Lucan - Ballyowen Avenue Vs Esker Woods

hmmm

Heroditas wrote: »

What'll make a house hold its value is market demand but also, in the case of Lucan, its proximity to the N4.

I'm interested to know why you see proximity to the N4 as a big selling point? The N4 is reachable from most parts of Lucan within 5 minutes, but I may be missing something.

My purely subjective opinions:
- Most parts of new Lucan have FTBs with fairly young families. That's inevitably going to cause some social problems over the next few years. I'm not sure much can be done about that. Many of the estates seem to have good active neigbourhood associations & there's some good sports clubs.
- I wasn't aware of social problems in centre-South Lucan. I see gangs of kids hanging around the old Superquinn alright who do what teenagers do.
- I've never liked the park beside Hayden. Too dark, too quiet, too easy for a skanger to run and hide. I much prefer the main Griffeen park.
- Griffeen is due to get a LUAS (in the year 3020) and a swimming pool.
- There's lots of schools built or nearly built in South Lucan. It's also closer to the few shops and restaurants. Avoca was rumoured to be opening at the Foxhunter, but that seems to be on hold.
- Never liked the Penny Hill pub. You have to walk down to the village to get another pub or cafe.
- Call me a snob but if I'm paying for a house I want to be surrounded by other people who have also paid for their house.
- It can be occasionally difficult to get on a bus at rush hour if you're living towards the North end of new Lucan.
- There's a lot of culchies (myself included) in Lucan as it is easy to get onto the N4 or N7 to go visit the mammy. None of us dream of living in Lucan for the rest of our lives, and if we get the money together we'll buy elsewhere or down home, not upgrade. It's not a reflection on Lucan as such.

Heroditas

Penny Hill is an awful dump, as is Lord Lucan.
I guess my point about the N4 is not so much travel time to reach it but the quality of the estates. Typically the further south you go, the worse they get, along with heading east.
Willsbrook, Bewley, Elmbrook, Esker, Ballyowen fine.

Castle Riada, Moy Glass - not so great.

Griffeen - isolated

Balgaddy, Foxborough, Rosse Court, Earlsfort - avoid

hmmm

Heroditas wrote: »

Castle Riada, Moy Glass - not so great.

Griffeen - isolated

Moy Glas has always looked fine to me, never heard of any trouble. Same with Castle Riada (with the exception of houses facing that lane which I believe is being addressed). I'm not sure what you mean by isolated - from what?

Foxborough I agree, but they have a very active residents association that seems to be trying hard, and I agree that the closer you get to Clondalkin unfortunately it can make a house harder to market.

jos_kel

hmmm wrote: »

Moy Glas has always looked fine to me, never heard of any trouble. Same with Castle Riada (with the exception of houses facing that lane which I believe is being addressed). I'm not sure what you mean by isolated - from what?

Foxborough I agree, but they have a very active residents association that seems to be trying hard, and I agree that the closer you get to Clondalkin unfortunately it can make a house harder to market.

On a different note. Also looked at Weston a number of months ago.
Deceptively close to Lucan village too.
Impressed with vibe and houses.
Downside was that the estate and driveways are a bit tight in spots.
Seemed very settled. Any opinions?
By the way, I know about the planes on a Saturday but I wouldn't be too bothered with that really.

Heroditas

jos_kel wrote: »

On a different note. Also looked at Weston a number of months ago.
Deceptively close to Lucan village too.
Impressed with vibe and houses.
Downside was that the estate and driveways are a bit tight in spots.
Seemed very settled. Any opinions?
By the way, I know about the planes on a Saturday but I wouldn't be too bothered with that really.

Weston is indeed nice but in my opinion it's a bit out in the middle of nowhere. It's not served well by public transport and Lucan village is quite a walk away.

Heroditas

hmmm wrote: »

Moy Glas has always looked fine to me, never heard of any trouble. Same with Castle Riada (with the exception of houses facing that lane which I believe is being addressed). I'm not sure what you mean by isolated - from what?

Foxborough I agree, but they have a very active residents association that seems to be trying hard, and I agree that the closer you get to Clondalkin unfortunately it can make a house harder to market.

I don't think Moy Glas and Castle Riada are as well looked after as other estates further north. As you said yourself, you'd prefer to live somewhere where most people have bought their properties. There's quite a high % of rentals in those estates.

Regarding "isolated", it's just not really particularly within walking distance of any village centre or amenities.

average_runner

Heroditas wrote: »

Penny Hill is an awful dump, as is Lord Lucan.
I guess my point about the N4 is not so much travel time to reach it but the quality of the estates. Typically the further south you go, the worse they get, along with heading east.
Willsbrook, Bewley, Elmbrook, Esker, Ballyowen fine.

