House Hunting for the first time

mollybird

Girlies,
MY OH is after giving me a rough figure of how much we can spend on getting a house. started looking last night but have no idea where I should start. he is too busy in work to be looking so while i'm a student i can be looking in between doing college work. We have both selected an area that we are intersted in. he picked lucan and ive picked swords. we not seriously going to be looking till my finals are over. so i have 6 months to get all the info i need before i seriously start looking. any tips?

messrs

looking to buy or rent?

Xiney

moved from the Ladies Lounge

Beruthiel

Spend a lot of time looking at:

www.daft.ie
www.myhome.ie

After you have spent some time looking at different houses and what you can get for the price you are willing to spend, you will be able to come to a decision.
Take into consideration transport.
Visit the areas.
Especially at night.

antoinolachtnai

Broad general tip: you really have to start looking at property, a lot of property, just to get an idea of what it's all about. You need to visit a lot of different estates and try to figure out what you like and dislike about them all, and try to understand what makes some houses more expensive than other houses.

mollybird

messrs we are looking to buy. will have to rent for another year at least. some people say it takes a few years to find your house others have found one within a year or two.

pathway33

mollybird wrote: »

any tips?

avoid the flood plains

miss_feminem

You need to be sure about the area you want to live in. Check the neighbourhood out and when you find a place you like, get a surveyor out yo check for damp, etc.

I moved in to a brand new apt last year (renting) and I thought all would be ok bacause its new. I have never had so many problems with a place. About halfway through the lease, the living room and kithcen walls were covered in damp and it was taking a long time for the landlord to sort it out. I wouldn't jump at getting a new place because they're not really hassle free.

the_syco

Lucan: nice enough place, has Tescos, Liffey Valley a short bus trip away.

Swords: Skatepark, there's some sort of Pavilon/shopping centre in the town itself. A good few pubs & restaurants.

There's a 24/7 Garda station in both.

Prefer Lucan myself, but only worked in Swords. If going to Swords, please remember that the 41b is a great bus when if it comes.

mollybird

pathway33 wrote: »

avoid the flood plains

why?


Edit: sorry read that wrong. thought it said floor plans. my brain is a bit fried lately. being in final year of college and all....

Firetrap

Erm...look at the news much recently?

pathway33

It's not the name of a housing estate in lucan btw

Tech3

mollybird wrote: »

why?

If you want water coming in your front door and rats infesting the place then fire ahead.

Have ye assessed the cost of the house, the mortgage repayments in a year or 2 when interest rates will increase? I would check out the area for transport services, amenities and how safe it is to live there first.

Eglinton

mollybird wrote: »

Girlies,
MY OH is after giving me a rough figure of how much we can spend on getting a house. started looking last night but have no idea where I should start. he is too busy in work to be looking so while i'm a student i can be looking in between doing college work. We have both selected an area that we are intersted in. he picked lucan and ive picked swords. we not seriously going to be looking till my finals are over. so i have 6 months to get all the info i need before i seriously start looking. any tips?

I hope I'm not sounding too negative here but it sounds like you're starting from a very low base of knowledge. My advice is to be very cautious, prudent and patient.

As others have said, you need to start looking at all the property websites in detail (Daft.ie and Myhome.ie are good starters). You may then want to advance to property discussion fora and house price watch websites.

So far all this will do though is give you an idea of what's out there and for what price (bear in mind that house prices in many areas of Dublin are plummeting).

Do you mind me asking what your budget is? I don't know what age you are but you mention you're a student (so I'm assuming early-mid 20s) so unless you've got someone backing you financially in a serious way, a lot of places will be out of your league regardless of recession, nevermind getting a mortgage without a good salary record.

Have you got savings? Assuming you're looking for a house (you'd be mad to buy an apartment!), I'm guessing you won't get too many decent houses in Swords or Lucan for much less than €250K even post recession. If we take that as an example, no bank is really going to entertain you for a mortgage unless you've got close to €25K saved (If you can save €1000 a month each, this will still take you more than a year to do, and that's being generous). You've also got to factor in legal fees, house furnishings, transport links and cost and much much more. Talk to a mortgage advisor in a bank. Your OH may not have all the facts. Do you see yourself with him long term? A house purchase and a break up is one of the ultimate disasters (see discussions on this forum for examples).

I'm a bit worried that you thought you should seek advice from the Ladies' Lounge on this matter first and are not sure why you shouldn't buy on a flood plain! But it's good that you're starting to do you homework early. Good luck with it and be careful. Don't do anything crazy and saddle yourself with debt. Read many of the threads in this forum from the past 6 months and going forward.

mollybird

Eglinton wrote: »

I hope I'm not sounding too negative here but it sounds like you're starting from a very low base of knowledge. My advice is to be very cautious, prudent and patient.

As others have said, you need to start looking at all the property websites in detail (Daft.ie and Myhome.ie are good starters). You may then want to advance to property discussion fora and house price watch websites.

So far all this will do though is give you an idea of what's out there and for what price (bear in mind that house prices in many areas of Dublin are plummeting).

Do you mind me asking what your budget is? I don't know what age you are but you mention you're a student (so I'm assuming early-mid 20s) so unless you've got someone backing you financially in a serious way, a lot of places will be out of your league regardless of recession, nevermind getting a mortgage without a good salary record.

Have you got savings? Assuming you're looking for a house (you'd be mad to buy an apartment!), I'm guessing you won't get too many decent houses in Swords or Lucan for much less than €250K even post recession. If we take that as an example, no bank is really going to entertain you for a mortgage unless you've got close to €25K saved (If you can save €1000 a month each, this will still take you more than a year to do, and that's being generous). You've also got to factor in legal fees, house furnishings, transport links and cost and much much more. Talk to a mortgage advisor in a bank. Your OH may not have all the facts. Do you see yourself with him long term? A house purchase and a break up is one of the ultimate disasters (see discussions on this forum for examples).

I'm a bit worried that you thought you should seek advice from the Ladies' Lounge on this matter first and are not sure why you shouldn't buy on a flood plain! But it's good that you're starting to do you homework early. Good luck with it and be careful. Don't do anything crazy and saddle yourself with debt. Read many of the threads in this forum from the past 6 months and going forward.

i'm a mature 30 year old student. our budget is around the 300 to 400 figure. course i see myself with him long term. whole long term stuff has been talked about. just nothing can be done about it till i'm finished college in may. trying to pick out a few more locations on where we may get a house too as i feel just having two is stretching it a bit.

will keep asking people on the housing info anyhow over the next 6 months. and go from there. thanks for the advice.

monkeypants

pathway33 wrote: »

avoid the flood plains

+1

Oh yes. Can't beat living on a hill.

whizzbang

http://www.floodmaps.ie/

Lots of flood information available, check before you buy!