Age: 30
Spouse’s/Partner's age: 30
Annual gross income from employment or profession: €60,000 with €25,000-30,000 overtime
Annual gross income of spouse: 0, Fiancee recently finished a diploma and is jobseeking. Will likely get private sector job c €40,000-50,000 per annum in next few months.
Monthly take-home pay: From me: Net €5,000
Type of employment: e.g. Civil Servant, self-employed
Me: public sector, good job security. Increasing annual salary scale.
Partner: NA
We're saving:
Saving €1900 per month
Total Savings between us: €72,000
Accommodation: Renting
Rent = €1800/month
Other borrowings – car loans/personal loans etc: None
Do you pay off your full credit card balance each month? Yes
Savings and investments:
Do you have a pension scheme? Public sector pension. Will look at private pension in addition once set up with new home.
Do you own any investment or other property? Stocks €20,000
Ages of children: None
Background:
We are currently renting from my partner's Mum. She needs to sell the house in the next 12-18months and we are considering buying it off her. The market value of the house is about €400,000
She will be giving us a €100,000 euro gift towards the purchase.
We have mortgage AIP from Ulster bank for €270,000 from a joint application with my fiancee as a dependent.
We are living in my Fiancees mother's rental property and are currently paying €1800/month in rent.
We're saving €1900 per month.
We like the house and the area and are considering buying the house in the next few months. I will likely have to spend a year or two years of the next 4 years working in another county and renting there. When that occurs, we would likely rent one of the rooms in the house and take advantage of the rent a room scheme. If my Fiancee gets a job which is fully remote working, then she will likely move with me and we would fully rent out the house for the two years. I'm employed in a job which involves moving around the country a lot and finding colleagues to move into the house should not be an issue. We all rotate jobs at the same time of year so moving in and out of the house will easily coincide.
We're due to get married in August but at this stage its all very speculative with bloody COVID! (We've already postponed from last summer)
Ultimately, we would look at trading up in about 5 years as the house is not very practical for children. My salary will have increased by about €17,000 at that point and my fiancee will hopefully be employed. We should have no problem with a 20% deposit at that time given our equity in the house from the gift and repayments along with additional savings in the meantime.
What specific question do you have or what issues are of concern to you?:
(1) I am keen to proceed with the Ulster Bank mortgage given their rates and I have a home saver account with them which will result in €2000 cash in addition to the €1500 cashback offer they have. I see media commentators saying there is nothing to worry about if you have a mortgage with UB but am I being naive going ahead and opening a new mortgage with them and should I just look elsewhere in case of any issues in the next few years?
(2) My Fiancee's mother is gifting us €100,000 towards the purchase of the home. As far as i can see, this can be done in two ways: By reducing the price of the house from 400,000 to 300,000 or by paying full price but her gifting my Fiancee the amount into her account and us paying full price. I am not sure if it makes any difference. We are aware that my Fiancees mum will have to pay CGT on the 400,000 value regardless.
(3) Gift Tax: I understand that my Fiancee could get the full €100,000 gift without having to pay gift tax due to the high threshold from mother to daughter (group A). However, of course this doesnt apply to me. Does the €100,000 have to be split evenly between us in which case I would have to pay CAT on 50,000-16250= 33,750? As the majority of savings are mine and the income from the mortgage is my own, could it be possible to arrange a tenancy in common so that we can avoid this tax bill? Also when we do get married does a tenancy in common get altered to equal ownership as that is what we would like? The Gift Tax issue would make me lean towards the plan of my fiancees mother just gifting her the money directly into her bank account and then we purchase the house at full market price rather than going down the reduced price option mentioned in Question 2.
(4) Some family are advising just waiting for the next few years before buying a house. I tend to disagree but would like an opinion. My fiancee is looking for jobs close to where the house is and would live in the house even when I'm in another county. My feeling is that our mortgage repayments will be c1000/month and if we rent a room during those two years I'm away, the rent would cover a large amount of the repayments. If my fiancee is able to work remotely and come with me when I have to move away, then we could fully rent the house for 1-2 years. Also, I like the idea of having some exposure to the housing market as I envisage appreciation in the next few years. The alternative is for my partner to either rent a smaller place when I'm away (both of us paying rent in different counties) or else she moves back in with family which is not ideal.
