Buying an apartment in Dublin, am I mad?

Zascar

Sorry for the tangent, but can I just ask again, how in the world did you save that amount of money? In what time frame and toughly how much per month? It does not found like you had a massive salary - you must have been saving the majority of it for years! Absolutely, fair play, it's a serious feat - but would you not go out and enjoy life a bit? I do regret not saving a lot more, but dam I've enjoyed myself in the time!

In regards to the original question, I say buy it, if its a long term investment you're fine I'm sure. As previously said you can always rent out the other room. Your mortgage is very small. Or rent the whole place and move back in with family if needed - city centre rents have gone ballistic recently. Another option, if you do it up nice, you can rent it out on Air B&B - people are making loads of money doing that. If the apartment is well located and a good spec you'll be fine, you're still young!

The_Morrigan

Zascar wrote: »

Sorry for the tangent, but can I just ask again, how in the world did you save that amount of money? In what time frame and toughly how much per month? It does not found like you had a massive salary - you must have been saving the majority of it for years! Absolutely, fair play, it's a serious feat - but would you not go out and enjoy life a bit? I do regret not saving a lot more, but dam I've enjoyed myself in the time!

Zascar - this is neither your business nor within the remit of this forum.

Please stay on topic.

Jeremyr

Dietsquirt wrote: »

OP, I can't give you a huge amount of advice on the question you asked, however, having saved €85k at the age of 25 is a huge feat, congrats man

Cheers means alot

Jeremyr

Zascar wrote: »

Sorry for the tangent, but can I just ask again, how in the world did you save that amount of money? In what time frame and toughly how much per month? It does not found like you had a massive salary - you must have been saving the majority of it for years! Absolutely, fair play, it's a serious feat - but would you not go out and enjoy life a bit? I do regret not saving a lot more, but dam I've enjoyed myself in the time!

In regards to the original question, I say buy it, if its a long term investment you're fine I'm sure. As previously said you can always rent out the other room. Your mortgage is very small. Or rent the whole place and move back in with family if needed - city centre rents have gone ballistic recently. Another option, if you do it up nice, you can rent it out on Air B&B - people are making loads of money doing that. If the apartment is well located and a good spec you'll be fine, you're still young!

Just because i don't smoke , do drugs or get p!ssed every other night doesn't mean i'm not enjoying life


I've been to Thailand, Ibiza,Paris , Vegas ,OZ and countless other trips so i have " enjoyed life " if that means anything


Not sure how it relates to my opening post but thought I'd clear that up

munster87

Fair play, especially drinking like a fish and still saving so much! Hopefully all the Weatherspoons opening can help me do likewise!

Zascar

Well done man!

athtrasna

lima wrote: »

That sounds like speculation. Many many management companies allow pets.

None that I know of, I know of plenty of people who break the rules but no management companies in apartment developments that allow pets

yosser hughes

Jeremyr wrote: »

Well in my opening post i stated that i need somewhere to live and i'm not looking to rent as the rental prices are mad !


Who said i'm living rent free?? I'm living with a relative ,still paying rent just not nowhere near as high as i would if went out and rented an apartment for myself


You just sound like a doom gloomer begrudger to me everyone else has offered decent advice

This reminded me of Bertie Aherne. I laughed when I read it.
I wouldn't buy an apartment in Ireland.

blacklilly

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

"company shares" complexes (in which you purchase shares in the company and a lease to occupy a particular unit) sometimes do have "no sub-leasing" or "sub-lease only to tenants approved by the management company" clauses. They're a way to keep property values up (owner-occupied complexes are usually better looked after over time), but can be restrictive if your circumstances change

Do you mean share capital? There are some OMC's that are limited by share capital but the majority aren't.

I've never ever heard of a clause whereby the OMC must approve tenants....do you mind me asking what country you're from?

Short term/holidays lets are more frequently not permitted due to the high level of wear and tear they cost to the common areas

Piriz

Jeremyr you appear to not respond to replies that suggest you take a broader view of your situation and the property market and how buying this apartment may not actually be the best option available... rather you spend more time wallowing in discussion about your savings and liking posts that tell you what you want to hear...which is fair enough but you might not be benefiting in the long run..

roadsmart

Make sure there's 2 parking spaces with it. Well done and good luck with the purchase. I have a 14 yr old and I hope to Gawwwwd he shows half the sense you did at his age.

bmm

Find out who your neighbours will be when choosing an apartment! You could have neighbours above, below and each side. Nothing worse than noisy neighbours ! Its also difficult to get anything done about it if neighbour is a landlord.

delthedriver

Jeremyr wrote: »

Hi All,


I'm here looking for some advice, i really need to get my own place , i have been thinking about buying for the past two years now and have finally been approved for a mortgage.

