Should I buy in the commuter belt? [Split from Central Bank Thread]

MANUTD99

dearg lady wrote: »

That's brilliant that it worked out for you, presumably though you are paying significantly more in travel expenses?

Yeah I would add €200-250 per month on travel. Petrol is around 70-80 per week. If I got a diesel I could decrease this. . If we lost our job though we only have to worry about a mortgage of €650-700 per month. I think the dole is around €200 per month? Please god I don't ever have to worry about loosing my home

Also I have a bus service (Matthews Bus) which in peak times goes every 30 minutes to Dublin in under a hour.

I work in Eastpoint. M1 to there is a piece of piss. My hours are 8am to 4pm. Its decent.

Mink

We're in East Meath, border of Kildare and it's an hour commute to city centre for my husband and 45 mins for me to d11. We made the decision to go out there as wanted bigger place for our money and just wouldn't have been able to afford Dublin rent prices even if we got rid of a car.

We weighed it all up and most of our friends are out in the sticks and we only go to Dublin for work so don't have anything to miss. It's more of a novelty now going into the city maybe twice or three times a year, feel like tourists.

When we lived and worked in Dublin the commute was often just as long whether by bus or car when on a 9-5 schedule.

The one thing that is a serious pain with commuting from counties outside of Dublin is that if there is even one crash on whatever motorway you are on, you can pretty much forget about being on time.

Ms2011

We currently live in D22 & have just bought in Carlow, it's exactly 1 hour drive from one front door to the other. The house in Carlow is a good sized house with an arce in a nice village that we owe nothing on. I've lived in a housing estate all my life but have always loved the country & wanted to raise my children there.
My husband currently works 10 mins from home but that will go up to 50 mins when we move, he doesn't seem phased by this but we'll probably keep our Dublin house for a year after moving so we still have a foot hold in Dublin should Carlow not work out.

leinsterdude

Ms2011 wrote: »

We currently live in D22 & have just bought in Carlow, it's exactly 1 hour drive from one front door to the other. The house in Carlow is a good sized house with an arce in a nice village that we owe nothing on. I've lived in a housing estate all my life but have always loved the country & wanted to raise my children there.
My husband currently works 10 mins from home but that will go up to 50 mins when we move, he doesn't seem phased by this but we'll probably keep our Dublin house for a year after moving so we still have a foot hold in Dublin should Carlow not work out.

FairPlay but Carlow is a good spin, I'm talking Kildare max, but Carlow is nice too.

mortimer33

salmocab wrote: »

it was only when I came back that I realized what I was giving up time wise and socially living so far out.

I've had a similar experience and completely agree with this.. With Dublin its all about having greater choice.. E.g. A commuter town may have a gym but in Dublin you're likely to have a choice of several gyms..

Same goes for commuting.. When I lived outside Dublin I had to drive - I was at the mercy of M1. Where I live now - I can take bus/luas/drive/cycle to work. Buses are every 5 min..

mortimer33

Duplicate.

MANUTD99

mortimer33 wrote: »

I've had a similar experience and completely agree with this.. With Dublin its all about having greater choice.. E.g. A commuter town may have a gym but in Dublin you're likely to have a choice of several gyms..

Same goes for commuting.. When I lived outside Dublin I had to drive - I was at the mercy of M1. Where I live now - I can take bus/luas/drive/walk/cycle to work. Buses are every 5 min..

Great if you can afford it pal.Many like myself can't and many pretend they can and loose their home.

At the end of the day its what you can afford. I know when I sleep at night I have no fear of loosing the bricks and morter around me

jaffa20

Just to add my situation. I currently live in Wicklow (in commuter belt) and travel to Citywest for my commute. I'm renting and i'm considering buying in Kildare. It takes me about 45mins to 1hour at the moment and that is not a bad commute i feel as i used to work in the city centre (train was nightmare). I think the commute will be less/more or less the same if i buy in Kildare (depending on where i buy) and my repayments will probably be half the amount i am paying in rent. Buying in Wicklow would not be an option. Have you seen the prices?!

smokie72

I bought in Dublin 22 in 2006. My Mortgage is €940 a month but I'm only 10 minutes from work in a car now with the newlands cross upgrade. It use to be 20 minutes. In brighter mornings and better weather it only takes me 20 minutes to cycle or nearly a hour to walk to work. I think it has worked out pretty well for me.