Spouse’s/Partner's age: 30
Annual gross income from employment or profession: €60,000 with €25,000-30,000 overtime
Annual gross income of spouse: 0, Fiancee recently finished a diploma and is jobseeking. Will likely get private sector job c €40,000-50,000 per annum in next few months.
Monthly take-home pay: From me: Net €5,000
Type of employment: e.g. Civil Servant, self-employed
Me: public sector, good job security. Increasing annual salary scale.
Partner: NA
We're saving:
Saving €1900 per month
Total Savings between us: €72,000
Accommodation: Renting
Rent = €1800/month
Other borrowings – car loans/personal loans etc: None
Do you pay off your full credit card balance each month? Yes
Savings and investments:
Do you have a pension scheme? Public sector pension. Will look at private pension in addition once set up with new home.
Do you own any investment or other property? Stocks €20,000
Ages of children: None
Background:
We are currently renting from my partner's Mum. She needs to sell the house in the next 12-18months and we are considering buying it off her. The market value of the house is about €400,000
She will be giving us a €100,000 euro gift towards the purchase.
We have mortgage AIP from Ulster bank for €270,000 from a joint application with my fiancee as a dependent.
We are living in my Fiancees mother's rental property and are currently paying €1800/month in rent.
We're saving €1900 per month.
We like the house and the area and are considering buying the house in the next few months. I will likely have to spend a year or two years of the next 4 years working in another county and renting there. When that occurs, we would likely rent one of the rooms in the house and take advantage of the rent a room scheme. If my Fiancee gets a job which is fully remote working, then she will likely move with me and we would fully rent out the house for the two years. I'm employed in a job which involves moving around the country a lot and finding colleagues to move into the house should not be an issue. We all rotate jobs at the same time of year so moving in and out of the house will easily coincide.
We're due to get married in August but at this stage its all very speculative with bloody COVID! (We've already postponed from last summer)
Ultimately, we would look at trading up in about 5 years as the house is not very practical for children. My salary will have increased by about €17,000 at that point and my fiancee will hopefully be employed. We should have no problem with a 20% deposit at that time given our equity in the house from the gift and repayments along with additional savings in the meantime.
What specific question do you have or what issues are of concern to you?:
(1) I am keen to proceed with the Ulster Bank mortgage given their rates and I have a home saver account with them which will result in €2000 cash in addition to the €1500 cashback offer they have. I see media commentators saying there is nothing to worry about if you have a mortgage with UB but am I being naive going ahead and opening a new mortgage with them and should I just look elsewhere in case of any issues in the next few years?
(2) My Fiancee's mother is gifting us €100,000 towards the purchase of the home. As far as i can see, this can be done in two ways: By reducing the price of the house from 400,000 to 300,000 or by paying full price but her gifting my Fiancee the amount into her account and us paying full price. I am not sure if it makes any difference. We are aware that my Fiancees mum will have to pay CGT on the 400,000 value regardless.
(3) Gift Tax: I understand that my Fiancee could get the full €100,000 gift without having to pay gift tax due to the high threshold from mother to daughter (group A). However, of course this doesnt apply to me. Does the €100,000 have to be split evenly between us in which case I would have to pay CAT on 50,000-16250= 33,750? As the majority of savings are mine and the income from the mortgage is my own, could it be possible to arrange a tenancy in common so that we can avoid this tax bill? Also when we do get married does a tenancy in common get altered to equal ownership as that is what we would like? The Gift Tax issue would make me lean towards the plan of my fiancees mother just gifting her the money directly into her bank account and then we purchase the house at full market price rather than going down the reduced price option mentioned in Question 2.
(4) Some family are advising just waiting for the next few years before buying a house. I tend to disagree but would like an opinion. My fiancee is looking for jobs close to where the house is and would live in the house even when I'm in another county. My feeling is that our mortgage repayments will be c1000/month and if we rent a room during those two years I'm away, the rent would cover a large amount of the repayments. If my fiancee is able to work remotely and come with me when I have to move away, then we could fully rent the house for 1-2 years. Also, I like the idea of having some exposure to the housing market as I envisage appreciation in the next few years. The alternative is for my partner to either rent a smaller place when I'm away (both of us paying rent in different counties) or else she moves back in with family which is not ideal.