Castlepark, Maynooth

Jammie01

Has anyone any opinions on this new estate on the dunboyne road in Maynooth? Went to see it last weekend and was quite impressed! Builder said first phase has already been sold and that he'll be building to demand for the rest of the houses. Do you think this estate would ever be finished?

I'm not thinking of buying for at least two or three years as there's no way I'd live on a building site but it made me wonder about the differences between new and second hand homes when buying. Can you go in with a lower offer than asking price on a new home if the builder is only building to demand or is your bargaining power only in the area of the builder throwing in extras (fridge, cooker, higher spec bathrooms or things like that?)

The 4bed detached are 380000 now, would it be dillusional to think that a FTB could afford a home like this in the future (presuming the builders asking price drops in line with expected drops in the market) or would a house like this still be out of reach to most people?

Heres the website if ye wanna take a look: castleparkhomesmaynooth.ie

littlediver

I have viewed the houses in Castlepark on two occasions now as we are looking to buy somewhere in the Maynooth area in the next 12 months.

In reply to your comment about living in a building site I have been told that once the front row of houses and those backing onto them have been completed no more construction traffic will pass through the estate through the front entrance. A side compound to the left of the development will be opened up through which all construction traffic will access the site from the back.

"The 4bed detached are 380000 now, would it be dillusional to think that a FTB could afford a home like this in the future" ~ completely agree with this comment. I was quite stunned to see this is the asking price of the detached house. With mortgage approvals like trying to find a needle in a haystack it seems over the odds to expect FTB to get approval for this amount, be able to make the repayments and be able to cope with any increases in mortgage repayments in time. Although having said that, a lot of people/ estate agents in Maynooth seems to be oblivious to the fact that we are in a recession with the asking prices being listed. I was told two and a half years ago by a local estate agent that Maynooth had not woken up to the reality of decreasing house prices, it seems that this continues to be the case.

Loraco

I went to see these houses, look really nice and was very interested until I saw the gardens-let the houses down so much as they are unbelievably small and as a ftb thinking about settling down with a family in the near future I had to walk away due to this reason. You would struggle to fit a shed a a clothes line not to mention the close proximity of the houses behind you. The detached for €380K had a reasonable sized garden but with a crazy asking price for any ftb-the one shining light in the market and anyone lucky enough to be issued with mortgage in the first place is being priced right out-they are shooting themselves in the foot. It will be interesting to see what happens in the next year or two with this estate...

littlediver

Well that's the end of my thoughts about buying a Castlepark Home. Live Line today revealed that the builder is the one who is responsible for all the pyrite homes in Leixlip. He transferred his assets and set up Mason Homes. Prime Time were at Castlepark estate today so there is bound to be coverage of it on a future episode.

Jammie01

littlediver wrote: »

Well that's the end of my thoughts about buying a Castlepark Home. Live Line today revealed that the builder is the one who is responsible for all the pyrite homes in Leixlip. He transferred his assets and set up Mason Homes. Prime Time were at Castlepark estate today so there is bound to be coverage of it on a future episode.

Wow just listened to the podcast there, it sounds like an awful situation! Do you think it would affect castlepark though? Surely anyone buying off this builder now would check all this beforehand? Or does he just seem like too dodgy a character to deal with?

dernipper

As a first time buyer I have looked at Castlepark in Maynooth. I have just heard the podcasts on the Pyrite problem which is very alarming :eek:. I believe some other estates in Maynooth were built by the same builder. Is there any Pyrite problems in those estates?

