Mortgage muttonheads
By Primal Sneeze ~ September 25th, 2007. Filed under: Neighbours, Plonkers.
A woman over the road from me inherited the house when her folks passed away years ago. With the kids getting bigger, she and her husband decided it might be a good time to build on the room or two they were dithering over.
They, or rather she, as the property is in her name, had only minor difficulties getting planning permission. Just the usual move the boundary in 2 metres to facilitate road widening lark, which as we all know means, if you want permission then donate your land now so we don’t have to pay you for it later if we ever decide to upgrade the road.
Getting a loan wouldn’t be a problem either. Her mortgage broker assured her that given their combined salaries it would be plain sailing. They later rang to say it had been approved and would come through soon.
A builder was hired and work began. After all, the mortgage money would arrive any day.
After a couple of weeks she became a bit concerned and called the broker.
- Oh, we’re just waiting on you to send us the letter from your current or last mortgage provider, that’s all.
- Why the hell didn’t you tell me you were waiting on me to do something?
- Ah shur, it’s standard practice. Everyone knows it. So just get us the letter and we’re flying.
- I can’t get a letter. I never had a mortgage before.
- Well can you get a letter from them to say that?
- From whom?
- From your last mortgage provider, of course.
- Listen to me closely: I never, ever, ever had a mortgage before.
- That’s very strange. Are you sure? You are 38 according to the computer. You must have had one. Are you making a mistake?
- Look, I never had one. I inherited this house.
- Oh, I see. Hold on. I’ll have to check with my boss. … … … He says you have to get a letter from a solicitor or commissioner for oaths to say you never had a mortgage.
- Is it really necessary? Solicitors are expensive.
- Oh, you have to do it because the mortgage crowd think you had a mortgage before.
- Why would they think that?
- Because I ticked the form to say you had. You are 38 after all.
It went on. And on. And on. And she had to go to a solicitor. The builder pulled plant when he learned his first payment wasn’t coming. She’s up the walls. Though not of the new part of the house. They aren’t built yet. Winter’s coming and they may not be built this side of Christmas. And there was she thinking that dealing with the civil service would be the hard part.
Curious creatures brokers.
Take a cut from the mortgae provider to make both the provider and the receiver miserable by their incompetence.
“Standard practice” must be aanother way of saying “I made a mistake, but I’m not going to admit it”
That’s outrageous. Poor woman. Building work is stressful enough with all that clap trap added to it.
Since your neighbor never had one before she had no way of knowing she was about to be screwed by the mortgage folks. I’m sure the builders will be tardy once the funding arrives as well.
Aonghus – Correct and right: They screwed up, won’t admit it and she pays the price (of a solicitor, the wait and any interest the builder).
FMC – Disinformation the whole way! And now she’s stuck: either start from scratch with a different broker/provider or suffer this crap and hope for pre-Christmas completion.
Medbh – You hit the nail on the end opposite the pointy bit there: She didn’t know and the brokerage shouldn’t have assumed.
That’s terrible, the stress they put people through. If your mortgage broker and your bank don’t break you together, they make you stronger, I say. I am baffled with the suggestion that any 38 year old would have had at least one mortgage…
I am not sure how it is in Ireland but in Australia people are leaning towards renting places and actually investing in combine portfolios, online savings accounts which seems a better deal when you consider you pay off a house in 30 years, by the time you own it you are at least 68 (by the simple assumption earlier by the pain in the ass mortgage person in the post) what then? Spend the next 10 years happy because you don’t have to pay rent anymore? By simple calculations the mortagee has paid at least 250% on top of the original price for the house by the time they have paid it all off, unless they make extra payments regularly to reduce the interest exponentially! HAH! And the house at the end of the day doesn’t bring half as much + value as saving in a low cost savings account for the exact time period.
Etc., etc.
Not that I’d know, I am 38 and never had a mortgage to pay off…
I rented reasonably happily in Germany. But in Ireland, the laws and the system assume no-one rents for more than a few years.
That is farcical. Bloody mortgage people with their bloody mortgagey heads stuck up their hideous mortgagey arses. Sympathies to your friend. What a headache.
Sam – Sam, Sam, Sam! Whey hey. You’re back! Fek yer one and her mortgage, You’re back.
G – For some reason, we Paddys are infatuated with owning our own houses. Why this is so is often debated. Perhaps what …
Aonghus – … says explains a lot of it.
Has the system been assuming that for a long time or since Ireland has become one of the wealthier countries in EU?
I just don’t see why I should be paying 250% interest on a loan to own a house in 20plus years. Good on people who can cough up that much cash and get a discount on the actual price of the house.
It has always been that way…since the Land war at least!
Aonghus is right, G. And only the very very rich these days could afford to buy a house without a mortgage.
Ah okay I see. Wel, give me a few years then I will have a brandnewspanking mortgage myself. Afterall, I don’t want to stand out like a sore thumb without a mortgate on my back.
It’s the choice between a mortgage on one’s back or a short lease.
Either way, the fat cats have us.
In Germany, after three months, the lease is permanent. And as the tenant is in the property, the notice period for both parties gets progressively longer. So people can happily rent all their lives, knowing that they have security of tenure.
Here, your lucky to get a 1 year lease, and 28 days notice.
And don’t talk to me about rent control….
Rents are too high in Dublin.. It is ridiculous, 1000 euro for a one bed sit, studio dump…. ugh.