Carton Court Maynooth

Hoping to tap into some local knowledge on Maynooth with this one:
Does anyone have any experience of living in or near Carton Court estate in Maynooth? I've been browsing houses for sale in the area and it looks nice but the asking prices are a bit lower than other areas which have been recommended on threads about estates in Maynooth.

I'm not from the area so looking for reasons why houses in Carton Court would be in lower price bracket. Is it just that it's a longer walk to the village than, for example, from Parklands? Or have a handful of motivated sellers just become a bit more sensible in the interest of finding a buyer?

Or is there something about the build-quality of the houses; anti-social behaviour; traffic or environmental issues which are not obvious at first look?

I came across this house on MyHome and think it looks okay although there's no photo of the garden and it seems to be NW-facing. Anything about this location that has made it hard for sellers to shift houses there? Specifically, looking at the satellite image, does anyone know what is located just south of the estate? If it's a decrepit nuclear-processing plant I'd like to know in advance...

All advice/comments welcome!

gman2k

http://maps.google.ie/?ll=53.369632,-6.588256&spn=0.002695,0.006899&t=h&z=17

http://maps.google.ie/?ll=53.369836,-6.588181&spn=0.002695,0.006899&t=h&z=17&layer=c&cbll=53.369893,-6.58832&panoid=eRHk9zGwJvQrch1V5-CM6A&cbp=12,213.01,,0,-0.98

That looks out onto waste land and the back of Lidl and further across to the motorway and business park.
Houses themselves are relatively old for Maynooth estates, but prob much better than Maynooth Park area.

gman2k

gman2k wrote: »

http://maps.google.ie/?ll=53.369632,-6.588256&spn=0.002695,0.006899&t=h&z=17

http://maps.google.ie/?ll=53.369836,-6.588181&spn=0.002695,0.006899&t=h&z=17&layer=c&cbll=53.369893,-6.58832&panoid=eRHk9zGwJvQrch1V5-CM6A&cbp=12,213.01,,0,-0.98

That looks out onto waste land and the back of Lidl and further across to the motorway and business park.
Houses themselves are relatively old for Maynooth estates, but prob much better than Maynooth Park area.

Thanks gman2k,
That helps explain it. I saw that there were two others sale agreed in the same estate for 220k which is a big jump from 180k. Maybe the 'view' of Lidl and the wasteland helps explain it. Still no takers for three months at 180k.

Moonbeam

I live near it .It is a very nice quite estate but is beside the motorway.

Moonbeam

Moonbeam wrote: »

I live near it .It is a very nice quite estate but is beside the motorway.

Thanks Moonbeam - appreciate the info. Wouldn't want to hear heavy traffic all day (and night) although, it looks like there's a bit of a gap between the estate and the road. Might have to visit it and see whether you can hear the M4 from the estate.

Drove around it a month or two ago just to get a feel for the place and it seemed quiet. Bit of greenery around, although the houses are relatively close together. I'm not from Maynooth but the village looked pretty good, even on a rainy Saturday morning:)

Moonbeam

We moved to Maynooth about 3 years ago.
It is a nice town with everything you need on a daily basis and all within walking distance.
if you have kids put their names down in schools asap.
Rockfield and Parklands are lovely but tend me to be more expensive then the older estates.
The big advantage to this side of town are there are no students where we are and I can not imagine there being many in Carton Court either.

Moonbeam

Moonbeam wrote: »

We moved to Maynooth about 3 years ago.
It is a nice town with everything you need on a daily basis and all within walking distance.
if you have kids put their names down in schools asap.
Rockfield and Parklands are lovely but tend me to be more expensive then the older estates.
The big advantage to this side of town are there are no students where we are and I can not imagine there being many in Carton Court either.

Thanks Moonbeam, that's very encouraging. I did see a few rooms for rent (presumably to students) on the Accommodation forum but that doesn't worry me too much. As long as it's not party central it should be grand. It's relatively far from the college so probably not the most popular with students.

Had a look online at Parklands but will check out Rockfield now. Parklands looks like a nicely laid out estate but the price difference seems a bit much for me. I like that's it's closer to the village, although if you were at the back end of that estate it would take the bones of 10 minutes to get to Straffan Road.

Do you mind me asking if you have kids in any of the primary schools? And/or if any of them are seen as particularly good or bad?

