Is mortgage broker best place for advice?

My husband & I are going to start getting organised so we can buy a house hopefully by next year. Is a broker the best place to start with regards to what we need to have in place before we can even think about applying for a mortgage?
We are not first time buyers. We sold our home 3 years & are now renting privately. My husband is a sub contracted sole trader (his boss gets him to do his own tax returns!) so technically he is self employed but in reality he is not ie he has no say in his pay, hours etc, is on a set rate per hour & told his set days to work however gets no holidays or sick days. He has been working there apx 20 months. Last time we got mortgage my husband had a straight forward employer. How will we prove his income? he gets no payslips. He gets paid by cheque which we have to cash in credit union as bank requires 5-7 days clearance & then we'd miss rent payment. We have an 8k credit union loan which we are working hard on trying to clear by summer so we can start saving. He has a gross wage of 32k p.a & our rent is 950pm. Im a stay at home mum. We have no idea where to start really so i was thinking maybe a broker would be best place to start re what banks require. thanks in advance

I've always used two or three brokers and a few direct approaches to the financial institutions to get the best view of the market - there are huge differences when you compare them all but i'd have the amount/mortgage type researched before I went in so you can question them on what they will do for you for the business

OP, your husband, who sounds like a well educated man, should be well aware of what is required. The brokers you mention live on earning commissions, derived from selling financial products to others. I am no fan of Commission agents at the best of times and hopefully the Irish Government will follow the lead of the UK and outlaw this type of selling.

I am just finishing up buying a house...used a broker. Added value = less than nil. If at all possible go direct. I ended up borrowing more than we wanted because we were led to believe that we couldn't make a loan of under 100,000euros. I found out later - too late - that this was an out and out lie. But he makes his money on commission. In the end we borrowed twice what we wanted to and saved nothing on interest over what we could have gotten going direct to the bank. And this guy was a "friend". Unfortunately he just qualified everything my wife and I feel about the financial institutions and their minions. And has probably lost two good friends in the process. How can you trust anyone? Don't. Not the bank for sure but if you have to do something try direct first...

Unfortunately he just qualified everything my wife and I feel about the financial institutions and their minions. And has probably lost two good friends in the process. How can you trust anyone? Don't. Not the bank for sure but if you have to do something try direct first...

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Ehh ? Brokers are not financial institutions. So don't trust the bank but if you need a loan go to them ? Your friend is a problem as you say but that doesn't mean all brokers who is registered with IFSRA are. Seems to me you are the one who didn't do much homework on either your friend or how financial institution work. But it appears that your ignorance is everybodys fault but yours.

Obviously biased as I am a broker but if any broker has misled you, there are complaint procedures in place for such matters.

Firstly complain to your "friend", if you are not happy, you can take it further.

Your broker should have given you a "reasons why" letter evidencing why he made the recommendation that he did - if there is an "out and out lie" then he has a case to answer to.

You may find it tough as he is your "friend" but if he's ripping you off, imagine what he is doing to others. It's easy to let off steam on an anonymous forum but you have the opportunity to do something for the greater good.

I suppose the moral of the story is NEVER do business with family or friends. It's not worth it IMHO.