If buying a house how can you check if it has a Pyrite problem? Is it just dependant on what quarry is used or are there other factors?

littlediver

I was informed by the estate agent with whom I viewed the Castlepark homes that the builder in question also built a section of Parklands. Apparently the construction of the estate was done so by different builders. As to which section of Parklands the pyrite builder did, I unfortunately do not know. I would have always held Parklands in quite high regard and to date have not heard of them having any issues.
In response to the query about investigating if the houses contain pyrite, that is not possible. A relation of mine is in the construction business and has said in order to check if a house contains pyrite you would need to take a core sample which would be deemed to be a destructive investigation so permission would not be granted. Also, if a core sample was taken in one house and proved to contain no pyrite, that is not a guarantee that the house next door is not affected.
The quarries will not disclose who received stone from them, the builders will not reveal where they got it from so as buyers we are left in the dark and Homebond guarantees to date have not been worth the paper they are written on.

Mister Dread

The lesson to be learned is not to touch new builds in Ireland ever again.

shangri la

littlediver wrote: »

I have viewed the houses in Castlepark on two occasions now as we are looking to buy somewhere in the Maynooth area in the next 12 months.

In reply to your comment about living in a building site I have been told that once the front row of houses and those backing onto them have been completed no more construction traffic will pass through the estate through the front entrance. A side compound to the left of the development will be opened up through which all construction traffic will access the site from the back.

"The 4bed detached are 380000 now, would it be dillusional to think that a FTB could afford a home like this in the future" ~ completely agree with this comment. I was quite stunned to see this is the asking price of the detached house. With mortgage approvals like trying to find a needle in a haystack it seems over the odds to expect FTB to get approval for this amount, be able to make the repayments and be able to cope with any increases in mortgage repayments in time. Although having said that, a lot of people/ estate agents in Maynooth seems to be oblivious to the fact that we are in a recession with the asking prices being listed. I was told two and a half years ago by a local estate agent that Maynooth had not woken up to the reality of decreasing house prices, it seems that this continues to be the case.

due to the number of students versus rooms in maynooth and the rent supplement being over E90/wk in maynooth nevermind commuters moving there for detached homes you have to apply different criteria to maynooth.

SolarisLem

The " (insert the random town name)" is different argument is raising it's ugly head again. I don't quite understand the argument using students and commuters moving in to justifiy the high prices in Maynooth? Surely that would work better in attempt to explain high rents (btw rents are not particularly high in Maynooth)? Most of the dwellings are not bought to be rented out but to live in and here is very few professional landlords in Maynooth. So the house price will have to be more reflective of what the potential buyer is willing to pay for the house in Maynooth and what the banks are willing to lend. Unless there is a herd of cash buyers hiding behind the corner willing to risk their savings on a rapidly falling asset, the prices will have to come down to relfect the reality.

Jammie01

Got an email today from the estate agent in charge of these, ten more detached are being released and will go to the best and final bids on Friday. Bids should be a minimum or in excess of 380k for eight of the houses and 390k for two with bigger gardens!!

I'm actually shocked, didnt think in times like these that houses would actually go for more than asking price?? Must be demand for these or could the estate agent be just chancing their arm?

shangri la

EA definately chancing their arm.

To the previous poster... Do you not see a relation between rent levels and house prices? There is something in the region of 16,000 students in the local university.

There are lots of rented houses in maynooth. It is much quieter in summer and a lot of the locals were involved in construction and currently in mortgage arrears. I used to live in maynooth.

The houses in question are not worth anywhere next nor near 380k. You can pick up nice 4 bed detached houses in good areas in SCD for about the 400k mark now and guaranteed less again in 12 months.

Who is the pyrite builder?

SolarisLem

Of course there is a correlation between the rents and house prices. I live in Maynooth and in a past 3 years my rent went from 1200 to 850 in the same house and i am not an isolated case. Using the logic of supply and demand this would suggest there is more than adequate supply thus the price is being driven down. This suggest the fact that there is lot of students looking for places to rent does not drive the house prices up as one would like to think thus proving my point that Maynooth is just like any other place around. That aside i can't imagine a lot of people getting rich in Maynooth of renting to students with rents this low in comparison to asking prices thus proving further that houses in Maynooth are not an attractive investment yet.
What i mean is the same logic can be applied to Leixlip because there is an Intel there with a lot of high earners looking to rent, Straffan having the K-club and so on but the truth is the prices are still way to high and there is not a lot of reason to justify them.

r0chf0rt

Jammie01 wrote: »

Got an email today from the estate agent in charge of these, ten more detached are being released and will go to the best and final bids on Friday. Bids should be a minimum or in excess of 380k for eight of the houses and 390k for two with bigger gardens!!

