OK guys, I know some of you bought recently.

How do you feel about it now, timing-wise? Now that the register is out, and we have a dead cat bounce in some areas, do you think you got a good deal?

You're just being evil Al!

I feel : -

bored - No more weekends going to open houses, searching endless websites, doing calculations, calling EAs, hearing sad stories about how the price can't be dropped

confident - I now wish the euro or banks will collapse. Please make my debt worthless.

comfortable - no more waiting for the landlord to fix the broken shower. The Mrs can decorate as she wishes.

lucky - some houses are on the register for much more than when we pulled out of the bidding

angry - some houses are on the register for less than the EA said was the latest offer

shocked - probably for every 10 houses we viewed, 4 are on the register. What happened to the other 6. Tyre-kicking by the sellers

confused - why is there large price differences on similar houses in the same estate. Was it a canny/desperate buyer/seller, was it the north/south facing garden, was it the granite counter-tops

violated - now anyone who knows my address, (work, friends etc) can look up my house. Hopefully I do not need to sell in the near future. But if I do, the prospective buyers will also have an advantage, unless I do something about the granite counter-tops

cash rich/ paper poor - My mortgage is less than my rent. So while my house may be losing value, I have more cash at the end of the month. And as saving rates decrease and dirt increases, the best return is to overpay the mortgage, which in turn leads to lower repayments and more cash.


With regards to timing, the register confirmed what I suspected, i.e. there are lies, damn lies and statistics. Sub-200K, while % changes are huge, the euro changes are not. Paying rent and waiting another year does not really save alot. Certainly not as much as waiting from 2007 to 2012. Above 200k, while the %ages are smaller, the euro amounts are larger and there is material savings to be made by renting for another year.

But overall, I learnt just because the CSO or the register states that houses are down x% does not guarantee that you will or should get the house at that price. It is only one of many factors in the process. For example in one estate nearby, a bad crowd moved in, somebody got shot, and houses went from 300K to 90K (70%). A few roads down, in a better estate, houses have gone from 400K to 200K (50%). Should I have bought in the bad estate to maximise my savings? Could the bad crowd move to my estate in the future? Are houses in my estate going to go down much more? I don't know. I only know I am where I am and I am happy to be here at the momment

Good post goffal.

Great post goffal.

Plus one, good onya

Wow, that's some rollercoaster

Feeling good - I bought in Dublin 14. There was a noticable narrowing of supply around the time I bought in April, (I closed in June). I'm in my 40's and was getting quite tired of renting.
If it's an LTV situation it looks like banks (AIB, KBC) are happy to lend to people on very modest incomes.
I expect things to bump along the bottom for some time.
This site has been invaluable along the way. So thanks for all the info, opinions and entertainment.

Nice insight from Goffal.

Calling Sharper1971 - you thread has arrived.

happy enough

bought towards the end of 2011 just as the market was starting to turn. lot of doubts all round but info on this site (as well as on the ground) helped me decide. particularly in SCD most of the odd lots seem to have cleared, now getting back to a normal (if not below normal) level of supply.

cheers all and happy 2013.

I bought this year. Paid low 200s for a small house with unbeatable location (for me/us anyway). 5 months later a neighbours house just went up for 50k more, identical condition and I'm pretty sure from insider info that it'll go for at least that with probably 20k on top.

It's funny how as soon as you buy you switch from being (somewhat) pessimistic to being (somewhat) optimistic about the whole thing, I guess that's just the human condition.

I'm an Economist by education, and sort of, by trade. I have thought for nearly a year now that the worst for the Irish economy is over.

I genuinely believe that it's still a good time to buy so long as you're looking for a house in a sought after location. Either that or an apartment at an absolute firesale price, i.e. 80k for 2 bed apartment in Balbriggan, 80k for 1 bed in town, etc.

Either which way our mortgage is 500 Euro less per month than our previous rent and we had rented for the last 5 years. If your mortgage is less than your rent it's a bit silly not to buy...

But those are just my thoughts and I wish you well either way.

Best of luck.

Traded up early in 2012 because the property we bid on (65% below Tiger) was very good value in an area we knew quite well there was very little activity in terms of viewings or interest and our bid was accepted 24 hours later with a little bit of horse trading and closed inside of 6 weeks.The E/A almost tripped over himself in terms of dropping hints as to what the vendor would take. (House had been on since 2008 and chased the market all the way down)

A similar property went on the market 3 months later and had massive interest,think there were 20-25 viewings on one open house on a Saturday,The price realised was €125k over what we paid.

Personally I do not think this is sustainable in the short term as Banks are not functioning properly however my Wife an I are in our 40s and wanted to trade upwards,we put our own house on at a realistic price and sold in 6 weeks,2 bidders but no real bidding war,went for less than it was on at but happy enough with the price,lost a tracker but what the hell,its not worth it if you really want to trade up.

Overall very happy with the move,in a House I wanted to be in in 2004 but refused point blank to pay the money they were going for back then,did I see that whole bubble thingy?

Nope but very glad I found this site in 2006,its been an education.

There were houses back in 2007 that passed the same test...

People who say that a mortgage for house works out cheaper than the rent for that same house, could you please explain to me how the hell that works? Do I live in a different country that the rest of you?

Should have said that when I said "mortgage repayments' I meant capital and interest over a 20 year period.