04 YOURHOME
Sunday Independent I February 12 2017
The First Time Buyer Help to Buy (HTB) Incentive Scheme – what you need to know The HTB scheme was announced by the Government in Budget 2017
Finding your first home Navigating the property market can be tricky, especially when you’re a first time buyer – here’s our essential five-point guide
1
LIST YOUR PRIORITIES
The first step when you are looking for a home should always be to sit down – with your partner, if that’s who you’ll be buying with – and make a list of what’s important to you. Where exactly would you like to live? Is the age of the property important? Do you need to be near a school for the kids? Know what parts of a home mean the most to you. Are you a baking enthusiast who needs the kitchen space to be just right? A sports fan who needs the living room to be their home entertainment centre? Do you need a home office? A playroom or a nice garden for the children? Thinking about these things in advance will make it a lot easier to dismiss certain properties straight off, and choose those you wish to investigate further. Working directly with a real estate agent, especially a large and established company, can certainly make the search a lot simpler. Submit all your requirements to the estate agent in writing – that way, they will be very clear on your needs.
2
KNOW YOUR NEIGHBOURHOODS
Remember – homes don’t exist by themselves. What the neighbourhood is like is a crucial consideration. Are you going to feel happy stepping
outside your door every morning, as well as stepping back through it at night? Even more fundamentally – where does your neighbourhood need to be, for you to meet all your life commitments? Decide whether you would be happy to move outside a city or town, if this suited your budget.
3
SET YOUR BUDGET
Knowing your budget is obviously a key factor. The online mortgage calculator at www.kbc.ie can help with this. You may want to look at homes currently a little above your budget, if you think the seller is likely to drop the price, or you can negotiate him or her down. However, it’s best not to go looking too far outside your budget, even out of curiosity.
4
CONDUCT TOTAL RECONNAISSANCE
Set aside a day and view five or six properties at once, rather than view places ad hoc over a longer period. This way, several places will be fresh in your mind and it’s easier to compare and contrast. If you can, visit properties on a weekday, when a seller or an agent may have more time to answer questions; the weekends are bound to be more crowded with viewings. You should also visit more than once – and at different hours of the day. There can
be a completely different atmosphere – not to mention noise level – in a neighbourhood at night. Keep an eagle-eye eye out at every viewing for issues such as cracks, damp or mould. Check the light switches to make sure they work, and the doors, windows, drawers and closets, to make sure they all open and shut properly. The seller is under no obligation to tell you about any structural issues with the property, so you can save a lot in the long run by being vigilant at the outset. Take your own pictures and videos of the property with your phone – when you have seen a lot of houses, this simple recordkeeping will make recalling each property much easier. You may even spot something on film or in a photo that you didn’t notice first time around.
5
LIFE IS CHANGE
Finally: think of the future. How long would you be planning to stay in this house? Is there the possibility you might renovate down the line if you have the finance? Is this the right place to bring up kids? You might not be in this home forever, but it could be a while – knowing where the property fits in your life plan, is an essential element in making sure you’re happy with whatever home you choose.
Main points: - The scheme is designed to assist first time buyers with obtaining the deposit necessary to purchase a new-build property to live in as their home. - It is a refund of income tax paid over the previous four years. - First time buyers must not have, individually or jointly with any other person, previously built or owned a property. - Loan-to-value ratio must be greater than 70%. - Purchase price must be no more than €500,000. - Refund is 5% of the purchase price, to a maximum of €20,000. - The building contractor for purchases must be registered on the Revenue website as eligible. How to apply, and what happens next: - First time buyers apply through the Revenue website (www.revenue.ie) using either PAYE or ROS access. - Applicant eligibility will be checked based on tax paid over the last four years and any outstanding tax liability. - After the application has been submitted, the Revenue will provide a confirmation number and access number for the applicant. - The applicants will be able to print off a confirmation of the amount they are eligible for based on the purchase details provided. - Grant will be paid to the property contractor once all final contracts have been signed. - The purchased property must be occupied by the applicant for five years post-completion. Impact on your KBC application: - A portion of the balance of funds may now be funded by the HTB grant. - Proof of eligibility can be provided by the customer by way of print out from the Revenue website, to be provided at application stage. - The grant is payable directly to the contractor and as such, on closing, confirmation will be needed from the customer’s solicitor that the grant has indeed been paid. Get more info at www.revenue.ie/en/tax/it/ reliefs/htb/index.html
YOURHOME 05
February 12 2017 I Sunday Independent
Home is where your heart is
we came across a two-storey terraced three-bed house here, we fell in love. We thought it was perfect for us – location-, price- and space-wise. We only recently moved in – we got the keys back in January, on Friday 13th. So, despite superstition, it was actually a lucky day for us!”
