House Purchase in Waterford

Sally12009

Hi - myself and my husband are potentially looking at a move from the big smoke to Waterford (pending a positive outcome on an upcoming job interview).
Just looking if anyone has any advice on what are the better areas in the city to look at and those to maybe avoid - we've two young kids and want to be reasonably close to a good school.
Also - I've a friend of mine who is an auctioneer in Dublin who told me there are quite a large number of cash buyers in Waterford (and the south east in general) which can make buying quite difficult - has anyone any views / experience of this? We will have to sell our house in Dublin before we will be in a position to buy again

Appreciate any guidance anyone can give

fricatus

Hi Sally, welcome to Boards and maybe welcome to Waterford!

You're somewhat wading into crocodiles here asking what the "better areas" of the city are, and so is anyone answering you! It's a bit like the northside-southside thing; people quickly get accused of snobbery, and you get a lot of defensiveness from people rightly proud of the solid area they grew up in.

Disclaimer out of the way then, get your map out and draw a vertical line through the People's Park... Waterford's leafy suburbs are basically everything east of that line and south of the river. There are good areas west of the line and bad areas east of it, but that's probably the answer to the question you're asking.

North of the river is grand, but it's cut off from the rest of the city and feels like an outpost. A lot of it is in Co Kilkenny, if you're into that sort of thing.

The other big leafy suburb is Tramore. Natives understandably don't like that description, but a lot of city people have moved there in the last 15-20 years and it's grown a lot as a result. If you think it's just a funfair and amusements, think again! It's a lovely town once you get away from the tacky bit.

Other than that, there are plenty of lovely country locations within 10 miles of the city centre. You're really spoilt for choice if this is your thing.

House prices here are static, whereas they're rising in Dublin, so you're selling into a rising market and buying in a stagnant one. Lucky you!

As for schools, just search the forum as there's been a thread on this before.

Good luck!

Chiparus

I would advise that you rent for a year before you buy , rents are very reasonable compared to Dublin.


This is what you get for the price of a 3 bed semi d in terenure. ( you could probably negotiate it down a bit)

http://www.daft.ie/lettings/castlewoods-ballinamona-waterford-city-waterford/1439072/

shockwave

You could buy 2 houses in waterford for the price of 1 dublin house so you'll have plenty of choice, but the dunmore road area is the most popular suburb.

alibab

Believe me the market in Waterford is far from stagnant at the minute .

AdMMM

alibab wrote: »

Believe me the market in Waterford is far from stagnant at the minute .

Still freefalling?

alibab

AdMMM wrote: »

Still freefalling?

I would not say that either, lack of supply in certain areas driving prices up . I have been looking the last 6 months only recently able to buy and the difference in 6 months is amazing. Less choice and the same people after the same houses . Lots of cash buyers and house's selling well over asking price

kuang1

alibab wrote: »

I would not say that either, lack of supply in certain areas driving prices up . I have been looking the last 6 months only recently able to buy and the difference in 6 months is amazing. Less choice and the same people after the same houses . Lots of cash buyers and house's selling well over asking price

Ppr not backing up your claim ali.

lassykk

kuang1 wrote: »

Ppr not backing up your claim ali.

I agree. I keep a close eye on the PPR but I do wonder how many houses sell and don't end up on it. A house we looked to buy a couple of years ago sold to someone else but never ended up on the register

wellboytoo

I will add my thoughts for what they are worth, how much are you willing to spend, if its in the high 200ks or over three hundred grand you are laughing because these price houses are still slow to move, and bargains galore to be had, if below that supply is limited and demand is greater.

alibab

Ppr may not be backing it up but after 3 bidding wars which I of course i lost and 6 of us looking at the same properties I can safely say for a certain area of the city there is very little supply . Give ppr another few weeks and might notice a bit of a change upwards in prices . One house listed on daft at 4 pm I rang at 5 and I was the 4th to want to view it .

fricatus

alibab wrote: »

...for a certain area of the city...

No need to be so coy! You can give us a rough idea? :pac:

alibab

Sorry didn't mean to be :-). Dunmore road area very little on market at present . Maybe we are all just after the same houses

alibab

I am now looking at other areas also not limited to the one area so hopefully will find something soon

kuang1

Search on daft for 'dunmore road' reveals 35 properties..hardly a shortage given the very VERY small number of people that are currently looking to 'compete' with you...
I've said this on here before, if you're looking for a 'home for life' then good luck to you so long as you keep it within your budget AND have good job security to match.
Failing that, in a local economy that is in serious need of stimulus (of which there is no sign currently) I'm happy to not dip my toe in the property market.
Don't believe the hype.
I heard someone say recently that 'It's only a matter of time before the dublin property market dripfeeds down to the rest of the towns and cities in the country.'
Well that won't apply to waterford imho. Bear in mind, one of the (many) reasons dublin is doing ok is because it's drawing in the talented, mortgage/home seeking young people from the peripheries of the country who can't get a job in their own locality. So some of those who would be looking for a mortgage/house in waterford are doing so in dublin due to the fact that they've been forced to follow employment there.

I wish you luck in your search.

fricatus

kuang1 wrote: »

I heard someone say recently that 'It's only a matter of time before the dublin property market dripfeeds down to the rest of the towns and cities in the country.'
Well that won't apply to waterford imho. Bear in mind, one of the (many) reasons dublin is doing ok is because it's drawing in the talented, mortgage/home seeking young people from the peripheries of the country who can't get a job in their own locality. So some of those who would be looking for a mortgage/house in waterford are doing so in dublin due to the fact that they've been forced to follow employment there.