Castle Riada, Moy Glass - not so great.

Griffeen - isolated

Balgaddy, Foxborough, Rosse Court, Earlsfort - avoid

Come on your talking alot of rubbish now.

Lord Lucan is not a dump, its the same standard as all the pubs in Lucan.

Griffeen isolated, thats bull crap. Lets look at the facts here:

Griffeen has the 25b on a regular basis where your sure of your seat.
Griffeen has its own medical centre.
Griffeen has its own restaurant.
Griffeen has its own youth clubs.
Girffeen has the lucan sarsfields, soccer clubs, community centre and running track in it.
Griffeen is close to Supervalu,.


Areas by the N4 aren't amazing and lets get that straight. Ballyowen lane is a very unsocialable spot, drove up it last night.
The council estate down there is a disgrace,
The shopping centre down there is getting rough.
The road between ballyowen and larkfield is traffic disaster.
Foxhunter is a disgrace.
Elmsbrook and esker are in the middle of nowhere with no bus service down the road towards bewley.
People can't get on the bus down by Willsbrook.
Liffey valley traffic diverts down the road by larkfield.
Larkfield itself had a issue on the standard of building of the apartments with abestos.

average_runner

Heroditas wrote: »

I don't think Moy Glas and Castle Riada are as well looked after as other estates further north. As you said yourself, you'd prefer to live somewhere where most people have bought their properties. There's quite a high % of rentals in those estates.

Regarding "isolated", it's just not really particularly within walking distance of any village centre or amenities.

All the village has one decent breakfast place and a good bakery, after that it has nothing. Its just a traffic black spot.

average_runner

hmmm wrote: »

I'm interested to know why you see proximity to the N4 as a big selling point? The N4 is reachable from most parts of Lucan within 5 minutes, but I may be missing something.

My purely subjective opinions:
- Most parts of new Lucan have FTBs with fairly young families. That's inevitably going to cause some social problems over the next few years. I'm not sure much can be done about that. Many of the estates seem to have good active neigbourhood associations & there's some good sports clubs.
- I wasn't aware of social problems in centre-South Lucan. I see gangs of kids hanging around the old Superquinn alright who do what teenagers do.
- I've never liked the park beside Hayden. Too dark, too quiet, too easy for a skanger to run and hide. I much prefer the main Griffeen park.
- Griffeen is due to get a LUAS (in the year 3020) and a swimming pool.
- There's lots of schools built or nearly built in South Lucan. It's also closer to the few shops and restaurants. Avoca was rumoured to be opening at the Foxhunter, but that seems to be on hold.
- Never liked the Penny Hill pub. You have to walk down to the village to get another pub or cafe.
- Call me a snob but if I'm paying for a house I want to be surrounded by other people who have also paid for their house.
- It can be occasionally difficult to get on a bus at rush hour if you're living towards the North end of new Lucan.
- There's a lot of culchies (myself included) in Lucan as it is easy to get onto the N4 or N7 to go visit the mammy. None of us dream of living in Lucan for the rest of our lives, and if we get the money together we'll buy elsewhere or down home, not upgrade. It's not a reflection on Lucan as such.

Griffeen park beside haydens park has more lights that the main griffeen park. It is a part of the main cycling route thats the reason for it. Also has security cameras on it and a new playground on the way.

Main Griffeen park is lovely in the summer but wouldn't fancy walking around the bit by the river in the dark with Arthur Griffith beside it. NO lighting in the main park

Heroditas

average_runner wrote: »

Come on your talking alot of rubbish now.

Lord Lucan is not a dump, its the same standard as all the pubs in Lucan.

Griffeen isolated, thats bull crap. Lets look at the facts here:

Griffeen has the 25b on a regular basis where your sure of your seat.
Griffeen has its own medical centre.
Griffeen has its own restaurant.
Griffeen has its own youth clubs.
Girffeen has the lucan sarsfields, soccer clubs, community centre and running track in it.
Griffeen is close to Supervalu,.


Areas by the N4 aren't amazing and lets get that straight. Ballyowen lane is a very unsocialable spot, drove up it last night.
The council estate down there is a disgrace,
The shopping centre down there is getting rough.
The road between ballyowen and larkfield is traffic disaster.
Foxhunter is a disgrace.
Elmsbrook and esker are in the middle of nowhere with no bus service down the road towards bewley.
People can't get on the bus down by Willsbrook.
Liffey valley traffic diverts down the road by larkfield.
Larkfield itself had a issue on the standard of building of the apartments with abestos.

The Lord Lucan is a dump. It's as bad as the Penny Hill.
If places like Griffeen are fine, then why are they considerably cheaper than identical houses up near Elmbrook, Esker etc if they're nicer?

average_runner

Heroditas wrote: »

The Lord Lucan is a dump. It's as bad as the Penny Hill.
If places like Griffeen are fine, then why are they considerably cheaper than identical houses up near Elmbrook, Esker etc if they're nicer?

