WIW - your honest opinion please, pros and cons-, have fallen in love with this house but checked propertywatch and it’s been up for sale a year so far with no price movement, therfore would conclude could definitely get it for less- but how much less???
www.myhome.ie6 Monastery Drive, Clondalkin, Dublin 22
thanks 
I know that is in the nicer part of Clondalkin, but it’s still Clondalkin. Nice garden. Reasonable decor.
Genuinely, I wouldn’t pay over 150k if I were in your shoes. But I’m not…
Others will try to tell you otherwise but 380k is crazy money for a smallish house in Clondalkin.
The Monastery Road part of Clondalkin is easily the nicest area in that neck of the woods. The problem is that it’s still Clondalkin, not exactly an area where a lot of people aspire to live. The house itself looks fine but the price is in lala-land. I think fair value on that property would be about 180-200k.
snap!
Just to add, ‘falling in love’ with a house is a recipe for financial ruin. Don’t be blinded to the fact that it’s the biggest financial decision of your life and shouldn’t be clouded by emotion…
Your undying lover affair will all too quickly sour in the cold light of day when infatuation with the shiny new kitchen is replaced by the reality of crushing negative equity…
Not wanting to rain on your parade though
Guessing 750/mo rental with a 20 yr yield puts it 180k
The price is just utterly insane given what 375K now buys you in far more desirable areas.
The market has moved on, this house has not.
You’re in love. Break it off, or face heartache.
Relatives bought on that estate in about 2004/5.
Lovely 3 bed semi, huge sitting room/kitchen, conservatory, lovely garden etc, bought in 2004 for 280k, which we thought at the time was mental money.
380k in 2011 (lovely house and garden but still…) is nuts.
Can totally see what you’ve fallen in love with the gaff - it looks great in the photos but unless you can get a serious reduction in that asking price, it’s not a good buy. I’d say it’s never good idea to fall in love with the house but I’m a sucker for a Belfast sink 
I knew people who lived in similar houses (nearby streets) about 25 years ago.
Pros:
The immediate area is nice. Fair amount of green space.
Back garden looks lovely.
Original build quality of these houses was quite good. I think they date from the 1960s?
Renovation looks good.
Cons:
Original footprint of these dormers was quite small. The bedrooms felt a bit poky. Now there seems to be additional bathrooms, so I guess the bedrooms will be even smaller? Bedroom 3 on the advert seems especially small (2.86m x 2.77m)
The right side of the house was originally a garage - I’d check the quality of the conversion.
Access to the city - I don’t know what it’s like now, but there were periods in the 1990s when friends had serious problems getting onto the Naas Road in the morning to go to work in town. Maybe this has changed since the spaghetti junction was completed.
As to the price, I’d wonder why it’s over 20% more expensive than this one: myhome.ie/residential/brochure/21-monastery-heath-square-clondalkin-dublin-22/1454945
Though I don’t know anything about the development in this Monastery Heath case (I guess 1990s).
To be honest, 380K seems way too much. I’d guess more around the 200K to 220K.
Great observations, especially about the bedrooms, they are very small - although the living space is really ample in them so it depends on what you want. In newer houses that I have viewed, it’s been the opposite - strange!
I think it’s very ugly and bitty looking, to be honest, but that could just be me. Nice garden. No square footage mentioned, have you done the sums yourself on the sizes given?
If you’ve got a budget of 250k, and really like this area then maybe. Even for that though, I reckon you can live much closer to the city and in a nicer house
Thanks so much to everyone who took the time to reply…plenty of food for thought 
Defintely was aware €380k ridiculous price in these times but didn’t realise €200k would be quite more realistic…suppose it boils down to getting vendor to accept more realistic price and if not…well …walking away…
I’m not in an immediate rush anyway so the search goes on…
If anyone else has an opinion then much obliged to hear it
Look at comparable places in Lucan - not a expert on Clondalkin but I think it’s a useful comparison. There are places there for 240k ish - and not just Foxborough
I have worked beside Clondalkin for over ten years, and given the increasing number of shootings and murders I have heard reported, I would not live in Clondalkin if you PAID me 380k. Not even the “nice parts”.
That estate imho is quite nice; special even; rare in Dublin in that it was designed in an open plan fashion with green space, and soft or no boundaries between the front gardens; gives a nice open feeling as opposed to the normal boxed in look. And also its gently sloping as opposed to boring flat and many people have planted flowers out the front.
That end of Clondalkin, is quite good; wheras most of the bad press for Clondalkin is actually from the other side of the village towards Ronanstown, Neilstown or beyond Corcagh park. The village itself is ok, and the yellow meadows area is so-so. But, the schools especially the secondary may be a mix of all the above.
It has good access to the M50, and town, N7 & N4; and reasonably close to the Luas - well connected!
And the price is equally as mad as any other price in Dublin, though this gets a local premium as it is aspired to within the surrounding area.
A quick and dirty search for Dublin South 4 bed semi-detached from 300-400k seems to throw up many equally nice properties in far more ‘desirable’ locations.
But what’s desirable? The safety/security issues and mix of fellow classmates if you’re planning on sending the kiddies to a local school (issues raised in some of the replies above) may be a concern for some; but you may not see it that way, and no set of preferences has a monopoly on right and wrong. You love it, and you’re perfectly entitled to do so.
Nonetheless, the bottom line is that it’s got to be worth less than 300k based on even the simplest comparison with the rest of the market - and that’s at ASKING prices. So don’t let love blind you when it comes to making your offer. Go the EA armed with your CSO figures and solid data on others in the area. (I know other pinsters will say the EA might laugh or flip you the bird but have three good answers at the ready to fire back if you’re dealing with a smart-arse. Make your offer and show them the clear evidence behind it; then be patient. Last month an acquaintance of mine got €185k off a €695k asking price with that approach.)
What kind of a property crash ask’s 380,00 grand for a house in Clondalkin ?
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