Central Dublin Rent - €1,200-1,400 1-bed apartment?

TheBandicoot

Yikes, to be honest I didn't think it was that low(€900 is nowhere near enough for anything nice), but as you lay it out, yeah, it could only really be that much. That's insane, and depressing. I went to college for 4 years and work in the much vaunted IT sector(and not in a call centre, I do actual software development), and I can't afford to live independently outside of my parent's box room like a teenager? I see why people emigrate.

Potatoeman

TheBandicoot wrote: »

Yikes, to be honest I didn't think it was that low(€900 is nowhere near enough for anything nice), but as you lay it out, yeah, it could only really be that much. That's insane, and depressing. I went to college for 4 years and work in the much vaunted IT sector(and not in a call centre, I do actual software development), and I can't afford to live independently outside of my parent's box room like a teenager? I see why people emigrate.

Its crazy now. I dont see it going on for too long. I keep hearing of more people leaving Dublin. Have a look on the luas line. Its pretty good.
I never understand why people rent one beds when you can rent a two bed for the same price.

MouseTail

TheBandicoot wrote: »

Yikes, to be honest I didn't think it was that low(€900 is nowhere near enough for anything nice), but as you lay it out, yeah, it could only really be that much. That's insane, and depressing. I went to college for 4 years and work in the much vaunted IT sector(and not in a call centre, I do actual software development), and I can't afford to live independently outside of my parent's box room like a teenager? I see why people emigrate.

You wont be able to afford to live alone in a 1 bed apartment in central London or any of the main cities. Your expectations as a recent graduate are too high. Young graduates starting out in their career house share.

TheBandicoot

MouseTail wrote: »

You wont be able to afford to live alone in a 1 bed apartment in central London or any of the main cities. Your expectations as a recent graduate are too high. Young graduates starting out in their career house share.

I accept that. It is ultimately my fault- I worked in a startup for the 4 years since college instead of working on my career properly, and took this job since it was easy(I didn't even need to write a CV or interview). I just don't like how the world is, where as you say graduates have to house share. I mean I accept that that is the case, I just hate it. I am lucky to be able to live with my parents as well, many don't have that option.

Bottom line is- on my wage, my options are live alone outside of Dublin, live with others inside Dublin, or live with parents and save. I choose the last option. My problem really is that while I was miserable in the startup, I told myself as soon as I get a real job I can move out, put my video game collection on display, get a nice TV, cook for myself, lots of cool stuff like I see some of my friends do, that I can't do in a box room. But the reality is I can't do that now at the age of 24, several years out of college(I started it at 17) and that pisses me off.

Thanks all for the advice and doing the maths for me

murphaph

Living at home at 24 is pretty common I would have thought. Certainly it would have been the norm until the tiger years.

Michael D Not Higgins

murphaph wrote: »

Living at home at 24 is pretty common I would have thought. Certainly it would have been the norm until the tiger years.

Very common. I moved out of home around that age but I couldn't afford to live on my own and rented with a friend.

MouseTail

Michael D Not Higgins wrote: »

Very common. I moved out of home around that age but I couldn't afford to live on my own and rented with a friend.

For us non city folk, moving out early was a necessity, but housesharing was the norm until you moved in with a partner. i don't think I knew anyone who had their own 1 bed in their 20s, a few in studios alright.

crisco10

Yup, as people say early career in Dublin it's almost a necessity to house share. I'm thinking through my social circles, and none of them lived alone while in "entry level" career jobs. It was either stay at home or move in with others.

I'm 28, 6 years into "professional" career and only now could I consider affording living on my own near town. Currently live in Ranelagh with a friend in 2 bed apartment. Rent is pretty high around there tho (~€1300/month for 2 bed apt).

TimeToShine

TheBandicoot wrote: »

I accept that. It is ultimately my fault- I worked in a startup for the 4 years since college instead of working on my career properly, and took this job since it was easy(I didn't even need to write a CV or interview). I just don't like how the world is, where as you say graduates have to house share. I mean I accept that that is the case, I just hate it. I am lucky to be able to live with my parents as well, many don't have that option.

Bottom line is- on my wage, my options are live alone outside of Dublin, live with others inside Dublin, or live with parents and save. I choose the last option. My problem really is that while I was miserable in the startup, I told myself as soon as I get a real job I can move out, put my video game collection on display, get a nice TV, cook for myself, lots of cool stuff like I see some of my friends do, that I can't do in a box room. But the reality is I can't do that now at the age of 24, several years out of college(I started it at 17) and that pisses me off.

Thanks all for the advice and doing the maths for me

I agree with you but hang on, you can't expect to have all that and be a 20 minute walk from work surely?

How far out do your parents live? I think you're right in that you're lucky you have the option of living with them. The alternative would have been taking a punt on a houseshare which, although does sometimes work brilliantly, can be an utter disaster in other cases.

TheBandicoot

Thanks- to be honest I didn't realise it was this bad ad sharing was and has been so common. Still not doing it though, don't have any friends to do it with.

