One of the biggest decisions you will ever make is the decision to buy a house. If you decide to buy a house for €300,000 what exactly is that going to cost you when all the various additional expenses are added on?
1. One of the biggest decisions you will ever make is the decision to buy a house. If you decide to buy a house for €300,000 what exactly is that going to cost you when all the various additional expenses are added on? The following is intended as a good guide.
2. The first thing you should do is to check if the price you are being asked to pay is a fair price. You can check this with the residential property price register www.propertypriceregister.ie, which a register of all properties sold in Ireland. You can enter the general address of your property and you will get a good guide. That is all it is because every property is different and one property might be terrific value for €300,000 and the house next door might be very poor value for €300,000 if it needs to be upgraded, but at least it’s a good guide.
3. Before you make an offer, you should work out exactly how much you are going to need to buy a property. Let’s say the house you want is likely to sell for €300,000. Here is a list of the likely expenses involved in buying such a house.
4. Quite often your mortgage provider will carry out a survey but you should carry out your own survey which will generally be more comprehensive and far more useful. If you find there are problems with the property you can use the survey as a way of perhaps renegotiating the price particularly if any fairly substantial remedial work is likely to be required. A good architect or engineer will charge around €600 plus VAT to complete a survey.
5. Your mortgage provider will carry out their own survey and that charge will generally be around €150. You will also be required to pay mortgage protection which is a form of insurance policy and the charge is normally in the region of €15 to €20 per month
6. If your offer to buy the house is successful you will then normally be required to pay 10% of the asking price when you sign your contract. Hopefully your mortgage provider will provide the remaining 90% if you are not in a position or do not wish to pay more than a 10% deposit. Also, if you are buying from a local authority come at the deposit maybe less than the normal 10%.
7. You should then instructor a solicitor to represent you and before you go any further you should get a written note of the solicitor’s fees and outlays. Some solicitors will charge a percentage of the purchase price but conveyancing is now a very competitive area and you should shop around to get the best price. Price is not however everything and if a solicitor is charging a lot less than everybody else, you should be very careful that a qualified solicitor is actually doing the work. When you ask your solicitor to put his fee quote in writing, make sure it covers all extras. Solicitors fees vary greatly but for a €300,000 property the price should be in or around €1,750 plus VAT and outlays.
8. Hopefully the purchase will proceed smoothly and you will then be required to pay a number of items of further outlay once the sale has closed and you are in a position to move in. You will be required to pay stamp duty of 1% on a €300,000 purchase ie. €3,000. You will be required to pay Land Registry fees on the transfer itself and on the mortgage. The Land Registry fee will be €700 on the transfer and €175 on the mortgage. Your solicitor will also be required to obtain a copy of the folio which is your title document. That fee will be €40. There will be a similar charge to cover over fees to be paid to a Commissioner for Oaths who will be needed to swear certain declarations. Your solicitor must also carry out searches on the day the transaction completes to ensure there are no last minute difficulties and these search fees are generally in the region of €250.