richardsmith2005

Hello there helpful forum people!

I’m after a little guidance. I’m considering Ireland as an option for 1 – 2 years time.

I’ll be looking for somewhere with affordable housing (I expect my budget to be about 130,000 EUR for a detached home) but less than a 30 minute commute from a city where I can find IT work.

Would this rule out Dublin, or is the surrounding area reasonably priced?

AnneMC

To be honest you'd be hard pushed to find a house for that sort of money.
Dublin is out in my opinion.

Have you considered the west of Ireland? I've found the housing to be cheaper. Although on your budget it would be difficult to find a "nice" house. In County Galway, about 20 minutes from Galway city you could get a 2 bedroomed bungalow for 150,000 euro. Obvioulsy the further into the countryside and the older the house, the cheaper.
Galway is a fairly big city. And County Galway or even County Mayo is within commuting distance.
With regards to IT work, I wouldn't really know but I'd imagine most cities would have options open to you.
Sorry I can't be of more help. My knowledge really only relates to Galway/Mayo.

Batty

You wouldn't get a cardboard box for that money within 2 hours of Dublin. Sorry. You'd get a new house (detached with hardly any garden) in Laois (50 miles from Dublin) for (just) less than $200k. Have a look at www.daft.ie for an idea. I was just reading this morning that the average mortgage is now $198k but of course that's taking the whole country into consideration. It would be higher than that in the cities. Interest rates, although still low, have risen recently and are expected to rise again but you do get mortgage interest relief on your replayments.

richardsmith2005

It isn’t panning out as well as I’d hoped. I’ve done a little more research – this time specifically concerning house prices.

I live in Northumberland, England currently where the average detached home costs £282,234. Some of the North is cheaper, with the average flat costing £107,485. But they are really not where I’d hoped to live.

The average hose in Ireland is £188,545 (but £251,181 – which I guess is what you’re saying)

I’d hoped Ireland would offer affordable housing for a first time buyer, but if it continues to catch the UK at the rate it’s going, it will be no better for me.

Batty

It depends on what you want from a country I suppose. If your decision would be based solely on house prices, then no. I live in New Zealand now and one of the reasons we wouldn't have stayed longer in Ireland was the fact that we couldn't afford the house we wanted. We sold a 1930s semi-detached bungalow for $167k last June and, if we'd been staying there, and wanted a detached house with a nice big garden we'd have been looking at doubling the mortgage we already had (100k). And that might have taken us, maybe, 20 miles closer to Dublin. The wages are very good in Ireland though and if you could find something less than $200k down towards Carlow or Kilkenny, there's a lot of work around there. A 70k mortgage isn't a lot over there. And there's no stamp duty on a house under $210k (I think). Good luck though, with whatever you do.

crazydaisy

Is it possible to rent just for a year or two to see if you like it and find a place to settle? Dipping your toe in the water so to speak! The daft.ie website has rental as well as houses for sale and the prices seem to be reasonable (and no maintenance hurrah!). As a long term idea you may prefer to buy but I'm wondering if short term you could start off small, test the water and take it from there. On looking around Galway I found some farmhouses for sale around the 200,000 Euro mark which is only about 140,000 gbp which I think is quite reasonable. This is in the Loughrea area which is only 30 mins. bus ride to Galway and a 2 and a half hour train ride to Dublin. Plus there's Galway airport for quick visits back to England. Rent would be anywhere between 600 and 800 in that area. I found County Clare to be a bit more expensive than Galway but if you live part way between Limerick and Galway you could access both markets and would be roughly 50 minutes drive from each town if you wanted to widen the job oppurtunities.

BlueScottyGirl

I have to agree with the previous posts, you won't get much for your money down my way either. I live south of Dublin, on a good day you can get to the city in just over an hour, on a bad day (and rush hour) it can be two hours and more. There is tax relief for first time buyers on new property up to EUR 317,500 but that means first time buyer ANYWHERE, not just Ireland...I suppose it would be up to you if you told them or not.

Recent developments round here have sold for about EUR 170,000 but went on the market immediatly at over 200K, that was for three bed terraced/semis. There's a whole rack of houses being built now because the N11 is being improved, might be done by the time you get here, and Gorey/Arklow and other towns along the route are expected to become fully fledged commuter towns.

To rent, you could expect to pay EUR 700-800 for a spacious three bed detached in Gorey, as you move North however it gets expensive very quickly.

Just a thought...but have you considered renting privately and using your money to buy an apartment that you then rent out to someone? would keep you on the property ladder if nothing else.

There are loads of other things to consider as well though. We moved here about a year ago and while very similar to the UK, things are also quite different. One of the biggest changes was getting used to everything happening a little bit slower than we were used to. That said, the good far outwieghs the not so good, I wouldn't live anywhere else.

Oh yes, taxes are pretty high, schooling is great, there is no such thing as council tax (but you have to pay to have your rubbish taken away) and while there is a Tesco they probably won't deliver to your area and you need a mortgage to buy a packet of chocolate digestives there!

coralsoft

I've been getting large packets of chocolate digestives for 1.49 €, less if it's a cheaper brand, from Dunnes in Dublin. Not bad. With a loaf of bread, packet of ham and tub of coleslaw, that's my lunches and evening meals pretty much covered for a few days. ;-)

At the moment, I'm paying 50 € a night for hotel, including breakfast, though I'm now considering looking for flatshares to cut the costs. Flights home are OK until you get the timing wrong and end up paying more than double, though if I got desparate, I could always go via London or something.

House buying is out. London prices for Dublin, I'd say at a quick look. Certainly no gain to be had moving from where we are near Madrid: a major cut in property-for-buck, plus a higher cost of living. I don't know how the locals do it, even with a rampant economy.

On the IT work side, there's masses of it, mainly in Dublin and Galway. There's plenty being advertised on Jobserve at the moment, since they can't find enough local talent, so are looking to the flexible Brit contractors.

I don't know what salaries are like, but contract rates are much lower than the UK on a sector-for-sector basis, I'd say, with less of an upwards distortion for banking/finance, though that's where most of the work is.

It's a lovely city, Dublin, and I'd be enjoying my time there, if I could afford to drink more than one pint a week. ;-(

Londonuck

i was heading for ireland myself but the house prices are just too much. the houses are very much cheaper in the west but then you've got to find a job.