Wonder what effect teleworking will have on the commuter belt? Plenty of jobs now where you can work from home a fair bit. Still need to be close either to work base or airport if you telework with people outside Ireland.

Rename it the WiFi Belt?

by the seaside

Deleted User wrote: »

Wonder what affect teleworking will have on the commuter belt? Plenty of jobs now where you can work from home a fair bit. Still need to be close either to work base or airport if you telework with people outside Ireland.

Rename it the WiFi Belt?

Here's what may be coming your way.

I live in a town of 20,000 100 miles from London and work in London. I am lucky in that:

- I only go to London one to three times a week.
- On days I am in London, I don't have to be there 9 to 5, but just for when I'm meeting people, and I can largely (but not always) arrange meetings at civilised times between 10 and 4.
- I live 1 minute's walk from the train station, and then it's an 80 to 90 minute train journey to London with a 30 minute tube journey on the other side, making a round trip of 4 hours.
- The train has tables, power plugs and good wifi, so on a commute I have about 2 1/2 hours' productive time.

It works well when your employer is flexible (but these were the terms I joined on) and the infrastructure is good - you need to pick somewhere with a reliable train service. Without those two, it's too difficult. I have had to commute to London to be at my desk between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., and that nearly finished me off after nearly six months, but I didn't have much choice financially at the time and you do what you have to.

Now looking at a move to Dublin, and I don't mind a commute as long as it's train or DART (or LUAS?), or possibly a reliably easy car commute, but I'v done enough car commuting in my life to have had enough of it.

salmocab

by the seaside wrote: »

Here's what may be coming your way.

I live in a town of 20,000 100 miles from London and work in London. I am lucky in that:

- I only go to London one to three times a week.
- On days I am in London, I don't have to be there 9 to 5, but just for when I'm meeting people, and I can largely (but not always) arrange meetings at civilised times between 10 and 4.
- I live 1 minute's walk from the train station, and then it's an 80 to 90 minute train journey to London with a 30 minute tube journey on the other side, making a round trip of 4 hours.
- The train has tables, power plugs and good wifi, so on a commute I have about 2 1/2 hours' productive time.

It works well when your employer is flexible (but these were the terms I joined on) and the infrastructure is good - you need to pick somewhere with a reliable train service. Without those two, it's too difficult. I have had to commute to London to be at my desk between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., and that nearly finished me off after nearly six months, but I didn't have much choice financially at the time and you do what you have to.

Now looking at a move to Dublin, and I don't mind a commute as long as it's train or DART (or LUAS?), or possibly a reliably easy car commute, but I'v done enough car commuting in my life to have had enough of it.

Irish commuter trains don't compare with the English system. Dart and Luas are both good systems but parking near either can be difficult ideally living near one of these is great as both are reliable although very busy.

_Kaiser_

I currently work in South Dublin (D18) and live 10-15 mins away by car. Leaving at 7:15 I will be parked up by 7:30 most days.

But rents are rising fast and while I can afford the increase, I actually don't see the point/value in paying significantly more just to be close to work. I have no ties to the area and other than being close to the office I wouldn't particularly rate it TBH.

In my case I'm probably going to move out as far as the Kildare/Laois border and drive in as I can get a decent apartment or a house and even with the commute it works out as the same cost as staying put. The other benefit is that I'm an hour closer to where my little fella lives which is the real plus in the idea.

I'm lucky though in that I can more-or-less make my own hours and don't mind driving but even despite all that, the notion of paying huge amounts in rent just to live in Dublin seems crazy to me... ironic really as I'm a Dub myself and if you'd asked me 15 years ago I'd have had a completely opposite viewpoint