Grange manor is matching most places for prices, also houses in that estate don't stay on the market for more than a month.

Willbrook and ballyown houses are going for less than Grange Manor 3 beds!!!
Hermitage 4 bed are matching Grange Manor these days but are longer on the market
Elmbrook is going for less than 3 beds in Grange Manor also

Heroditas

average_runner wrote: »

Grange manor is matching most places for prices, also houses in that estate don't stay on the market for more than a month.

Willbrook and ballyown houses are going for less than Grange Manor 3 beds!!!
Hermitage 4 bed are matching Grange Manor these days but are longer on the market
Elmbrook is going for less than 3 beds in Grange Manor also

Granted regarding Grange Manor but I'm referring to the likes of Griffeen.

Regarding buses etc. You referred to Griffeen having the 25b on a regular basis. IPersonally I wouldn't consider a bus every 25-30mins to be regular. Closer to the N4 in the likes of Esker and Willsbrook & Elmbrook, people have a choice of the 25a and 25b and if they walk across to Woodies, they have the choice of the 25, 66, 67 etc as well.

I'm merely looking at this in the cold light of having lived in the area for 9 years.
I also think the village has a lot going for it - some nice small cafes, 2 nice wine shops, fish shop, excellent fruit and veg shop, couple of ethnic stores.
Kennys and Courtneys are fine pubs.
Ball Alley - less so!
PJ Carrolls - too noisy
Major Garda station nearby which can give a lot of people comfort.

average_runner

Heroditas wrote: »

Granted regarding Grange Manor but I'm referring to the likes of Griffeen.

Regarding buses etc. You referred to Griffeen having the 25b on a regular basis. IPersonally I wouldn't consider a bus every 25-30mins to be regular. Closer to the N4 in the likes of Esker and Willsbrook & Elmbrook, people have a choice of the 25a and 25b and if they walk across to Woodies, they have the choice of the 25, 66, 67 etc as well.

I'm merely looking at this in the cold light of having lived in the area for 9 years.
I also think the village has a lot going for it - some nice small cafes, 2 nice wine shops, fish shop, excellent fruit and veg shop, couple of ethnic stores.
Kennys and Courtneys are fine pubs.
Ball Alley - less so!
PJ Carrolls - too noisy
Major Garda station nearby which can give a lot of people comfort.

Except that the 25a comes five mins before the 25b does, so still 20 min wait in lucan for a bus.

But for rush hour its every ten mins.

Griffeen would have a shorter walk to 25a than ballyowen to Woodies!!

And with the bus app you can work around the times of the bus easily.

Walking over to woodies on a wet sat wouldnt be too nice.

Kenny's is not bad, but Courtneys is a dump. Only one decent cafe in the village for me anyhow. But rather head off somewhere else as village is a nightmare for traffic and not a child friendly village the way people drive around it

As for the gardai, you always see them out and about, constantly patrolling around Lucan, i say i come across 3/4 cars when running.

Heroditas

average_runner wrote: »

Walking over to woodies on a wet sat wouldnt be too nice.

Just drive instead

unkel

average_runner wrote: »

And with the bus app you can work around the times of the bus easily.

Dublin bus app works great. It's available on Apple / Android and Windows Phone which makes a nice difference too compared to most Irish companies' complete ignorance of the Windows Phone platform

For me it means I have a good idea when to leave home to catch a 25B (2-3 minutes walk) and should I miss it, I've only another 3-4 minutes walk to catch a 25A

jos_kel

Heroditas wrote: »

Weston is indeed nice but in my opinion it's a bit out in the middle of nowhere. It's not served well by public transport and Lucan village is quite a walk away.

I wouldn't be too concerned about being somewhat removed from Lucan. It is also near enough by car to all 3 of Lucan, Leixlip and Celbridge. Driving to train station in Leixlip wouldn't bother me or using express bus.
Main requirements for Weston are:
1. Good area for kids to play, child is 6.
2. Pleasant neighbourhood in St. Mary's Parish for secondary schools.
3. Away from hustle and bustle.

jos_kel

Heroditas wrote: »

Weston is indeed nice but in my opinion it's a bit out in the middle of nowhere. It's not served well by public transport and Lucan village is quite a walk away.

In terms of Weston, I came across this link.
http://forum.flyinginireland.com/viewtopic.php?t=448

I know it was 11 years ago, but does anyone know do the same issues, real or otherwise, still exist for residents.

Thanks.

Went up there at the weekend didn't seem too bad.
I did notice the distant but still noticeable traffic noise from the N4.