Helping our son get the best mortgage deal.

SlugBreath

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Our son is presently looking to get a mortgage. He has visited one broker who has directed him toward Bank of Ireland. I am wondering is this a good recommendation? Are there others he should be looking at?

We will be helping him financially. We expect our gift will bring the LTV down to a 75% mortgage.

Are there different lenders offering better rates on 75% loans than others?

Why does the BER rating on a home affect the mortgage rate being offered?
 
Why do you think that the mortgage broker has not given him the best option?

There is not a lot of point in consulting an expert in a subject, and then ignoring their advice
 
There is a best buys thread in here. There's a lot to mortgages, make sure your son educates himself on cash back deals, variable v fixed, switching etc. All a bit daunting at first but things he needs to know. And if he makes a mis step at first and selects the wrong rate, he can switch. Doodle is a great broker for switching, not sure re first mortgage.
 
Our son is presently looking to get a mortgage. He has visited one broker who has directed him toward Bank of Ireland. I am wondering is this a good recommendation? Are there others he should be looking at?

We will be helping him financially. We expect our gift will bring the LTV down to a 75% mortgage.

Are there different lenders offering better rates on 75% loans than others?

Why does the BER rating on a home affect the mortgage rate being offered?
It's very easy to compare mortgage offers there are some good key posts here as well, 15 minutes research will tell you most of what you need to know.
 
I'd start with an online comparison tool. Something like:

You'll see that while BOI is there but it's not necessarily cheapest.

In saying that cheap isn't always best. Pick the package that suits your son's financial needs/personal situation. A slightly higher rate that provides greater certainty for longer might be better.
 
Our son is presently looking to get a mortgage. He has visited one broker who has directed him toward Bank of Ireland. I am wondering is this a good recommendation? Are there others he should be looking at?

We will be helping him financially. We expect our gift will bring the LTV down to a 75% mortgage.

Are there different lenders offering better rates on 75% loans than others?

Why does the BER rating on a home affect the mortgage rate being offered?

While lenders have to adhere to central bank rules, different lenders have different lending criteria so the amount your son can borrow may differ across lenders. He may get an exception to allow him to borrow more.

The LTV and whether it's fixed or variable will impact the rate. There are Green mortgages available from some lenders with differing rates.

Your son should look across the sites for each lender to get familiar with the rates and run through some examples.
 
He may get an exception to allow him to borrow more.
I would be interested to hear how this might work.

The plan would be to get a little more than he is entitled to borrow so that he can get a better house in a better area.

Is it still recommended for someone to take out a fixed rate loan rather than a variable rate loan and are there split mortgages available. Half fixed and half variable?

I can see lump sum payments being made against the mortgage to reduce the monthly repayment as times moves along, provided it is the right thing to do at that time.
 
I would be interested to hear how this might work.

The plan would be to get a little more than he is entitled to borrow so that he can get a better house in a better area.

Is it still recommended for someone to take out a fixed rate loan rather than a variable rate loan and are there split mortgages available. Half fixed and half variable?

I can see lump sum payments being made against the mortgage to reduce the monthly repayment as times moves along, provided it is the right thing to do at that time.
What do you mean get more than entitled to borrow? there will be a max he can borrow, 3.5-4x salary depending on circumstances.

Fixed rates are lower than variable in most cases so ideally fix for a few years see how rates are progressing and then see what makes sense. You are unlikely to be fixing for 10 years at the outset anyway so worry about lump sums later on.

Nowadays most people switch multiple times so at the beginning imo important to get certainty with a fixed, see if anyone is offering cashback and if that makes sense and then coming to the end of the fix reassess.
 
Yes, brokers can be limited to certain lenders only. For a straightforward application, I would suggest going directly to lenders is the easiest route as you can apply to all. If your son has a large deposit, strong income to support his proposed loan then he could apply directly. However, a good broker can guide a first time applicant on the best structure for their mortgage, like fixed v variable etc so there is that side of it too.

But the key thing is that he educates himself on how mortgages work, as this is potentially a 20/30 year contract and he will need to manage it over its lifetime You are clearly curious and well done, and this should be a great help to him - I know when we purchased our home we had such limited knowledge and most of what I know I learned on here. It may have been many years since you last borrowed so there is a lot to learn. And your son is lucky to have you help him not just with a deposit but also with how to manage his mortgage.
 
I can see lump sum payments being made against the mortgage to reduce the monthly repayment as times moves along, provided it is the right thing to do at that time.
If your son is not cash rich at the moment, other than you providing a large deposit, but has good repayment capacity with good future prospects in his job, then I would push for the maximum mortgage.
He can make lump sum repayments or reading between the lines, you might assist him with that.......

You can also buy him a lagging jacket and a few bulbs.....
 
Generally the loan amount is max 3.5 times salary however lenders can exceed this for a small number if borrowers and go to potentially 4.5. It's a Loan To Income LTI exception.

I'd recommend that your son speaks to a broker that deals with multiple lenders, and make sure they are not billed as some brokers charge a fee.

Any decent broker should be able to confirm a few options and explain why they are making a particular recommendation.
 
Folks

I have deleted all the snide posts and the responses to them.

I have, at last, updated the Key Post so you should find all the information you need here:


I will put in a piece about the value of mortgage brokers.
 
I have kicked off a discussion on the pros and cons of mortgage brokers here:

 
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