give up the fags for a start, that will help, there is too much money being smoked. You smoke twenty a day. That’d sixty a week, a third of your job seekers allowance ‘ ‘why no honey, it’s my right to smoke, I’ll smoke if I want, I’ve worked long enough over the years so I’ll do what I want, so goodnight’
End of
“public and civil service can do what they want with their disposable income”, but not the unemployed? Why not? I got news for you, it’s none of your business.
End of.
@Rommel buddy surely you know that disposable income is that of money left after tax. Unemployed receive allowance, support. Incomparable in my opinion. Anyway have a good Friday night. I’m headin out for a fag
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