Right now i am currently living with a relative but i need my own place asap and don't want to rent, i have put a bid in( 180k) which has been accepted for a two bed apartment in Dublin.


The apartment is 5 minutes drive from my job, has it's own entrance, gated community and about 15 minutes drive to the airport


I just need advice, should i go ahead with the purchase or wait it out and maybe save for a house/wait for prices to drop?? I don't mind apartments at all , so any advice is welcome


Current situation


Male, 25 years old, single

Income : 28 k

Deposit : 108k ( my father died and left me 28k he didn't have property just had that in the will, the rest i saved myself )


Mortgage : I'm borrowing 78k


Any response is much appreciated


Regards

Jeremy

Jeremy,

Go for it !

There is never a right time to buy property, never the right property and the more people you ask about buying a property, the more answers you will get.

You like the property, can afford the apartment, it is in the right location for you and your work.

Go with your instinct. You need a place to live. Buy your apartment and enjoy your life.

very sincerely,

d

MarkAnthony

I really can't see any down side for the OP here. Even considering a BTL rate on 78K he's laughing with the current rental market. Even if interest rates go up and rents come down (a scenario I can't see happening) he's still likely to cover the mortgage from the rent alone.

Bar some areas that are a bit out of the way forget the property value. Get the mortgage paid off ASAP and laugh your tits off every month you're collecting the rent down the line when you buy a house, if you ever do.

lima

athtrasna wrote: »

None that I know of, I know of plenty of people who break the rules but no management companies in apartment developments that allow pets

Well now you know at least one!

Jeremyr

Piriz wrote: »

Jeremyr you appear to not respond to replies that suggest you take a broader view of your situation and the property market and how buying this apartment may not actually be the best option available... rather you spend more time wallowing in discussion about your savings and liking posts that tell you what you want to hear...which is fair enough but you might not be benefiting in the long run..

Here have a thanks if you feel left out

DoYouEvenLift

I wouldn't put all your savings into it as it's easier to pick up saving again when you've even just €10k in your account rather than starting from €0 again. But sounds good, if you rented the other room out and also put as much as you can into the mortgage every month you could pay off the mortgage before your mid 30s easily. At that point you said you may want to get a bigger place so you could then move out and obviously continue renting the apartment or else sell it if it was worth enough to take a big chunk out of your new mortgage.

Another idea is use the spare room for airbnb.

Jeremyr

Thanks for the advice everyone !

Mellowbird

I bought my 2 bed apartment a year ago for 220,000 and my neighbour has just sold his 2 bed apartment for 300,000. If I sell it tomorrow I've made 80,000 in 12 months. I think the time is kinda okay now, we are lucky we are not buying in 2008 for example. Worse case scenario for whatever reason you don't like it and want to sell it in a year, I don't think you'll lose that much or maybe even gain.

Cilar

- Get a good structural survey to make sure there mght not be issues preventing you from reselling in a few years time when you need something larger
- Borrow more to keep some savings for rainy days

NIMAN

Mellowbird wrote: »

I bought my 2 bed apartment a year ago for 220,000 and my neighbour has just sold his 2 bed apartment for 300,000. If I sell it tomorrow I've made 80,000 in 12 months.

Have I been transported back to 06/07 ???

If you sold tomorrow, where would you live?

Mellowbird

NIMAN wrote: »

Have I been transported back to 06/07 ???

If you sold tomorrow, where would you live?

I am monitoring apartment prices in my estate regularly, if prices start falling and it is getting closer to the 220,000 I paid for it, I will sell and then start renting again, because I worked out the cost of renting is cheaper than the fall in house price (negative equity).

In the meantime for the same mortgage cost as my previous rent, I get a warm 2 bed apartment instead of a cold studio apartment. On a side note, I think BER rating is so important such a big difference it makes, the difference in warmth between the 2 places and I say that now in Janaury in Ireland and I'm from a warm country that is 30 degree celcius all year round!

MarkAnthony

NIMAN wrote: »

Have I been transported back to 06/07 ???

If you sold tomorrow, where would you live?

€300k for a 2 bed in areas of D1/2/3/4 is an absolute bargain. Location, location and all that. While I'm no supporter of mental prices out in Stillorgan we should expect apartments in the City centre to attract a premium, we've a relatively up and coming city all said and done, even if it is off the back of sucking up to large US corps with low tax rates and the promise of Irish jollies.

lima

MarkAnthony wrote: »

€300k for a 2 bed in areas of D1/2/3/4 is an absolute bargain. Location, location and all that. While I'm no supporter of mental prices out in Stillorgan we should expect apartments in the City centre to attract a premium, we've a relatively up and coming city all said and done, even if it is off the back of sucking up to large US corps with low tax rates and the promise of Irish jollies.

