Moving to Raheny!

kaiser31

Hi guys, I'm looking for some help & guidance please! My DH & I are relocating to Dublin with our DS's (4 & 9) & DD (6). We hope to move at the end of the school year in June and help them settle over the summer. We like the look of Raheny, it seems to have good facilities, close to the sea and a nice big park. My main questions are what area is nice to live in? We will rent for a while before we decide on some place to buy. My second question is what schools can you recommend? My eldest son will be going into 4th class, my Daughter will be entering second class and my youngest boy will be starting Junior Infants. Any advice will be greatly appreciated as I literally do not know a soul in Dublin!

subpar

Stick to the seaward side of the Howth Road and don't overlook Killester

Avada

What kind of school do you want for your kids? Catholic, Protestant, Educate Together?

ProudDUB

Great part of Dublin to live in. If you want the "nicest" part of Raheny, I'd go for the Watermill Rd area. There are a lot of houses and apartments there, so I'm sure you'd find somewhere to rent, while you get a feel for the area. It is just around the corner from the coast road and St Anne's Park is on your doorstep. The village shops are would be about a 10 minute walk if you have the kids with you. Add on another 5 minutes, if you are planning on using the Dart station to get to/from work.

dutopia

kaiser31 wrote: »

Hi guys, I'm looking for some help & guidance please! My DH & I are relocating to Dublin with our DS's (4 & 9) & DD (6). We hope to move at the end of the school year in June and help them settle over the summer. We like the look of Raheny, it seems to have good facilities, close to the sea and a nice big park. My main questions are what area is nice to live in? We will rent for a while before we decide on some place to buy. My second question is what schools can you recommend? My eldest son will be going into 4th class, my Daughter will be entering second class and my youngest boy will be starting Junior Infants. Any advice will be greatly appreciated as I literally do not know a soul in Dublin!

What's a DH, DS and DD?

ProudDUB

Darling husband, darling sons & daughter. I think.

spurious

subpar wrote: »

Stick to the seaward side of the Howth Road and don't overlook Killester

That leaves out Foxfield in Raheny, which of course may well be out of budget.

January

Please note that abbreviations such as DH, DD etc are not permitted under the txt speak rule in the charter. Please do not continue to use these abbreviations here.

Turtle_

spurious wrote: »

That leaves out Foxfield in Raheny, which of course may well be out of budget.

Yeah Foxfield is a nice area.

Anywhere along the Howth Road from Blackbanks to Raheny Village is fine. Foxfield, Bettyglen, Maywood, Avondale, Watermill Road area are all lovely middle class areas. I think maybe that poster was suggesting that the OP avoid Edenmore, if they want the nice feel of Raheny. (Oh boy, here comes that can of worms... Edenmore is apparently fine, I don't live there and wouldn't know, but it's more its own area than an area within Raheny in terms of feel of the area and isn't really the middle class "Raheny" that springs to mind when people decide they like the area)

kaiser31

Avada wrote: »

What kind of school do you want for your kids? Catholic, Protestant, Educate Together?

I would be looking for a catholic school. There seems to be a lot of schools in the area?

kaiser31

Turtle_ wrote: »

Yeah Foxfield is a nice area.

Anywhere along the Howth Road from Blackbanks to Raheny Village is fine. Foxfield, Bettyglen, Maywood, Avondale, Watermill Road area are all lovely middle class areas. I think maybe that poster was suggesting that the OP avoid Edenmore, if they want the nice feel of Raheny. (Oh boy, here comes that can of worms... Edenmore is apparently fine, I don't live there and wouldn't know, but it's more its own area than an area within Raheny in terms of feel of the area and isn't really the middle class "Raheny" that springs to mind when people decide they like the area)

Thanks Turtle, that's a great help! We paid a flying visit a few weeks ago & it really impressed me. Is there a good community there?

kaiser31

ProudDUB wrote: »

Great part of Dublin to live in. If you want the "nicest" part of Raheny, I'd go for the Watermill Rd area. There are a lot of houses and apartments there, so I'm sure you'd find somewhere to rent, while you get a feel for the area. It is just around the corner from the coast road and St Anne's Park is on your doorstep. The village shops are would be about a 10 minute walk if you have the kids with you. Add on another 5 minutes, if you are planning on using the Dart station to get to/from work.

Thanks ProudDub, it's hard at the moment to get a proper gauge on the rental market. Just looking at daft.ie and there isn't an awful lot available. I wonder are there a lot of private landlords in the area?

Turtle_

kaiser31 wrote: »

Thanks ProudDub, it's hard at the moment to get a proper gauge on the rental market. Just looking at daft.ie and there isn't an awful lot available. I wonder are there a lot of private landlords in the area?

It's a very popular area, most things will get snatched up pretty quickly.

As for community, I don't live in Raheny (I live in nearby) so can't say for certain. However, it is a very well established and settled area. Much like any larger suburb, you're not going to know everyone in the area but I'd say it has as good a community as any well established area - if that makes any sense! It's not at all like a dormitory town, there's a library and lots of schools and shops and people go about their business there, work and live and do hobbies there. With kids you should have no problem integrating into a community!

kaiser31

I understand what you're saying. That's what I liked about there, people live there, as in made a home there instead of just having a house there. There seems to be a load of sports etc going on, so that's always a good way to integrate.

Avada

kaiser31 wrote: »

I would be looking for a catholic school. There seems to be a lot of schools in the area?

Probably the best ones would be Belgrove in Clontarf and St Brigids in Killester. I don't really know the schools in Raheny. Otherwise there is a really good mixed Educate Together in Kilbarrack called North Bay.

