Hi all new member

Leeandcrowd

I'm a new member my names Lee, I live in England with my wife of 25 years and the kids. We are seriously considering a move to lovely Donegal. My mothers family came from county Londonderry, but I've always had a soft spot for Donegal. And we have visited several times. And I have to be honest house prices in Donegal are more than favourable.

Donegal has everything I'm looking for, nice people, the ocean and a more sense of community than where I live in England. Where I live in England Suffolk, they have to be some of the most unfriendly and rudest people in the world and I'm the sort to mix in and get along with anyone.

My only concern is jobs for my kids, I have two teenage girls that will come with us, the youngest is about to start college [catering] and the eldest has been to college for two year studying business and admin but can't get a full-time job for love or money [the economy is a lot worse here than is reported] she currently works part time in a restaurant. My eldest son might stay in England with my brother as he has an apprenticeships with a national estate agent as he is doing very well and the might be there chance of a full time job at the end of it. My second daughter would ideally like to go to college in Letterkenny.


I'm into boating, fishing and kayaking. I'm an Arborist by trade both consulting and contracting. I have been self employed for 22 years. We have 5 children, I'd love it for the two youngest 2 and 7 to live in a Gaeltach area and learn the language.

Anyway folks we'e coming over in a few weeks for a property hunt,any advice etc will be much appreciated.

P.S being English and living in Donegal would we likely suffer any discrimination? I've not ever felt any hostility in our visits ever!

DoneDL

I wouldn`t worry about the english aspect as there are quite a few people in Donegal who have some or little family connection. Work will be a problem though as jobs are few and far between, if you are willing to expand from being an Arborist to providing a more varied gardening service then you should find work but be aware it is hard to get accepted here as people rely on word of mouth and local or family recommendations. As far as enjoying the great outdoors and other aspects like fishing, hiking and watersports aspect then there is no better place but do research it well.

overshoot

i will say on the gaeltacht and the younger ones learning irish... most there would be fully bilingual and would often just continue a conversation in whatever language the first word is... also i had a cousin who moved to germany at a young age (from england) and the switch in language proved difficult and he was really only starting to get a proper grasp on english (think more of the 2 year old here). you could consider more than just the gaeltacht, the gaelscoils which quite common now in non gaeltacht areas would teach though irish and would have a lot of people attending whose parents couldnt speak it and may be more suited for for your senario...

as doneDL said though the economy isnt exactly great over here either... id be suprised if it wasnt worse....

(oh and the first six letters are silent in londonderry;))

DoneDL

(oh and the first six letters are silent in londonderry)

Leeandcrowd

Thanks for the reply's, I would never call the city of Derry its ''other'' name lol but I thought it was OK to call the ''county'' ******derry, I guess not?

Anyway more pressing questions,does anyone know if I will have to get my plates changed over on my wifes car and my van?

I just looked at the map, county Derry will do fine http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counties_of_Northern_Ireland

overshoot

Leeandcrowd wrote: »

Anyway more pressing questions,does anyone know if I will have to get my plates changed over on my wifes car and my van?

ah if your just over looking you will be fine... there is a bit of a legal battle (well there has been for years) over vrt in that its basically a customs tax. for now your fine, but eventually you probably would have to change plates... there is an online thing where you can check out the vrt cost for your model )i think this is it)... anyway there was a victory against it under EU law (free movement of goods etc) so it may be a case of wait and see what happens regarding it. (i havnt kept too good a track on this someone else may be in a better place to comment here)

Leeandcrowd

overshoot wrote: »

ah if your just over looking you will be fine... there is a bit of a legal battle (well there has been for years) over vrt in that its basically a customs tax. for now your fine, but eventually you probably would have to change plates... there is an online thing where you can check out the vrt cost for your model )i think this is it)... anyway there was a victory against it under EU law (free movement of goods etc) so it may be a case of wait and see what happens regarding it. (i havnt kept too good a track on this someone else may be in a better place to comment here)

Thanks overshoot

NIMAN

If you move to live in Ireland you can get one car changed over to Irish plates free of charge. So that will cover one car, you may need to pay VRT on the 2nd. But check out that too, as you may get both changed for free, I'm not 100% sure.

I moved from County (London)Derry to Donegal over a decade ago. Totally agree with you about the people. You'll not meet nicer. As for the topic of your Englishness, I think you will be grand will 95% of the people, there are idiots over here like everywhere, but I hear an awful lot of English accents around Derry, Donegal and the NW in general, so you won't be alone.

Job situation is poor as others have said. Everywheres suffering in this recession, but Donegal and the NW region have always been worse off than most other areas, even in the good times. Its probably due to its remoteness, but we often consider ourselves the forgotten people when it comes to investment by central Government.

And btw, you're right about the Co. Londonderry bit. That is the official name of the county. And the house prices too, as I recently sold a house and it was shocking what I had to sell it for!

Wish you all the best in your plans.

Leeandcrowd

NIMAN wrote: »

If you move to live in Ireland you can get one car changed over to Irish plates free of charge. So that will cover one car, you may need to pay VRT on the 2nd. But check out that too, as you may get both changed for free, I'm not 100% sure.

I moved from County (London)Derry to Donegal over a decade ago. Totally agree with you about the people. You'll not meet nicer. As for the topic of your Englishness, I think you will be grand will 95% of the people, there are idiots over here like everywhere, but I hear an awful lot of English accents around Derry, Donegal and the NW in general, so you won't be alone.

Job situation is poor as others have said. Everywheres suffering in this recession, but Donegal and the NW region have always been worse off than most other areas, even in the good times. Its probably due to its remoteness, but we often consider ourselves the forgotten people when it comes to investment by central Government.

