Is there anyone that can tell me if (and where) I can apply for a French Mortgage in principal? I would like to have mortgage approval before I look at properties.
Well I know that you can borrow from French Banks - a friend of mine works with Banque Populaire, he is based in the south of France...but they do not give out 100% mortgages in quite as much of a hurry as Irish banks like to do it!
The french banks don't tend to give approval in Principle without specific property details however, if you get mortgage advice from an overseas mortgage broker, you should be able to get a good indication of how much you could borrow, how much it will cost etc.
Same currency and same interest rate so, as far as I am aware, you can find out how much it will cost by using any of the mortgage calculators of the Irish banks for a same mortage amount (give or take a handful of euro).
Apparently the French rule of thumb is that if your current loans/mortgages exceed 30% of your income then financing isn't possible by a French institution.
I'm trying to see if there's any way around this as I think it's fair to say that anyone with an avg Irish mortgage, their repayments are over 30% of their incomes....
You could otherwise release equity in Ireland if that's an option and pay "cash" in France....
Any other thoughts around this 30% rule would be appreciated!
I've just had this confirmed by Barclays ie that they DO calculate your indebtment ratio by taking your GROSS earnings as opposed to your net.
A word of warning though, if financing a French purchase via equity release of Irish property; the current French system won’t let you release equity on the French property (even though from a French bank’s perspective it’s “mortgage free”), if you don’t meet the 30% rule on earnings –v- debt.
You could end up having released a ton of equity and then not be in a position to release further equity in France down the line… Apparently they’re looking to have this rule changed but it won’t be changed in the short-term…