First time buyer house buying process in Dublin 2024

Disclaimer: This article is written in May 2024, process may differ since.

Buying a property for the first time for anyone can be both an exciting and daunting process - since it's statistically one of the biggest purchase of one's life. With the ongoing housing crisis in Ireland, the stress adds up.

After being in Ireland for almost a decade (since 2014 August) and have finally saved up enough 10% deposit, we decided to get our forever home. Luckily, most of our friends had already gone through the process. So we have plenty of support and advice from their experience. If you're new to this, it's ok. There's plenty of resources available online and offline to learn about it.

I'll be sharing the steps of buying a second hand property in Dublin, as well as some tips and our timeline.

Begin the Research

Great, you've decided to start your journey on getting your home. You can start by doing some research on myhome.ie or daft.ie to have an idea of what type of property tick your boxes. Some things to consider are:

• Type of property: Apartment, House
• Location, location, location
• Transportation available: Bus, Dart, LUAS, Car
• Ammenities: Gym, Park, Creche, Schools
• Features: Car Park, Garden, Garage
• BER rating: A1 - G
• Cost: Management fees, rennovation, maintenance

Step 1 : Save up

The first step of buying a residential property in Ireland is to save up since there is no 100% mortgage loan available in Ireland (unless you won the lotto or you're too rich).

The table below shows the required cost:

Step 2: Lender or Mortgage Broker for AIP

Once you have your savings, start looking for the mortgage approval in principal (AIP). AIP is essential because you will know how much you can borrow and it's a good indication that you're a serious buyer for the later stages.

You can apply directly via bank or reach out to a mortgage broker. Mortgage brokers are free as they get paid via the commission from banks. These are the documents that you will need:

• Bank statements (6 months)
• Proof of identity (Passport)
• Proof of funds (Savings, Gift)
• Proof of income (Payslips, Employee Detail Summary)

Step 3: House hunting

Once you have the AIP, the fun part begins. Note that this might also be the most stressful part if you are not buying new builds. Since the supply of housing is low, there is likely a bidding process for most second-hand properties.

Checkout myhome.ie or daft.ie for the listings and reach out to the estate agent. An example message might look something like this:

Hi, I am interested in the property. Will it be possible to arrange a viewing? I am a first time buyer and have mortgage approval in principle.
I'd also like to know if there's any current offers for this property.

Thanks, [name].

Step 4: Viewing

Go to the property on the agreed time for viewing. Look around the neighborhood and the surroundings. Here are some questions you might want to ask the estate agent on the day:

• Current offer
• Reasons for selling: Probate, Upsizing, Downsizing, Moving abroad
• What's included: Furnitures, Appliances
• Additional fees: Maintainence fee, Property management fee
• Type of heating: Gas, Heat pump, Electric

Step 5: Bidding

If you really like the property, ask about the current offer. Decide your price and place a bid. Some bidding process is done online, but some estate agents do it via email.

Bidding wars can happen if there are multiple interested parties, it's up to you on how bad you want the property. My advice is to know your limit and when to walk away. It's crucial to take into consideration all the extra expenses such as stamp duty, solicitors fee or even renovations (if required).

There are many horrid stories online regarding phantom bidders. From our experience, we didn't really fight hard for any property since we've already decided how much the property is worth before placing a bid and walk away when it's over the limit.

Step 6: Sales Agreed

Once both parties are happy with the price, it's sales agreed. Here are the actions you need to take:

Pay booking deposit to Estate Agent

You will need to pay the booking deposit for the estate agent. It is approximately 2% of the agreed price. The booking deposit can be a part of the 10% down payment. The estate agent will issue a receipt of confirmation and you can pass it to your mortgage broker.

Notify solicitor

Notify your your solicitor. They will issue a contract to request for the vendor's solicitor to provide the title and contract.

Notify mortgage broker/lender

Notify your mortgage broker/lender, so that they can issue the loan offer. The lender will request for a valuation, which should cost about 150€.

Arrange property survey

It's best to have a sanity check and get the house surveyed in order to make sure that the property is in the expected condition. They should provide a detailed report. If the surveyor finds something, you might have to reconsider if you have the budget to renovate/fix it.

Get quotes for life and home insurance

You can also start looking for quotes for the life and home insurance. Once you have an idea of the closing date, these insurances need to be in place before the lenders can give the green light for mortgage drawdown.

Step 7: Receiving contract and queries

The timeline for getting the contract can vary anywhere between weeks to months depending on the situation of the seller. Hopefully your wait isn't too long. Once your solicitor gets the contract, they will start the review of title and raise what are known as “Pre-Contract Queries”. These are queries on the title, planning and ancillary matters. This step can take a while depending on how complicated the property is.

Step 8: Signing

Once both parties have exchanged the contracts, your solicitor will notify you when it is ready to be signed.

Step 9: Mortgage Drawdown

The loan funds will be requested by solicitor a few days earlier to align with the closing date. Once the fund is in you solicitor's account (approx 24-48 hours), they will transfer to the seller's solicitor on the agreed closing date.

Step 10: Final inspections & Keys!

Once the fund is transferred to the seller's solicitor and getting the confirmation - you can collect the keys from the estate agent.

Congratulations and happy new home! You're now officially homeowners.

Useful sites to check for a property

• mynest.ie: To research the price listing of a property
• Property Price Register: To check how much was a property sold for (for second hand properties)
• Flood Maps: To check the possibility of flooding for an area
• Planning Permission: To check whether a property has valid planning permission or any modifications done previously.
• BER rating: Check for the BER rating of a property.

Our Timeline in 2024

• 8th Jan: Reached out to broker and started the process
• = 3 Weeks holiday abroad in Feb =
• 27th Feb: Received Approval in Principal
• 10th Mar: Started house hunting, viewed multiple houses
• 5th Apr: First viewing of our house ❤ Sales agreed by the end of day
• 8th Apr: Second viewing of our house, Notify broker, Pay booking deposit
• 11th Apr: Bank valuation
• 12th Apr: Get quotes for mortgage protection and house insurance
• 15th Apr: House survey
• 17th Apr: Review house survey report
• 22nd Apr: Received Loan Offer from BOI
• 23rd May: Our solicitors received the contracts from vendor
• 28th May: Our solicitors raised Pre-Contract Queries to the vendor's solicitor
• 10th July: Receive replies Pre-Contract Queries from vendor's solicitor
• 16th July: Signing our contract
• 25th July: Seller signed
• 30th July: Funds released from BOI to solicitor
• 2th August: Unexpected delays - Waiting on closing document from seller
• 14th August: Send in completion notice to seller
• 15th August: Close sale by end of day!
• 16th August: Keys to our new home! 🏡