TimeToShine

TheBandicoot wrote: »

Thanks- to be honest I didn't realise it was this bad ad sharing was and has been so common. Still not doing it though, don't have any friends to do it with.

You don't need friends to do it with, plenty of young professionals are looking for someone to fill a room. I realize you may not be inclined towards a house share but if you're miserable at home as you say (or was that just because of the job?) then it's definitely an option.

TheBandicoot

I'm fine now, it was the job(and lack of money)

Potatoeman

TheBandicoot wrote: »

Thanks- to be honest I didn't realise it was this bad ad sharing was and has been so common. Still not doing it though, don't have any friends to do it with.

I can see why. Anyone that has had a bad experience will agree. Even if its friends it can be bad, not to mention people moving and finding other tenants.

moxin

TheBandicoot wrote: »

Just to revisit this- on my salary of €36000 with no debt or dependents or other outgoings beyond basic bills, what do you think is a ballpark realistic monthly rent I can afford? Just so I know where I stand.

I also looked at the mortgage option - while I have no problem with a deposit, already have €20k saved and add €1000 a month(would do more but that is the max my account lets me deposit per month apparently), from what I can see I would need to earn more gross per anumm to qualify.

Save for at least 6 months(preferably a year), have a years job experience also with no debts. It looks to me you would qualify for about a 135k mortgage if not more depending on your age as your young.
Basically at 24, grin it out for a year and then qualify for a mortgage to get your own place.
Why a mortgage? Its a more secure way of accommodation in this country than renting for a single person. Either that or share rent for donkeys years and save a load of dosh when your ready to buy.

Dredd_J

I see you have 3 years experience at least? In software development?
If you are not a graduate this year and are only earning 36k in that line, then there should be another 10 - 15k a year available just by moving job to a company that pays you a proper software dev wage.

I would look at that first, and then see what you can afford after doing that.

There is something wrong with the amount you are on.
Any developer in any discipline in my company with 3 years experience would be getting minimum 50k plus a very nice benefts package, and thats after we bargained him down as best we could, sometimes we offer that and still lose them to other companies. Or if you were willing to go contracting in London you should be getting £500 a day minimum.

Your problem is not that you are not able to afford rent. It underselling yourself to your employers.

TheBandicoot

Again, I was very depressed after the statup where that three years experience came from collapsed(largely due to me having to be the technical lead and being in no way prepared or experienced enough for that) so I chose to walk into my current job without a CV or interview- my boss met me through the startup and from our first meeting clearly wanted someone of my ability on his team. It was not three years of experience working in a team or leading a team in any effective way, it was just flailing around having no idea what I was doing- if I would still be joining as a graduate if I applied somewhere normal because I don't have any experience in the widely used frameworks or deep understanding of anything- I just skimmed and learned just enough to get stuff done, bounced between Javascript and Java and C++(but I wouldn't describe myself as an expert in any of them, since I just scraped through and googled and hacked stuff until it worked, never read a book) and ended up with a massive codebase that barely worked and was a pain to maintain, and could never get anyone else sufficiently up to speed on all of it to actually effectively help.

I love where I work anyway, no stress, no pressure, no suits, no layers of management, just coding away on my own, boss occasionally pops down to discuss things a couple of times a day, a weekly status meeting with the rest of the team who are working from home across the globe, leave the office at 6pm every day and forget about work until 10 the next morning. I am not interested at the moment in going to a typical dev company where I would have to act a certain way, have everything structured and controlled and boring, having to talk to clients, jet around the world consulting, talk to coworkers, attend social events, do weeks of interviews, have crunch times and overtime... no, I will stay where I am for at least a year or two and save a massive chunk of money up.

Dredd_J

TheBandicoot wrote: »

Again, I was very depressed after the statup where that three years experience came from collapsed(largely due to me having to be the technical lead and being in no way prepared or experienced enough for that) so I chose to walk into my current job without a CV or interview- my boss met me through the startup and from our first meeting clearly wanted someone of my ability on his team. It was not three years of experience working in a team or leading a team in any effective way, it was just flailing around having no idea what I was doing- if I would still be joining as a graduate if I applied somewhere normal because I don't have any experience in the widely used frameworks or deep understanding of anything- I just skimmed and learned just enough to get stuff done, bounced between Javascript and Java and C++(but I wouldn't describe myself as an expert in any of them, since I just scraped through and googled and hacked stuff until it worked, never read a book) and ended up with a massive codebase that barely worked and was a pain to maintain, and could never get anyone else sufficiently up to speed on all of it to actually effectively help.

I love where I work anyway, no stress, no pressure, no suits, no layers of management, just coding away on my own, boss occasionally pops down to discuss things a couple of times a day, a weekly status meeting with the rest of the team who are working from home across the globe, leave the office at 6pm every day and forget about work until 10 the next morning. I am not interested at the moment in going to a typical dev company where I would have to act a certain way, have everything structured and controlled and boring, having to talk to clients, jet around the world consulting, talk to coworkers, attend social events, do weeks of interviews, have crunch times and overtime... no, I will stay where I am for at least a year or two and save a massive chunk of money up.

