Maynooth - Review of Estates

yellow hen · 12-01-2015 1:53pm #1

We're hoping to move our (young) family to maynooth and would be interested in peoples opinions re some of the estates (ie. trouble, maintained well, mainly rented/not rented etc). We would be hoping to put our sons name down for St Marys catholic school although our choice of house will not be based on schools.
thanks.

Moonbeam · 12-01-2015 2:16pm

You will have no issues with school places.
Parklands and Rockfield are lovely for families.

L1011 · 12-01-2015 3:45pm

The Catholic schools are by far the easiest to get in to, and nothing is done on house location within the town with admission.

Staplor · 13-01-2015 3:23pm

All the estates are grand in Maynooth, if you post up any house in particular you like the look of you'd get a better response.

yellow hen · 13-01-2015 3:55pm

Staplor wrote: »

All the estates are grand in Maynooth, if you post up any house in particular you like the look of you'd get a better response.

Three estates we are interested in are:
Maynooth Park
Moyglare Village (not the new estate but the estate on the left behind the boys school as you drive out the moyglare road)
Rockfield

angeldelight · 13-01-2015 3:59pm

They're all good well established estates. Moyglare Village would have slightly more students due to the proximity to the college but there are a lot of families living there also. I grew up in Rockfield - it's extremely quiet and nice atmosphere, they have an annual family day and there's always kids playing together on the green areas

Moonbeam · 13-01-2015 4:05pm

I love Rockfield the most out of nearly every estate in Maynooth.
It is lovely in there,that was my 1st choice of location but the one that was for sale at the time was too small for us.

Staplor · 13-01-2015 4:37pm

Of those 3 I'd go for Rockfield too.

That being said I was looking on daft the other day and was tempted by one in Moyglare Village, if only I had a extra few hundred thousand I could be a landlord!

Maynoothres · 13-01-2015 5:35pm

I grew up in Moyglare Abbey right next to Moyglare Village and we loved it there!

L1011 · 13-01-2015 6:32pm

Rockfield has no mains gas which puts me off it a little

coffeepls · 13-01-2015 7:53pm

I lived in Maynooth Park for about a year.... over 10 years ago. I was a mature post-grad student at the time and I don't recall there being many student houses besides the one I lived in, in that particular area. I remember it being a nice small estate. Our heating was a big oil tank in the back garden. Was that typical around there.... I couldn't tell you. It was a quiet area.... well it was when I knew it.

Moonbeam · 13-01-2015 11:40pm

Maynooth Park is lovely but it doesn't have the same visual appeal as Rockfield. Rockfield would have newer more modern houses too.

coffeepls · 14-01-2015 12:31am

Maynooth park is very much what looks like an 80s build alright. I'd be surprised if I'm far wrong.

L1011 · 14-01-2015 12:09pm

Early 70s. 72-74

yellow hen · 14-01-2015 12:16pm

Moonbeam wrote: »

Maynooth Park is lovely but it doesn't have the same visual appeal as Rockfield. Rockfield would have newer more modern houses too.

Funny, the newer estates don't appeal to me as much. Visually I don't really like them but room dimensions and garden sizes also tend to be smaller. In addition, we couldnt afford Rockfield so just as well really!

Apparently one of the houses we're interested in does have alot of student rented houses in the estate. Would that turn you off? Why? Noise at night? Littler? Anti-social behaviour? Poorly maintained neighbouring houses?

Hercule · 14-01-2015 2:30pm

The further you are away from the epicentre of Maynooth's student scene, the better - I live in one of the apartments near the town centre and we can have serious grief with students - pretty much on all counts you suggested.

Noise at night (shouting and roaring at each other spilling out of mantra/the roost)

Litter (pizza boxes on the pathways - issues with rats)

Anti-social behaviour (hanging around in the common areas at night)

Poorly maintained neighbouring houses (i remember when I was first looking to buy you couldnt see the floor in one of the bedrooms i went to look at - clothes, plates with dried on food, boxes and books covered like 95%) + I'm constantly seeing broken fixtures and fittings in the bins the morning after some of the busy nights.

I am aware I am sounding a bit like victor meldrew but I had a social conscious and don't recall acting like an irresponsible prick when I was that age.

(it's not specific to all students in general but you can get bad eggs that spoils the lot - and with such a high turnover of tenants yearly it can be a real gamble)

On other grounds you want to make sure you ask the pyrite question before you make a move - I know there have been "rumblings" of some of the houses having issues with it in another thread here - not sure which estates specifically but you would better be safe then sorry!

ElKavo · 14-01-2015 2:55pm

Moonbeam wrote: »

You will have no issues with school places.
Parklands and Rockfield are lovely for families.

+1 Both really nice estates and no problems on School places either. We did the move here last year. Great place to live.

yellow hen · 14-01-2015 3:54pm

Hercule wrote: »

Noise at night (shouting and roaring at each other spilling out of mantra/the roost)

Litter (pizza boxes on the pathways - issues with rats)

Anti-social behaviour (hanging around in the common areas at night)

Alot of the above would seem specific to centre of town rather than housing estates no?

Hercule wrote: »

Poorly maintained neighbouring houses

This would be my worry. We're going to see a house on Saturday morning and am hoping the estate is reasonably well kept but with its proximity to the university, I'm doubtful.

Moonbeam · 14-01-2015 5:09pm

coffeepls wrote: »

Maynooth park is very much what looks like an 80s build alright. I'd be surprised if I'm far wrong.

70's.
Good sturdy houses,bigger then modern 4 bed semis.
It depends on how well it has been looked after after that.
I live near it and the lack of insulation at themoment is a bit of an issue.
Ber rating E2 here.

