Buying an apartment in Northwood, Santry

jreyeshdez

Hello,

I do not know if this is the right place to post this thread.

We are a couple and we are thinking in buying a house here in Dublin. We just came across Northwood and it seems like a nice area to live in but we do not know if its a safe area, for kids, etc... I think its great because there is a park, supermarkets nearby and it seems easy to commute to city centre.

Also, if anyone else is living there I would like to ask if the apartments on top floors are good as I could see they are wooden walls throughout in the exterior, so I am not quite sure if it is a good material for that.

Thanks.

January

Moved to Accommodation and Property.

riclad

i live nearby,
its not a posh area.maybe middle class ,
I think its a safe area,
no major problems with anti social behavior,

i would not regard it as a rough area at all.
Given a choice ,id always go for a top floor, apartment,in the corner,
more privacy, less traffic noise ,general noise.
You can get a full survey ,if you are concerned re insulation,sound insulation of the walls.ceilings .
Just because theres a wooden wall exterior, does not mean theres not steel and concrete used in the actual building construction.
The wood exteriors could be there for reasons of looks, design,
its not like buying a wood frame house ,made of 90 per cent wood.

jd

I live in Northwood. I presume you are talking about Temple Lawns/Garden/Court or Parklands. The wood is decorative. No major problems, and where people are disruptive the various OMCs take no cr*p, though the process to move them on can take a while.

There will be disruption in Temple Court soon as there are issues with Pryrite, and there will be a year long project to remediate the ground floor apartments and common areas.

It's pretty mixed, Irish and Eastern European, middle and working class, some RAS, younger couples with 1 or 2 kids, and older couples too.
There is a Eurospar in Northwood, but I find myself doing most of my shopping in Aldi on Santry Avenue, and lately Lidl in the Omni.
Omni also has a Tesco, Dealz, Argos, cinemas etc.

Crown Plaza is near by, and the restaurant near Swords road entrance is reopening soon - as a Japanese I believe. There may be an Italian opening beside Eurospar, not 100% on that.

The bars near by aren't great (Swiss Cottage etc), but I suppose the Crown Plaza is ok, but expensive.

Santry Park itself is a great resource, especially if like my OH you are into running. There is also a playground there. Any other questions, post them.

jreyeshdez

Thanks for replying.

The apartment I am looking at is in Parklands, on the 5th floor. It can be found at daft.ie or myhome.ie
I think I will need to get a survey of insulation, sound insulation of the walls and ceilings, heating, telecommunications.. would not like to fork out huge amount of money because of bad maintenance of installations..

What do you mean by OMCs? (sorry, I am not a native speaker)

The place looks really good but I am not sure. The apartment looks fine also although I did not view it. I have been looking around where good areas could be and then check at daft the price of houses but planning to buy next year, probably.

I am living in Ranelagh currently so.. it is difficult to find an area like that where the prices will be reasonable

Thanks.

jd

jreyeshdez wrote: »

What do you mean by OMCs? (sorry, I am not a native speaker)

OMC=Owners' Management Company - what looks after the common areas and physical structure of the development

riclad

You could simply email the estate agent,
What cable tv ,broadband is avaidable in that building ,
am i restricted to cable tv upc, and eircom broadband .
Will residents have a choice of connecting to a a sky tv dish ,communal satellite system.
Has each apartment got at least 1 phone cable, prewired for connection to eircom.
my friend lives in a ground apartment,outside dublin.
Each unit ,has just 1 cable feed from the sky dish on the roof .
theres no chance of a second connection for her sky reciever .
Houses in santry have a choice of eircom,and another 2 broadband providers .
Theres 2 shopping centres nearby ,santry omi, or coolock northside shopping centre .
it varys ,some blocks in dublin dont allow residents to install satellite dishs at all .

THE estate agent will tell you either theres a gas boiler central heating or maybe underfloor electric heating .
you can put in an offer say 140k subject to survey,
ie survey does not reveal major insulation,sound, etc problems.
eg dont get a full survey unless your offer ,bid is accepted by the seller .
Full survey on a house costs 400 euro plus .