And btw, you're right about the Co. Londonderry bit. That is the official name of the county. And the house prices too, as I recently sold a house and it was shocking what I had to sell it for!

Wish you all the best in your plans.

Thank you very much for your helpful post NIMAN

NIMAN

Quick bit of advice re: the property hunt. Prices here will look cheap compared to England, and you will think you are getting very good value for money.

But if you see something you like, and it costs €x, then don't forget there is a very good chance you could get it for €x - 20% (or more). The housing market in Donegal is on its knees, it really is a buyers market.

Leeandcrowd

NIMAN wrote: »

Quick bit of advice re: the property hunt. Prices here will look cheap compared to England, and you will think you are getting very good value for money.

But if you see something you like, and it costs €x, then don't forget there is a very good chance you could get it for €x - 20% (or more). The housing market in Donegal is on its knees, it really is a buyers market.

Thanks, I've always been a bit of a wheeler dealer and never been able to resist a haggle, saying that I take no satisfaction in seeing people loose there money and homes etc its a sad state of affairs this recession imo

NIMAN

Look at yourself and your family first.

Don't forget, even if you are getting a bargain, doesn't necessarily mean someone is losing money on it.

I said I sold my house for a very low price, but I still made a profit on it as I bought it a long time ago. Many may still be in this situation. And if you end up buying a bank repo, then the damage is already done.

Leeandcrowd

NIMAN wrote: »

Look at yourself and your family first.

Don't forget, even if you are getting a bargain, doesn't necessarily mean someone is losing money on it.

I said I sold my house for a very low price, but I still made a profit on it as I bought it a long time ago. Many may still be in this situation. And if you end up buying a bank repo, then the damage is already done.

Sound advice

muffler

Hi Leeandcrowd and welcome to Boards.ie particularly the Donegal forum. I'm sure you will have lots of questions so feel free to fire them up and the regulars to this forum will only be too glad to offer their advice and opinions.

Leeandcrowd

muffler wrote: »

Hi Leeandcrowd and welcome to Boards.ie particularly the Donegal forum. I'm sure you will have lots of questions so feel free to fire them up and the regulars to this forum will only be too glad to offer their advice and opinions.

Many thanks for the welcome Muffler, I'll be sure to ask questions..

muffler

Doing a quick search of the forum throws up some good threads if you get the time to read some of them.

Leeandcrowd

muffler wrote: »

Doing a quick search of the forum throws up some good threads if you get the time to read some of them.

Ahh great stuff thanks

muffler

About 4 years ago I met a couple who were in the process of buying a house in the north of the county. They were both from England and were retiring to here (they weren't just full retirement age) and I was asking about family and friends they had locally. Turns out they had none.

They told me they were both born and reared in England and came here for a holiday about 25 years previously and loved the place so much that they returned every year for a couple of weeks. They had no family ties here at all but made a few friends over the years and decided this was the place where they would settle down when they retired and would obviously make the odd journey back to England to visit the relations. They didn't have any kids themselves which probably made the move a little easier for them.

I have to say its a privilege to have met them and their love of the county speaks volumes of what Donegal has to offer.

cosanostra

Not sure if you live in a city in England but if you do take that into consideration when choosing your location to live, a lot of people who move to Donegal from a city find it very hard to adjust and get settled in a country lifestyle especially for the kids but I suppose it really depends on your outlook.

You have probably already had a look on http://www.daft.ie/ if not it has a valuable collection of properties and will help you out on your property search.

I wouldn't envisage you suffering any discrimination, my best advice to you would be to integrate as much as possible there's plenty of community centres dotted all over the county with events on nightly get involved in them and get to know people it will make getting settled a lot easier.

Firblog

NIMAN wrote: »

If you move to live in Ireland you can get one car changed over to Irish plates free of charge. So that will cover one car, you may need to pay VRT on the 2nd. .

AFIK there is no VRT payable on vans, but I wouldn't take my word for it

Broxi_Bear_Eire

cosanostra wrote: »

Not sure if you live in a city in England but if you do take that into consideration when choosing your location to live, a lot of people who move to Donegal from a city find it very hard to adjust and get settled in a country lifestyle especially for the kids but I suppose it really depends on your outlook.

You have probably already had a look on http://www.daft.ie/ if not it has a valuable collection of properties and will help you out on your property search.

I wouldn't envisage you suffering any discrimination, my best advice to you would be to integrate as much as possible there's plenty of community centres dotted all over the county with events on nightly get involved in them and get to know people it will make getting settled a lot easier.

A lot of very good points there I moved from Glasgow but I had no problems settling in but I know many people who did. Also your points about integrating are very valid to it is vitally important get out there and meet people. As for discrimination you will always find a few who are ludicrous in their outlook but they can be ignored with ease

Leeandcrowd

We've been ringing around estate agents, and all 4 houses we've been interested in have had severe water damage....

ednwireland

Leeandcrowd wrote: »

We've been ringing around estate agents, and all 4 houses we've been interested in have had severe water damage....

lot of empty houses around not being maintained, leaks going unnoticed ?

solas111

Heard today that Letterkenny Institute of Technology (LYIT) still has places available on all courses. They also have a catering or tourism course in the Tourism College in Killybegs (don’t know if that’s the right name for it) which is now amalgamated with LYIT.

There are plenty of English people living in Donegal and they do not seem to have any problems. There are bigots here just like anywhere else but a sense of humour can usually confuse and disarm them.

Gweedore and Ranafast are Gaeltacht areas that are close to Donegal Airport, not that there are many flights. There is quite a good service to Glasgow and Dublin, operated by Logan Air on behalf of Flybe. There is a daily bus service to Dublin, Galway and Belfast.

oranbhoy67

welcome to Donegal Leeandcrowd & may i be the first to ask for a job if your taking anyone on