Crosbies Yard - Good Buy Now?

Fuddy99

When Crosbies Yard launched c2006 they were looking for €300k for 1 a bed and €370k for 2 beds.

You can now pick up a 1 bed for €99k and achieve rent of €9.6k before fees and 2 beds for €135k achieving rent of €12k before fees.

Each apartment is brand new, built by one of the biggest building companies in Ireland, and comes with a car park space.

On a cash flow basis and if the investor is in for the long term, does that not make them a good buy?

pburns

What they cost in 2006 is completely and utterly irrelevant TBH. Constipation in the property cycle means rents are sky-high at the moment. I wouldn't base a valuation on current rental yield.

Fuddy99

Do you have an alternative measure?

Eric Cartman

Easiest measure, can you afford to keep it even if its empty ?
Are you currently a landlord / up to the demanding task of being a landlord ?

Answered yes to both of those - then its worth it.

Buying a property in the current climate with only being able to afford the repayments from rental income is madness.

miss no stars

There's a reason they're so cheap - they're a sh!t hole. I wouldn't bank on being able to rent it out.

Ray Palmer

I am not 100% on this as I was told by somebody else. Originally there were offices there. After they were flooded the 2nd time the company couldn't get insurance so they had to move.

Now as far as I know this was the original small development know as Crosby's Yard but I think they did more development and called the lot Crosby's yard.

Just not sure on what they did with the development but check out the flooding aspect for sure. It might be 10 years ago at this point and since been resolved but I don't think that much work went on there to protect against flooding there.

Anynama141

I'm not saying that the OP is an estate agent trying to sell some property, but if an estate agent came to a forum to sell property, that post is exactly what it would look like.

Fuddy99

Haha...no I'm not an estate agent...I do see what u are saying though.

To date I've put down a refundable deposit on a 2 bed and I feel well disposed towards the development. It's just when I talk to others they don't seem keen on it and I just want to hear all the negatives so I can see if I can mitigate them!

I don't wanna be blinded by the figures in my original post!

By the way I'm a first time buyer!

Thanks for the posts and keep the coming if ya can!

Anynama141

Fuddy99 wrote: »

Haha...no I'm not an estate agent...I do see what u are saying though.

To date I've put down a refundable deposit on a 2 bed and I feel well disposed towards the development. It's just when I talk to others they don't seem keen on it and I just want to hear all the negatives so I can see if I can mitigate them!

I don't wanna be blinded by the figures in my original post!

By the way I'm a first time buyer!

Thanks for the posts and keep the coming if ya can!

If you are a first time buyer, why are you concerned with the rental yield? To be honest, I'm not sure how you can mitigate any negatives - what do you have in mind?

The area looks bleak enough.

Fuddy99

It's my first property so I'm in unfamiliar territory.

I will be renting the property out and in addition, I will be saving my monthly amount as normal.

Even if I didn't rent the property out I can afford to meet repayments.

I suppose I don't wanna leave any stone unturned when making the decision! My solicitor wasn't a fan of the area and it has kinda played on my mind.

Anynama141

Fuddy99 wrote: »

I suppose I don't wanna leave any stone unturned when making the decision! My solicitor wasn't a fan of the area and it has kinda played on my mind.

I can understand why. It looks as rough as a badger's arse, and I can't see any shops or village area anywhere nearby. Is there any public transport into the city? It nearly looks like you'd need a car to live there!

Fuddy99

It's a 2 mins walk from the north strand road and that is serviced by most buses coming from the northside! + 10 mins walk to Connolly!

There's a cost cutters supermarket at the north strand too, I had a walk around, it's similar to a spar!

Cienciano

Anynama141 wrote: »

I can understand why. It looks as rough as a badger's arse, and I can't see any shops or village area anywhere nearby. Is there any public transport into the city? It nearly looks like you'd need a car to live there!

Public transport to the city? It's 800m from the apartments to the front door of Connolly station.

riclad

http://www.neighbours.ie/forums/forumdisplay.php/2915-Crosbies-Yard

SOME people might be snobbish,
eg say east wall is a working class area.
my first concern re apartments ,
IS what is the security situation ,is there steel gates ,doors ,pin coded locks.
if you have a car will it be safe.?

MY friend lived in dublin 8, there were kids, like 12, 14 ,
literally jumping over the back wall ,into the back yard.

IT was a small block,about 20 apartments.
ABout a mile away from a large corporation estate.
if you have a choice ,buy a unit ,in the corner, top floor.

SAFE from flooding and less noise from neighbouring units..

Anynama141

Cienciano wrote: »

Public transport to the city? It's 800m from the apartments to the front door of Connolly station.

I wouldn't fancy walking nearly a kilometre to a train station for my leisure time, but your mileage may vary.

miss no stars

OP, the area is bleak and miserable. They're next to (practically on top of) the busiest train station in the country. It's a dump. I remembered reading about it on here before - a lot of very unhappy residents. haven't been able to find the thread since, sorry. Dunno if it's changed since then but I can't imagine renters staying long. Your solicitor is right to be unhappy about the area.

Flooding and title worries:
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2054890825 (also makes for interesting "historical" reading of attitudes in 2006...)
Their own residents forum:
http://www.neighbours.ie/forums/forumdisplay.php/2915-Crosbies-Yard?
Thread about the area:
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=205297

Cienciano

Anynama141 wrote: »

I wouldn't fancy walking nearly a kilometre to a train station for my leisure time, but your mileage may vary.

