Expat / Non-resident mortgage (1 Viewer)

[ilovehoovering]

Does anyone have any experience of buying a house in Ireland while living in the UK or elsewhere? Or know anyone who has done it?

Looking for any recommendations for a decent advisor/broker to speak to.

I know there aren't that many lenders and there are loads of requirements like having a huge deposit but it does seem to be possible.

 

[flashback]

I was living in Ireland the time, so maybe this isn't relevant.
However, I had just moved to Ireland having been away for a long time, and was able to get a mortgage.

Brokers etc wouldn't talk to me, the only people that entertained a conversation were AIB and BoI.
Both of these places have parceled off mortgage stuff to an office outside of Dublin it appears. Any type of local banking doesn't appear to exist any more in this area. BoI seemed unbelievably bad, whereas AIB at least initially gave the impression of not being awful.

I think it's continious employment history that they care about primarily, that employment history is preferably in Ireland, but if you're dealing directly with lenders (not brokers) they'll look at employment history in other countries.

My application was during the pandemic, and it was an awful experience. I ended up going to my local AIB branch roughly daily, asking the rep what needed to be done *that day*. The process seemed broken, things got lost, unless I physically turned up and exerted pressure on the rep, nothing happened. AIB subcontract out a lot of things, eng report, various checks, etc to the lowest bidders. These guys also won't do their job unless they are harassed. Because they are not AIB employees, but were required to do their thing by AIB and were paid by AIB, somehow all of this didn't get done until I was passed everyone's number and pressured them to do it. People lied constantly. At the end of the process the seller threatened to sue me because they didn't believe that the lender could be this bad, and the local bank manager wrote letters promising that I wasn't taking the piss, things were just broken.

I dunno, like I said, this was during the pandemic, it was in rural ireland, I didn't have any Irish financial history, and relentlessly chasing people down isn't something I enjoy. So all of things didn't help. Having said that, while it did happen in the end, it was extremely tough going.

 

[flashback]

To add: one of the keys to getting it done was understanding that the rep in the branch was just that, a rep. She could do very little, but she can keep you informed.
All of the applications are funneled through one place, they are not thrilled to be there, and just go through apps that are on their desk, day in day out.

You need to form a relationship with the branch rep, and clarify constantly what is left to do, what is being done, and when something should be done by. Always get what they need as soon as possible, sit on them, check back as soon as anything is due. You do not matter, you are an annoyance, they do not give the remotest of fucks. So, it's up to you to grind the process forwards.
Also find out what they subcontract off your rep. If they are as much as a day late, get their contact, and harass them. As bad as AIB mortgage are, and they are bad, the contractors are worse.

 

[magicbastarder]

AIB at least initially gave the impression of not being awful.

this is not going to help the original question - but last year we started getting demands for ground rent on the house (we knew it was leasehold when we bought, and a place in town managed to buy the lease and started sending letters to hundreds or thousands of house owners about it).

anyway, i managed to get through to the mortgage securities department in AIB (who seemed peeved that i'd obtained their direct number) in a bid to get some paperwork which the bank the mortgage is with would hold. i then had to explain to an incredulous AIB employee that i don't own the land my house is built on. he'd never heard of such a thing. he sent out a load of documentation which included everything but the two documents i was seeking. so i haven't a clue if AIB actually obtained documentation they are required to obtain when granting me my mortgage.

 

[flashback]

so i haven't a clue if AIB actually obtained documentation they are required to obtain when granting me my mortgage.

I can tell you what it looks like to me. I kinda hinted at it above.
It looks like AIB and BoI have hired some MBA types, who decided to streamline mortgages. And by streamline they mean, fire everyone that knows what they are doing, hire a load of kids for just over minimum wage, put them in some hellhole office, with a load of checklists, and crank numbers through.
I got their direct number too eventually, and I ended up hearing what kind of deal it was. It sounded soul destroying. So on the one hand I feel for this crew, but on the other hand they could not make it clearer they do not give a fuck.

 

[hydromancer]

You can get a 30000 grant if you buy a vacant property and an extra 20000 if it is a bit derelict. If you were to buy some old stone cottage or something that you could even work on yourself it might be helpful. Presuming you have a bank account abroad I don't see why you could not use that bank. Credit Union is another lender but you would have to be resident here. RTE have a series about looking for houses if you havent seen it might be interesting. There is no actual reason to listen to my advice of course.

 

[flashback]

Ah, I remembered something else.

I asked why this process was so messed up, and the local rep said that because I was basically a foreigner / immigrant in their eyes the application didn't go into the normal pile. It was put aside, and dealt with by a separate group that handles strange / out of country applications. This changes their borrowing rules, but it also means that it tends to get left to one side because it's not a normal Irish national application.