House Size vs Location

Ceolaguscraic

Hi there,

Myself and my wife are looking for advice in relation to finding a property. We are planning to buy a house and hopefully have some children. We are between buying a house in Rathfarnham 92 metres squared and in need of some work. It is however very close to Marley park and a a ten minute drive to Ballally Luas stop. The other houses we have looked at in our budget are much nicer with lovely gardens and are mainly in the Ballyboden, Knocklyon, Firhouse and Perrystown areas.

My question is, how important is being close to a Luas/Marlay vs a nicer house with longer commute times and more traffic? Bearing in mind this would mean living in a smaller house trying to raise young children?

Thank you for any input.

Jim_Hodge

That's a trade off only you can decide on. People will favour both options. Personally I'd rather raise a family in a bigger or nicer home further out but perhaps the distance is a deal breaker for you. Your wife and yourself need to sit down and weigh up the pros and cons from your own points of view.

Vestiapx

Worst house in best location is better than best house in worst location.

angel eyes 2012

Has the house in Rathfarnham much potential in terms of garden space for a possible extension sometime in the future.

Of the four other areas you mentioned I was in a colleague's house in Knocklyon recently, close to the Supervalu, and there seems to be a nice community feel to the area with schools and services right on the doorstep. It's not too far out either.

ted1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058366880/house-size-vs-location

10 minute drive to the LUAS is quite a lot. Where would you be going ? Rathfarnham is less than 30 minutes from town

Where in Rathfarnham is it ? I

Ballyboden wouldn’t be much different than Rathfarnham. There’s a big overlap between the 2.

kirving

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058366880/house-size-vs-location

Think closely about school catchment areas too.

St. Colmcilles Junion, Senior and Community schools in Knocklyon all have a very good name, and would not be available for you if you lived outside the area (ie: Firhouse for example).

Not saying that there's anything wrong with any particular school in Rathfarnham, but I do know of some people who have had trouble with falling outside of their preferred school catchment area there.

elperello

Don't overthink it.

Buy the one you love and where you can see yourself living and the rest will fall into place.

FledNanders

Bigger house for me, if you are planning on having kids. Those other areas are all very close by to Rathfarnham anyway.

thereiver

If you want to have kids it,s nice to have a garden think of how far from local school is it ,it it close to a road,eg noise levels at 5 pm, 7 pm, from traffic .

IF you buy in a nice area you can always sell at a profit in 4 years from now