The number you can actually live with
We start from what your household really spends rather than what a form asks for, and work forwards to a repayment that still holds up in a bad month.
You know what you could borrow. The useful number is what you should.
A maximum is a ceiling set by rules. A budget is set by your life, and the gap between the two is where people get themselves into trouble. Closing it before you bid is straightforward. Closing it after you move in is not.
A no-obligation, free discovery call with a Pathway planner. Nothing is sold on it.
Regulated in IrelandAPFM Limited, trading as Pathway Financial Management, is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland.
Qualified plannersCFP®, QFA, RPA and SIA qualifications across our directors.
Dublin 2 based20 Harcourt Street, Dublin 2, D02 H364.
Advice firstA no-obligation, free discovery call before anything else happens.
What an affordability figure does not know about you
An affordability calculator answers one question well. Given your income, your deposit and your commitments, what is the largest loan the borrowing rules allow. That is a genuinely useful boundary. It is not a recommendation, and it is certainly not a budget.
What it cannot see is the rest of your life. The car that will need replacing, the childcare bill that starts next year, one of you wanting to go part time, the savings account emptied to make the deposit work. None of that appears in a maximum, and all of it decides whether the repayment still feels reasonable in year three.
It also does not tell you which constraint is really binding. Some buyers are held back by income and some by deposit, and the fix for each is different. Knowing which one you are changes what the next twelve months should look like, which is where our mortgage advice starts.
And there is a part of this that has nothing to do with the sums. A mortgage is a long commitment that quietly assumes both of you keep earning. What happens if one of you cannot is a question worth answering before the keys change hands, which is why protection belongs in the same conversation as the loan.
Book a free consultation
Not sure what you should borrow rather than could? That is exactly what the first call is for.
How we would help
Four things worth working out before you start bidding.
Deposit, savings and what to keep back
Emptying every account to stretch the deposit leaves nothing for the things a house does to you in the first year. We work out what should stay where it is.
Getting the structure right
How much you borrow, over how long, and on what terms all pull against each other. The lowest monthly payment is not automatically the best decision, and it helps to see the trade rather than inherit a default.
Protecting the commitment
A mortgage assumes an income that keeps arriving. Cover for illness, injury or death is what stops a hard year turning into a lost home.
Book a free consultation
A short call will tell you which of these is the binding one for you.
Who you would be talking to
Pathway was built by two planners who believe advice should be clear, honest and genuinely on your side.
Paul McGrane
Director & Financial Planner
QualificationsCFP®, BBM, QFA, RPA, SIA
Paul is driven by making a tangible difference in clients’ lives, and takes real satisfaction in knowing his work supports individuals and their families through decisions that are rarely straightforward.
Anthony Richardson
Director & Financial Planner
QualificationsQFA, RPA, SIA, BBS
A natural problem solver, Anthony thrives on finding the real challenge, working out how to resolve it, and putting the solution in place alongside the client.
Book a call with a planner
Both calls are free and without obligation.
What happens next
Three plain stages, at your pace. You can stop after any one of them.
A short call, at no cost
Twenty minutes or so, by phone or video. You tell us where you are in the process and what you are trying to work out. Nothing is sold on that call.
A proper look at the detail
If it makes sense to go further, we go through income, savings, commitments and what the next few years look like for you, and what cover is already in place.
A plan in plain language
You get our findings written down, with the options set out clearly and what each one would mean for you. What you do with it is entirely your decision.
Book a free consultation
It starts with the short call. Nothing is sold on it.
Questions people ask us
The ones that come up most often once somebody has a borrowing figure.
Is the maximum the calculator gave me what a lender will offer?
Not necessarily. It applies the borrowing rules to the figures you entered, and a lender will look at a great deal more than that, including how you actually run your accounts. Treat it as a boundary rather than an offer.
Should I borrow the maximum?
Almost nobody should. A maximum assumes nothing changes and nothing goes wrong. The number worth finding is the one that still works when something does.
Do you arrange the mortgage as well as advising on it?
Mortgages are one of the things we do, alongside the planning that sits around them. The first conversation is about what makes sense for you rather than about placing anything.
We are buying together. Does that change the advice?
It changes quite a lot of it. Two incomes, two sets of plans, and the question of what happens if one of those incomes stops. That is worth working through together rather than separately.
What does the first conversation cost?
Nothing. It is a no-obligation, free discovery call. If we go further than that, we set out clearly what the work involves and what it costs before you commit to anything.
Book a free consultation
A different question? Ask us directly and we will give you a straight answer.
Talk it through with a planner
Bring the figure you calculated and a sense of what you are hoping to buy. We will tell you plainly what we think, and what we would look at first.
Or email info@pathwayfinman.ie
APFM Limited, trading as Pathway Financial Management, is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland. Registered in Ireland No. 759815. Directors: Paul McGrane, Anthony Richardson.
This page is general information about financial planning. It is not personal financial advice and does not take account of your own circumstances. Tax treatment depends on individual circumstances and may change.