As from May 5th 2009 – Northern Rock Ireland are reducing the interest rate on their Demand Online Account from 3.25 to 3%.
There are better rates available – see our list of current rates here.
As highlighted in this article on Money Hospital – mortgage lenders in the UK are charging much higher rates than their Irish counterparts. Here in Ireland the base rate (ECB) is 1.25% – in the UK it is just 1%. You would expect mortgage rates to be similar – or even lower in the UK – but that doesn’t seem to be the case. One of the lowest rates in the UK is from HSBC – it is 4.99% Fixed for 2 years and it comes with an application fee of £1499. Application fees are unheard of (so far) in Ireland.
In Ireland the lowest of the 2 year fixed rates is 2.8% available with an LTV of 92% from AIB or 3% from Halifax (LTV 90%). Here in Ireland borrowers never seem to be happy – always expecting more decreases as the ECB rate falls. Maybe they should think themselves lucky?
The latest Budget announced that TRS or Tax Relief at Source on mortgages would end after 7 years. This change was due to take effect from May 1st 2009. It looks like the department of finance and Brian Lenihan didn’t work out with the Revenue department how this was going to work. Today it was gradually forced out of the government that some people will lose their TRS temporarily – even if they have had it for less than 7 years. Whatever “system” is used to track the tax relief – it seems it cannot cope with working out who has had it for 7 years or more!
Apparently for first time buyers who haven’t moved house or mortgage provider it will be OK – but for people on their second or third mortgages it is likely that at least some of them will have their relief stopped until Revenue can establish if they are entitled to continued relief.
In a statement , the Revenue Commissioners said that the relief at source would be reactivated in June where an entitlement is established, and that any arrears will be credited to their accounts automatically.
According to the Revenue Commissioners, the move means mortgage interest relief will be suspended for 321,000 of the 562,000 people currently receiving the entitlement. Of those, Revenue says 57,000 people will definitely no longer be entitled to it. (But there may well be more)
In this so called “knowledge economy” known as Ireland it looks like the knowledge is lacking a bit.
All Tesco Ireland online shopping deliveries up until May 1st will only cost 1 cent. Normally charges are between €5 and €7.50. Book your cheap delivery slot here at Tesco Ireland before they all go.
Our list of the lowest mortgage rates is always being kept up to date with any changes by the lenders. Over recent days there have been cuts in variable and fixed rates from AIB, BOI, EBS and Ulster/First Active.We don’t list all the rates – just the lowest ones . See the latest mortgage rates here.
Estate Agents in Ireland typically charge between 1% and 2.5% commission on the sale of a house. Even with house prices falling – the average selling price is still about €256,000. An estate agents commission on this – based on 1.5% would be a tidy sum of €3840 . Then there is the VAT which brings it to €4646.
The rate of commission charged should vary depending on the value of the house. The commission on a house below say €500,000 may be 1.5 per cent – while a property worth a Million euro may be charged at 1.25 per cent . You can (should) try to negotiate the fee downwards . Some estate agents have a minimum fee for low priced properties – but I doubt if many set a maximum charge?
The percentage commission means that the bigger price the agent gets for your house – the bigger their fee. On a 250k house a difference of €5k on the selling price means quite a lot to the seller – but to the estate agent it means just an extra €75 euro. It might be more cost effective to the agent to sell it quickly at the lower price.
Many estate agents in Ireland add on extra charges to the sale commission. Many of these charges are payable even if the house does not sell. Extra charges can include photographs, brochure , website listing , sale board, newspaper advertising. These extras can soon mount up to as much as another €1,000. Some auctioneers and estate agents are now asking for money up front to cover advertising costs . In the UK it is very common for esate agents to have “No Sale No Fee” arrangements – and they still put your house on the web and in the newspapers.
Here in Ireland the “no sale no fee” arrangement is gradually becoming more common – but still in the minority.
One option to consider is to try and sell your house without involving an expensive estate agent or auctioneer. According to this report in the Irish Times - you could be better off avoiding them anyway.
There are a few websites in Ireland offering to help you sell your house. The biggest is probably Daft.ie – they have loads of properties mostly from estate agents and some from private sellers. For a fee of €195 you can add your house to the site.
Another smaller but growing site is the Sell ItYourSelf site. For the same €195 fee you get your home listed on the site with 6 pictures and unlimited description. You also get a For Sale sign to put up outside your house (to attract passing buyers). They also have a telephone helpline to give advice about selling your home. Sometimes bigger is not best . Check out the Sell it Yourself website here.
Other For Sale By Owner Sites in Ireland
Privateseller.ie charges €199 to list a property with photos and a for sale sign.
Housefinder.ie charge €49 euro for a 3 month listing with photos.
A good website for selling houses needs to be easily found by potential buyers. If they can’t find it – they won’t see your house for sale. The Sellityourself site is consistently on the top page on google searches for property for sale in the various towns and counties in Ireland.
The UK Financial Ombudsman Service is trying to raise awareness of their services young people in Northern Ireland . They are running a competition, with prizes of £250 and £100 (and the same amount to your college), for Northern Irish students between the ages of 16 and 21.
To enter you need to design a PR or marketing campaign for the ombudsman, such as:
Full details of the competition are on the Financial Ombudsman Service website.
The deadline for entries is the 5pm on 30 April 2009.
The Financial Ombudsman Service is an independent service for settling disputes between financial companies and their customers and the service it provides is completely free
The latest Budget in Ireland announced that the short lived “Early Childcare Supplement” is to be halved from May 2009 and abolished from 31 December 2009.
It is going to be replaced in January 2010 with a pre-school Early Childhood and Education Scheme (ECCE) for all children between the ages of 3 years 3 months and 4 years 6 months.
Children enrolled in playschools will receive free pre-school provision of 3 hours per day, 5 days each week over a 38 week year. The pre-school providers will get a weekly capitation of €64.50 per child and parents will not be charged.
Children enrolled in full- or part-time childcare services will receive free pre-school provision of 2 hours and 15 minutes per day, five days a week over a 50 week period. This equates to a weekly capitation grant to the service of €48.50, with parents paying for their childcare net of this amount.
All community and private pre-school services, which meet the requirements of the scheme, will be invited to apply for entry to the scheme and all notified pre-school services will be contacted by the Office of the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs (OMCYA) by the end of May, 2009. To introduce the scheme as quickly as possible and maximise the number of children and their parents who will benefit from the outset, the Minister said he did not propose to wait until the school year beginning September 2010 but would introduce the scheme from January 2010. From September 2010, the pre-school year will run from September of each year in line with the school year.
All children aged between 3 years 3 months and 4 years 6 months at September 1st each year, will be eligible and parents who wish to avail of the scheme can enrol their children with the available participating service of their choice. Children entering the scheme in January 2010 will be eligible, if they are aged between 3 years and 7 months and 4 years and 10 months at 1 January 2010 (children born between March 1st, 2005 and June 1st, 2006). Parents should have regard to the enrolment policies of their local primary schools in making decisions regarding the age that their children should avail of the pre-school year.
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