Hi folks, first-time buyer here trying to ascertain the ‘value’ of two similarly priced houses. Would appreciate any thoughts/feedback.
daft.ie/11248857
Quiet location (cul-de-sac), v well maintained/extended/renovated.
daft.ie/11223855
Roadside location, so not as quiet…but v convenient for schools/shops/DART, and in decent shape.
Has been on the market since Sept 2015…but no-one’s biting…
Maybe access is the issue for not selling? Rear access is ‘interesting’…and front access is blocked by a telegraph pole (pp has been granted for access, but i guess removal of the pole is an additional cost to bear in mind)
Or maybe expense incurred by a future remodel of downstairs (doing something about that galley-style kitchen) is putting off potential buyers.
New windows might help dampen the noise of the Howth Road but I don’t know how loud/messy the crowds coming out of The Station House or the Inn would be, might be worth parking up nearby on a Saturday night at chucking out time…
The other house seems better looked after as you say and looks like it needs less work (galley kitchen, access etc) but I don’t know that estate at all.
Avondale: being sold as a 4-bed, but is only a 3-bed (the attic room is labelled attic in the plans meaning it doesn’t have the required access to meet the requirements of a room). Mind you, the Howth one is the same! The finish on the Avondale one is better, as, i think is the layout - the dodgy photos of the kitchen in the Howth Road one conceal more than they reveal - anyway, it looks like a dingy corridor. The Kitchen and the downstairs layout are far superior in the Avondale one.
It kind of begs the question, given the turnkey appearance, why is the Avondale one cheaper? Is the Howth road one overpriced? Remember, just because they both have the same asking price, doesn’t mean they have the same value. The Howth road one may be wildly overpriced, or the Avondale one may be overdecorated beyond the market’s taste (it’s more than mine, and I quite like wood…).
So you’ll have to trudge around both of them - as pm1977 says, consider noise, consider location to public transport/shops. Consider parking. Consider anti-social behaviour. Look at the neighbours, are their houses well maintained? Consider the lilies of the field and remember, both those prices are asking… there’s always a greater fool who can outbid you!
I know nothing about the area so i can’t compare based on that but i would make the following observations:
Is the Avondale BER B1 as per photograph or E1 as per Headline? If B1 then this would be significant + for me
On first glance i would want to be getting the howth road one at a significant discount to Avondale. Avondale looks to be spend now save later and howth rd is save now spend later.
If avondale is just new to the market, and you want to minimise your initial spend, the howth road people might be interested in a quick sale?
I would be doing plenty of reccies of those lanes at various times.
The Avondale house is far and away the better location - located on a cul-de-sac but still very near all amenities. The Howth Road one is on a busy main road, close to an even busier junction, with a pub, and very big church. It’s also beside a garage, opposite the library and close enough to the chipper etc…
It’s a no brainer for me in terms of location.
(The Mrs grew up on the Howth Road - albeit on the “posher” end near Blackbanks! She says there never was an issue with Avondale in the past in terms of anti-social behavior . I imagine there are lots of older folk living there now so probably even quieter than in the 1960s and 1970s. The sister of a friend of hers lives there and is apparently very happy!)
Raheny is a great location overall - not too far from town, near the Dart and handy for the airport as well as being close to the sea, St Anne’s Park and not too far from Sutton, Howth, Portmarnock etc.
Not surprised . There was a lot of interest at the viewing I attended. At the time, I mentally bowed out, having heard on the day that there was a current offer of 405k - with the amount of folk coming/going at the viewing, I had visions of an impending bidding war pushing the 395 asking price ever higher.
Will be interesting to see if that war transpired/what the final selling price was.
If there’s one trend, its the fact that a well maintained property, with extension work done already, is the type to go (first).
Thanks for all the feedback. I appreciate the time you took to offer it.
Having viewed both houses, and knowing the village (have lived here 3/4 years), your replies reinforced some things I had considered, and gave food for thought on other considerations that hadn’t occurred to me (Thanks CJS! - I’ll be paying closer attention to raised sockets in future - I’m guessing they allude to rewiring expense/inconvenience down the line?).
One unfortunate truth from our search is indeed this -
I’ve grown to love Raheny. However, to my mind anyway, it seems that those who can no longer afford the Clontarfs/Suttons are encroaching onto ‘my manor’ …and they do indeed have deeper pockets.
After thinking it through (over months since viewing it), the Howth Road house, at that price, just doesn’t offer what I’m after. The search continues. Thanks again.
. There was a lot of interest at the viewing I attended. At the time, I mentally bowed out, having heard on the day that there was a current offer of 405k - with the amount of folk coming/going at the viewing, I had visions of an impending bidding war pushing the 395 asking price ever higher.
…and they do indeed have deeper pockets.