First time poster. I need some advice.
My wife and myself have to emigrate this summer for a year or two. However we have seen a 3 bedroom apartment of around 620 sq. ft in the city centre (near Connolly station) for around 240k (back in 2007 same apartments were selling for 400k). We both think that the apartment is nice, well located (even though the crime rates in Dublin 1 are high) and the price is very interesting.
One problem is the size; we have 3 little children and it is a bit small for our need, but we could manage. Other problem is that we will need to rent it for a year or two, as we will return here afterwards. We could wait and buy when we return, but the problem is that I won’t have a permanent job, my salary will have dropped probably 10 or 15% and we’ll need to rent again and wait until a bank give us a mortgage approval.
What would you do?
-Wait and maybe not being able to buy a similar place when we return, supposing that the country is still in recession.
-Buy now, get a mortgage of 195k and having to rent this place for €1300.
-Hang onto the deposit of 70k.
??
yeah that one.
in other news here’s a small lump of coal that was on for €400 in 2007
https://www.mii.org/Minerals/Minpics1/CoalBituminous.jpg
for some reason no-one bought it and now i could snap it up for €240. coal - they’re not making any more of it!
that 620 sqft 3 bed is just over half the minimum size for a new 3 bed apartment.
in fact it’s barely over the minimum size for a new 1 bed. run a mile. then run another mile.
Whatever you do, don’t buy an apartment. Considering you have three children this is even more pertinent. I repeat, do not buy an apartment. Overall, my advice to you would be to not buy anything untill you come back. In my opinion the crash hasn’t even got started yet.
edit: just thinking about this post,it doesn’t seem plausible to me.Strange post.
Do you honestly think a family of five can live in a 600sq/ft apartment?
My girlfriend and I are just after moving out of a 520sq/ft apartment that we found bearly adequate. Even though there were only two of us, we had feck all room for all our stuff. Even if we had one person over, the place was cramped. I know you have three children, but where the hell are they supposed to play and grow up like normal kids?
Honestly, you need to slap some sense into yourself for even entertaining the notion of this. If an American saw you raising a family of five in such a shoebox, they would either think you live in the third-world or you were on welfare.
My opinion for what its worth.
I am in a similar situation came back with my OH in Jan. to Ireland was about to buy and luckily came here and good Pinsters gave me couple of different perspectives on things.
Renting now but I am back (short term overseas) while my OH is working in Dublin. We are thinking of going back to the field by the end of the year. Next year can only be worse (i can bet on that) and now my only worry is do I leave money in Ireland or do I move it to a country that has safe deposit boxes and maybe convert it to Norwegian Krone.
Do not buy 50m2 apt even if it’s in Grafton St. If the money is burning hole in your pocket put it in agri land.
Membrillo, I believe 95% of the people on this site would tell you to hang onto your deposit and not to even entertain the idea of buying an apartment for a family with 3 children.
To return in negative equity with the children getting bigger and no choice but to live in the apartment (rents could be down another 30% by then) could be a real challenge physically and psychologically. Who knows, your plans to return may be put on the long finger too if the recession/depression continues to deepen.
This is a time for zero risk and to use your savings wisely, I would say run a mile and hold onto your savings.
Do not buy. Oh please do not buy that apartment. Your quality of life in a rented house for a year or two if needs will be 100 times better than it will ever be in that apartment in the inner city in Dublin. You could find yourself living next door to a drug dealers den. Lugging the buggy and shopping in and out of the lift. Really, don’t even consider it. Hang on the savings. Go and spend your time away in the peace. Then when you come back, rent a nice house with a garden. Who knows you might not want to live in Dubline when you come back. We have been renting for a few years now due to job moves etc, and although it’s not ideal you do have the freedom to pick and choose where you live till you get settled.
It would be a very canny investment. You should pay the full ask and even maybe a little extra just to sweeten the deal and make sure it goes through. Time is of the essence. After all, property only ever goes up, they’re not making any more of it, you can’t lose with bricks and mortar.