NATURAL BOND
Ian and Sinead Hickey, from Dublin, speak to Clodagh Dooley about the search for their new home
I
n a way, we have probably had the vision of our perfect home stuck in our minds all our lives. Perhaps, from your childhood years, you remember choosing houses for your toys to live in, or seeing a beautiful house on TV or from the car window, and you told yourself that you’re going to own a similar house when you’re older. But while you may have come to the realisation that you’re not going to be living in Cinderella’s castle anytime soon, that doesn’t mean you can’t have your own fairytale ending when it comes to finding a home that is both functional and attractive to live in. It’s just about finding the right time first, something Ian and Sinead Hickey know all too well. Ian and Sinead, who married in November 2013, had both been living and renting together in Dublin for about four years, before they finally decided to take the next step and buy their first home together. “From when we got married in 2013 onwards, we had started saving and keeping an eye on the property market,” says Ian. “So, in September 2016, when we felt we had enough saved and were ready to move on from renting, we started looking properly and going to viewings – we went to about 5-6 viewings most Saturdays!” “For us, location was one of the most important considerations in our search,” says Sinead. “Ian is originally from Clontarf and wanted to stay within the bay and as we are both working in Dublin 1, getting to our jobs would need to be convenient. I’m originally from the south side of Dublin and wasn’t too familiar with the north side. Ian would bring me around areas in the north side within our budget, so that I would know the area, and we would quickly know what we liked and what areas we wanted to look in. “Baldoyle came in as one of our top choices, and when
Ian and Sinead Hickey. Image credit: Angela Halpin
Speaking of luck, I ask Ian and Sinead if they felt luck was also on their side throughout the mortgage application process. Naturally, searching for your first home and applying for your first mortgage can all sound quite daunting – did they feel this was the case? “You hear all these stories about fear and nervousness in relation to the mortgage, but I felt at ease from the get-go,” says Ian. “I’ve been a customer of KBC since 2014 and I had always found them very helpful with any questions I had about my current account. So, when the time came to take out our mortgage, I knew I wanted to continue this relationship with KBC. “With the initial application you have to fill out online, KBC responded straight away to tell me what the next steps were and what paperwork we would need with our application. They made the whole process run smoothly and were extremely supportive. It didn’t matter how stupid you thought a question was, they made you feel comfortable to ask it and would respond as soon as possible, even if we contacted them late in the evening. “And if you feel nervous or unsure about the process at any stage, KBC will break everything down for you into simple terms so that it’s not all jargon – they make everything much easier to understand.” Sinead adds: “They made it very easy in relation to paperwork, which can be daunting for some people! They give you a checklist with everything you’re going to need, from payslips to proof of address. Scan over that and have everything easily accessible to you. My tip would be to keep everything in one file – we kept it all in Google Drive, which was accessible for both of us from anywhere.”
FUTURE PLANS
Having had their new home for about a month, what’s next on the horizon for Ian and Sinead? “We really just want to get settled in properly first,” says Sinead. “We’ve only been here a short while and we’ve been decorating quite a lot, so our goal is to put our little stamp on it now and make the house more our home. For now, it’s a blank canvas for us. “We would eventually love to put an extension out the back and have a bigger kitchen or dining area perhaps, so we’ve started saving again. There’s loads of things that we could do but at the moment there’s no rush, we’re just looking forward to settling in and enjoying our new space.” Ian adds that timing is everything when building a comfortable home life. “During the bidding process, you really need to think hard about it and make sure it is actually what you want before you go down the road of overbidding yourself, or getting into massive bidding wars. It’s so important to take your time. We were very fortunate that it happened quite quickly, but you really should narrow your choices down and do your research on the area. “Although we bought the house in Baldoyle, we drove out a couple of evenings at weekends to see what the surrounding area had to offer, and to get a better feel for the amenities. Make sure it’s the right place for you and take your time not to rush into anything.” KBC customer has received a gratuity for this advertisement