Location, location -Maynooth V Celbridge V Leixlip

yellow hen

We are currently looking to move house and are looking at areas that although may be very suitable, are nonetheless areas that we don’t know very well.

Our key criteria for location are
1. Access to good primary and secondary schools.
2. Access to local amenities, shops etc.
3. A sense of community. This is somewhere where we want to bed down roots so a sense of belonging is really important. Local clubs such as GAA etc would be somewhat important
4. Commutability to Dublin. I need access to the M50 (hopefully at slightly offpeak times) and my husband needs to get to the city. Preferably on the Maynooth train line as he needs to get to Drumcondra.

Maynooth has always been the frontrunner for location but the cost and availability of suitability housing is a real difficulty. We are now expanding our search to Celbridge, Leixlip and although not ideal to Straffan, Sallins and Naas also.

I would be really interested in feedback from people who know any of the above areas having lived there or still currently living there.

Staplor

Leixlip is on the Maynooth train line and you get more for your money housewise in Leixlip.

I like living in Maynooth though. Given the choice of those if I had to leave Maynooth for the other 2, I'd side with Leixlip for the ease of commuting.

The Mulk

If commuting is your number 1 priority I think you need to be on the Maynooth train line ideally, if you want to commute without a car to Drumcondra every day, so that narrows it down to Maynooth or Leixlip.
If you move anywhere else you will need to drive to the train station and pay for parking.

I live in Celbridge and have friends in Maynooth and Leixlip and that all are well settled and actively involved in the local sports teams and community (some more so than others)

I've no feedback about the schools in these areas, but can only say good things about the one my boys attend in Celbridge, we have them in the local athletics and football clubs, and you meet a lot of people this way, along with attending the montessori and school.

I've a sister in Naas and they love it, although their commute is tiny to work each day, and you'll certainly get more house for your money than compared to the other 3 towns you originally mentioned.

Raminahobbin

I am from Celbridge, living in Maynooth, with friends from Leixlip.

Maynooth, all the way. If you can't do Maynooth, then Leixlip has much better transport into the City. Several buses, and all the trains. The lack of a decent supermarket in the town would irritate me though. At least Celbridge has Tesco/Supervalu/Aldi AND Lidl. And to be honest, the transport thing never bothered me growing up. I think the schools in Celbridge are brill (have experience with Aghards, then St. Wolstans and Salesians- all excellent schools).

Obviously you want the best possible town for what you can afford, but Celbridge and Leixlip are on a par. One has better transport, the other has better facilities. If your husband needed to use the train, and you lived in Celbridge, it's only a few mins to the Lousia Bridge train station by car..

yellow hen

Thanks so much for the replies. To be clear commuting is on a par with the area being family friendly. To date, neither of us have fallen for Leixlip..there doesnt appear to be much heart or soul in the village and I just can't imagine us bedding down there. If Celbridge was a better option, we wouldnt rule out the OH driving backwards to Leixlip to get the train from there.

Our hearts are in maynooth but we're trying to rationalise, at what point do you compromise on the size of your home to live in a better area?

Staplor

You need to be realistic about what you need, my bro has himself they wife and 3 kids in a regular sized 3bed semi d. My sister has 3 kids in a 5 bed. Whilst my bro would like to move the kids love the town and the house so he can't move.

The thread title is location, buy the house that you think is the best for you. I drive past one house that was great value and I'm so happy I didn't buy it.

yellow hen

Staplor wrote: »

You need to be realistic about what you need, my bro has himself they wife and 3 kids in a regular sized 3bed semi d. My sister has 3 kids in a 5 bed. Whilst my bro would like to move the kids love the town and the house so he can't move.

The thread title is location, buy the house that you think is the best for you. I drive past one house that was great value and I'm so happy I didn't buy it.

I hear you. Bedrooms are actually quite far down the list. A house that we feel comfortable in with a little sun and a decent garden will suffice. We're coming from a 2 up/down so we have learned to live in a small space.

