Visited Dublin and fell in love with Ireland. Looking for a buy to let. Which areas to choose

Don't do it. Way too risky for someone as a first time investor. Ireland is not small landlord friendly, take it from someone who got out as soon as they could

Foxrock is a nice area- also Dalkey

'There is no profit margin after you pay 50% tax on rent.'

Would a French investor pay 50% with no other Irish income?

This may be your first attempt to invest, but it could be your last if you want to be a long-distance landlord of property in Dublin.

That is for vulture funds REITS and equity capital. Small landlords 1-10 lets are running out of the market. Anyone who bought in the latterdays of the Celtic tiger, survived 2008 crash is worn out. Right now the property market is at an all time high. This is exactly the wrong time to invest.

"If you cannot see the top of the market, you are in the bubble"

Plus there is a distance factor. Its all good on paper. What do you do when it goes wrong? When a pipe bursts mildew on walls and the tenants decide not to pay. God help you if you are involved with the RTB. To rent a property you need to sit on it.

I have just got out of being a single property landlord and I had the same great tenants for 18 years. I sold it to them in the end. I was lucky with my tenants in that they cared for the property as if it were their own, and now it is their own. But there’s nightmare stories out there.

As regards nice places, the properties in these are usually astronomically expensive to buy. In Dublin, the top tier locations are mostly near the sea if you look at a map of Dublin Bay. As a very tough rule of thumb the further you go west the cheaper are the prices, and the original social housing starts to predominate. But there are many exceptions to this guideline.

Everyone is assuming that all small landlords are on high rate tax. That makes up a small number of landlords.

I have two investment properties. Both are in pension fund. I pay zero tax on rent and if I sell it I pay zero CGT either. Other I now have the same set-up.

One person I know took early retirement and has 3 properties. He pays about 27% tax on the rent over about 35k (jointly assessed) as its his primary income.

Where there is no value and I would concur with others, is if you have a regular income and paying tax at the higher rate. Then is makes no sense whatsoever.

But in a pension set-up, it can be very profitable

I would doubt the OP is genuine. Too many superfluous details.

+1

This is very good advice for OP.

If this is all age wine query, re letting from abroad you can employ the services of an agency, in fact you would have to do that, they take 10% of the letting money.

Darndale.

That is not the question. The question is will she get a safe return on her investment. I would rather invest elsewhere. This has nothing to do with the tenant.

Dublin is very popular with French people. They tend to live in nice parts of the city & suburbs close to beaches and parks, go to nice restaurants and bars, visit museums & galleries, get involved in sport etc… so their experience of the city is probably more positive than yours.