ProudDUB

kaiser31 wrote: »

Thanks ProudDub, it's hard at the moment to get a proper gauge on the rental market. Just looking at daft.ie and there isn't an awful lot available. I wonder are there a lot of private landlords in the area?

It is a very popular part of Dublin. It doesn't have the poshness factor of the other coastal suburbs such as Howth, Sutton or Clontarf, but it has an awful lot going for it...on the Dart line, several bus routes, on the coast, one of the biggest and best parks in the city, the amenities of the village etc etc. So its always going to be popular. Renters aren't going to be spoiled for choice, especially for houses and apartments that are directly on the DART line. Killester, Baldoyle and Bayside could be options for you, if you want to stay in the same general area, or you want to be within shouting distance of the sea. Although, the only one of those that would have the same "village" atmosphere of Raheny, would be Killester.

kaiser31

Thanks Avada, I'll check them out.

MarkAnthony

Edenmore and Kilbarrack are fine, it really depends on budget.

You can move three streets over and see a 50% increase in an identical house in D5.

Areas mentioned above are the more middle-class areas, Edenmore and Kilbarrack more working class. All grand. Welcome to the neighbourhood. Moved in 6 months ago and love it here! Someone above mentioned Killester - lovely spot.

MarkAnthony

Another thing that springs to mind is the naming of areas. Kilbarrack and a few other places have a very bad rep to people that don't know the area. A lot of places get named Raheny, Bayside, Howth Road or even Sutton because it can drastically increase the price for the uninformed. As I say most of the areas are great (The rough end of Kilbarrack & Edenmore are going to be somewhere you might think twice about, wouldn't bother me personally). Just make sure you do a good reckee of the areas you're thinking of.

As an example. Foxfield is up the road from me (10 minutes walk) I'd say it's Kilbarrack more than Raheny but I'm sure there is some parish boundary that proves me wrong. My point is you're an area people would wax lyrically about right next to an area some might tell you to avoid at all costs. Reality is somewhat different.

Think outside the box, go to the local shops and ask around. Search Facebook for community groups etc.

kaiser31

Great advice, I'll start stalking so! Thanks so much

Turtle_

OP, if you find yourself stuck you might have more luck with housing in Clontarf. I'm just having a look on Daft here at the moment (mostly out of curiosity to see what's available) and there's a couple of places in Clontarf but nothing suitable for 2 adults and 3 kids in Raheny.

I'd consider it - it's the directly neighbouring area, a bit closer to town, good schools, shops and amenities etc.

kaiser31

I'll definitely consider it. I must really familiarise myself with the whole area. I'm clueless to be honest. I need to get the kids enrolled for school shortly but don't know should I enrol then in a school first and hope to find a house nearby or vice versa,

kaiser31

OMG I just looked up Clontarf on daft.ie - it's very expensive.

bren2001

kaiser31 wrote: »

I'll definitely consider it. I must really familiarise myself with the whole area. I'm clueless to be honest. I need to get the kids enrolled for school shortly but don't know should I enrol then in a school first and hope to find a house nearby or vice versa,

Someone above mentioned Brigids and Belgrove as schools. They are just up the road in Killester and Clontarf. I'd agree with that. There is nothing wrong with the schools in Raheny; Scoil Assaim and Scoil Aine both I and my sisters went there but I've recently been back demonstrating stuff in classes for them. Based on what I saw, I wouldn't send my (hypothetical) kids there.

kaiser31

bren2001 wrote: »

Someone above mentioned Brigids and Belgrove as schools. They are just up the road in Killester and Clontarf. I'd agree with that. There is nothing wrong with the schools in Raheny; Scoil Assaim and Scoil Aine both I and my sisters went there but I've recently been back demonstrating stuff in classes for them. Based on what I saw, I wouldn't send my (hypothetical) kids there.

Really? What didn't you like about it? Were these the schools that were amalgamated & then split in three?

bren2001

kaiser31 wrote: »

Really? What didn't you like about it? Were these the schools that were amalgamated & then split in three?

Yeah, they were amalgamated and then split into 3 a long long long time ago. A lot of it is hard to describe (and I wouldn't on a public forum). I'd spend a bit of time in schools helping out with Engineering and maths. I personally thought the attitude of the teachers was odd in the staff room in how they discussed students, how the students were thought maths poor, the standard of maths within the classroom was poor. Then other small things like the classrooms being bare, usually you'd expect artwork etc. At lunch the kids are segregated into different groups with a big gate in the middle of the yard. The lunch hour was a tad rougher than I would expect. All those things add up but are very subjective. I didn't enjoy my few days there and much preferred being in Brigids and Belgrove.

There are one or two other things that I'll avoid posting. PM me if you want.

jon1981

Brookwood road and avenue are often overlooked. Lovely mature areas , big houses and close to all the amenities of Raheny, Killester and Clontarf. A few houses currently for sale.

subpar

jon1981 wrote: »

Brookwood road and avenue are often overlooked. Lovely mature areas , big houses and close to all the amenities of Raheny, Killester and Clontarf. A few houses currently for sale.

Fully agree about Brookwood. Also take a look at the Pines off the Howth Raod its a beautiful little development - a hidden gem.

AsianDub

I'm thinking of buying a house on Ennafort Road past where the lane is to the Harmonstown Dart station. Does anyone have any views on this part of Raheny? I've taken walks around the area at various times of the day except late on a Fri/Sat night. Seems fine. Whats Harmonstown like?

MarkAnthony

Try and take a spin up at pub kicking out time. I love the area I'm in but my one bug bear is idiots coming back from the pub. They're harmless enough, just loud.

AsianDub

Will do this Saturday. Thanks