Orion

Maynooth has a great community feel. Good schools, active GAA, rugby, soccer, cricket clubs. All the major supermarkets. Good pubs. Commuting links: the train is a very good service - especially at peak - and two city bound bus routes. Also a hopper to the airport which also goes through Leixlip. Cost will be your barrier though - prices in Maynooth are quite high in comparison to other towns.

Moonbeam

We choose Maynooth for many of the reasons that you mentioned above.
We did have school place issues but they eventually got resolved.
I love the sense of community here,I love the fact that everything is within walking distance,I love that we are beside the M4 and multiple bus and train routes,I love the walks and that it is still a small town but has all the amenities that we need though I still want a cinema and swimming pool!

Riskymove

Orion wrote: »

Maynooth has a great community feel. Good schools, active GAA, rugby, soccer, cricket clubs. All the major supermarkets. Good pubs. Commuting links: the train is a very good service - especially at peak - and two city bound bus routes. Also a hopper to the airport which also goes through Leixlip. Cost will be your barrier though - prices in Maynooth are quite high in comparison to other towns.

Maynooth has a great community feel. Good schools, active GAA, rugby, soccer, cricket clubs. All the major supermarkets. Good pubs. Commuting links: the train is a very good service - especially at peak - and two city bound bus routes. Also a hopper to the airport which also goes through Leixlip. Cost will be your barrier though - prices in Maynooth are quite high in comparison to other towns.

TBH living in Celbridge we have exactly the same things (except maybe a cricket team!)

I am of the view that there isn't much between any of the towns

The commute to Drumcondra may make the Maynooth line more of an option but there is also a plan to open then loop line this year meaning you can soon go from Hazelhatch into Drumcondra

L1011

That's likely pushed to 2016 now and will be a few trains a day at first. Not something to rely on coming soon!

Staplor

Sure there's a Dart coming to Maynooth!

The Mulk

Have you looked at Dunboyne?

They've trains into Drumcondra, I haven't a clue about the area but it looks nice from the times i've visited it.

Moonbeam

Dunboyne is nice,has lovely houses and a similar population to Maynooth and has good schools but there is nothing there.

The Mulk

Moonbeam wrote: »

Dunboyne is nice,has lovely houses and a similar population to Maynooth and has good schools but there is nothing there.

True, you'd be travelling to Blanch for all you shopping, but you'd be nearer to a Penny's

Riskymove

Staplor wrote: »

Sure there's a Dart coming to Maynooth!

and to Hazelhatch...with added underground link!!:)

Moonbeam

The Mulk wrote: »

True, you'd be travelling to Blanch for all you shopping, but you'd be nearer to a Penny's

I would love Pennys to be nearer to me:)

The Mulk

Moonbeam wrote: »

I would love Pennys to be nearer to me:)

Liffey Valley soon!(I don't know how soon)

I usually head to Newbridge for Pennys, although all my family are in Kill/Naas so I get the clothes shopping and family visits done in one go:pac:

L1011

The Mulk wrote: »

Have you looked at Dunboyne?

They've trains into Drumcondra, I haven't a clue about the area but it looks nice from the times i've visited it.

You need to transfer as the direct trains skip Drumcondra. Can add up to about half an hour a day in the rain in clonsilla

I do the reverse for Docklands to Maynooth and it's fine in Summer, terrible all winter

AndersLimpar

Would you consider Clane? We were like you and were debating Naas or Maynooth for access to Dublin and for whatever reason ended up in Clane!! Have to say it was a great decision though. Absolutely lovely village with all amenities and shops you need. M7 and M4 both about 10 mins away. Trains to Heuston and Connolly also both about 10 mins away. Bus to Dublin every 20 mins in the morning and evening that takes <1hr. My one complaint is that it is awkward/expensive to get home from Dublin on a night out.

Paranoid Mandroid

AndersLimpar wrote: »

. My one complaint is that it is awkward/expensive to get home from Dublin on a night out.

Anders, how do you get home from Dublin city after a night out? cheers

Staplor

Going to Maynooth from Dublin, a taxi is €40 if you get it on the south side of the quays.

