New to Dublin, where to live?!

dublinercheese

I've recently (two days ago) relocated from the Pacific Northwest of The United States to Dublin! I'm currently in a corporate apartment near Aviva Stadium and Marian College in Ballsbridge.

I'm a single male, early 30's and I like to have an active social life (go out at least 3 times a week). I work in software (near Dawson & Nassau) and I'm expecting to spend between €800-€1300 a month for a studio or 1 bedroom apartment. I do not want to live with roommates or a room share.

So far, I've narrowed my search to Ranelagh, Rathmines, and the Grand Canal areas. I want to live about a 10-15min bicycle ride to my office as that will be my main mode of transport. Pubs, grocery stores, restaurants, etc should be near by.

I'm mostly concerned about things like low quality plumbing (seems to be a standard feature of Dublin accommodation), bad insulation, mold and no dryer.

Are all the new apartments in the canal areas? Where else should I be looking? Is it better to talk to a letting agency or just take my chances on daft.ie?

Thank you!

MissCatherine_

Hi

There are a lot of new-er built apartments in Grand Canal Dock area and there certainly is a great buzz to the area but my limited knowledge is that some of those apartments were poorly constructed so be wary. Walls tend to be thin and I know friends have had issues with damp etc but I think this was more because of drying clothes in the apartment due to lack of outdoor space and not because of a construction issues.

In terms of budget you may (very likely) need to spend more than 1300 for a one bed-particularly in grand canal dock. You might find a studio for less but there might not be many. If you are set on not sharing you may want to think if upping your budget to give more choice or look in another area. IFSC is across the river but prices likely to be the same really but it's another area to look.

Daft is great and should be you first/main port of call. You will find lots of agents use it anyway as well as individual landlords.

The rental market is crazy here and flats go very very quickly and there can be a lot of competition. When I was looking I was lucky and after viewing 2-3 dodgy places found the one I liked and pinched on it paying the deposit to avoid anyone having a look.

Good luck

dublinercheese

Thanks for the quick reply! I have considered upping my budget to €1500 a month in the canal area because it definitely seems to be more expensive. Thanks for the tip about construction quality. This is very important to me. In terms of nightlife, where do you think the best places are to consider? The canal seems less busy for sure.

CatFromHue

Those aren't great areas to be looking to rent as they're probably some of the most expensive in the country!

As for night life Dublin's not that big really and Taxi's are plentiful, the buses, DART, and Luas (tram service) are good during the day too so you wouldn't have to stick to just town/city centre for nightlife.

If you were to go to 1500 I'd recommend Donnybrook, Ballsbridge, Clontarf, and/or Sandymount.

Victor

dublinercheese wrote: »

near Dawson & Nassau

Just a hint - you have to be careful when saying things like this in Dublin (and probably many other cities). While there is only Nassau Street, there are Dawson Court, Dawson Lane, Dawson Street. While all the Dawson's are in the same neighbourhood, that isn't always the case. Merrion Road, Merrion Strand and Merrion View Avenue are nowhere near Merrion Place, Merrion Row, Merrion Square and Merrion Street.

In part, this reuse is down to there being more streets to name (many streets are only 1-5 blocks long), but also that the land was all owned by one property developer when the street / buildings were built.

dublinercheese

Victor wrote: »

Just a hint - you have to be careful when saying things like this in Dublin (and probably many other cities). While there is only Nassau Street, there are Dawson Court, Dawson Lane, Dawson Street. While all the Dawson's are in the same neighbourhood,

Thanks for the tip! I had just assumed that the default was Street since Streets are almost always larger than Courts or Lanes and Nassau only intersects with Dawson Street. I will be more accurate next time

Victor

dublinercheese wrote: »

Thanks for the tip! I had just assumed that the default was Street since Streets are almost always larger than Courts or Lanes

Generally, but there will be oddities. There are some streets that have no suffix at all - Ranelagh, Pimlico, Stoneybatter ...