After renting on southside forever, we’re considering a move to Drumcondra for our family home. We think we can get more for our money, good schools etc which still remaining close to town. We’re trying to spend a bit of time in the area to get to know it but are still fairly clueless. At the moment we’re looking at the town end of Drumcondra - the Dorset St end primarily because convenience for work in town is a big factor for us and there seem to have been a good few sales in that area. I have noticed that a couple of nice looking houses have sold recently on St. Brigid’s Road Upper and there are a few for sale on Columbas Road which is beside St. Brigid’s Road upper. These roads are just off Lindsay Road and Iona Road which are stunning but are also very near Whitworth road, dorset street etc. I just don’t know if they’ll improve or disimprove over time. My question is whether we’re mad to be considering investing our money in that area given its proximity to rougher areas and whether we’re better off from the point of view of resale (which probably won’t be for ten years) concentrating on the other end of Drumcondra?
Hey,
Born and raised in the area so know it well, but rather than describe each place I’ve drawn you a map, I would focus my search inside the line, I’m sure there may be some objections to my scribblings but if you have any questions on the borders and why I’ve included/excluded certain areas just give me a shout 
.
I know the area well and I would tend to focus on the north side of the Tolka - off Homefarm Road, Griffith Avenue etc. IMO schools are better up this end and it is more suburban than urban although you may prefer a more urban feel. Its also near more parks and greenery - all hallows etc
Iona, Crawford, Hollybank, Lindsay could be exceptions for me if the house and gardens were right. Around Cremore is lovely but pricey.
+1
Ah, I see what you’ve done there:
You’ve excluded Beresford on account of Bertie, and Griffith Downs on account of Rambo - fair enough!
I think the map is spot on!
I would also add the mandatory warning to all southsiders considering jumping ship though. We’re awful rough this far north and sometimes there is dog poo on the paths.
Iona, Lindsay, St. Columbas etc have some lovely old red-bricks but also a lot of renters, including students and other transient types. Plus, as you say, those roads are rather close to some fairly gritty parts of the inner city (which, let’s face it, are not going to improve any time soon). If you’re looking for somewhere to raise a family I’d definitely recommend the upper end of Drumcondra which - speaking as someone who has lived there for many years - is considerably more quiet and settled, nearer to the better schools, and still plenty close to town. I’m particularly thinking of the Griffith Ave/Home Farm area - i.e. their subsidiary roads (Valentia, Bantry etc) and surrounding environs/estates such as Calderwood, Walnut and Beresford. Griffith Avenue and Home Farm Road are themselves lovely but also busy. One thing to remember about Drumcondra generally is that it has a lot of rat runs, so choose carefully if that’s something you’re concerned about.
Beresford and Griffith Downs are terribly expensive but Walnut/Courtlands is affordable enough and there is a nice atmosphere in that estate
A rise in tide floats all ships. Good luck. I hunted around there in 2006 - 1m did not go far…
Its true that the nice big red bricks on Griffith Avenue, Bantry, Clare etc even in a bad way are selling for 500k+ however a more standard semi in Walnut will guide at approx. 400k
A family home for me means an estate where kids can go out and play, a bit of a green etc. I’m not sure drumcondra fits the bill (well the parts i can afford anyway).
i.e looks at clonturk park. Would be perfect if it was just for me and the missus but for a family with a few kids i’m not so sure. It’s almost too close to town!
If you go a bit further North there is much better value to be had, for example Willow park and Grove park etc, they are prbably 1/2 to 1/3 the price of the areas in the map above and are all settled estates with large green areas in front of them. If the current madness remains I’ll be going for an option like that myself, I refuse to pay 600K for a 3 bed semi ,I don’t care where it is.
Any more on that Luas line that was to be built?
We would like to buy in Drumcondra, because we actively want to live there.
However it appears to me that there is better value in Rathmines, Terenure, Rathfarnham. The Kilmainham area definitely is cheaper and is similarly close to town with the added bonus of the Luas.
Therefore it does seem strange (and if I’m honest grate slightly) that you view it as a compromise location.
Maybe the grass is always greener on the other side.
Do you have (m)any examples?
Of course when discussing on internet boards you’ve to got to be aware there are lots of ignoramuses, including spoofers and other ill informed types.
With all due respect , you’re wide of the mark, or thinking of other streets. I know those streets very well, and the only renting I know of on Lindsay/Iona is family-home rental. Inner city proximity a bit overstated too.
not quite sure what you mean about “transient types”. I’m sure you’re not trying to be as perjoratives as it sounds, and you’re quietly indicating that you are a god, angel, highlander or other immortal (and thus intransient/eternal type). Probably is nicer to live with others of your ilk, since you’ll all be in it for the very long haul taking care of property etc.,
Valentia in particular is a road I like, though the houses are nothing special. Gardens are spectacular though. Agree with you regarding traffic on Griffith Ave and Homefarm. Would definitely put me off, though in other ways they’re great.
There is actually at least one flat on Iona - I have seen it come up on Daft a couple of times. I’m sure it’s nice, but it was surprising. I’d expect Columba’s Upper but more so lower has them as well.
Other than that I think the point relating to students or bedsits etc is far more relevant to Hollybank and the Drumcondra Road itself, but you are liable to to rub shoulders with students throughout the area. We viewed a nice house on Bridgid’s road to rent a couple of years ago - next door was two flats. A nice enough house was sold on St Patrick’s road not that long back - next door was at least 3-4 flats.
It is probably worth giving a warts and all representation, particularly to someone who has not lived in the area. Would someone who shelled out 450k for a house on Brigid’s Road Upper drop their monocle when they see the local beggar at Centra/Tesco?
I’m not saying there are no house-shares on Lindsay/Iona, just that you could know the area very well and not come across them/be aware of them. If you live there and don’t know there’s a renter on the street, how can you be bothered by there being a renter on the street (e.g. if you get some sniff of that from Daft)?
In the interests of warts-and-all, looking at houses to rent in that area, the greatest kips I saw were on Walsh Road and Millmount Avenue, both just north of the Tolka. The latter in particular was very bad, and they were being rented out +1 (i.e. turning one reception room into a downstairs bedroom). I know another just off Mobhi Road (admittedly a couple of hundred yards south of the Tolka). Depending on the hour of the day and time of year, it’s important for people to be aware that they may run into students on the streets around St. Patrick’s College, and also students from DCU may find their way into the area.
Obviously these are all serious concerns. I would overall recommend that people think twice before buying/renting in the Drumcondra/Glasnevin area. If anyone is thinking of doing that, and if they have the slightest doubt about that (in particular given the risk of sharing a post code with tenants/transients/students) it’s obviously better not to take the risk and just to stay somewhere south of the liffey, or ideally in the counties or abroad.
Remember, it’s your money.
We are currently living in the area and I have to agree with some of the original posts on locations. The only adjustments I would make is that we would’ve been more interested north of St. Pats purely because we wanted to be a bit further out of the city, after St.Pats the roads open out a bit more and it gets leafier. We looked at a 4 bed house in Glasnevin Downs that since has gone sale agreed that was pretty good that we were considering, it was just outside the boundaries of the map that was posted earlier in the posts. A lot of the houses though will require some modernising as a lot of the houses are 40-50 years old in the area (this was why Glasnevin downs was one we were interested in as it was about 20 years old). We viewed a view houses in Cremore Crescent also that were very busy so expect some competition for the better houses in the area.