I'm actually shocked, didnt think in times like these that houses would actually go for more than asking price?? Must be demand for these or could the estate agent be just chancing their arm?

I got same email. I guess they had a lot more than 10 people expressing an interest and they are using peoples bids to work out a new asking price. I lost interest when I saw this but I guess you cant really blame them if they can make more money out of it. From the builders point of view they are in no rush to build them if there is going to be high interest for a few years to come. Its not as if the houses are built and they are trying to get rid of them to pay off loans etc... I am sure you could get a builder to build a house of this quality for around 200k these days but you wont buy a site to build it that is as convenient to Maynooth. I will watch with interest as to how the estate develops but the "best bid" thing made my mind up to give it a miss for now.

HappyH

I was having a look at what you could also get in the general area for similar money and how prices in general have collapsed (bear in mind Feb 2012 was biggest house price fall in a single month in the last 2 yrs). There is a development in Clane (15 minutes drive from Maynooth) called Alexandra. See MyHome: http://www.myhome.ie/residential/kildare/detached-house-for-sale-in-clane?query=Alexandra. The developer seems to have 6 unsold houses that are "not complete" on the market for 360k. A fully finished one is also on the market for 895k. A colleague at work told me at the peak those houses were going for 1.25m! the houses are signigicantly larger than those in Castlepark but obviously some money is needed on the buyers part to complete the house, at worst, i am assuming thats interior work as i have not seen them (ie: floors, possibly other facilities work, etc).

so for 15 mins drive away, in an exclusive estate, you can get a much larger house for 20k less - and the developer may take less as they've been sitting there unsold. so i would also make the point to anyone who has been thinking about castlepark to shop around if you are not sure. the castlepark developer has 10 houses making it a deal worth about 3.8 million if they sell them all, yet seems to want to squeeze out as much as possible, over relatively small money (say a max of 100k if every house went for an average 10k more), so all this hassle is to make 3.9m vs 3.8m. kinda petty in the grand scheme of things, imho.

IrishAlice

I went to view these houses before Christmas and was told be the EA that the entire estate will be built as per original plans. Maybe things have changed since then...
One of the big selling points that was being pushed with the 3 bed semi we viewed was that it would be easy to convert the attic into an extra room. The new 3 bed semi's in Moyglare already have the attic converted and the asking price is 10k less so it might be a better option to consider if you don't mind being a little further out of the town centre.

Personally we'll be holding out for a while yet as the prices in general seem excessive.

Moonbeam

HappyH wrote: »

I was having a look at what you could also get in the general area for similar money and how prices in general have collapsed (bear in mind Feb 2012 was biggest house price fall in a single month in the last 2 yrs). There is a development in Clane (15 minutes drive from Maynooth) called Alexandra. See MyHome: http://www.myhome.ie/residential/kildare/detached-house-for-sale-in-clane?query=Alexandra. The developer seems to have 6 unsold houses that are "not complete" on the market for 360k. A fully finished one is also on the market for 895k. A colleague at work told me at the peak those houses were going for 1.25m! the houses are signigicantly larger than those in Castlepark but obviously some money is needed on the buyers part to complete the house, at worst, i am assuming thats interior work as i have not seen them (ie: floors, possibly other facilities work, etc).

so for 15 mins drive away, in an exclusive estate, you can get a much larger house for 20k less - and the developer may take less as they've been sitting there unsold. so i would also make the point to anyone who has been thinking about castlepark to shop around if you are not sure. the castlepark developer has 10 houses making it a deal worth about 3.8 million if they sell them all, yet seems to want to squeeze out as much as possible, over relatively small money (say a max of 100k if every house went for an average 10k more), so all this hassle is to make 3.9m vs 3.8m. kinda petty in the grand scheme of things, imho.