Good god. A “year or two” can easily become more and who’s to say you’ll even want to come back here. You’d be nuts to buy an overpriced property that isn’t even suitable for you years before you’ll even need it!
That’s very bad advice. After all, the property ladder remains and prices won’t go any lower. In fact, the OP won’t even have a steady income when they come back so wouldn’t get the mortgage to buy this, their dream home.
I strongly urge the original poster to go with their gut instinct and ignore these bitter pinsters who have let so many investment opportunities slide by content to crib’n’moan from the sidelines and from the basements of their Mammy’s houses, feasting on beans and bile.
You will be advising then to buy in Bray next 
Bray is a fine investment. Sunny year round and in no way under threat from global warming. Indeed, it is much like Cape Verde only more desirable as it is, in actuality, linked by DART to the city centre.
Wicklow, the Garden of Ireland…
Say it.
Sea it.
Buy it!
i can absolutely 100% gaurantee that this place will be worth less than 100k in a years time.
ok , i dont know much about the place.
i’ve never seen it.
i dont know the exact location , and i dont know what condition its in but i can still say with complete confidence that it will be worth much less in a years time.
how ? because im a pinster gauddang it.
That’s completely irresponsible advice as the OP has noted he will have no steady income in two years time and won’t get a mortgage, he must jump on the ladder now! This is an excellent opportunity to scale multiple rungs at once and the rental yield in the interim will clearly “wash it’s face” after taking into account void periods, maintenance, management fees, letting agents, etc.
This is a genuine NO BRAINer.
Calm down 2gaffs. The Pin is holding you in reserve for the inevitable upcycle .
Talk it down talk it up
ok maybe i was a bit optimistic with the 100k.
i can 100% absolutely gaurantee that this place ( despite knowing nothing about it ) will be worth 50k next year.
gauranteed! what more would one want.
Mebrillo
Assuming you’re not a troll, ITA with everyone else. I lived in Gardiner St with my son when he was little and it (and Dublin 1 in general) is a freaking kip. I couldn’t bring him to the park to play as it was full of drunken scumbags and junkies. I was mugged in the street and broken into, on one occasion while I was actually in the apartment. There was a crack house across the road and the Gardai asked if they could monitor it from my hallway, which was round about the time I knew I had to get out. In a better-planned city, you could bring up kids in an apartment; in Dublin, fuggeddaboudit, and especially this horrible neighbourhood.
Overall I have to say that I agree with most of the answers received.
It looks like all the emigration-related stress and other issues was disabling our common sense.
Thanks for time taken to answer my questions.
Don’t do it again Membrillo and keep taking the whatsits .
Buy it … snap it up straight away.
your only emigrating for 1 year, or maybe it will be two years, or who knows it could turn out to be 3,4, or even 5 years. But if you dont buy it asap, you wont be able to live in your newly adopted foreign land and be worrying about did someone break into my rental gaff, and then you can be on the phone for long periods asking relatives and friends to check on the gaff cos someone did a runner, and think how useless that 70k is to you sure you may as well piss it into a shoebox apmt . Then when the kids have grown a bot more the whole 5 of ye can live in it , after all its 600 sq ft .
Also if you dont snap it up, you wont be worrying about the crashing house prices. Ignore all those headlines about the IMF coming and 500k unemployment and ESRI (for what its worth) forecasting -9.2 GNP this year.
none of those things affect 600sq ft apmts in Dublin 1.
Buy it … Ireland hasnt had an entry in the Darwin awards for a few years. 
on the other hand…
Good luck to you in your new life in foreign shores, hope the weathers nice there, and that 70k will go a long way there.
Is that a light at the end of the tunnel for membrillo… yes its the sunset he is sailing off into 
15 YEARS DUDE 15 YEARS THATS HOW LONG THIS RECESSION WILL LAST. YOUR CHILDREN WILL BE BUYING THAT APMT WHEN THEY ARE IN THEIR EARLY 20S FOR THE SAME PRICE YOUR ABOUT TO FORK OUT NOW FOR IT.