Talk to other people you know in different companies and find out what their jobs are like.
I think you'l find that all are different and very few are slave shops but all are paid better far than you.
Sounds to me like you undervalue yourself big time. but if thats what you want to do then thats up to you.

Tarzana

TheBandicoot wrote: »

well maintained blocks in 'professional' areas.

Why do people care about living in 'professional' areas? What even is a professional area?

Tarzana

Potatoeman wrote: »

I never understand why people rent one beds when you can rent a two bed for the same price.

You can't. Two beds are more expensive if just renting it on your own. Between two or more, they obviously work out cheaper than renting yourself a one-bed.

The_Morrigan

Tarzana wrote: »

Why do people care about living in 'professional' areas? What even is a professional area?

It's less likely to have student parties going till 5am on a weekday night for one.

Tarzana

The_Morrigan wrote: »

It's less likely to have student parties going till 5am on a weekday night for one.

Ranelagh, Rathmines and Drumcondra would be middle class areas (I'm guessing that means professional) that are also teeming with students.

The_Morrigan

Tarzana wrote: »

Ranelagh, Rathmines and Drumcondra would be middle class areas that are also studentlands.

Where did class come from?

The development I live in is a family based one, the developments in Grand Canal would be professional - you have all the IT guys from Google, FB, staff from all the law, accounting and Investment firms living there. The rents are so high you won't have families there or students. The area and class ranking have nothing to do with it, the style of the buildings and accessibility to stuff like work or college will usually determine this.

Tarzana

The_Morrigan wrote: »

Where did class come from?

Middle class and professional whilst not exactly the same are pretty much paralleled.

The docklands would be the only place in Dublin that I can think of that would just be mostly professional. And I was a student living in the Grand Canal Dock area until a couple of months ago.

The_Morrigan

Tarzana wrote: »

Middle class and professional whilst not exactly the same are pretty much paralleled.

The docklands would be the only place in Dublin that I can think of that would just be mostly professional. And I was a student living in the Grand Canal Dock area until a couple of months ago.

We don't have a class system in Ireland!

You may have been lucky enough to live in Grand Canal as a student, but the rents that are asked for in that area are not usually affordable to a typical student and they attract professionals on seriously high wages who can pay 1400 a month for a 1 bed apt a five minute walk from work.

Tarzana

The_Morrigan wrote: »

We don't have a class system in Ireland!

That's not true. We like to believe there isn't one but there most certainly is. Claiming otherwise is, in my view, wishful thinking. There's a strata there, without any doubt. Ireland is not a class-free utopia.

Off topic anyway.

I was on a very low wage whilst living there, my BF earns low 30s. My boyfriend and I paid €975 per month for a two bed. It wasn't market rate but market would have been €1200 going by current rents in the complex, which we could also have afforded.

The_Morrigan

Tarzana wrote: »

I was on a very low wage whilst living there, my BF earns low 30s. My boyfriend and I paid €975 per month for a two bed. It wasn't market rate but market would have been €1200 going by current rents in the complex, which we could also have afforded.

You're kinda proving my point a bit, you had a second salary and you weren't paying market rent. A typical student would have little to no income and no way would they be likely to fork out the market rents in a place like GC. Landlords of those high end properties wouldn't rent to students either IMO.

The OP is a professional and doesn't really want to be paying out that amount of dosh for his own space, can you honestly see a student doing it?

Tarzana

The_Morrigan wrote: »

You're kinda proving my point a bit, you had a second salary and you weren't paying market rent.

Did you miss the part where I also said we could afford to pay current rents in the complex?

A student with a grant and part time work could afford to pay what I did. Two students could have covered the rent, depending on their circumstances. When I was in college, many of my classmates paid 500-600pm and not all of them had parents helping them.

Of course students couldn't afford to rent a one bed, but my point is that not everywhere in "professional" areas is out of the reach of students.

The_Morrigan

Tarzana wrote: »

Did you miss the part where I also said we could afford to pay current rents in the complex?

Nope, but you both aren't students. You said your bf was earning 30k..that makes him a professional.

Tarzana

The_Morrigan wrote: »

Nope, but you both aren't students. You said your bf was earning 30k..that makes him a professional.

Yup, but I have known students to pay up 600pm per month which is what the rent for half the flat would be now. And I, a student, would pay that if I was still there. We went halves so his salary didn't matter.

MouseTail

Tarzana wrote: »

That's not true. We like to believe there isn't one but there most certainly is. Claiming otherwise is, in my view, wishful thinking. There's a strata there, without any doubt. Ireland is not a class-free utopia.

Off topic anyway.

I agree, we have a class system, less historical than our neighbours in the UK, and certainly more fluid, but we definitely have a strata.