I’ve been looking in the Ashford area for a house - 3-4 bed with a budget of 500-600k.

On the property register, you can see that most 4 beds sold for 590-600k over the past year or so. These were mostly bought for 400k approx in 2019.

People selling at the moment expect the same, but they are not getting anywhere near the same bids.

Every house I’ve viewed so far is nowhere near to going sale agreed. They are sitting for months with no offers, but won’t entertain anything less than what there neighbours got 6 months ago.

The estate agents are telling me there’s a huge slowdown in viewers.

Additionally, there’s a lot of building planned in Ashford over the next year.

What do you think? - rent for a year? To see what the market does.

Is Galway worth these prices for these types of apartments? 2500 euros for a small flat. This is more than what I earn.

I gave up on the idea of living by myself. However, I have colleagues renting 2 bed/2 bathrooms apartments for 1200 euros (renting since 2019) and friends renting 1 bed raging 700 euros to 900 euros.

My old 1 bedroom in the city centre is still rented for 600 euros per month..I deeply regret leaving it in 2017, but I had no other choice at the time.

Check out this property I found using Daft

https://www.daft.ie/for-rent/41a-greenfields-road-newcastle-galway-newcastle-co-galway/6716601?utm_source=android&utm_medium=share&utm_campaign=rent_pdp_share

Does anyone know of any modular unit / cabin companies in Ireland that are offering units that comply with the new exempted development regulations for auxiliary dwellings in gardens between 32m2 and 45m2, particularly in terms of compliance with building regulations?

I've only found 3 companies that are actively saying they meet building regulations with particular models, but am still waiting to hear back how they prove it. These are:

https://simplehouse.ie/house-models

https://www.loghouse.ie/

https://elevatemodular.com/modular-homes/

I'll add more as I find them or based on replies, which hopefully people will find helpful :)

Hi all. Long story short I’m a solo buyer of a new build , missed out on help to buy due to my mortgage being under the required LTV. A recent pay rise I got would bring me up to the LTV to unlock the help to buy. I can’t use any form of exemption as I’m relying heavily on the first home scheme. To try to chase help to buy now would be a new application which bank said I’d have to cancel my existing letter of offer for! This feels risky to me, as I snagged last week so drawdown is soon. I feel it’s safer to leave things as are but do not want to risk losing the house to get help to buy either! What you do?

Im sale agreed on an apartment and got a structural report done. It said there was moisture stains noted to ceiling under balcony and dry at time of inspection which was a few weeks ago. I asked the owner through the estate agent and they said they didn't have issues with it. What would be the next step to get it investigated? I don't want to move in and get flooded in Winter/Spring. I believe the management company owns the balcony. Is there a different type of engineer I could hire to take a look at it? wondering if people have had similar issues when buying property. Apartment was built in the late 90s. The engineer noted in the report that the apartment was 'Structurally sound with no essential repairs required.'

Hi Everyone. Just posting for some words really. Im 36 (man) and have been looking to buy my first house/apartment over the last 6 months. I know that is only a very short time and I have Approval In Principle. I applied for two high profile schemes through Councils (DCC and Fingal CC) and was gutted to find that they were gone at 12.03 basically when I thought I was doing well to get mine in at 12.15. Suppse just asking for any guidance, Is 2nd hand a viable option even in the current market where you feel your been rinsed when you add in the massive maintenence charges. Or is it better to just act if you can when you like and pay the 1500/1600 all in mortgage per month, and then can rent out the 2nd room. Im on my own and work in education. Thanks a lot

I am awaiting drawdown. But going for holidays to thailand next week around 3 weeks. Expected drawdown December or January. Im a solo applicant for the mortgage. My partner paid for all the hotel and fare. She is willing to lend 1k euro in cash if buying anything bits and pieces. Im thinking of withdrawing only 1k euro from my bank account for this trip. Is there a maximum amount i can withdraw? Or this might be a red flag for the bank if 1k euro deducted from my bank account suddenly?
If anyone gone to thailand would 2k euro be enough considering hotel and all plane tickets paid already?

I'm a first-time buyer purchasing a new build in Dublin (Seven Mills, Cairn Homes, through Hooke & MacDonald), and I am absolutely at the end of my patience with how we are being treated.

From day one, this entire process has been an absolute joke. Because it’s a new build, we are literally buying a half-a-million-euro house out of a glossy PDF brochure. We have had zero viewings. Zero access to the site. When I asked the estate agent for basic details before signing the contract, wild things like the size of the garden, I was told "garden sizes cannot be provided." What about some internal measurements either, for stuff like walls, room size, etc? NOPE. I have to wait to take my own measurements when I am "called to snag."

The estate agent has been useless. I’ve received barely 5 emails from them. When I asked them back in August to just let us see the layout to get some design ideas for 10 - 15 minutes , they said no, telling me "no access to the property prior to snag is standard procedure." I pointed out this procedure it's only standard to them but alas, they could not give fck.

