Planning a permanent move to Waterford

bobbysands81

Radar2032 wrote: »

Hey,

I'm planning on moving to Waterford with my wife to settle down in the city. I've lived previously in Dublin for around 6 months and found it to be a great but slightly expensive. We are both from the UK

We are a young married couple and what attracted us to the city was the compact size and cheaper property rental prices than Cork or Dublin.

What are the job opportunities like at the moment in Waterford as this is my main concern and why i'm edging towards Cork a bit more at the moment.

Any clarifications would be appreciated.

Thanks

I'm a blow in as well (from Dublin).

Waterford is a fantastic small city but the locals are unbelievable negative about the place.

The people are sound, the city is very nice with various festivals throughout the year. There are some excellent pubs (Philly Grimes' being my favourite) and restaurants (Emiliano's stands up with any restaurant in the country), housing is cheap, traffic can be heavy around the city, and Cork and Dublin are less than 2 hours away.

You have beautiful places such as Dunmore East, Dungarvan (great pubs and food again), the Comeragh mountains, Mahon Falls in Waterford and other places such as Kilmore Quay, Inisteoige, St Mullens etc... that are within an hour.

If you sort out a job then I'd say you could do a hell of a lot worse than Waterford!

Digital Society

bobbysands81 wrote: »

I'm a blow in as well (from Dublin).

Waterford is a fantastic small city but the locals are unbelievable negative about the place.

The people are sound, the city is very nice with various festivals throughout the year. There are some excellent pubs (Philly Grimes' being my favourite) and restaurants (Emiliano's stands up with any restaurant in the country), housing is cheap, traffic can be heavy around the city, and Cork and Dublin are less than 2 hours away.

You have beautiful places such as Dunmore East, Dungarvan (great pubs and food again), the Comeragh mountains, Mahon Falls in Waterford and other places such as Kilmore Quay, Inisteoige, St Mullens etc... that are within an hour.

If you sort out a job then I'd say you could do a hell of a lot worse than Waterford!

Ah yes that old humdinger that people cant quite figure out.

How to find work.

Last_Minute

I wonder how Waterford fares in livability against the likes of Mumbai or Delhi? Serious question.

Whatsisname

BaroqueinWat38 wrote: »

This city/town is boring as hell, there is a village mentality as someone else said and dont know where are the loads of things to do unless you only care to go to bars and get drunk , there 3 or 4 ok restaurants but that is it , only one movie theatre in a shopping center with most of the spaces not occupied , very depressing .
The town center is ugly and there are always disabled people walking around it and this gives it an even darker image-
The shopping wont even mention it because it is a joke ugly stores with tacky clothes from the 80´s but here in this town there is no sense of fashion all you see is people wearing sport pants

This is the best thing I've ever read

Max Powers

Whatsisname wrote: »

This is the best thing I've ever read

Agree, Baroquien's vacuous post is kinda funny in its silly own way

fricatus

Last_Minute wrote: »

I wonder how Waterford fares in livability against the likes of Mumbai or Delhi? Serious question.

I think this deserves a thread of its own if it is indeed a serious question.

I'll have a stab at it though: I'm sure life in Delhi or Mumbai is great if you've a load of money and rickshaw and chai wallahs to bring you around and serve you tea. A salary of 30 or 40k would go a whole lot further in India (even the cities) than it would here, but if you had to do your own job (e.g. factory worker, taxi driver) over there, let's be honest, you'd be earning a hell of a lot less, and would have the standard of living to match.

I've never been there, but by all accounts you'd have to deal with a level of pollution and overcrowding that most Irish people (including me) just have no concept of.

I would guess that if you compared the experiences of the poorest 25% in both places, that's where you would find the greatest differences. People on the dole or on low wages in Ireland have plenty to complain about (and sometimes rightly so), but everybody pretty much has running water and sewage, access to immunisation, first-world healthcare, education, a minimum standard of diet, etc. Nobody I'm aware of has to live in a shack alongside a railway line or scrabble a living out of a rubbish tip.

So the question is interesting, but ultimately I find it facetious, especially if we're comparing the poorest in both societies. I'm curious as to why you'd ask it in relation to Waterford, and not say Sligo or Galway. Is our reputation really that bad?

FWIW, I think it's hard to find anywhere better to live in Ireland. Maybe Cork, Galway, or the nicer parts of Dublin, but then you're talking about higher accommodation costs (and astronomical in south Dublin). The employment situation is the real problem, and most realistic people in this thread have acknowledged that.

Waterford hits the sweet spot in terms of quality of life versus cost. You just need to have a job, and then you're all set!

Digital Society

fricatus wrote: »

Waterford hits the sweet spot in terms of quality of life versus cost. You just need to have a job, and then you're all set!