Thanks

Moonbeam

MIne are all too young but I have one in Naionra and way down the waiting list to start in the gaelscoil Sept 2013 (demand is way greater then supply for places) there is also an educate together school then there are a Loretto girls school and a Boys National school at the other side of town.
There is 1 VEC run secondary school for all the kids and it has a fantastic reputation.

Moonbeam

Moonbeam wrote: »

MIne are all too young but I have one in Naionra and way down the waiting list to start in the gaelscoil Sept 2013 (demand is way greater then supply for places) there is also an educate together school then there are a Loretto girls school and a Boys National school at the other side of town.
There is 1 VEC run secondary school for all the kids and it has a fantastic reputation.

Cheers Moonbeam, that's all very useful. It'll be a few years before school but I'll take your advice on getting serious about pre-enrolling now

gman2k

The noise from the motorway can be heard much much further away in Maynooth!
Until the surface is redone to a low noise tarmac , Carton Court will still be affected.

L1011

Carton Court is eventually going to have the long (1980s) planned ringroad built alongside it - this is what the wasteland between it and Lidl/the motorway is for. May have some increased noise as a result.

Other things to watch out for is that because its a very old estate a lot of the houses I've been in have had comically badly installed central heating. Very hard to notice on a nice summers day though.

The big thing that could be a nuclear reprocessing facility is, much more boringly, a vehicle importer and distributor. Brian Noone and Bartons Buses are the people on that site.

MYOB

MYOB wrote: »

Carton Court is eventually going to have the long (1980s) planned ringroad built alongside it - this is what the wasteland between it and Lidl/the motorway is for. May have some increased noise as a result.

Other things to watch out for is that because its a very old estate a lot of the houses I've been in have had comically badly installed central heating. Very hard to notice on a nice summers day though.

The big thing that could be a nuclear reprocessing facility is, much more boringly, a vehicle importer and distributor. Brian Noone and Bartons Buses are the people on that site.

Thanks MYOB, that's really useful and perhaps helps explain why that particular house hasn't shifted at that price (along with the wider economic problems).

Matter of interest, any other estates that you'd recommend in Maynooth?

L1011

All the 1970s-early 90s estates are the cheaper parts of the town, generally - Maynooth Park, Carton Court, Kingsbry, Beaufield, etc. The south of the town around the Straffan and Rathcoffey was developed up more earlier.

The newer estates still seem to be asking for more money, whether they're getting it is another question entirely. These would be Parklands, Newtown Court, Moyglare Village etc.

I'm in the process of attempting to buy here myself (already live in the town for quite some time) and there's often a differential of six figures between similar sized houses in "older" and "newer" estates, even houses that have had double glazing and newer heating installed. Doesn't cost six figures to rectify insulation etc so its definitely worth looking for an older one - they're often larger (but smaller gardens) too.

With that specific house, I think they've done some trickery on the kitchen shot, from memory of how those are laid out. Kitchen is really, really small in them.

MYOB

Useful info MYOB. I reckon it'll be first half of next year before we really get serious about viewing but there seems to be very slow turnover of houses this year so far. More or less the same places for sale for six months - nothing new coming along and the houses on the market are sitting there for quite a while.

Very interesting what you say about old vs new estates. Can only presume that it's partly a case of people needing to recoup some of what they paid themselves over the past decade or so. Parklands houses look very nice but the rooms are not massive and, as you say, it's hard to work out why they would be 100k more than houses in the older estates, notwithstanding the need for some upgrading work on older houses.

Next month the Property Price Database is due to be published so we'll have a better idea of what people are actually paying/accepting for houses.

I haven't properly started on the mortgage application rollercoaster but by all accounts it's exceptionally difficult, particularly if you're self-employed (which I am). Hard to imagine how people are finding 300k for ordinary homes in Maynooth. There can't be that many people with cash savings, inheritances, parental gifts etc. which take them into that kind of bracket.

I know that place in Carton Court for 180k has been up for a while and may be imperfect but from a selfish point of view it's encouraging to see decent homes for < 200k. There are also three-beds in Beaufield and Meadowbrook, as you've probably seen for 175k/180k. It's not just that I don't think that houses in newer estates are 'worth' >250k it's also that getting a mortgage for even half of that could be a major pain for someone who doesn't have a permanent job.

