r/HousingIreland

Just looking to hear if anyone had any regrets about moving out of a town? We are looking at two completely different houses at the moment, one is a 250sqm dormer bungalow built in 2008 with high end finishes, we can get it off market so no bidding wars for €550,000. It’s 15 minute drive from the town centre and two minute drive from the nearest village with local school, shop, pharmacy etc. The second is a detached house within a large town about 100sqm, very near where we currently live, but needs significant work and an extension (25sqm), would cost about €675,000 to make it work. My concern is that it could cost even more than that and also trying to get someone to do the work. I’m leaning towards the one off but we have lived in the town for the last few years so it would be a big change. If anyone has made a similar move it would be great to hear if you are happy with your choice?

In need of a really good snagging inspection , has anyone any recommendations or can refer me to someone who actually catches the kind of issues an average or cheaper snagger might miss?

I’m in the process of buying a new build house in Herons Lock by Evara Homes, Lucan.

It’s a big purchase and we’ll be living there for years so the last thing I want is surprise costs down the line because something was missed during snagging stage

If anyone has real experience with Evara new builds in the Adamstown/Lucan area — Aderrig, Blossoms, Redford, Herons Lock, etc.

I’d really appreciate hearing it.

Especially looking for recommendations for a snagger in the Lucan/Adamstown area who is thorough and knows what to look for in newer estates by Evara or Cairn Homes

Also, if you’ve bought from Evara before, please share

What snagger you used and would recommend

Any common problems you found (or that your snagger caught)

Things I should specifically ask to be checked during the snag inspection on Evara’s homes

Any issues with drainage, flooding risk, water ingress, build quality, insulation, , plumbing or electricity in home , underfloor heating, or anything else that showed up later

Overall experience dealing with Evara after handover

Builder offered list of their own known Snaggers but im afraid that if you use snagger from list some things might not be displayed at the report or im wrong here ?

Really appreciate any honest input from people who’ve been through it. Thanks a million.

Yesterday (24/4 Friday) is the closing day, after a long series of delay from the vendor's new build. I was told by EA on the closing day that vendor is in the process of moving out and "I should get the key before end of day". So I waited....until my solicitor called me at 5:05pm and informed me that the vendor dropped the key with the EA. I would not be able to pick up the key before the EA office and phone line are closed, and I have to wait for Monday?! . I left DM with the EA's facebook and instagram page and so far no response.

Am I right to feel absolutely livid about this? I was told over and over that closing day is when I will get the keys. I have a timeline to move out of my current place and I was planning to use this weekend for deep cleaning ( and we have a damn good weather this weekend). I didn't even get a closing view on the day. This is wasted time and I have to push my plans forward by another week.

I can't help but left fuming through the weekend. What a shitty ending to the long house purchase journey (6 months from sale agreed to closing day)!

About to move into a new build. Question for the people in same situation, do I just keep it at 20 degree the whole year or change it depending on weather? Also the hot water setting needs to be tweaked or same 48 degree whole year? Do you have timer set for hot water or that doesn't matter?

Hi everyone, recently I had a very unpleasant situation in Ireland.

My boyfriend and I live together, we are both 19 years old. We are students under the Erasmus+ program. We had been living with our landlords for 4 months, and a couple of days ago they texted us saying they needed to talk to us and asked when we would be home. I said at 7 pm. We arrived at 6 pm, and they came about 30 minutes later, at 6:30 pm.

They came in and told us that they were evicting us because the house was not clean. They said that food was left out in the kitchen, the dishes were not washed, there was mold in the house (although it had been there from the beginning), and that the oven had not been cleaned. In our contract, it was stated that we could be evicted for property damage, noise, or unauthorized occupants. None of this applied to us, the only issue was that the house was not clean. Yes, it really wasn’t very tidy, but they only gave us 4 hours’ notice before their visit.

Later, they sent us a notice of early termination of the tenancy. There were two points in it that we didn’t agree with.

The first is that there will be a preliminary inspection on a certain date, and then a final inspection within 7 days after the tenants leave. We don’t understand this at all, why would they do another inspection 7 days later? Is this normal practice? We don’t want this.

The second is a “No Waiver” clause stating that during or after the final inspection, they can report missing or damaged items. We also disagree with this, as we want everything to be checked in our presence and properly documented while we are there.

Could you please tell us if this is normal practice? Does this actually happen, or can we stand our ground and insist on having one inspection in our presence and documenting everything together?

I had a viewing in Adamstown six months ago (Avenlea).

I remember the prices of one of the new builds were listed at 550k, and the same has gone down to 535k now.