Other than that you can ask for fare and negotiate. Some taxi drivers will go for it, some won't. The meter is the max they can charge you, they can charge less if they want to. I know that the wife was in Dublin, and the taxi man agreed €50 to Maynooth, and then to drop someone else to Enfield. That was a ridiculously low price though.

Riskymove

Paranoid Mandroid wrote: »

Anders, how do you get home from Dublin city after a night out? cheers

Nitelinks operate Friday and Saturday

Paranoid Mandroid

Riskymove wrote: »

Nitelinks operate Friday and Saturday

cheers but that was about getting to Clane. I don't think there are nitelinks to Clane, or are there?

Riskymove

Paranoid Mandroid wrote: »

cheers but that was about getting to Clane. I don't think there are nitelinks to Clane, or are there?

oh sorry....well at least a Nitelink to Celbridge or Maynooth and then a taxi would be far cheaper than a taxi direct to Clane

Talula_d

Maybe kilcock? We have moved here and although neither of us travel to the city centre, our new next door neighbour travels each morning and seems not to mind it, we love the area and relatives of our live here and have their kids in Scoil Riada and i have heard it's a great school, we would however shop in Maynooth and kilcock, usually Lidl in kilcock, aldi and Dunnes in Maynooth( both on the kilcock road), we had also being looking at your other choices but the house was right for us, we were slightly out of by Maynooth for two reasons- traffic and students! Also we found for our money we got far better by moving to kilcock rather than Maynooth.

AndersLimpar

Paranoid Mandroid wrote: »

Anders, how do you get home from Dublin city after a night out? cheers

I dont!! I usually just book a cheap room in town and stay there as it's cheaper/similar price to getting a taxi home and a lot less hassle!

When I used to go home to Clane I would get the Bus Eireann nitelink to Clane or get the Dublin Bus nitelink to Celbridge and then get a taxi from there.

I dont get out much anymore (kids, older!!) so I couldnt be dealing with the hassle and time it takes with buses and taxis so just stay in town now.

Hellrazer

Originally lived in Celbridge but moved to Maynooth 7 years ago.
Would much prefer Maynooth.I commuted to City Centre for 5 years.The drive isn't too bad--allow an hour (except if theres a crash on the N4 then all bets are off) and if the weather is bad like the snow a few years back-Train to Connolly or Drumcondra and youre sorted.
Schools are in my opinion much better in Maynooth.We`ve a range from 6 up to 17 and the schools have been great.
Pub / restaurant wise Maynooth is miles ahead..loads of new restaurants have opened in the last couple of years and if youre still young at heart then you can fall out of the Roost or Mantra(well the cathedral when it reopens)

For the late nights in Dublin you have a nitelink for a fiver that brings you home aswell..ok they all have that but it is one thing we based our move on..Taxis from Dublin are expensive.

Corruptedmorals

I live in Leixlip and am very familiar with the other two. Community wise, I wouldn't say there's much between them, they all have a lot of facilities, groups, sports clubs, amenities etc. Maynooth would be the most social with the college. Celbridge would be the most awkward of the 3 as mentioned since it's the only one not on the Maynooth train line. Maynooth itself often has traffic build-up outside of and through the village even at times outside of rush hour, which can be annoying unless you can go an alternative route.

yellow hen

Thanks for all the replies. Despite positive comments for other towns/villages, Maynooth still wins out. We're at a point of location v House sq.footage and right now the location is still winning.

In terms of location in maynooth, would the area around Beaufield, Castle Dawson etc be the best location for access to train, motorway and all primary schools (we don't know yet which we'll be going to)?

Moonbeam

Castle Dawson is quite far from the motorway and the train.
Beaufield,Maynooth Park,Parklands,Silkenvale,Rockfield are all within a few minutes of the train.
The primary schools are spread out,The Gaelscoil and Educate Together are on the Celbridge Road,the other 2 are the other side of town but Maynooth isn't exactly big so it is a about 15-20 minutes walk from the Gaelscoil to the girls school.
If you have kids and their names are not down in the schools on the Celbridge Road already just be aware the waiting lists are 4-5 years long.

yellow hen

Hi Moonbeam,

Name is down for catholic school and Educate Together (Gaelscoil wouldn't be our preference). Going to see a house in Beaufield on Sat, it isn't what we're looking for but i'm open to being convinced. Accessibility to the train is very attractive. Is Beaufield a heavily rented estate do you know?