Good luck with the search. Maybe this time next year I'll see you at a residents' association meeting:)

MYOB wrote: »

All the 1970s-early 90s estates are the cheaper parts of the town, generally - Maynooth Park, Carton Court, Kingsbry, Beaufield, etc. The south of the town around the Straffan and Rathcoffey was developed up more earlier.

The newer estates still seem to be asking for more money, whether they're getting it is another question entirely. These would be Parklands, Newtown Court, Moyglare Village etc.

I'm in the process of attempting to buy here myself (already live in the town for quite some time) and there's often a differential of six figures between similar sized houses in "older" and "newer" estates, even houses that have had double glazing and newer heating installed. Doesn't cost six figures to rectify insulation etc so its definitely worth looking for an older one - they're often larger (but smaller gardens) too.

With that specific house, I think they've done some trickery on the kitchen shot, from memory of how those are laid out. Kitchen is really, really small in them.

Moonbeam

We bought in one of the older estates but a student free one.
Your money would go far in Meadowbrook or Beaufield but with a young family and long term plans to live there I would not buy in either.
We also bought in an older estate to get a bigger house cheaper with the potential to extend if we need to.
The turnover of good priced nice family homes never seems very high here.
.

L1011

Moonbeam wrote: »

We bought in one of the older estates but a student free one.
Your money would go far in Meadowbrook or Beaufield but with a young family and long term plans to live there I would not buy in either.
We also bought in an older estate to get a bigger house cheaper with the potential to extend if we need to.
The turnover of good priced nice family homes never seems very high here.
.

There's a student-free estate? :eek: Most of the town has some level of students, more or less anyway. My parents corner of Kingsbry has one or two student rental houses, no more, but the other side is probably 40%+ for instance.

you2008

Deleted User wrote: »

Useful info MYOB. I reckon it'll be first half of next year before we really get serious about viewing but there seems to be very slow turnover of houses this year so far. More or less the same places for sale for six months - nothing new coming along and the houses on the market are sitting there for quite a while.

Very interesting what you say about old vs new estates. Can only presume that it's partly a case of people needing to recoup some of what they paid themselves over the past decade or so. Parklands houses look very nice but the rooms are not massive and, as you say, it's hard to work out why they would be 100k more than houses in the older estates, notwithstanding the need for some upgrading work on older houses.

Next month the Property Price Database is due to be published so we'll have a better idea of what people are actually paying/accepting for houses.

I haven't properly started on the mortgage application rollercoaster but by all accounts it's exceptionally difficult, particularly if you're self-employed (which I am). Hard to imagine how people are finding 300k for ordinary homes in Maynooth. There can't be that many people with cash savings, inheritances, parental gifts etc. which take them into that kind of bracket.

I know that place in Carton Court for 180k has been up for a while and may be imperfect but from a selfish point of view it's encouraging to see decent homes for < 200k. There are also three-beds in Beaufield and Meadowbrook, as you've probably seen for 175k/180k. It's not just that I don't think that houses in newer estates are 'worth' >250k it's also that getting a mortgage for even half of that could be a major pain for someone who doesn't have a permanent job.

Good luck with the search. Maybe this time next year I'll see you at a residents' association meeting:)

The one in carton court not even worth 120k, you will understand what I mean until you viewed the house( there must be a reason why it has been there over years), did you actually see what the neighbours's house look like? The wasteland is full of cows and flys all around the place. Seriously, run.........

PBPumpkin

Deleted User wrote: »

Next month the Property Price Database is due to be published so we'll have a better idea of what people are actually paying/accepting for houses.

There is no real value in Maynooth if you look at asking prices

Hopefully the database will give sellers a realistic view of what they can expect to achieve for their houses

you2008

What's wrong with the neighbour's house? Looks like all the rest on StreetView.

you2008 wrote: »

The one in carton court not even worth 120k, you will understand what I mean until you viewed the house( there must be a reason why it has been there over years), did you actually see what the neighbours's house look like? The wasteland is full of cows and flys all around the place. Seriously, run.........

you2008

Deleted User wrote: »

What's wrong with the neighbour's house? Looks like all the rest on StreetView.

You will notice what's wrong When you actually there. People have diff view, you may think they are ok. I just don't like the way they have been left with. I am sure you will not like living with people don't event look after their own house.

you2008

you2008 wrote: »

You will notice what's wrong When you actually there. People have diff view, I just don't like the way they have been left with.

I think I'll wait a little while anyway before viewing houses in Maynooth. As PBPumpkin and others suggested, there are some unrealistic asking prices right now.

