Clongriffin, nice area to live?

MANUTD99

Hi Everyone,

Looking for some advice. My job is moving over to Eastpoint Business Park. Myself and partner are looking to move. Can people give me advice on the Clongriffen area. I heard its got the Dart Line and a pretty decent bus service into town which is important as we rely on public transport. Is it a safe area to live and is it mostly home owner occupied. We will be renting firstly but we will be looking to buy a apartment end of next year and Clongriffen seems to have a decent value.

Thanks all

subway

it seems to be a mix of social housing and young renters. very few owner occupied from anecdotal stories i have heard.
apartments are nice, if the usual mixed build quality.
parking seems to be generally atrocious and streets are very narrow.
father collins park is great but does attract some messing from kids.
the dart is good and you are only 2 stops from malahide village which has pubs / restaurants etc.
clongriffen has a chinese, an off license and a spar (afaik)

i wouldnt buy there for a few years (taking prices out of the equation) as it could go up or down in terms of quality of life as shops arent materialising and the expected civil service move into one of the office buildings never happened either

ive a few friends living or lived in the estate and none had any complaints other than there isnt really that much to do within walking distance in the evenings

to add, if you are going to rent, there are lots of options along the dart around north dublin city, whats your budget and what kind of place are you looking for?

robd

MANUTD99,

Take a drive around there circa 8-9pm some evening and on a weekend afternoon and you'll get an idea of what it's like.

My general opinion from doing that myself is that houses are very squashed together, streets are very narrow and parking is a real problem. I've no idea what the neighbours are like or if there's social problems.

Schools might be a problem given it's so new and our wonderful country allowed mass building without building the social infrastructure to go along with it. The established areas are much better this way.

Fittle

robd wrote: »

MANUTD99,

Schools might be a problem given it's so new and our wonderful country allowed mass building without building the social infrastructure to go along with it. The established areas are much better this way.

There were 3 new schools built with the Clongriffin estate - one educate together and two 'normal' schools, so schooling isn't an issue in that area.

My friend lives there OP, and I live close enough. She has a young child and is very happy to live there, as she also relies on public transport. You are also in walking distance of Donaghmede shopping centre which has a large dunnes stores and other shops. It's as 'safe' as most of the new estates are - it has alot of apartments, which means it can be very quiet (on the roads) at night time. Fr. Collins Park is also a lovely spot and as another poster said, it has some teenagers who hang around there at night - but then what park doesn't have this?

If I had to rent again, I'd have no hesitation renting in Clongriffin. You'll get a feel for the place and decide in the year, if it's somewhere you might want to buy.

MANUTD99

whats your budget and what kind of place are you looking for?

Our current rental is 1000 per month for a 2 bed apartment with 2 bathrooms so looking to pay under this price or the same. As I said before we rely on public transport and need to be very close to the DART as my other half will need this.

Thanks for all the feedback

robd

MANUTD99 wrote: »

Our current rental is 1000 per month for a 2 bed apartment with 2 bathrooms so looking to pay under this price or the same. As I said before we rely on public transport and need to be very close to the DART as my other half will need this.

Thanks for all the feedback

You'd easily get some of the older 2 bed apartments in even Clontarf for < 1,000 these days. That's within walking distance to East Point. Certain parts of Clontarf are near to Dart (Killester or Contarf Rd) but some are not. Killester is an option too at < 1000 also.

Personally, I think the prices for rent in Clongriffin (circa 950 for a 2 bed) are a little dear in comparison. They appear to include a new property premium.

MANUTD99

robd wrote: »

You'd easily get some of the older 2 bed apartments in even Clontarf for < 1,000 these days. That's within walking distance to East Point. Certain parts of Clontarf are near to Dart (Killester or Contarf Rd) but some are not. Killester is an option too at < 1000 also.

Personally, I think the prices for rent in Clongriffin (circa 950 for a 2 bed) are a little dear in comparison. They appear to include a new property premium.

We kinda want to rent where would eventually buy. We wouldn't be able to afford the property we would like around the Clontarf area so we wouldn't really want to rent there. It would be ideal alright for work but our budget for eventually buying next year will be 225k and not much around there for this value. Maybe I'm wrong though.

Appreciate the feedback

dearg lady

I lived there for 4 years and found it grand, very safe. There's a centra, an off licence, and a pharmacy and they're fitting out what I think is due to be a take away of some kind. The park and Donaghmede SC all in walking distance, and plenty of schools nearby.

Downsides, definitely the parking, the streets are a bit narrow, but I didn't find that a huge issue personally, though the odd time I had to drive around for a bit looking for a parking space. There has been some issues in the past with the management company too, so look into that.

Gloomtastic!