Living in Clane would not be for everyone either though.
You do not have the train or the shops or the schools on your doorstep.

Nice houses though.

lxreilly

We've looked at those houses in Clane - unfortunately there is now only 1 remaining and needs a considerable amount of work, however that said it would be a fantastic house when finished but you wouldn't get much changes out of 80K after your initial purchase.

As regards CastlePark - we were very disappointed to receive an email looking to start a bidding war on the second phase, as we had our names down for these properties for the middle of last year. That coupled with the fact that the second phase have a North west facing rear garden (i.e. no sunshine), forced us to reconsider and pull out.

L1011

The quantity of cars parked outside houses there in the middle of the day is leading me to believe there's some porky-forming about how many of the houses are sold...

monfa

MYOB wrote: »

The quantity of cars parked outside houses there in the middle of the day is leading me to believe there's some porky-forming about how many of the houses are sold...

What do you mean? Do you think they are builders cars?

dernipper

Maybe they got the train to work ?
I run by their regularly and you can see people moving in, safe to say these houses are sold

MYOB wrote: »

The quantity of cars parked outside houses there in the middle of the day is leading me to believe there's some porky-forming about how many of the houses are sold...

Laguna02

We are interested in buying a property in Castlepark and are wondering if anyone who has already moved in has any comments regarding the properties.

yanqingliqici

We are interested in buying a house in Castlepark too. The EA told us the 1st and 2nd phases are all sold - with the listed prices (detached 4rm 380K etc.). We have followed this thread and realized that "a bidding war" was used, while how comes the "asking" prices are still the same as what they were last year?

Laguna02

In reply to last poster;

From what we can gather there does seem to be genuine interest in these houses. Our query is for anyone who has bought. Have they had any problems with the build.
If they have now is the time to state it as new prospective buyers such as ourselves could bring pressure to bear on the builder.

Jammie01

Any updates from anyone who bought on this estate?

Sierra21

I'm also interested in this estate. It's very convenient for the town. Have been told second phase will be released in mid-June, but I think that is just buying from the plans and a three to six month building period follows that. would also be interested to hear from people who have already bought and to get a realistic idea on time line. Apart from convenience to the town, why is this estate so much more popular than Griffin Rath which is on the Celbridge Road?

Sierra21

Heard there was a cancellation on one house in the first row

yanqingliqici

Sierra21 wrote: »

Heard there was a cancellation on one house in the first row

Thanks for the update. Is it a semi-detached or detached?

Sierra21

It's four bedroomed semi detatched.

Not_too_bad

We bought one of the detached houses in the front row and are very happy with our decision. The finish has been of a very quality and no problems so far. Only time will tell if we overpaid but after sitting on the fence for 3 years we felt it was the right time for us to buy. We are fortunate in that we were able to get a mortgage and meet the repayments.
In answer to all the conspiracy theories posted above; we have no connection to the builder, We live in the house and yes all the front row is sold.

Jammie01

Thanks Not too bad, how was the builder on negotiations?

Rebelski

More houses released yesterday in Castlepark, 3 Bed semi's and 4 Bed semi's, so looks like the estate is successful todate. Hope so, I've bought a house there too!:)

Jammie01

Rebelski wrote: »

More houses released yesterday in Castlepark, 3 Bed semi's and 4 Bed semi's, so looks like the estate is successful todate. Hope so, I've bought a house there too!:)

Was there any room for negotiation on the prices?

Rebelski

As previous posts showed, offers had to be made on the available houses by a certain timepoint, and if your bid was successful, you were informed the following week.

Doesn't look like there doing that with the 3 bed and 4 bed semi's.

Sierra21

This is the e-mail - below - that was posted the day before yesterday to people who expressed interest. I think the prices compare very well with four bedroomed second hand houses in Maynooth and the finish is really good, plus the level of insulation is top class, so there would be savings on fuel bills. The solar panels heat water to a certain level also. I'm likely to buy there. There is a five thousand booking fee payable to Coonan's and ten percent to be paid on signing of contracts.