No idea why sellers there think they can add a 50k premium on almost identical houses to those available elsewhere. I personally prefer Maynooth to Celbridge or Leixlip, but not by that much.

Given that another tough budget lies ahead and job creation is somewhere between sluggish and negative, it's hard to imagine who'll be in a position to buy for the kinds of prices listed at the moment. Or maybe it just suits me to think that way!

Having said that, I know you2008 reckon that particular house in Carton Court would struggle to get 120k but surely someone would take it for that unless there's something drastic wrong. An investor would get their money back fairly quickly by renting out a house like that - if, of course, they could convince a bank to give them a mortgage.

[If the owner is reading this and wants to offer it to me for 120k I will consider smashing the piggy bank..:)]

Edit: I'm not an 'investor'; I'm in the market for a family home to live in for good]

you2008

Deleted User wrote: »

I think I'll wait a little while anyway before viewing houses in Maynooth. As PBPumpkin and others suggested, there are some unrealistic asking prices right now.

No idea why sellers there think they can add a 50k premium on almost identical houses to those available elsewhere. I personally prefer Maynooth to Celbridge or Leixlip, but not by that much.

Given that another tough budget lies ahead and job creation is somewhere between sluggish and negative, it's hard to imagine who'll be in a position to buy for the kinds of prices listed at the moment. Or maybe it just suits me to think that way!

Having said that, I know you2008 reckon that particular house in Carton Court would struggle to get 120k but surely someone would take it for that unless there's something drastic wrong. An investor would get their money back fairly quickly by renting out a house like that - if, of course, they could convince a bank to give them a mortgage.

[If the owner is reading this and wants to offer it to me for 120k I will consider smashing the piggy bank..:)]

Edit: I'm not an 'investor'; I'm in the market for a family home to live in for good]

The point is you can't rent it out! Do you think the owner want leave it there for years and not get any rent? As I said, you will know what I mean when you view the house.

you2008

you2008 wrote: »

The point is you can't rent it out! Do you think the owner want leave it there for years and not get any rent? As I said, you will know what I mean when you view the house.

I'm less and less inclined to view the house!!:D

I take your point about it apparently being vacant for a long period. I'll have to take a drive down there at some stage just to satisfy my curiosity.

What is the story with this house in the same estate? :eek:

Granted, it's on the market more than a year but just out of interest, did someone split a detached house in two to make this?!

jethrothe2nd

Deleted User wrote: »

What is the story with this house in the same estate? :eek:

Granted, it's on the market more than a year but just out of interest, did someone split a detached house in two to make this?!

Not sure if it was split in 2 but it seems likely - we were considering viewing it, however the estate agent herself told us although it was really nice inside, the rooms are tiny and a family would be tripping over each other. The seller is delusional if they think they will get anywhere near 190K. We bought in Moyglare Hall for less than the asking price of that house

jethrothe2nd

Given that it's called 56a I presume it was divided. Must have been a fine house beforehand. From StreetView, it looks like there are several houses in a row with the same layout but then others are full-sized detached homes.

Very interested to hear that you found somewhere in Moyglare in that price range. Nice-looking estate. Do you mind me asking whether it was 3-bed or 4? Decent price in any case.

I see one house in Moyglare Hall (albeit a 5-bed) asking 349k at the moment. :rolleyes:

jethrothe2nd wrote: »

Not sure if it was split in 2 but it seems likely - we were considering viewing it, however the estate agent herself told us although it was really nice inside, the rooms are tiny and a family would be tripping over each other. The seller is delusional if they think they will get anywhere near 190K. We bought in Moyglare Hall for less than the asking price of that house

jethrothe2nd

Deleted User wrote: »

Given that it's called 56a I presume it was divided. Must have been a fine house beforehand. From StreetView, it looks like there are several houses in a row with the same layout but then others are full-sized detached homes.

Very interested to hear that you found somewhere in Moyglare in that price range. Nice-looking estate. Do you mind me asking whether it was 3-bed or 4? Decent price in any case.

I see one house in Moyglare Hall (albeit a 5-bed) asking 349k at the moment. :rolleyes:

It's a 3 bed - it was a bank sale and they were eager to sell quickly so we did ok......

jethrothe2nd

jethrothe2nd wrote: »

It's a 3 bed - it was a bank sale and they were eager to sell quickly so we did ok......