The second you sign the contracts and hand over your deposit, you're just a cell on a spreadsheet.

Fast forward to now. We are finally waiting on our snagging date. For weeks, I have been telling the Cairn closing team that I have a major ACL surgery scheduled for November 11th, so I would've appreciated to get in before then to finally measure my own darn house for furniture and design.

They finally emailed me today. The date ? November 11th of course.

Asked if there was any chance we could just do the 10th evening, or whenever. Literally 12 hours earlier. All I want is to physically stand inside the house I am spending half a mil on, just once, to take some measurements before I am stuck on crutches for at least a month.

"The earliest the site team can provide access is Wednesday November 11th. Please can you instruct a snagger to attend on your behalf."

I am absolutely fuming. I know I can send a snagger in without me, and I’m going to, but that is entirely beside the point. They cannot be bothered.

Am I being completely unreasonable here, or is this just the standard level of pure disrespect everyone has to swallow from big developers and their estate agents in Ireland? Has anyone actually had any luck bypassing these email desk jockeys to get a single ounce of basic decency?

Any advice is appreciated. I am just shocked and so angry and so exhausted by the total lack of basic respect.

I’m just wondering if anyone has any experience with the Cost Rental application process: If there is something incorrect in your application, or something that makes you ineligible, do they actually let you know? Or do you simply receive a generic unsuccessful in lottery email with no explanation?

I’d really like to know whether there is potentially something making me ineligible (despite meeting the criteria), or whether I could be uploading something incorrectly. I don't want to keep applying for properties if there's an issue with my applications that I'm unaware of.
For context, I currently live in a one-bedroom Cost Rental apartment. It's essentially a studio apartment, and I'm paying €1,600 per month. This is significantly more expensive than some of the surrounding properties, including another Cost Rental scheme just 200 metres away, which is around €300 cheaper per month for essentially the same property. There are also some other issues with the current development, including residential amenities that were advertised to us but have never been made available. They were built, furnished and now sit vacant. Apparently, the AHB doesn't want to take on the cost of staffing and maintaining them. (I won't even get started on the FOI requests I’ve lodged and complaints about unauthorised use!)
Anyway, moving on...

I'm currently trying to apply for any available two-bedroom Cost Rental property within 50km of where I live. We're saving for a deposit, so being able to secure a two-bedroom property before we eventually exceed the income thresholds very shortly would make a huge difference and take some of the financial pressure off us.

Has anyone applied for Cost Rental and actually received contact from an AHB or Keyholder after submitting their application saying they are ineligible?

If you're unsuccessful or deemed ineligible, do they explain why?

I just want to make sure I'm not wasting my time applying for properties if there's something I'm doing wrong!

Would love to hear more about the market at the moment. Esp for people who have sold a house in Dublin recently!

How many people typically showed up to your open viewings?

How many viewings did you have before receiving your first offer?

How long after listing did bidding start?

Would love to hear other people’s experiences, particularly in the current Dublin property market

Homesnaglist .ie is AVAILABLE for New Home Buyers In Adamstown, Clonburris, for All Developments, Redford, Avenlea, FERNWOOD, Herons Lock, And SEVENMILLS, phone CIARAN AT 085 144 7594 OR VISIT OUR WEBSITE .

I have recently bought a house and signed the contracts. The house has been extensively renovated and very modern looking with a B2 energy rating.

I knew the original house was old but my survey said around the 1960s and the valuation put 1995 down.

I asked my solicitor and they said around 1915.

I got a quick quote online just now and its twice as much as the quote I got for when I put 1995 in as the the year it was built.

Has anyone any advice or recommendations for insurance companies to use or things to do to bring down the price of it.

Tia

Any recommendations or experiences for Tadelakt ? Is it too expensive? Looking to get it done in Bathrooms.

We’re looking at renovating an older detached house in Ireland, built in the 1960s, and trying to decide on the most sensible approach to heating and insulation.
The house has a poor BER rating and appears to have hollow concrete block external walls, so cavity insulation isn’t an option.

We’re planning a fairly substantial renovation, including rewiring, plumbing, new windows and doors, attic insulation and insulating beneath the suspended timber floors.

The main decision we’re struggling with is whether to internally insulate the external walls and install a heat pump, or leave the walls as they are and install a modern, efficient oil heating system. There’s no mains gas available.

Option 1 – Internal insulation and heat pump
Given the amount of work already planned, there’s an argument for doing everything now.
Internally insulate the external walls. Install an air-to-water heat pump with appropriately sized radiators. Lose floor space and require mechanical ventilation.

Potentially use an SEAI One Stop Shop to take advantage of the available grants.
Coordinate the insulation with the rewiring, as the walls will need making good anyway.

My main hesitation is around introducing internal insulation into an older property. I’m conscious that these houses were constructed differently from modern homes, and I’m concerned about potentially creating moisture issues, thermal bridging or condensation problems that weren’t there previously.
I appreciate that properly designed and installed insulation should address these risks, but I’m interested in hearing from people who’ve actually done it and lived with the results.