It's 800 meters from the top of stephens green to the bottom of grafton street. Maybe you'd wait for a bus, I'd just walk it, but in fairness, some people might not be in the full of their health.
But the road in from fairview has plenty of buses, and if you can manage a walk to connolly station you're at the biggest transport hub in the country.

EricPraline

Anynama141 wrote: »

I wouldn't fancy walking nearly a kilometre to a train station for my leisure time, but your mileage may vary.

That would pretty much rule out vast swathes of Dublin then. 800m is hardly far in terms of accessibility to public transport in Dublin (even in areas that would be described as reasonably well serviced), unless one has mobility issues.

On the other hand, it's the nature of the walk that's important. Walking 800m through leafy suburbia is one thing. But the walk from Crosbie's Yard in East Wall to Connolly is not exactly pleasant, particularly at night. As you say, YMMV .

riclad

IF you are in good health you could cycle into town.
in THE boom it was 20k ,plus for a car parking space ,in most apartment blocks.

Some city centre, apartment blocks have no parking space .

Obviously this would not suit an older person ,who doesn,t drive.
Who needs a nearby bus stop.
The council seem intent on eliminating ,unpaid parking spaces ,near the city centre.

Anynama141

EricPraline wrote: »

That would pretty much rule out vast swathes of Dublin then. 800m is hardly far in terms of accessibility to public transport in Dublin (even in areas that would be described as reasonably well serviced), unless one has mobility issues.

Perhaps - I'd just rather not have to walk so far to get to a village with shops and other facilities. And if I walk for a kilometre, I'd like to end up somewhere nice!

EricPraline wrote: »

On the other hand, it's the nature of the walk that's important. Walking 800m through leafy suburbia is one thing. But the walk from Crosbie's Yard in East Wall to Connolly is not exactly pleasant, particularly at night. As you say, YMMV .

Yeah, I'm thinking along those lines.

Cienciano

Anynama141 wrote: »

Perhaps - I'd just rather not have to walk so far to get to a village with shops and other facilities. And if I walk for a kilometre, I'd like to end up somewhere nice!

300m to a costcutter convenience store on the north strand . You're pretty much in the city centre, all along that road has shops. It's D1 across that railway line.
Want to walk 800m to somewhere nice? Go right at the top of Ossory rd and under 600m you'll get to fairview park!
I'm not saying this is the best location in the city, but to make out it's in the middle of nowhere miles away from any shops of facilities is just wrong.

TheBandicoot

Those apartments and that area are a dump, OP. Stay well away. You will never attract decent quality tenants who will provide a reliable income and not cause you trouble.

Seeing as you seem to be making plenty of money, put it into stocks instead if you want more return over your savings account. Anything is better than property, and this kind of property is the worst to get into.

Carnegie

I looked into these apartments but decided not to buy. Like most modern apartments in Dublin they are made out of cardboard and sticky tape. The BER rating in them is terrible for such new apartments and there is a lot of problems with noise.

Don't fall for the crap being trotted out by estate agents about gross yield. All that matters is net yield, and with the property taxes and water charges coming in, the numbers just don't stack up. According to my calculations you would be lucky to get a net yield of about 5% and that's if you are a cash buyer. If you are buying with a mortgage your net yield would be more like 3%.

engineermike

Hi OP,
i'll just give you my knowledge of the development. I've carried out property inspections for clients (structural surveys & snag lists on 2 beds & penthouse).
-Card board & sticky tape ,they are not made of.
Build quality is average to good. They have been sitting around for a while so they do have a lot of snags and need a bit of TLC to freshen the units up.
-Security seems fine with controlled access gates etc. As to the area itself, yes it is the city centre and there will always be an undesirable element living in close proximity, its Par for the course when living in town really. Large swathes of Dublin 1 have been redeveloped, the docklands etc. so I would estimate that rental demand would be strong that close to the IT hub & IFSC
-Public transport, there is tons of it on your doorstep. There is easily 5 or 10 bus routes that go through the North strand and terminate in town. 800 metre walk you have Connolly train & Luas stop. Also beside that Busaras. A 20 minute walk and your on O'connell street or the quays etc.
- One of the down sides for me personally would be that same transport, your surrounded by some of the busiest train lines & junctions in the country, the North strand road its self has very high volumes of car traffic on it. The noise would put me off buying. It was nice looking out over the city / docks / rail lines but I remembered thinking I wouldn't be too keen on the trains & noise when I was having a lie on of a Sunday morning :pac:
Also keep in mind is that Croake Park is on your door step and when big matches are on you probably will have some issues with the street & parking as do most area's surrounding the stadium.
The other point of note is the flood risk some of the other poster's mentioned.
I've 2 maps demonstrating the flood risk in the Crosbie's yard / North strand area.

#MAP 1 - Coastal current street map of North Strand Road area with predicted extent (in green)of coastal flooding overlaid

#MAP 2 - Tolka current street map of North Strand Road area with predicted extent (in blue)
of fluvial Tolka River) flooding overlaid

Mike f

FTB12

Hi - I am in the process of buying a 2 bed apartment in Crosbies Yard, however, my surveyor has told me that he is very concerned about the potential air and noise pollution from being beside the train line. I understand there is a train washer there as well. Can anyway shed some light as to whether it really is a nosey and unpleasant place to live for this reason, or if it is really not all that bad? All comments are welcomed!