Self Build Mortgages (www.selfbuildinireland.com)

Most of the major Lenders in the mortgage market today will give you a mortgage to build your own home in Ireland.There is 4 key factors to consider for a self build mortgage in Ireland
:1) Do you need money to buy the site?
2) Does the site have full planning permission?
3) What will the cost of construction be and what will the estimated market value on completion be?
4) Will the mortgage been drawn down in stages at each step of construction?
To determine the maximum you will be allowed borrow, Lenders will ask the following key questions
:1) What is your current salary?
2) What are you current loan liabilities?
3) What age are you?They will then advise of your maximum borrowing potential.The amount you can actually borrow is then determined by a set of restrictions call loan to values.Firstly most Lenders will only allow you to borrow 80% of the site value to buy it assuming your maximum borrowing potential covers this amount.They will then lend you 100% of the cost of construction assuming your overall borrowings will be less then 92% of the completed open market valuation of the property.One key point to note is the site must have full planning permission on it before the Lenders will give you a loan offer or money to buy the site.
The following is a list of documents you will be required to present to have your case formally assessed.If you are a PAYE employee of a company you will be required to present the following documentationa) Salary Certificate (1 page document filled out by your employer)b) 2/3 recent payslipsc) Last years P60d) Last 6 month personal current accounts. If you are self employed usually you would be required to present the following documentation:a) Accountants Report Formb) 2 Years trading accountsc) 3/6 month business current accountsd) 6 month personal current accountsAdditional for a site build you will also be required to submit:a) Full planning permissionb) 6 point letter from the builder \ engineerc) Costings from the builder \ engineerThe 6 point letter above is a standard builders letter which will detail the breakdown of construction at each stage.
The loan can then be drawn down in stages on receipt of stage certs from the builder \ engineer.For example:Site Purchase 80kStage 1 Foundations 20k Stage 2 First level flooring 25kStage 3 Roof Level 30kStage 4 Final Completion

The never ending paper Trail

It's partly my aim from this blog to try and help any readers who are about to embark on the self build process to understand what the steps are; the costs involved and the actual work you need to do.
I was completely new to this whole process and it is a great learning curve for me and i hope to give a good insight to it. The whole process from getting mortgage approval and organising solicitors.
Step 1:- Site Deposit
Step 2:- Appoint Solicitor
Step 3:- Apply for planning
Step 4:- Recieve Planning
Step 5:- Mortgage options recieve approval in principle
Step 6:- Sign Contracts (on reflection this can take several months)!!!!
Step 7:- Organise mortgage protection insurance
Step 8:- Draw down mortgage to pay for site through solicitor and stamp duty/land registry fees
Step 9:- Site self build insurance covers all people on site
Step 10:- Commence

Costs of the Planning process and up to site setup

• Initial Costs are the Site deposit purchased subject to planning permission €12,000
• Hire Engineer to draw up and go through planning process €500
• Planning process Site location Maps from Ordanace Survey Ireland €120 x 2 = €240
• Submitting of planning application to council €65
• Self build house insurance shop around €2,041 (FBD)
• Mortgage protection Insurance €268 Per Annum
• Site hoarding fencing and signage €360
• Commencement Notice to council €35

Total Cost To site start €15,509.00

The Planning Process Still Going...

Resubmited all the info for the second time this meant that we had to shell out another €120 for site maps as the council apparently dont give them back! But they do refund the value of the planning €65. To cut along story short after a further 2 months recieved a letter from the council stating that they would accept no house on the site only a bungalow of traitional construction. With a roof pitch of less than 36 degrees.
We had to go and design a third house, if this had all been said at the initial pre planning we would have accepted it and got on with the plans for a bungalow. But the council just strung us along this was now our 7th month. We were lucky that i was friends with the engineer so the costs were kept to a minimum. Resubmited all our info once more and to our surprise finally recieved planning three months later.

The Planning Process Continued...

View to left of the house

Patiently waiting for some news as the three month date quickly approaches and eventually the letter comes in the door, requesting further information and changes to the house that they had previously accepted in the pre planning meeting.
They asked for us to alter the windows and the shape of the house get rid of stonework and bay windows this meant that we had to redesign and resubmit all the drawings and packs once again, it also meant that we had a further three months added to our schedule.

The Planning Process

View From our new front door

After getting the go ahead at the pre planning we set about getting all the drawings and sections of the house together, myself and the engineer surveyed the site and we set up our planning pack, details of this can be got on your local council website. The items you require for this apart from the drawings are carry out the percolation test, get land map drawings from ordinace survey ireland, and send site notice to a pre approved newspaper as issued by your county council.

We submitted our planning pack on the 19th of May 2006 and you then have your three month waiting period before you here anything from the council presuming that your application is validated ie "complete" it is very important that you check this thouroghly before submitting as small mistakes can lead to big delays.

The Start of the Journey

Way back in April 2006, myself and my girlfriend set out to look at purchasing a site in her hometown. We viewed several in the area ranging in price from €80k - €120k, none of the initial sites really suited what we were looking for.
Eventually the auctioner rang one evening with the perfect site for us and we decided to go with it and put the deposit down on the 28th April 2006.
Our next job was to get in touch with a solicitor to handle the transaction and to look over the contracts.
Once we had the deposit down we set about coming up with designs which we liked, they came from the usual sources magazines internet sites and houses that we have always admired in the past.
I work with a construction company so the engineer at work decide to help us with the drawings (he deserves a lot of thanks for his hard work and patience) We held an initial pre planning meeting with the council; which we were dreading as we taught they would knock our design straight away, as it is an known area for being hard to recieve planning permission.
At the pre planning the area engineer gave us the go ahead with the design which we were very surprised with.