First time buyer - outside Dublin - advice needed

whatawaster

We have mortgage approval for €80,000 and approximately €90,000 in case so €170,000 in total. We are getting married in just over a year, so we would prefer to put away €10,000 out of the €170,000 to go towards the wedding costs. However, we should be able to comfortably save that in the next year if we need to spend it on a house.

We are looking in Drogheda, and ideally we would get something in the €150K region, leaving us €10K for furniture etc and €10k for the wedding.

Our option seem to be:
1) 3 bed end new build in our absolutely ideal location. The prices of these have not been finalised, but will be in the next few weeks. It's likely to be €164/€165K. Obviously once stamp duty and legal fees are taken into account, that pretty much wipes our funding out. We would be left saving for the wedding (which shouldn't be a problem) and buying furniture etc as we go along. Obviously as it's a new build we would need funds for flooring etc. In short, things would be very tight in the short term.

2) 2 bed terraced houses in our favourite locations. These seem to be in or around the €140/150K mark. Obviously 2 bedrooms are not ideal as we will be getting married and hopefully starting a family in the next few years. These would be houses that should do us fine for 5/6 years, but beyond that we would have to trade up. In general the houses are nice, but small.

3) 3 bed semi-detached houses in "meh" areas (150/160K). Not bad areas, because we aren't even considering those, but just estates that wouldn't be our 1st, 2nd, 3rd or 4th choice. Generally, these are older estates and older houses. They would be big enough to raise a family in so the houses would be suitable long-term, though we might not see ourselves living in these areas long term

So what would you do?
Even though we will be buying with a LTV % of 50% or less, would it be incredibly naive to buy a house for the short-medium term. I know folks were criticised during the boom years for buying just to "get on the ladder" and then being stuck in their unsuitable homes when the crash came, but I honestly don't see that happening in our situation. I couldn't ever see us being in negative equity and our mortgage payments, even at 6.5% will only be about €500 a month. Trading up, or moving should always be an option for us I think.

Still, very confused. Does the old cliche "location, location, location" come into play here. Or should we be more practical, sensible and prudent?

zef

My advice would be to tighten your belts and perhaps looking at a few ways of saving money on the big day (lots of these online).
If you have a chance at a new build in your dream location just inside your budget you could make it work.
It's something you might be regretting living in a 'meh' or smaller house in the years to come, perhaps with a young family.
Someone else who posts here told a story of moving into their 1st dream home but getting the min furniture from freecycle / adverts etc, and sleeping on an airbed! Canny way of doing things.

Gmol

Agree with the above, the dream house lasts longer than the wedding

drunkmonkey

Some of those Celtic tiger semi'ds are woefull...if your going to start a family or even like to turn up the radio go detached if you can afford it.. I don't know your locality but is this anywhere near the areas you like it's not far off your budget..

Gleann Alainn, Tullyallen, Drogheda, Co. Louth

€190,000 - 5 bed house, 3 bathrooms
www.daft.ie/1927711

whatawaster

zef wrote: »

My advice would be to tighten your belts and perhaps looking at a few ways of saving money on the big day (lots of these online).
If you have a chance at a new build in your dream location just inside your budget you could make it work.
It's something you might be regretting living in a 'meh' or smaller house in the years to come, perhaps with a young family.
Someone else who posts here told a story of moving into their 1st dream home but getting the min furniture from freecycle / adverts etc, and sleeping on an airbed! Canny way of doing things.

We are making savings where we can with the wedding but the venue etc are chosen and deposits paid, so we are limited in the savings we can make. The venue will be over 50% of the cost - we aren't getting a band, I'm getting the cheapest ring I can find, no wedding car etc.

Gmol wrote: »

Agree with the above, the dream house lasts longer than the wedding

Agreed, but we won't be compromising a house to pay for the wedding. Ideally, we would hold back €10K from our current funds and that's the wedding paid for. Otherwise, we can easily save it over the next year.

