Viewing in Ireland while still living abroad - any advice..?

Mr Hindley

Looking for advice on how to manage viewing properties while still living abroad!

I've been living in the UK for >20 years but now looking to move back to Ireland, south Dublin ideally, to be nearer to my father. Workwise, I can keep my current job, which makes life easier; I want to buy rather than rent, given how exorbitant the rents in Ireland are, and ideally find somewhere and get an offer agreed before I move back so I'm not stuck for too long living with the aul' fella..!

My current thinking is to fly back to Ireland every few weeks or so for long weekends and fit in bursts of viewings; I was a bit surprised to hear that estate agents in Ireland don't normally do viewings on Saturdays, is that right?

Also would be grateful for any advance advice on how far in advance viewings need to be organised, how realistic it's likely to be that I can line up a day's worth of viewings of the properties I'm interested in.

From these boards, I'm reading that viewings are a lot less busy than they used to be, which may make things easier. Basically, any advice from anyone who's done similar recently would be appreciated!

Toots

I'm not sure about the no saturday viewings, but my sister bought a house recently and all the viewings she went to while she was house hunting were on Saturdays. Her work schedule wouldn't enable her to do weekdays or evening viewings. I think the only one she did on a weekday evening was when they had found a house and needed to get a builder to quote for work needed before putting in an offer. She had to take a half day off work to get it done.

Actually just having a quick look at Daft, and there are a few properties for sale in my area that had open viewings on today.

tuisginideach

Most public viewings are on Saturdays

Mr Hindley

Cheers - thanks, both, really helpful! I thought it sounded a bit odd that viewings wouldn't happen on Saturday, given that most of us have to work for a living!

Are open viewings the norm these days? Or does the old-fashioned 'meet the estate agent at the house for a one-to-one viewing' still happen a lot? It's nearly ten years since the last time I went through this process

Gumbo

Open viewings are most common but Ah depend on the property and value.
Most do open viewings, say Saturday 2.30-3.10. The EA then moves on to another house in their listing from say 3.30-4.10.

More bang for the buck and they get more viewings into a shorter period.
Anyone serious can then request a private viewing.

Marcusm

Mr Hindley wrote: »

Looking for advice on how to manage viewing properties while still living abroad!

I've been living in the UK for >20 years but now looking to move back to Ireland, south Dublin ideally, to be nearer to my father. Workwise, I can keep my current job, which makes life easier; I want to buy rather than rent, given how exorbitant the rents in Ireland are, and ideally find somewhere and get an offer agreed before I move back so I'm not stuck for too long living with the aul' fella..!

My current thinking is to fly back to Ireland every few weeks or so for long weekends and fit in bursts of viewings; I was a bit surprised to hear that estate agents in Ireland don't normally do viewings on Saturdays, is that right?

Also would be grateful for any advance advice on how far in advance viewings need to be organised, how realistic it's likely to be that I can line up a day's worth of viewings of the properties I'm interested in.

From these boards, I'm reading that viewings are a lot less busy than they used to be, which may make things easier. Basically, any advice from anyone who's done similar recently would be appreciated!

It’s usually open viewings on a Saturday. Try some of those to get a feel for what’s available. In late 2015, we arranged 14 viewings over 2 days and agreed the purchase of one a couple of days later. However, without an Irish job history you will need to avoid a mortgage entirely, ie have all purchase funds available. Absent this, resign yourself to renting for a period.

Edgware

While there are a share of open viewings usually on a Saturday it would be a very poor estate agent who would not organise a viewing outside that day for genuine customers.
New estates will generally have show properties available Saturdays and Sundays at least.

Sueffun

Well I had the same issue but I live in South Africa.
I phoned lots of agents first to set up viewings but it seems a lot of the houses on DAFT are sale agreed and they don't indicate it immediately or there is a bidding war between buyers or the house goes way above the asking price.
We decided to book a holiday for two weeks to try and find something and only managed to find 3 houses to view that were available. We offered instantly on the last one as we were leaving the next day, it was accepted over the asking price and we paid the deposit.
13 weeks later we have heard nothing. So I may have to start all over again, it's really difficult to find anything.
I would love to see any ideas how to do it from a distance. We were cash buyers with the funds already in Ireland, so good to go.

Newsgirl

Hi there! I don't know what your budget is, but buyer's agents are increasingly a phenomenon in Ireland now. There's still only about four or five of them in Dublin, but most of their work these days is handling the purchase of homes for Irish buyers who live abroad. Usually, they view a property on your behalf, take footage of the interior, exterior and surroundings and provide commentary on the pros and cons of a property. But I don't know how much they charge. They could also put you in touch with mortgage brokers accustomed to handling overseas applications, though the only lender in the market at the moment is Haven Mortgages, through AIB.

Mr Hindley

Newsgirl wrote: »

Hi there! I don't know what your budget is, but buyer's agents are increasingly a phenomenon in Ireland now. There's still only about four or five of them in Dublin, but most of their work these days is handling the purchase of homes for Irish buyers who live abroad. Usually, they view a property on your behalf, take footage of the interior, exterior and surroundings and provide commentary on the pros and cons of a property. But I don't know how much they charge. They could also put you in touch with mortgage brokers accustomed to handling overseas applications, though the only lender in the market at the moment is Haven Mortgages, through AIB.

Thanks - not an idea I’d thought of, and certainly an interesting one. My guess is that the service will be prohibitively expensive, but I’ll do some research.

Fortunately, I’ve got a mortgage lined up already, via a broker - by the time I complete on a property, I’ll have moved back to Ireland, so that makes life simpler (although still not simple!)