You did indeed - congrats!

Danny2580

Have lived in Maynooth for 15+ years.

My family home is in Carton Court, close enough to that wasteland area, in my experience a nice quiet estate, nice place to live. 5 mins drive from town but 12-15mins walking.

Can't see a major problem with the house itself but in Maynooth you are dependent on neighbours - if there are students next door it can get a little noisy so you need to do your research no matter what part you move to.

I've lived all over Maynooth and I couldn't recommend the place highly enough in general - have travelled the world and still came back to it despite looking all over Ireland for something similar, it has a certain charm to it very hard to find elsewhere. Really good nightlife, nice restaurants, amenities.

I've also lived in Rail Park (some nice places there, closer to the town too, generally nice and peaceful), Meadowbrook (house was constantly freezing, student central so noisy neighbours was a problem), Old Greenfield (near the top of the road, really nice bungalows, but the bottom area of the estate has a bad rep), and currently living close to the town in an apartment.

If I had a choice to buy a place in Maynooth, I'd probably go with Parklands or Silken Vale, which are both close to the town, train station, bus etc. I'm not mad on the Moyglare side of town for some reason, but I don't have a lot of experience of it. Couldn't put anyone off Carton Court at the prices, I generally wouldn't hear the motorway if I'm up there.

Danny2580

Cheers Danny2580,

That's all really useful info. I drove around Carton Court and think it looks like a nice place to live, although in an ideal world it would be great to be a bit closer to the village.

Parklands and Silken Vale look very nice, although the couple of houses that are for sale in Parklands at the moment look overpriced, in my opinion. There's on in Silken Vale which looks reasonable but I'm a bit worried about the lack of photographs.

There's another nice bungalow in Castlebridge (basically at the entrance to Parklands) but again it's a bit pricey given that it would need some upgrading. In the current climate I can't imagine that it will go for anything like that but I could be wrong.

Very heartened to hear how positive you are about Maynooth in general, especially having looked elsewhere. We'll be coming back to Ireland from abroad so feel a bit disconnected which makes your advice all the more welcome.

Any views on the links above, as a matter of interest?

Danny2580 wrote: »

Have lived in Maynooth for 15+ years.

My family home is in Carton Court, close enough to that wasteland area, in my experience a nice quiet estate, nice place to live. 5 mins drive from town but 12-15mins walking.

Can't see a major problem with the house itself but in Maynooth you are dependent on neighbours - if there are students next door it can get a little noisy so you need to do your research no matter what part you move to.

I've lived all over Maynooth and I couldn't recommend the place highly enough in general - have travelled the world and still came back to it despite looking all over Ireland for something similar, it has a certain charm to it very hard to find elsewhere. Really good nightlife, nice restaurants, amenities.

I've also lived in Rail Park (some nice places there, closer to the town too, generally nice and peaceful), Meadowbrook (house was constantly freezing, student central so noisy neighbours was a problem), Old Greenfield (near the top of the road, really nice bungalows, but the bottom area of the estate has a bad rep), and currently living close to the town in an apartment.

If I had a choice to buy a place in Maynooth, I'd probably go with Parklands or Silken Vale, which are both close to the town, train station, bus etc. I'm not mad on the Moyglare side of town for some reason, but I don't have a lot of experience of it. Couldn't put anyone off Carton Court at the prices, I generally wouldn't hear the motorway if I'm up there.

Danny2580

Couldn't comment on the houses themselves without seeing them first hand, but I know exactly where they are and both areas are nice. Obviously the Castlebridge one is pricey but from memory it's both nicely secluded and very close to town and amenities (3-4 minutes walk to the town max!). If you're planning the move as a long term thing ie. if it's going to be your home for a long time, in my view those things are worth paying for.

Silken Vale you'd be an extra minute from the town, I'm actually surprised because £225 looks very reasonable. It's more "estatey" than Castlebridge so I'd be doing research on the neighbours, still a nice spot.

Really couldn't put you off Carton Court either, but it's lifestyle dependent. Over the course of years, you'll be getting quite a few taxis home from the pub in winter, for example! There's a 24hr Esso garage with in 30 seconds walking distance from that house, via shortcut through the "wastelands" - everyone pops back and forth that way and have never heard of any trouble.

As I say, it's only my opinion, but Maynooth in general is a lively, fun place to live. Isolated bits of trouble like everywhere else but in the main it's great.