If we can afford it, we will likely go for the new build. Firstly, we are worried we won't get any of the available units (there are only 4) and the previous lot sold out fast, before we had mortgage approval. If the houses end up costing €165K or less, we will likely go down that road. Any more and we just won't be able to afford it.

I guess the real dilemma comes in that instance. Then it becomes a choice between location and practicality. Small house/good location vs bigger house/average location. Either way, I'd envisage us moving in the future

whatawaster

drunkmonkey wrote: »

Some of those Celtic tiger semi'ds are woefull...if your going to start a family or even like to turn up the radio go detached if you can afford it.. I don't know your locality but is this anywhere near the areas you like it's not far off your budget..

Gleann Alainn, Tullyallen, Drogheda, Co. Louth

€190,000 - 5 bed house, 3 bathrooms
www.daft.ie/1927711

We are looking in the town itself. My OH works in Drogheda and doesn't drive so needs to be within walking distance of work. I work in Dublin, and so we are looking at places that are accessible to public transport. No chance of a detached house on our budget unfortunately.

We live in a mid-terrace, late Celtic tiger build (actually built by the same builders who are building the house we ideally want to buy) and we've found it fine. Babies living either side of us. You can hear then crying sometimes, but tbh I barely notice it.

Gmol

You could put the word out discretely that cash would be good if people are asking what to get you. That might help increase the budget a bit.

Diane Selwyn

Gmol wrote: »

You could put the word out discretely that cash would be good if people are asking what to get you. That might help increase the budget a bit.

I think this is a good idea - my brother did this for his wedding and they were able to then buy some new furniture and stuff that they actually needed/wanted instead of just getting 25 toasters.

whatawaster

Gmol wrote: »

You could put the word out discretely that cash would be good if people are asking what to get you. That might help increase the budget a bit.

We are telling everyone we can that we don't want gifts OR money. Will probably put it on the invitations as well. I'm sure plenty will ignore it and give anyway, but definitely don't want people thinking they need to give us anything and don't want to be relying on their gifts to fund furnishing our house

maynooth_rules

whatawaster wrote: »

We are telling everyone we can that we don't want gifts OR money. Will probably put it on the invitations as well. I'm sure plenty will ignore it and give anyway, but definitely don't want people thinking they need to give us anything and don't want to be relying on their gifts to fund furnishing our house

We are actually very like yourself. Getting married at the end of next year and buying a house in the next couple of months so finances will be seriously tested for the next year or so. I personally wouldnt put on your invitations that you dont want money. Let people decide themselves if they would like to give you cash. If they do good for you, if not so be it. Best of luck with everything. nervous but exciting time isnt it

GavMan

Most people give cash or gift cards to Department stores or one for all vouchers. Say nowt is my advice

On the house, if there are good new builds in you budget (even at the top end) in your ideal location, go for it I would go for it

Idbatterim

Id go for your favoured house, you can always push back the wedding date whether it has or has not been announced. The new builds (build quality unknown) at least shouldnt need any work, cosmetic or otherwise, for quite some time. Also the biggest pro in my opinion, is the straight price of a new build, this is the price, to hell with the other cloak and dagger stuff, messing aorund, deeds etc... Also furniture wise, you can pick stuff up either new or used for dirt cheap or free on donedeal.ie, adverts.ie, leinsterfreecycle etc, only thing you need new is a mattress! If I were you, my list of priorities would be, house, wedding, furnishing (you can always replace it with better stuff when the funds allow and if you wish)...

whatawaster

Thanks everyone.

We are set on buying the new builds if a) a unit is available, and b) we have the funds when the time comes.

We are prepared to go without furniture etc for a few months and buy things as and when we can afford them.

Some things, though, I'm thinking will have to be paid for up front - flooring, painting, tiling. To be honest, I don't yet exactly what condition these new houses are delivered in. Anyone any idea what the general rule is?