You'd get a 3 bed house in Marino for €225k. Great place to live, everything within walking distance.

skD13

MANUTD99, some feedback here from a resident of the area for 6 years…

Just as a counter to the statement above that it is “a mix of social and young renters” with “very few owner occupier”. There is a mix of traditional housing style here and apartments. Apartments can lend themselves to a more transient population and this is the case here partially. Some units were built late in the boom and were “NAMA’ed”. These are almost exclusively available for rent by the developer. The older houses and apartments that were built early in the boom are mostly owner occupied. These earlier units make up the majority of the stock in Clongriffin. Some of these earlier buyers may have intended to trade up from what they saw as a “starter home” but can’t now due to economic circumstances. This is maintaining the original owner occupier percentage.

Re. social housing, there is a percentage yes, but it is small and these units are managed by the Iveagh Trust. The tenants are vetted there is no trouble from the occupants. There is no more social housing here than there is in any new estate that required a certain percentages as part of the legislation regarding social and affordable housing.

Fr. Collins Park is excellent and well maintained. It attracts some partying teenagers from time to time but the Gardai clear them out. All they do is drink a few cans and scrawl some graffiti which the council clean up. Nothing surprising there.

Many of the shops have not been occupied and are unlikely to be for some time, probably not for a very long time to be honest. But an Italian restaurant and a diner are opening this month.

I’ve lived here for 6 years. Originally I intended to “trade up” and move on at some point but can’t now. It’s not that I don’t like it here, I’ve had a lovely 6 years in fact, am bringing up a family here and happy to do so. The transport links in particular are fantastic and Fr. Collins Park is an excellent amenity. Admittedly though, I do worry about what will happen with all the undeveloped land in the future… I think that’s understandable enough. This is something anyone buying here would need to consider. DCC are formulating a Local Area Plan for the future development of the area, to be released in the New Year, and they have taken input from residents. Hopefully they will listen to the ideas put forward by residents.

A community is building up here. Various groups have sprung up like an allotment group, mother and baby group, book clubs etc. etc. These may interest you.

There is also a residents website where you can find more information www.clongriffinresidents.com .

Anyway… don’t take my word for it. Come out and see the place by day and by night. Catch the commuters coming off the DART in the evening and if you can ignore the expanse of undeveloped land stretching out in front , it’s just like any other estate with young workers heading home in the evening.

Good luck.

subway

MANUTD99 wrote: »

We kinda want to rent where would eventually buy. We wouldn't be able to afford the property we would like around the Clontarf area so we wouldn't really want to rent there. It would be ideal alright for work but our budget for eventually buying next year will be 225k and not much around there for this value. Maybe I'm wrong though.

Appreciate the feedback

i cant imagine the apartments in clongriffin being worth 225 in the long term.
somewhere around 90-140 seems reasonable depending on size.

for 225 in north dublin you have your choice tbh. look at bayside, baldoyle, donaghmede, raheny, donneycarney etc. all on the dart line, more established and with more facilities. you will easily pick a 3bed in one of these areas on that budget if you had to buy today. less if you wait for a year.

average rent for a 3bed house with gardens in one of these areas seems to be about 900-1000. going by personal experience.

dearg lady

subway wrote: »

i cant imagine the apartments in clongriffin being worth 225 in the long term.
somewhere around 90-140 seems reasonable depending on size.

for 225 in north dublin you have your choice tbh. look at bayside, baldoyle, donaghmede, raheny, donneycarney etc. all on the dart line, more established and with more facilities. you will easily pick a 3bed in one of these areas on that budget if you had to buy today. less if you wait for a year.

average rent for a 3bed house with gardens in one of these areas seems to be about 900-1000. going by personal experience.

donnycarney isn't on the dart line? ya could walk to killester but thats quite a walk! and baldoyle could be a hefty walk to the dart depending on whereabouts. But yeah, somewhere before the dart splits is good, cos ya have more darts that way, so donaghmede, kilbarrack, raheny and on towards town

Thumpette

I know its after the dart split (and I can totally see the logic of ging before) but portmarnock might be a good option too.

We are living in the links, which is lovely and well built, i think you could rent a nice 2 bed there for about 800, in terms of buying too, id say youd have no bother getting a 2 bed for 170-180

subway

dearg lady wrote: »

donnycarney isn't on the dart line? ya could walk to killester but thats quite a walk!

ah, yeah, woops. thats not what i meant to write. donneycarney area is handy for east point like another poster said. fairview and that kind if area is all walking/cycling distance to work. if MANUTD99 is planning on working there long term he could save hours of commute each week by living down that way

dearg lady

subway wrote: »

ah, yeah, woops. thats not what i meant to write. donneycarney area is handy for east point like another poster said. fairview and that kind if area is all walking/cycling distance to work. if MANUTD99 is planning on working there long term he could save hours of commute each week by living down that way

agreed. It's quite handy for town as well, it's not too long on the bus.

tk123

Drumcondra would be an option too. I live just off Botanic Ave and work in East Point and it's about a 30-40 min walk.

reeree922

well someone stole my phone and I've tracked it to Clongriffin... so there are phone thieves

Gumbo

reeree922 wrote: »

well someone stole my phone and I've tracked it to Clongriffin... so there are phone thieves

Not great first post on boards.ie
Please don’t resurrect 7 year old threads to make one line comments that don’t add to the discussion in question.