I pretty much agree with that. There is not going to be any sort of "trickle down" from the Dublin house market taking off as long as the jobs market in Waterford remains so weak.

Until there is serious employment growth in Waterford, there won't be much demand for housing, and even then, there's a lag, as people have to be in a job for a minimum of six months before they can even look for a mortgage. All told, the lag is likely to be about two years.

Deise Vu

Sally12009 wrote: »

Hi - myself and my husband are potentially looking at a move from the big smoke to Waterford (pending a positive outcome on an upcoming job interview).
Just looking if anyone has any advice on what are the better areas in the city to look at and those to maybe avoid - we've two young kids and want to be reasonably close to a good school.
Also - I've a friend of mine who is an auctioneer in Dublin who told me there are quite a large number of cash buyers in Waterford (and the south east in general) which can make buying quite difficult - has anyone any views / experience of this? We will have to sell our house in Dublin before we will be in a position to buy again

Appreciate any guidance anyone can give

Sally, never listen to an auctioneer when it comes to houses. If there are any cash buyers in Waterford they are in the buy-to-let market and they won't be fishing in your pond if you are selling in Dublin and transferring to Waterford. I would say your biggest difficulty will be trying to keep a straight face when you are told an offer price. My advice is do not give any biographical details to any auctioneer. They are not being friendly, they are trying to gauge how much they can gouge out of you.

I am not going to answer anyone who wants to argue the point but the Dunmore Road area has the Hospital, shops from Tesco to Lidl and Aldi (on the way) and the schools from Ballygunner and the Gael Scoil on the east side of the Dunmore road and on the city side De La Salle, Waterpark, Newtown, Ursuline and the John of Gods (or John of Snots as a past-pupil friend of my wife calls it) are all excellent and within easy reach including a regular bus route.

kuang1

Today's bausch and lomb news of 200 jobs gone plus 20% pay cut for the remaining 900 staff should be factored into anyone's decision about currently buying a house in waterford.
It's recurrent incidents like this that directly impact people's ability to purchase a house.
So in your opening post you reference a dublin EA who told you that a lot of cash buyers are snapping up property in the south east. ..
IF that were true (and that's one mighty huge IF) then I doubt they'll be patting themselves on the back for any recent investments based on news like this.

As much as all of the people of waterford (myself definitely included) cringe and shudder at news like this today, trust me when I say that some of the people most nervous and anxious about this will be the estate agents.
DO NOT BUY PROPERTY IN WATERFORD NOW!! There could well be the equivalent of a firesale of property here within 2 years.

Digital Society

kuang1 wrote: »

DO NOT BUY PROPERTY IN WATERFORD NOW!! There could well be the equivalent of a firesale of property here within 2 years.

Thats not very good advice at all. makes no sense spending probably 15k on rent over the next 2 years in the hope that the county will get even worse.

fricatus

Nobody really knows what's going to happen to the property market locally, so the best advice to the OP is to rent for 6 months to a year while you make sure the job is what your OH really wants and that you're both happy with the move. Then, just buy a house! You won't care about the market if you're happy and settled here.

Sally12009

fricatus wrote: »

Nobody really knows what's going to happen to the property market locally, so the best advice to the OP is to rent for 6 months to a year while you make sure the job is what your OH really wants and that you're both happy with the move. Then, just buy a house! You won't care about the market if you're happy and settled here.

Thanks Fricatus - the more I think about it and research it, the more I think you're right about renting for a while to get the lay of the land!!

kuang1

Digital Society wrote: »

Thats not very good advice at all. makes no sense spending probably 15k on rent over the next 2 years in the hope that the county will get even worse.

Not at all in 'the hope' that the county gets worse...the op is moving here from dublin, who's to say that they might be here a year and realise that they don't like it (unlikely in my biased view!)
Then they're stuck with trying to offload a house in a stagnant market, which might prevent them from purchasing a house in their next location.
Paying €8,000/€9,000 in rent over the course of 12 months is NOT a huge expense given the size of the financial commitment required for a mortgage.

And please don't attempt to put words in my mouth and imply that I want my home city/county to decline any further than it already has for the sake of me saving a few measly grand on bricks and mortar...there's a hell of a lot more to life.
Hope YOU know that too.

Deise Packers

Depends what ya want I suppose. Out the Dunmore Road would be perceived to be the best area but most of your neighbours will have the attitude that goes with such a rep. Fair bit out of town too and mental busy roads at rush hour/schooltime. Wouldnt be for me tbh but each to their own. Plenty nice areas around check out Hillview/Norwood/Ashley Court near to the IDA Park, Cherrymount near the Tramore Road and Avondale/Ursuline Court near Kilcohan would be close to pretty much any amenity you'd need. Mostly decent people in all estates yada yada yada but ones with the worst rep are Ballybeg, Lisduggan, Some parts of St Johns Park/Kilcohan , Templars Hall and Lismore Park can have a high student population(can be noisy). City centre can be mixed bag but generally ok.

TheVandal

Great news! We need new people in Waterford. One word of advise though. For the first 6 months of living in your new house- invest in really heavy curtains. Because at night all of us waterfordians like to gather and watch the new folk sleep.