scot47

Why have you decided to go and live in a foreign jurisdiction where things are done differently and where, it seems, you despise the locals and how they do things ?

terrygees366

Why don't you crawl back under the pebble from which you recently emerged?

jenny-laurel

Hi John, thought I'd share our experience of Irish property buying. My husband and I purchased a house in Cavan after a 2 year transaction. We were cash buyers and the house was empty. Thank goodness we were buying as a holiday home and not for immediate residence. In the UK a purchase of this nature would take 8 weeks.
All the legalities take so long, there is no urgency at all, you ring and they don't answer, you e-mail and they ignore that too. Short of going over there at every step and sitting outside their office there is no other way but to wait. It made us both wonder how on earth the Irish manage to do business. Maybe that is why the country is the way it is.
However we are both so very pleased with the house we eventually managed to buy, it was worth the wait, stress, frustration and hair pulling. Persevere. Anything worth having is worth waiting for. And good luck.

Lloyd2012

Hi all
What has to be remembered here is that currently all repossessed properties have a substantially large debt write-off attached. In very many cases these properties are linked with bank of Scotland. Since this bank left our shores the administration and legal paper trails are broken and disjointed. Speaking from first hand experience imagine having a buyer and the bank has lost your title deeds.
B of scot no longer have a licence to bank in Ireland so extrapolating info and paperwork from them is a nightmare. Thankfully I had an excellent legal company who ended going to the banking regulator and out legal ombudsman to get the bank to get their act together.
So in really I wouldn't be surprised if weeks turned into months for a house purchase deal.
Best of luck.
Martin.

terrygees366

Thanks for your insightful comments.

Given the scenario(s) you describe I would much prefer to be treated as an adult and not some ill informed child who believes in the tooth fairy.

In my particular case, 'The scanner is broken' - almost three weeks ago.

Swim4good

Hi everyone

I'm just in the process of trying to arrange viewings for properties when I come over house-hunting in 3 weeks' time. I'm already having problems getting certain estate agents to e-mail me back to arrange days/times. Is this normal?!!! I'm getting worried that if they're not motivated to respond to me regarding viewings then what on earth will they be like during the buying process! I must point out that it's not all but at least half of those that I've contacted. Please tell me this is just bad luck...........

Nora77

My aunt is going to buy a house in Dublin soon and its all sold...

Looks like market has moved again.

Lloyd2012

Well Terry I reckon you might have a few issues considering you don't seem to be able to regard my previous comment as purely advice and not to be taken as insults.

terrygees366

I was referring to the solicitor's dealings with me.

jenny-laurel

Don't be put off, you have to nag, nag and nag some more! Eventually you will get somewhere. But you must be persistent. Our auctioneer told us that they get a lot of people that aren't really interested in buying, they are just time wasters, so unfortunately serious buyers like yourself often get lumped into that category. I know it is frustrating but you have to do all the running, which doesn't seem fair when you are the buyer, they should be chewing your arm off to get a sale! They would be here in the U.K.
When we were looking at properties we found that the website Daft.ie was the best though you have to be careful as lots of them have been on there for years and are no longer for sale.
We had to come over from the U.K for viewings ( which cost a fair amount of money for accomodation, flights, car hire etc. ) and often the estate agent was late, one didn't show up at all, one sent his mother as he was 'busy' on the golf course, one house hadn't yet been built-just plans were shown, I could go on and on! So yes, your experience is very normal!
My advice is..if you want to live in Ireland, be patient, be like the Irish, it is a beautiful place and when you finally do get your home it will be worth every moment of frustration and perseverance. I am not Irish, I am English and have no Irish connections other than my in laws but I love the way of life, the laid back attitude and the friendliness. You will too, just hang in there. Lots of luck-Jenny.

london2cork

Absolutely correct! we are now entering our 5th month of legal work, we have resorted to emailing, phoning and writing letters to our solicitor who just will not reply, we have thought of getting another brief but we have spent too long trying to buy this property to start looking for an "on the case solicitor".....but we will persevere.....never thought we would have to disappoint intending relatives who want to visit at Christmas by informing them that they can't come over because we have nowhere to live at the moment....

goosegirl

This is true. Some estate agents are great, some are not so. We went over in August to look around, well it felt like I flew around. We had one estate agent that had the personality of a dead fish and another that was like a mate that wanted to take you out to all drinking holes in the town! We emailed loads about properties before hand & got about 3 replies. Apparently they get sick of people doing it & just wasting their time. A phone call makes you seem more genuine & obviously a visit much more so! Get as much info out of them as you can, you them to your advantage & sift the truth from crap! The dead fish fella said he'd expect to sell he property we went to view in the next 3 weeks for the asking price. It's still on the market....That was said on all the properties we went to view over there. We put a offer in on one cottage which was 7 thousand euro off the asking price & the seller refused it. He said he would sell it for the asking price of 72,500 quite soon. It's still up for sale. The price we offered was good feel, but not worth anymore to us. You have go to real & not get out of your depth & silly. We have accepted an offer on our property so fingers crossed it all goes through smoothly now. We know what area we want to move to, by going over there in August. We shall rent for 6/12 months then buy outright where we want. This will give us time to settle, get paperwork,pps numbers,bank details etc & most importantly find a house hopefully in the right area & me to try and set up my business (HA HA ). I cannot advise enough though, you must go over and look at the properties you see being offered because they look great from the outside but once you walk through that door!!!! One photograph of just the house on the advert is a big clue!! We saw one and the stairway was almost vertical! You would of been dead on falling down it!

Nora77

Dublin propeties are going down fall at all time , sad

DenC

Hi there swim4good - I just had to reply to you as I really can understand your frustration.! Last year My OH and I purchased a house in Co Roscommon.
- At the very beginning I did as you did, and e-mailed agents which I found on websites such as myhome and property.ie.
I was rarely replied to, in fact I think one out of ten might have been the case. In the end, those we were very interested in we phoned the agents, some of which replied, some answered the phone with "hello", some ignored the messages, and never called back. In the end we came across an agent advertising an open w/end, so we decided to get a plane and get over there. We went to two areas, saw some modern ghost estates, and one unfinished estate.
We found a "builders finish" in a small village, and the builder was selling because the bank "asked him to".! He would not accept any offers. He sold eight houses in one afternoon out of twelve advertised.
We contacted a solicitor that had been recommended by the agents- ( all members of the same early morning business networking groups) and they warned that I will have aquired several more grey hairs by the time the process was complete. She was sooooooooo right. Solicitors do not answer emails, they do not reply to phonecalls, pleads, prayers, or blessings. They will fob you off with broken printers, emailing problems, lies, delays due to the other side having a part timer. Irish conveyancing solicitors are expensive, unhelpful, inefficient, frustratingly slow. The sale eventually completed we think four and a half months later, and only after we signed a disclaimer to say we would not sue the solicitors if they failed to get all the documents they should have, from the other side.
Never again, no wonder it takes years to sell. It is the most stressful experience ever. We have bought houses in France Netherlands and the Uk, and never had such a frustrating experience as we had trying to buy in Ireland. I am Irish, been away a long time, and should have known better, and no, they have not changed in thirty five years.
So if you want to buy in Ireland, get a rental first, very cheaply, and take it one day at a time... good luck.

DenC

Hi London2Cork
Keep at them, send them a written letter by post outlinging your frustration, ad tell them you expect to be in by christmas as you have nowhere to live! Appeal to their better nature.! Best of luck