MORTGAGE CHECKLIST 

John was personally recommended to me. That’s what works best for me. He was not only friendly from the off but clearly knew his stuff and was a straight talker with a sense of humour. The fact that John has a background in banking as well made me think he would understand both sides of the divide equally well. I knew from our first meeting that we would get on and that he was the right person for this particular challenge.

I had just moved back to Ireland after 30 years and was unfamiliar with the current mortgage market and application process. My wife and children were still overseas and I was tasked with not only finding ‘the house’ but more importantly securing a mortgage with a very limited track record here in Ireland. Added to this I had just started a permanent job so I was far from established and my proven credit history etc was all earned away from home. Then there was the matter of a property in London that needed to be sold as well. Fair play to John, he might have raised an eyebrow but he didn’t baulk at the task ahead.

There is a longer story that could be told over a few pints but the shorter version has a happy ending. There was a considerable piece of work involved in just getting everything together in order to be able to submit the mortgage application. It was during this process that we met Marie who handled all that side of things with aplomb. It’s a truism that it’s easy when you know how and she steered us patiently and efficiently through what sometimes seemed like a tortuous process. More than anything, both John and Marie, aside from their professionalism, were available for us as and when we needed them, literally only a phone call or email away. It really felt like they were in our corner and it gave us confidence that they would ably represent us with the lenders. This is beginning to sound a bit sycophantic so I’m going to stop here.

If you are looking for a mortgage and the other products that accompany it, you could do no better than to stop by and pop into the Financial Innovations office at Lane Business Park to meet John or Marie. Of course, your journey will be a different one to ours and I hope there will be another happy ending involved. For sure, it won’t be for the lack of trying.