Yeah but the problem is that 2br city centre apts are absolutely tiny.. I was monitoring the situation in city centre since 2012 and even at their loewst point I just felt it was wrong to buy and live in a 2br 500sqft apt in the city centre, it's just too small.. If you were to pay over 300k for an apt you'd want it to be over 750sqft to not get cabin fever!

MarkAnthony

lima wrote: »

Yeah but the problem is that 2br city centre apts are absolutely tiny.. I was monitoring the situation in city centre since 2012 and even at their loewst point I just felt it was wrong to buy and live in a 2br 500sqft apt in the city centre, it's just too small.. If you were to pay over 300k for an apt you'd want it to be over 750sqft to not get cabin fever!

But if you live in the city centre it's just somewhere to bring the girls back to at 3am and kick um out again at 8am when you get up to go and work in the stock exchange :pac:

Joking aside - you're not really spending a huge amount of time in the apartment if you're buying that close to the city, it's more a place to lay your head. If you want more of a relaxed place, of course you buy further out. This is a general comment not directed at you but I think you've highlighted the problem many people seem to face is that they want a 3/4 bed house 5 minutes from the city centre and complain of lack of supply.

I suppose the mad thing is there is supply in Dublin CC it's just all tied up in social housing and bed sits but that's another rant of mine!

Sierra Oscar

I recently did something similar to what you are thinking of doing.

Similar age and same sort of savings. I bought a two bed apartment in the D7 area for €180,000 and had to take out a mortgage of €80,000. You will be paying around €350'ish in monthly repayments on your mortgage, including mortgage protection and whatnot.

I went from a situation where I was paying €700 a month for rent alone to one now where I am setting aside €400 each month to cover my accommodation costs (basically the mortgage). I am also taking in €500 a month for renting out the second room in the apartment. I am setting that money aside for paying the costs associated with the apartment (management fees, property tax) and building up a little fund for any needed repairs / refurbishments down the line.

I don't foresee a situation where I won't be able to pay the mortgage, even if interests rates were to increase quite a bit. Eitherway the rent would easily cover the mortgage if I had to move out (similar apartments are being rented for €1,100 in the area). I hope to pay off the mortgage pretty quickly. Luckily I can't see myself being in negative equity with a mortgage of €80,000 so I could sell up and be willing to take a hit if things go pear shaped. The value of the apartment has went up 20K since I bought it, but to be honest I bought it as a long term investment. I am planning for the worst and assuming that the price could fall back somewhat.

If you don't mind your savings being tied up then I think its a good idea. It is working pretty well for me so far.

Kung Lao

Absolute no-brainer considering the amount of equity you can put in and the market is pretty good, slowing rising. Might fall back in short to medium term but couldn't see you losing your arse on it.

Why on earth would you pay €600 - €800 on rent if you had significant savings and could get a mortgage working out at less than €500 a month. You also don't have to share with annoying messy tenants if you don't want to, a luxury I wish I had!

Best of luck.

Jeremyr

Once again thanks for the replies people


There has been a spanner thrown into the works

While i am still looking at the apartment i have spotted something else that has caught my eye


A 2 bed terraced house in a gated community about a 5 minute drive from the apartment i was looking at is going for 170k


In good condition but a bit old fashioned , it may need about 5-10k put in


Management fees for the 2 bed terraced is 950pa



I haven't heard of much 2 bed houses in gated communities but from what i gather it looks well kept and is also beside bus services, train, pubs etc



What do you think people?? Should i put a 150 bid in and see what happens

lcwill

Don't mess around putting in a 150 bid if they are asking 170. They will probably say no and meanwhile someone else will have bought the apartment you liked. Prices are not going dramatically down again any time soon and are very likely to steadily increase for the next 4-5 years. Drops like what we saw from 2008 - 2012 probably won't happen again for another generation.

Decide what it is worth to you and offer that.

I bought at one bed just after the market reached the bottom about 2 years ago. The asking price was 90k but it went to sealed bids. I did the math and it was still a great deal even at 110k so that is what I bid - even though neighbouring apartments had sold for 92,93k just a couple of months earlier. I won and now neighbouring 1 beds are on the market for 150-180k.

Pay the value of the apartment, don't try and guess the price.

noodler

Thinking of doing the same OP althought would have to withdraw some State Savings cash which won't mature for a couple more years (I'd be losing decent interest there as I got them in 2012.....that being said small change when compared to another year of renting!).