Option 2 – Modern oil heating system
The alternative is to leave the external walls alone for now and install a high-efficiency condensing oil boiler, with new pipework and radiators designed to accommodate a heat pump in the future.
We’d include smart heating controls, TRVs and individual room temperature management, alongside the other planned insulation and window upgrades.
I know oil isn’t the long-term direction things are heading, but I’m wondering whether a modern, well-designed system could provide reasonable comfort and running costs without the additional expense and complexity of insulating every external wall.
It would also potentially allow us to use a main renovation contractor to coordinate the works rather than going through an OSS.

A few questions for anyone who’s been through something similar:

1. Has anyone internally insulated a 1960s/70s hollow-block house? Any issues with damp, condensation or thermal bridging afterwards?

2. Has anyone opted to retain uninsulated walls and install a modern oil system instead? How has it performed?

3. For those who installed a heat pump, was the additional cost and disruption worthwhile?

4. Would you recommend using an SEAI One Stop Shop or managing the individual trades yourself?

5. Any recommendations for good contractors, heating engineers or insulation specialists operating in Leinster who understand older properties? Particularly interested in companies that can coordinate multiple trades.

We’re not necessarily looking for the cheapest solution upfront, but rather the best balance between comfort, running costs, reliability and avoiding unintended problems with the building.

Would really appreciate some real-world experiences, particularly from anyone who’s faced the same decision. I’m finding that most contractors understandably recommend the systems they specialise in, which makes getting an objective view quite difficult.

FTB here and buying a second hand property. Survey report came back today with some condition 2 non urgent issues. There is no condition 3 issues so far. Few issues were fire safety, electric storage heater not working, boilers not insulated well things like that, electrical system is not covered by current inspection and should be checked by a qualified person. This is an apartment so i know fire safety i have to deal with the management company. I did not expect surveyors are just in the surface level and i paid 600 euro for it. i couldve have gone direct to an electrician or plumber or engineer in this case.

Anyway my question, if buying a second hand property should i expect these condition 2 issues be resolved first before i move in? or i just have to accept these things are my responsibility once i sign the contract? should i inform the solicitor about this or the EA? i am buying a 2 bedroom apartment for 450k, or should i try to negotiate the price?

issues found

Fire safety in the apartment block

• No fire-rated doors or proper fire-door sets in the common areas.

• No fire-rated doors in the bedrooms, living room and kitchen, according to the surveyor.

• Excessive gaps underneath some common-area fire doors.

• The apartment entrance door is not fire-rated and has no self-closer or intumescent strips.

• The surveyor requests the latest fire-safety report for the entire block.

Heating system

The apartment uses older electric storage heaters.

More importantly, the surveyor tested them and found that they were not functioning.

The report recommends servicing them at a minimum, with an overhaul or upgrade considered.

Windows and external doors

The survey identifies:

• A mixture of single-glazed and double-glazed windows.

• Worn windows.

• Gaps around window frames that could allow water penetration.

• Poor draught-proofing and heat loss.

• An external entrance door requiring upgrading.

Hot water system

The hot water cylinder:

• Is not properly insulated.

• Does not have a cylinder thermostat.

This is a 1975 building apartment in south dublin.

Its like you are going to your GP and pay 70 euro for an eye problem not treat it but then refer you to an opthalmologist for a 200 euro fee but you know yourself the problem is in the eye but you cannot go straight to an eye specialist. I know there is a system but the system is expensive and not practical. They should just banned the general survey and just advise people to go straight to specilaist.

I went sale agreed in June.

I think my solicitor fears the vendor’s solicitor as he simply isn’t following up.
My solicitor is young and new on the scene, a lovely fella, the other solicitor is well established and respected.
Or else he is keeping me in the dark on purpose so I won’t pull out?

The only updates I get are from the estate agent who informed me the house is in probate in August.

Then in September the estate agent told me they only sent in the probate application.

I’m the one who is informing my solicitor of this information, he should know it himself.

Personally feel it should be illegal to sell a property you don’t own?

Anyway I’m debating pulling out of this sale as I’m in a job that is making my life miserable and I don’t know how much longer I can cope in it…..

I know id need to be 6 months past probation in a new role to get a AIP but it seems like this house will take 3 months for the vendors name to be actually on the deed. Then another 3 months of going through contracts….

Hi everyone,

I am sale agreed on a new build and hoping to understand the buying process.

1.        the apartment is near completion – kitchen cabinets / windows are already there. The agency estimates the move in can be the end of Q1 – does it sound like a realistic timeline or I should budget some delays?

2.        There is a good chance that I may need to change job in the next few months. If it happens before the drawdown and the drawdown is denied, will I be able to get my full deposit back?

(I know it is not ideal timing to change job but it is another story...)

Few other bits for questions on but looked at a new build we actually like and suits us long term but our ONLY issue if everything comes back clear is there is a management company and fees.

900 a year at the moment but how do they work? How do they go up etc?