alarmed at the cost of houses now.

Lex Luthor

DublinWriter wrote:

Won't happen.

OP - check out places like Dunshaughlin or Ashbourne. Still 'bargains' to be had there.

There is a guy working with me bought a 2bed apt almost 10months ago off the plans in Ashbourne for 195k. Still waiting on its completion but the next phase has just gone on sale for 255k. If there are bargains in Ashbourne, you better move quick.

I think Mullingar is still good value. there are 3bed semis for about 200k out there and with the new motorway it makes West Dublin accessible in 30-40mins.

lomb

Yv wrote:

My family moved 5 years ago to Galway; my parents are still looking for a house. We live in a rented house at the moment. They're both in their 50s and because of the way prices have gone simply can't afford either the houses they want or the houses they could just about make do with. It's very depressing for the two of them, & there's nothing one can do about it except either give in & buy an unsuitable property or wait another x years hoping for things to improve.

It is depressing but thats life. i would probably recommend buying an unsuitable property. u get used to anything after a while and it seems normal and most probably everything will rise at 3-5% compound for the next 50 years after everything stabilises. 5% compound is around 4 times the current price in 50 years!

one reasonable compromise is buy a 'unsuitable property' with good letting potential and rent your ideal property and that way u have the best of both worlds

Idleater

Calina wrote:

...
I don't see the point in spending a significant amount of money on property that doesn't suit my needs. So saying "You can afford 190K for a one/two bedroomed apartment" is really not an answer. I wouldn't spend 100E on a dress just because I can afford it, right - I'd want to make sure it fitted me. Why shouldn't I apply the same standards to 200000E worth of property? Telling someone to buy something which doesn't fit their lives "just to get on the ladder" is crazy advice.
...

Well, one could turn around your scenario and say:
"I have a realistic budget of €200,000 with which I do[/] wish to get into the property market, now what are my options"

This would be in contrast to:

sapper wrote:

As for me - I've just gone sale agreed on a place after 6 months looking! Agreed it at 50K over asking price. My advice is to jump in and grab anything you can and look at houses worth 50K less than you can afford. I work in the city centre too and will be moving out from my current pad 10mins from work to a house 10 miles away in Lucan. I'm going to cycle in and out - I timed it last week - 35mins from the IFSC.

who made a decision to buy based on location, proximity to the City Centre routes, amenities and other factors rather than completely restricted to budget.


At the end of the day, despite what I or others have said, I do agree that the market value is high compared to the actual value. This can be prooven by the "actual rebuild cost" which is submitted to the mortgage provider's insurers, and this also does not increase in the same way as the house price index does. The rest of the cost above this is profit in somebody's pocket, which property buyers have to make a rational decision to pay or not to pay depending.

L.

iguana

What strikes me is that you are looking to buy a semi-detached house with proximity to the city centre. When I was house hunting in Dublin I found that there were an awful lot more terraced houses located centrally than semi-d.

What is wrong with a terrace. I can certainly understand why you don't want to be in an apartment, but perhaps you should be a little more open-minded about terraces. While it's assumed that terraces are smaller that is not always true, in fact I have been in very few semi-d or detached houses that are bigger than my parents terraced house. You would still have a private garden. All you would be losing is a side entrance and some terraces have rear entrances.

And you should also remain open to buying a 2-bed house that has an attic with potential to convert to a bedroom.
That way you would have the option if you need it, plenty of time to save for it as even if you had twins next year they would happily share a room for 5/6 years without it becoming an issue. And if your circumstances or the housing market changes to your advantage you can then move on.

homeOwner

iguana wrote:

What is wrong with a terrace. I can certainly understand why you don't want to be in an apartment, but perhaps you should be a little more open-minded about terraces. While it's assumed that terraces are smaller that is not always true, in fact I have been in very few semi-d or detached houses that are bigger than my parents terraced house. You would still have a private garden. All you would be losing is a side entrance and some terraces have rear entrances.

And you should also remain open to buying a 2-bed house that has an attic with potential to convert to a bedroom.
That way you would have the option if you need it, plenty of time to save for it as even if you had twins next year they would happily share a room for 5/6 years without it becoming an issue. And if your circumstances or the housing market changes to your advantage you can then move on.

You bring up a very good point and I should be more open minded to terraced houses. The main reason I have not been looking at them is to avoid having potentially two neighbour's noise to listen to. Houses these days are very badly built and I have friends who live in semi-s who can hear everything going on next door. But ironically, maybe terraced houses which tend to be oldre are probably better built and maybe noise isnt a problem, even with someone one each side.

I have been looking at 2 bedrooms with room to build into the attic as part of "lowering expectations" and to be honest they tend to be tiny. Having said that it is still an option.