Apart from a couple of hundred on rent what else do you save money on by living in Waterford?

Tallcarrie

Chickentown wrote: »

How can you justify calling people Trolls when they give their honest opinion when it has been asked for?

Because an honest opinion makes an effort to show both sides, positive and negative, and the negative opinions are just that, negative.

bobbysands81

Digital Society wrote: »

Apart from a couple of hundred on rent what else do you save money on by living in Waterford?

Eating out or getting a takeaway (an ethnic one, not a Chipper) is more expensive than Dublin... but by Jesus Emiliano's is as good as restaurants get for the price. Immense.

thomasm

BaroqueinWat38 wrote: »

This city/town is boring as hell, there is a village mentality as someone else said and dont know where are the loads of things to do unless you only care to go to bars and get drunk , there 3 or 4 ok restaurants but that is it , only one movie theatre in a shopping center with most of the spaces not occupied , very depressing .
The town center is ugly and there are always disabled people walking around it and this gives it an even darker image-
The shopping wont even mention it because it is a joke ugly stores with tacky clothes from the 80´s but here in this town there is no sense of fashion all you see is people wearing sport pants

Your negativity is staggering. I'm not a doctor but you really sound depressed. No doubt caused by all the disabled people in 80s style tracksuits

fricatus

Digital Society wrote: »

Apart from a couple of hundred on rent what else do you save money on by living in Waterford?

Is that not good enough for you? Accommodation makes up about a third of most people's budgets, and any saving is a significant one. Remember that "couple of hundred" you're talking about is an ongoing saving each month and adds up to a hell of a lot over time. Just take a look on Daft.ie and look at the sort of house you can get for €200k in Waterford, then try to find an equivalent house in Dublin - you'd be shelling out half that again!

Property tax is decided on the valuation of your house, so there's another one...

If you want another big one, look at creche fees. Just going on a recent informal discussion, the going rate in Waterford appears to be about €650 a month, and in Dublin it's about a grand!

There are tons of other, smaller savings. Car and house insurance is slightly cheaper, and just the shorter distances and comparative lack of congestion compared to Dublin means that your diesel or petrol bill tends to be lower.

If you go out, your meal is cheaper. Pints are cheaper on the whole, and a taxi generally costs less. Anecdotally I've even heard of things like haircuts being cheaper here. There are plenty of savings!

Radar2032

I'm taking the plunge and going to Waterford, thanks for all your advice.

fricatus

Radar2032 wrote: »

I'm taking the plunge and going to Waterford, thanks for all your advice.

Well may I say welcome, and the best of luck!

Do come back and let us all know how you get on.

Boskowski

BaroqueinWat38 wrote: »

This city/town is boring as hell, there is a village mentality as someone else said and dont know where are the loads of things to do unless you only care to go to bars and get drunk , there 3 or 4 ok restaurants but that is it , only one movie theatre in a shopping center with most of the spaces not occupied , very depressing .
The town center is ugly and there are always disabled people walking around it and this gives it an even darker image-
The shopping wont even mention it because it is a joke ugly stores with tacky clothes from the 80´s but here in this town there is no sense of fashion all you see is people wearing sport pants

I feel a bit like this about the place on a bad day but really - while some truth in this - it's nowhere near this bad.

Tallcarrie

Radar2032 wrote: »

I'm taking the plunge and going to Waterford, thanks for all your advice.

We look forward to giving you a Deise welcome - let us know when you arrive and how you're getting on!

Road-Hog

BaroqueinWat38 wrote: »

This city/town is boring as hell, there is a village mentality as someone else said and dont know where are the loads of things to do unless you only care to go to bars and get drunk , there 3 or 4 ok restaurants but that is it , only one movie theatre in a shopping center with most of the spaces not occupied , very depressing .
The town center is ugly and there are always disabled people walking around it and this gives it an even darker image-
The shopping wont even mention it because it is a joke ugly stores with tacky clothes from the 80´s but here in this town there is no sense of fashion all you see is people wearing sport pants

Does this guy not at least need a warning for his/her insensitive comments on disabled people not to mention the rest of the negativity expressed

mollymosfet

Chickentown wrote: »

One extra point I forgot to mention is that if you are a member of the Roma community it is probably a good idea not to rent in Manor street.... *Inside joke

I have a Slovak Romani friend who won't come back to the country because of that. She grew up in the UK but was in Waterford for a while so it hit a bit too close to home for her. So not so funny...

7upfree

mollymosfet wrote: »

I have a Slovak Romani friend who won't come back to the country because of that. She grew up in the UK but was in Waterford for a while so it hit a bit too close to home for her. So not so funny...

Lighten up. What is your problem? To the OP. Waterford is a great place. Hopefully you've moved here and are now enjoying yourself. Despite the idiots who try to paint us in a bad light any chance they get.