Dear All,

Just a note to update you in relation to Castlepark, to date we have over 33 sales in the development and in the order of 8 purchasers moved into their homes. It is a fantastic success story and in light of this Mason Homes Ltd have decided to release the next road of semi-detached houses to the market.

The houses to go on sale are 53 � 46 Castlepark Square (excluding 54), with prices at �265,000 for the 3 bedroom homes(approx. 1,230 sq.ft.) and �285,000(approx. 1,450 sq.ft.) for the four bedroom semi-detached.

Should you wish to purchase one of the above mentioned houses please contact us at the below mentioned number.

Showhomes remain open by appointment so should you wish to view same please do not hesitate in contacting us at 01 6286128 or info@coonan.com

Kind regards,

Will Coonan
Coonan Real Estate Alliance, Property House, Main Street, Maynooth, Co. Kildare

Rebelski

Thats the one. I have to agree, spec on the houses is excellent. With an A rated energy certification, you can't go wrong! Look at http://www.castleparkhomesmaynooth.ie/

Surelite

anyone else here feel these posts sound fishy - sounds like EAs/developers???? :eek:

Jammie01

I was thinking that too! Like advertisements! :-)

Rebelski

I'm afraid not. I'm a Cork lad, who has lived in Kildare (Naas) for the last 8 years. Recently changed jobs, so this location was ideal for me and my wife. I don't know the EA or the builder, but I'm sure I'll get to know the latter as the house is built. I was just trying to share my experience so far. So if it helps you, there overpriced, poor value for money, the roofs look leaky, and the grass seed there putting in is soooooooooo 2011. As is your pessimism!:P

SolarisLem

So please answer the question posted by several posters, how is the builder on the price negotiation?

Rebelski

I'll leave that to someone else to answer. Its a little like asking someone what wages there on. Its personal.

dernipper

Is it really fair to ask this question?

SolarisLem wrote: »

So please answer the question posted by several posters, how is the builder on the price negotiation?

Sierra21

I am not in any way connected with the estate agent or builder. I work in Maynooth and sold my house in Dublin as I got tired of commuting. I've been looking for a house in Maynooth for about a year now and am considering Castlepark.

Sierra21

Not_too_bad wrote: »

We bought one of the detached houses in the front row and are very happy with our decision. The finish has been of a very quality and no problems so far. Only time will tell if we overpaid but after sitting on the fence for 3 years we felt it was the right time for us to buy. We are fortunate in that we were able to get a mortgage and meet the repayments.
In answer to all the conspiracy theories posted above; we have no connection to the builder, We live in the house and yes all the front row is sold.

How is your back garden for sunlight?

Not_too_bad

no negotiation on price and very good sunlight in back garden

TheDriver

to be honest, you get 3 beds in lucan for lot lot less, may require some work but still, better resale in lucan than maynooth

TonyStark

Not_too_bad wrote: »

no negotiation on price and very good sunlight in back garden

Isn't sunlight free?

Rebelski

TheDriver wrote: »

to be honest, you get 3 beds in lucan for lot lot less, may require some work but still, better resale in lucan than maynooth

Why?

SolarisLem

Well, nobody is asking for an exact price but if there is a room for negotiations. As to the privacy, this silliness will be done and dusted when the housing sold price database is running (september?).

Minier81

I would have thought all asking prices were negotiable - thats why they call them "asking prices". As a guideline we bought recently and 10% below asking seems to be a typical price to go sale agreed on. If you are making an offer, do bear that in mind. Of course some houses are overpriced and some are priced competitively, the only way you will no how reasonable an asking price is to compare it with other houses of similar size in the area.

TheDriver

Rebelski wrote: »

Why?

because people seem to want to buy in lucan more than maynooth. I could be wrong but thats the way it appears.