IrishAlice · 15-01-2015 10:17am

When my partner and I were looking at the house we've now bought we drove in around the estate a few times to see what it was like at different stages.

My OH even went over late one night midweek to see if there was any noise or disruption.

Might not be an option for you if you don't live nearby but it definitely helped put our minds at ease about the area we purchased in.

Moonbeam · 15-01-2015 10:39am

I did the same,I was on maternity leave and would drive out in the evening and "hang around" the estates. I have a memory of it being cold and I was starving and so was the baba and not being able to find a coffee shop to feed her hahahahahahahahahaha
When you are completely new to a place and it is dark and cold,things are so much different:)
I remember when I discovered Tesco's too,I was in awe lol

yellow hen · 15-01-2015 11:06am

We've done alot of hanging around on the weekends but never at night. My husband also wants to trial getting the train in and out to work to try time the journey. I think we've pretty much settled on Maynooth as a whole but to find a mature estate and a house with a good garden is difficult. To some extent, the condition of the house is less important as we're willing to take our time to develop it as we need/want.

IrishAlice · 15-01-2015 11:49am

yellow hen wrote: »

We've done alot of hanging around on the weekends but never at night. My husband also wants to trial getting the train in and out to work to try time the journey. I think we've pretty much settled on Maynooth as a whole but to find a mature estate and a house with a good garden is difficult. To some extent, the condition of the house is less important as we're willing to take our time to develop it as we need/want.

I used to take the train into work in Ballsbridge everyday and it took about an hour and a half door to door. I got the train at 7.30 am to Pearse, then switched to a dart and would be in work at 8.50. Not sure if that helps or not but it might give you a rough estimate

Don't be afraid to look at some of the older estates and broaden your search away from the 3 mentioned. There are very few estates in Maynooth that I would class as bad and even at that they're fine when compared with 'bad' estates in other towns.

The house we're after buying is in an older estate that I didn't even know existed until we viewed the house and it's a nice quiet cul de sac with just 20 houses in it.

Dunford · 15-01-2015 12:06pm

Parklands is fantastic

Moonbeam · 15-01-2015 3:31pm

The train is good once you work fairly normal hours,when we both worked in the IFSC we could leave the house at 8 and be at our desks by 9,if you are going further I think there is only 1 direct train in the morning,it takes a bit longer changing trains.
The express trains for coming home are brilliant,they only take about 35 minutes.

IrishAlice · 15-01-2015 3:54pm

Moonbeam wrote: »

The train is good once you work fairly normal hours,when we both worked in the IFSC we could leave the house at 8 and be at our desks by 9,if you are going further I think there is only 1 direct train in the morning,it takes a bit longer changing trains.
The express trains for coming home are brilliant,they only take about 35 minutes.

I used to love getting the express train home, could only ever get it on a Friday because of my work hours but it always felt like such a treat!

Ursus articus · 15-01-2015 7:13pm

Hi i know im in the wrong place here so sorry mods!

I am looking for a reliable Hakney to do regular runs around the maynooth area! The service is for an elderly lady so it would be best if this arrangement could be made with a local guy she could get to know rather than a company that would send different drivers all the time. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Thanks.

coffeepls · 16-01-2015 3:56am

yellow hen wrote: »

We've done alot of hanging around on the weekends but never at night. My husband also wants to trial getting the train in and out to work to try time the journey. I think we've pretty much settled on Maynooth as a whole but to find a mature estate and a house with a good garden is difficult. To some extent, the condition of the house is less important as we're willing to take our time to develop it as we need/want.

I wish when I'd been living in Maynooth Park back in 2000 I'd known a bit about property (now I'm an owner I notice different things!). I can tell you what I remember of the house & area. As an older area there were a lot of established residents, I recall a friend of a friend had lived near there all her life with her family. Highly doubt the walls were 'cavity' walls, but they were solid, because we never heard neighbours through them or toilets flushing upstairs etc. the heating failed on us one time (and we'd none but a bar heater for 2 days), and the temp rocketed down. I've never been in a house since that could get so cold.

Garden wise - I loved looking out at the back garden - look was all I could do because it was crying out for landscaping. Living there was what first got me interested in garden birds - it's a hive of wee birds out there.

It's not that near he college. I walk fast and it was an energetic 20-25 min walk to get to a lecture (probably longer... can't recall).

25-01-2015 9:20am

We rent in Rockfield. Lovely estate. Very well kept.

Houses are not big upstairs though. Also we can hear our neighbours sometimes if they play music or get excited during a football match!

I think there are students next to us (definitely rented to a group of young people (says he, sounding like an old man!)). No problems.

If you were looking at Rockfield, Maynooth Park, or even Griffin Rath, you might want to put the kids down for the schools on Celbridge Road just to have the option. Having to brave the village every day for a decade might grate on you after a while. As you probably know there is an Educate Together and a gaelscoil, both in high demand but worth a shot.

Moonbeam · 25-01-2015 1:15pm

There are major issues with places in both schools for the Gaelscoil you need their names down at birth and for the Educate Together you need their names down early too.
We had major issues last year which involved 50km a day of driving for a school place as she was 12 months old when we moved here.
The girls and boys schools do not have these space issues.

hp1 · 26-01-2015 12:46am

Moonbeam wrote: »

There are major issues with places in both schools for the Gaelscoil you need their names down at birth and for the Educate Together you need their names down early too.
We had major issues last year which involved 50km a day of driving for a school place as she was 12 months old when we moved here.
The girls and boys schools do not have these space issues.

I'd be interested to know why you would travel 50km a day rather than send child to the girls or boys school.

Maynooth - Review of Estates

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