Buying an apartment in Dublin, am I mad?

IlmoNT4

I bought an apartment when I was 26.... If I had my time again I would never buy it.

I wanted different things when I was 26....now I'm ten years older and would LOVE to get out of it and buy a house (you requirements change as you get older), but I'm in too much negative equity and I cant get another mortgage.

The cons of apartment living (which may not bother you now, but may in the future), I wish someone had sat me down and told me these things.

-no ability to add an extension...your buying into something that isnt future proofed.
-no garden (some day you might want this, you might want to get a pet or sit in a garden in the summer)
-no where to dry clothes except on a clothes horse in your flat. Any one who comes over, yup thats my underwear in the sitting room
-If some day you meet someone and want to have a family...flats dont have space to do this. You could end up moving out/having to sell/ become a landlord and deal with all of that stuff.
-Other people in apartment blocks are noisy...
-Lots of people move in and out of apartment blocks so theres parties and young people (didnt bother me when I was 26, hate it now)
-Maintenance fees... Biggest pain to have to come up with that money every year forever. They do put the prices up, mine was 1000, its now 1300
-In apartments you can hear doors slamming, people going to the toilet (I'm not kidding), peoples music and tellies, couples fighting etc.
- You have to deal with the management company ...nightmare
-Flatmates can be noisy and difficult.
-My apartment was so cheaply put together that its impossible for me to add in a new wall socket or wall light without a massive investment. Any builder I've had in the place has shock their heads.
-Storage...OMG storage... There is no storage in my place. If you are buying something seriously, it has to have built in wardrobes and storage, I had nothing when I moved in at 26...now I have no space.
-Heating...those horrible storage heaters, they cost a fortune to run, they heat the place up during the day and when you get home from work the place is cold.
-You can hear everyone elses, including your own bathroom water pump. (thats if each flat has a water pump, some of the newer building dont have this type of system)
-If the guy upstairs has a leak, your flat gets flooded
-if the guy upstairs is renovating for 6 months, you are listening to it night and day.
-Traffic, if your flat is close to a main road, there will be traffic noise all of the time. I dont notice it anymore but other people who stay over do.

Just be smart about these things, I always said I'd buy my flat and sell it on and get a house. Then the market crashed. I bought it to suit my life style at the time, rather than thinking how can I buy something that I can live in for 10 years, something thats future proofed for my life that I might want

Of course, some people are happy in apartments but I regret my choice and total inability to plan for my future.
Also you'll need about 5K to cover solicitors and all that other stuff
When you move in, you'll need to pay insurance, home content insurance etc and also wear the cost if anything breaks, which can be hard when you are trying to save that maintenance fee.

Good luck

IlmoNT4

I just noticed you said it was a ground floor flat (like mine) make sure there is insulation. It turned out my flat has zero insulation, it took me 4 years to get the management company to put insulation under my flat (theres an underground car park)

Dont buy anything without two parking spaces....

noodler

loulou2009 wrote: »

I bought an apartment when I was 26.... If I had my time again I would never buy it.

I wanted different things when I was 26....now I'm ten years older and would LOVE to get out of it and buy a house (you requirements change as you get older), but I'm in too much negative equity and I cant get another mortgage.

The cons of apartment living (which may not bother you now, but may in the future), I wish someone had sat me down and told me these things.

-no ability to add an extension...your buying into something that isnt future proofed.
-no garden (some day you might want this, you might want to get a pet or sit in a garden in the summer)
-no where to dry clothes except on a clothes horse in your flat. Any one who comes over, yup thats my underwear in the sitting room
-If some day you meet someone and want to have a family...flats dont have space to do this. You could end up moving out/having to sell/ become a landlord and deal with all of that stuff.
-Other people in apartment blocks are noisy...
-Lots of people move in and out of apartment blocks so theres parties and young people (didnt bother me when I was 26, hate it now)
-Maintenance fees... Biggest pain to have to come up with that money every year forever. They do put the prices up, mine was 1000, its now 1300
-In apartments you can hear doors slamming, people going to the toilet (I'm not kidding), peoples music and tellies, couples fighting etc.
- You have to deal with the management company ...nightmare
-Flatmates can be noisy and difficult.
-My apartment was so cheaply put together that its impossible for me to add in a new wall socket or wall light without a massive investment. Any builder I've had in the place has shock their heads.
-Storage...OMG storage... There is no storage in my place. If you are buying something seriously, it has to have built in wardrobes and storage, I had nothing when I moved in at 26...now I have no space.
-Heating...those horrible storage heaters, they cost a fortune to run, they heat the place up during the day and when you get home from work the place is cold.
-You can hear everyone elses, including your own bathroom water pump. (thats if each flat has a water pump, some of the newer building dont have this type of system)
-If the guy upstairs has a leak, your flat gets flooded
-if the guy upstairs is renovating for 6 months, you are listening to it night and day.
-Traffic, if your flat is close to a main road, there will be traffic noise all of the time. I dont notice it anymore but other people who stay over do.

Just be smart about these things, I always said I'd buy my flat and sell it on and get a house. Then the market crashed. I bought it to suit my life style at the time, rather than thinking how can I buy something that I can live in for 10 years, something thats future proofed for my life that I might want

Of course, some people are happy in apartments but I regret my choice and total inability to plan for my future.
Also you'll need about 5K to cover solicitors and all that other stuff
When you move in, you'll need to pay insurance, home content insurance etc and also wear the cost if anything breaks, which can be hard when you are trying to save that maintenance fee.

Good luck

In fairness to the OP, in 2005 when you bought - prices were close to the peak.

The OP also seems to have around have the deposit read to go so there is almost no possibility of negative equity - in fact the OP could likely sell in the very near future and be able to cover the remaining mortgage with the sale fee. Chances are, please God, the OP will be finished the mortgage in ten years as well.

MarkAnthony

On negative equity:

Not a bar to getting another mortgage if you can show that your current place will rent and that you are financially able to afford the house.

Never say never! Apartments might have had a little bubble recently.

IlmoNT4

Totally understand that...I bought my flat because I had the cash and was stick of renting and all that...

I never considered what it would be like to actually live in a small apartment (the day to day stuff ) that I might have to live in....for the rest of my life. And if I had the OPs savings, I'd keep saving and buy a house which is ultimately more valuable as people want houses...there doesn't seem to be much of a market for flats.

But I got burnt but I wish I'd gotten burnt for a nice house rather than a flat. The banks would certainly have given me the cash for a house but I felt it was too much and didnt want to take on a massive mortgage.

IlmoNT4

Thanks mark, I've been into the bank about 5 times now, I have too much debt so they said unless I'm buying with someone else (I dont have anyone else to buy with) or some how I end up on 100K + a year then I'm stuck in my flat....

I might get lucky...it might burn down

MarkAnthony

We (couple) had some success with Ulster and KBC Banks. Hope it sorts itself out for you.

dearg lady

I'm considering going down the 1 bed route myself. The interest and management fees together would be substantially less than rent on the same apartment. My plan would be pay down as much of the principal as possible in the first 5 years, build up some equity and then sell and move on. I'm assuming no capital appreciation in my sums, which I'm thinking is conservative, but of course it might go the other way and depreciate. I just don't know, what other obvious things am I probably missing?