Funny, we drove in around Silken Vale and I didnt particularly like it at all. Rockfield, particularly the bungalows, would be ideal.

Moonbeam

We were not taken by Beaufield despite some of the houses being very nice.
It was full of students 5 years ago when we were house hunting and we really did not want that but I think it depends on which road there too.

Meadowbrook is mixed too,it is full of students but there are a lot of families there too and the houses are nice but not huge.

Kingsbry is also worth a look.

mloc123

Moonbeam wrote: »

Kingsbry is also worth a look.

It must have the highest percentage of students living in it?

Dolbert

We're living just opposite Beaufield and the location is ideal. Only a 10 minute walk to the train and you're on the right side of the town for the motorway. Our estate is very quiet, but I don't live in Beaufield itself so can't comment on that.

Moonbeam

mloc123 wrote: »

It must have the highest percentage of students living in it?

tbh I have no idea. I only know families living there and there are nice green areas for the kids to play.

wirelessdude01

yellow hen wrote: »

Funny, we drove in around Silken Vale and I didnt particularly like it at all.

What didn't you like about Silken Vale? I live here and houses for sale in here are like hens teeth. Very rarely come to market and are highly sought after. Estate is really quiet, very few student houses and the few that are here seem to be quiet.

When I bought I looked at the Beaufield/MeadoBrook area and the % of student/badly maintained houses totally put me off the area. I know people living in that general area and they seem to like it but for me you get what you pay for in a better maintained/looking estate.

Staplor

My bro is in Kingsbry his kids love it, there'd be mutiny if they moved.

yellow hen

@wirelessdude I'm sorry, I certainly don't want to be rude about people's homes/estates, particularly when I. Know very little about the area. To explainyslf a little, I felt the cul de sac with the semi d's were very tightly packed. It was just a little too claustrophobic for what we'd want. The dormers (or maybe there were 2 story, I forget) looked lovely but was there pylons or something in front of them?
I know very little about beaufield but I do like the tree lined avenues with the houses slightly recessed.i might completely change my mindin that after sat.

At this moment in time, we would be delighted to buy a house (at the right price!) anywhere in Maynooth. The more we visit, the more we're sure that this is where we want to settle.

Sorry for shocking typing... On phone!

Moonbeam

It is a very nice place to live and when you do need to escape it has easy access to the M50,M4 and M7 which makes it even better:)

yellow hen

Moonbeam wrote: »

It is a very nice place to live and when you do need to escape it has easy access to the M50,M4 and M7 which makes it even better:)

I need no convincing! It just speaks to us. Last day we went down, we just went and sat on the lawn in the seminary... Utter bliss! Cross your fingers for us!

yellow hen

So we went to see beaufield today only the EA failed to show up. Anyway, we drove around and there looked to be quite a few rented house. Is it foolish to expect otherwise in a university town?

Also, the estate was a bit unkempt. Does anyone know is there's a maintenance co or who up keeps the estate?

L1011

yellow hen wrote: »

So we went to see beaufield today only the EA failed to show up. Anyway, we drove around and there looked to be quite a few rented house. Is it foolish to expect otherwise in a university town?

Also, the estate was a bit unkempt. Does anyone know is there's a maintenance co or who up keeps the estate?

All older estates in Maynooth have student houses, you are not going to avoid them unless you go to an newer (for now) or far dearer estate.

As far as I know, no established estate in Maynooth has a management company for the houses - residents association and the council are all there is for common areas. Houses and their gardens are entirely on the owner as there's usally no covenants either.

I'd lay money as to which specific EA it was who didn't show, there's one who has a habit of forgetting their weekend calls!

yellow hen

L1011 wrote: »

All older estates in Maynooth have student houses, you are not going to avoid them unless you go to an newer (for now) or far dearer estate.

As far as I know, no established estate in Maynooth has a management company for the houses - residents association and the council are all there is for common areas. Houses and their gardens are entirely on the owner as there's usally no covenants either.