I see the ads being updated everywhere. It's not only this one property, most of their other builds are also listed at lower prices.

Any idea what has happened?

Sharing our experience with BOI’s mortgage process because it was genuinely one of the most stressful and disorganized interactions we have ever had with a bank. It almost cost us the contract on our new home.

Two Months of Silence and No Progress

We started our mortgage application at the beginning of February.

By April, we still had no answer.

• No credit issues

• Everything always paid on time

• Strong salary in the tech industry

• Clean financial history

Despite this, BOI made unreasonable claims about “payment capability” and even removed parental contributions from the balance, even though these funds had already been taken into account during previous purchases in the last six months.

Document Black Hole

The last document request was completed immediately.

After that, three weeks of complete silence.

No follow‑ups, no additional questions, no updates.

Representative Disappeared

Our assigned representative was friendly at the start and then completely vanished.

• No timeline

• No estimate

• No loan offer

• No communication

• Everything left hanging

We Almost Lost the Contract

Our developer gave us a strict deadline.

BOI’s delays pushed us right to the edge of losing the house.

Why We Recommend EBS Instead

We activated Plan B with EBS, and the difference was immediate and consistent.

• Responsive representative

• Clear communication

• Every step had a defined timeline

• No disappearing advisors

• No contradictory affordability claims

• The entire process was completed in three weeks

• We received the loan offer two days before the contract deadline

EBS treated the application like a real process with real consequences, not something to leave floating indefinitely. If we had relied on BOI, we would have lost the house. EBS effectively saved the purchase.

Final Advice

If you are in a rush or expect even basic customer service, do not go with BOI.

The organization is chaotic, communication is nonexistent, and the process is painfully slow.

EBS proved to be the complete opposite: organized, responsive, and reliable. If you want a lender that actually communicates and respects your timeline, EBS is a far safer choice.

Hey all, FTB here.

Looking at houses up in daft and seeing that some houses are for sale through online offers - with some having had almost 30 offers already.

What does it mean in terms of prices (i.e., if starting is 300,000) - Dublin area

and

when do these offers end realistically.

Some houses were advertised since feb or even december last year.

TIA

I’m considering buying a house in Rathborne / Ashtown around Royal Canal Park / Pelletstown and wanted honest local opinions.

How safe does the area feel day to day, especially around the canal and Pelletstown station after dark? Are car break-ins, teen loitering, or anti-social behaviour common, or is it mostly online exaggeration?

Also, for current/recent residents — would you recommend the area for long-term living?

Looking for opinions on something a bit different to the usual house hunting experience.

My partner and I have been actively viewing homes and recently lost out on one. The estate agent from that sale got in touch this week saying she has another property coming up that might suit us.

Details are fairly limited:

- Not listed yet (off-market)

- No photos just gave us a description and knew what we are looking for based off the last house.

The way it was put to us the seller wants X amount and a quick sale (We are first time buyers) and we can make an arrangement off market if we like it and the house suits us (haven’t viewed it yet as I only got the call today)

I just found this very unusual and thought with demand being so high for houses that agents wouldn’t be ringing people and offering off market arrangements. As I’ve mentioned previously I am a first time buyer so it’s a real learning experience, I’m just wondering do these type of deals happen often or is it a unique case? Would love to hear if anyone had a similar experience. Cheers 👍

Hey so im not a big fan of the sink on the center island layout. Any thoughts on the cost of moving it next to the window instead? Am i better off doing it myself or hiring a professional? If hiring, then any suggestions where to go? Ive no clue about the plumbing situation too so any help is appreciated

Hi everyone,

We have an underwritten AIP with Bank of Ireland and went sales agreed on Monday. Our BOI mortgage advisor had given us a list of documents to send him by email once we were sale agreed, which we did, but it’s been radio silence from him since. We called, texted, emailed, left voicemails and messages in the hub to no avail. He hasn't answered once or called back. I tried editing our details in the hub but it hasn’t done anything.

So now I don’t know what to do? All we want is to continue the process and get the loan offer as it can take a while and we literally have all the documentation asked of us. Even the bank valuer has already done the house valuation this week and sent his report to the mortgage advisor.

Is this normal to not get any response from the mortgage advisor for 4-5 days at this stage of the process? If he was busy and told us he'd take care of it next week, it would have been fine. The ghosting is very frustrating.

For those of you who went through a BOI application, what did you do once you were sale agreed to get the ball rolling and start the loan offer process?

I am in the process of buying a home with PTSB ( have signed loan offer and eveything ) and got news of potential layoffs in May . I work in a multinational company in Tech . The house i'm buying is almost done but waiting on some kitchen fitting that can only be completed first week of May and snagging and drawdown will commence from that timeframe

My question is , if i receive notification that im impacted May 20th can i still drawdown whilst im on notice period ? I signed all the documents ( DD mandate , change in circumstance etc,

I'm looking for thoughts if anyone has gone through this , what did you do ?

There is currently a little cottage on Nore Terrace for sale (link below) for €275,000. The house is in derelict condition, needs a lot of work, and hasn’t been lived in for almost 3 years.

Location is good, has great potential, and has a nice size back yard. You’re probably wondering why I have beef with this house and why am I posting it on Reddit? Well this house, all 49m2 of this house was purchased by its currents owner approximately 1 year ago for a price of €251,000. In that year, and judging by the photos, there has been no work done to the house. The only ‘upgrade’ I can see is that the current owners applied for planning permission to extend the ground floor and add a dormer. HOWEVER, this planning permission has not been granted. The current owners who purchased the house last year on an online auction and completed no work to the house are looking for an additional 24,000 euro. That isn’t inflation. That is just greed!!

What is interesting about this property is that it was sold at online auctions the last two times it was sold (which neither buyer has lived in it). The previous owner bought it in 2023 for €187,000 on the online auction website, BidNow. That owner then sold the house in 2025 on the online auction website Offr for €251,000. The previous owner had it in their possession for over 2 years and they also didn’t complete any work on the house which shows the house has just been idle for this many years and getting in worse condition.

But now it is being sold by a Kilkenny based auctioneers. Comparing the square footage to other properties in Kilkenny city, it is way over priced. Especially when you consider the condition of the house.

What does this highlight?? The absolute greed people go to make a profit. The current owners are clearly selling this for a profit and haven’t done any work to deserve that profit. It also highlights a fact that housing is not a high enough priority in the Kilkenny area. Loads of new housing estates are being developed but there isn’t enough being done to cope with the demand. There is no houses for young people to rent and the option to buy isn’t ideal either. We really are in the midst of a desperate housing crises. What is the word to describe something worse than a crises? Because that better depicts what the country are experiencing.

Rant over. See the current house in question below.

https://www.daft.ie/for-sale/house-1-nore-terrace-kilkenny-kilkenny-co-kilkenny/6540671

Hi! Looking for any Spaniards who got an affordable house in Baile na Mona 👏🏻

I am in my 20s working in tech

Annual salary: 65k total (base + bonus), translating to a borrower capacity of 250k–270k (4–4.5x)

AIP is in progress

60k savings + 40k family support

I can save about 2.5k per month

Target property price: 330k–350k

The reason for the time pressure is that layoffs are happening frequently in tech these days.

There are likely to be multiple rounds of layoffs in the coming year.

Reasons for rushing to buy:

If I get laid off, I will need to find a new job and pass probation, and my salary may decrease due to the current job market. So I want to buy as soon as possible.

In addition, in order to buy a house, I have been very frugal and have not invested in gold or stocks. I am still young and would like to make some large purchases after buying a house.

If I am not laid off, my total compensation could reach 78k in about a year, which would give me more borrowing capacity. I originally planned to buy at that time, but now for peace of mind I have decided to do it ASAP.

I understand that from AIP approval to mortgage drawdown can easily take 6 months or more.

My goal is to complete it within 3 months if possible.

Question 1:

Are there any ways to shorten the transaction timeline? So far I can think of:

Avoid sellers in a chain

Find efficient and reliable lawyers and surveyors

Question 2:

To maximise rental yield and value preservation, I’m currently looking to buy a 2–3 bedroom house in an okish and affordable area, such as Ballymun, Lucan,or Dublin 12. That would be my top priority. As a second option, I’d consider a three-bedroom apartment near the airport, like Santry, or along the northside DART line.

However, houses within my budget (350k) are old and might need renovation, which could make the process longer due to additional surveys?

Or should I prioritise speed and buy a 2-bedroom apartment first, since there are many options? If I am not laid off and get a salary increase later, I could upgrade to a house?

At my age, very few of my friends have already bought property. I am from another country and have limited experience with the Irish property market, so I am seeking advice.

Input would be very much appreciated!

The older adult children of the previous homeowners are selling the home. We really want the house and think we have a good chance and made a very strong offer. Would including a personal note to them explaining who we are and what raising our own kids in the house would mean to our family have any impact or not? What do you think?

Hi, I'm wondering about the process of ESB. Our new build is fully built and we were waiting on ESB only. We have been told today that they have commenced working on the properties. My question is if they have started with laying down the cables how long do you think it will be before completion of ESB's work? We have been told the handover is the 26th of June.