I'd lay money as to which specific EA it was who didn't show, there's one who has a habit of forgetting their weekend calls!

I think it was the first weekend that this particular house was going to be shown but there were no other viewers there at all. Everyone else must have got a phone call. Really unimpressed as we don't live that nearby.

I like the general beaufield area and for the location, it offers great value for money but I was quite disappointed by how run down it was. Some of the estates were missing road signage etc.

L1011

Signage there would have been put up by the developers over 20 years ago and is fairly dear to replace. Kingsbry (my parents estate) residents association saved their council grants for a few years to put up internal signs which are a huge help to couriers etc - and my parents who live next door to an inexplicably numbered house and used to get countless knocks from lost delivery men.

If its the EA I assume it is a phone call rouses them, but it is horribly unprofessional.

yellow hen

Thanks for the reply. People power is amazing but I'm not sure I'm the person who can light that spark. I'd love to think that I could mobilise people into caring for the area that they live in but I know that's just fanciful. (I just watched someone walk past our house and let their Alsatian do the biggest poo right outside our gate. You can't change people who just don't care)

BaronVon

I wouldn't get too hung up on the amount of rented houses. I bought in Leixlip in 2008 and, out of 19 houses in the cul de sac, 11 were rented. Now, only 2 are rented, and all the other renters werre replaced by young families.

An estate can change quickly either way, not too much you can do about it......

mirrorwall14

I've lived in maynooth through college and for three years afterwards while working in dundrum. I now live in celbridge for the last four years and commute to leixlip the one thing I will say about maynooth is that traffic is absolutely ridiculous most of the time. I live on the outskirts of the maynooth side of celbridge and do most of my socialising in maynooth. When I had rehearsals in the community space in manor mills at 7 it would take up to 45minutes to get there no matter what route I took to it. When rehearsals moved to tesco in maynooth it took just 15. If you want to commute nake sure you are on the m4 side of down or you will significantly add to your commute.

yellow hen

infacteh wrote: »

I wouldn't get too hung up on the amount of rented houses. I bought in Leixlip in 2008 and, out of 19 houses in the cul de sac, 11 were rented. Now, only 2 are rented, and all the other renters werre replaced by young families.

An estate can change quickly either way, not too much you can do about it......

You're right. I suppose it's just something we'll have to get used to. Does anyone get any night time bother from the students?

@mirrorwall, I'm aware of the traffic problems but thanks for commenting. We're hoping to buy towards the m4 alright. We briefly looked at moyglare but that was one of the reasons we decided it wasn't right.

Moonbeam

We have no student houses on our road so we rarely notice them.
FInd a house that suits all your needs and then once you are in the part of the town you want to be in then go for it.
We couldn't get the exact house that we wanted so we checked out how hard extending would be and as most of the neighbours have extended there should be no issue.
If you are buying an older house it is worth paying a surveyor to give it a once over,there were 2 serious issues(water and electricity) with our house but they were easily rectified but cost a lot so we used that to help negotiate price.

yellow hen

Moonbeam wrote: »

We have no student houses on our road so we rarely notice them.
FInd a house that suits all your needs and then once you are in the part of the town you want to be in then go for it.
We couldn't get the exact house that we wanted so we checked out how hard extending would be and as most of the neighbours have extended there should be no issue.
If you are buying an older house it is worth paying a surveyor to give it a once over,there were 2 serious issues(water and electricity) with our house but they were easily rectified but cost a lot so we used that to help negotiate price.

We've already bought the old house with lots of problems so we would definitely be getting a surveyor. We haven't seen the inside of this house yet but location works and house dimensions look like it could potentially work. The price definitely works and will give us that capacity to renovate to what we want. Hopefully our own house will go on the market within the month. I am full of butterflies thinking about it!

Oh, I called the EA this morning and apparently Saturdays appointment was cancelled and everyone was called. They were actually quite rude, almost saying that I was wrong and I couldn't have been on the list?! Unbelievably unprofessional. Haven't they yet learned that today's buyers are tomorrows sellers?