Assistance/Opinions required

09_09_09

Hi Guys,

I hope you can help me with my queries and provide your useful opinions.

I am going to start hunting my first home (FTB) in the near future and I am currently saving €1,000 to €1,200 per month for the deposit and have circa €15,000 in the saving accounts.

My gross pay is circa €35,000 per annum. I recently got married and my wife has no job at present and I think it will affect the mortgage application (not sure).

In additon to the deposit, my brother will give us cash gift (if required) which will be under the allowable tax threshold to boost the deposit amount.

I work in Dun Laoghire and live close to the City Centre and use DART on daily basis. I prefer to buy a house near the train station (have no car) and my budget is under €200k. I came across these two houses (see below).

Are they good enough or value for money houses? I am not sure about the area either. Is it safe enough for the immigrants?

http://www.myhome.ie/residential/brochure/52-bremore-drive-balbriggan-dublin/3440074

http://www.myhome.ie/residential/brochure/65-clonard-court-balbriggan-dublin/3296047

Sorry English is not my first language and my apologies for poor grammar and punctuation.

Thanks in advance,
09.

mad_shopaholic

You will only be able to get a mortgage amount for 3.5times your salary so to buy a house for 200k you would need a 77.5K deposit.

MayoSalmon

Balbriggan is not a "great" area plus its considerable distance to the center of Dublin train or no train. Might get hammered for saying this but I certainly wouldn't be buying a home there. Go visit the area and see it for yourself.

Michael D Not Higgins

mad_shopaholic wrote: »

You will only be able to get a mortgage amount for 3.5times your salary so to buy a house for 200k you would need a 77.5K deposit.

Not to mention that the underwriting process estimates about 2k for two adults to live on, so the affordability of a mortgage for the OP is about €500/month, which is a loan amount of 80k.

spaceHopper

You'll be hammered in transport costs, what about bray co wiclkow, it's not far from DunL and you'd have more free time and save on travel costs.
Don't worry about your English it's fine

http://www.myhome.ie/residential/wicklow/property-for-sale-in-bray?maxprice=220000

09_09_09

spaceHopper wrote: »

You'll be hammered in transport costs, what about bray co wiclkow, it's not far from DunL and you'd have more free time and save on travel costs.
Don't worry about your English it's fine

http://www.myhome.ie/residential/wicklow/property-for-sale-in-bray?maxprice=220000

I'd love to buy house in Bray(Wicklow) or South Dublin. However, my options are limited. Most of the houses on sale either require modernisation or very tiny .

Re Balbriggan - The houses appear to be in my range (budget wise) but, the travelling time will make me a Zombie.

Hopefully, my other half will find a decent job, in the near future then we can apply for a bigger mortgage.

Thanks guys for your opinions.

09.

handlemaster

There s à three bed terrace for sale in bray oldcourt for 142k. Dont know bray or this area .. price seems good

Victor

09_09_09 wrote: »

Is it safe enough for the immigrants?

Plenty of immigrants in Balbriggan.

SarahMollie

Your wife not having a job will count against you I'm afraid. She is your dependent and your salary therefore has to look after 2 people.

If possible she should get a job before you apply.

kjr77

MayoSalmon wrote: »

Balbriggan is not a "great" area plus its considerable distance to the center of Dublin train or no train. Might get hammered for saying this but I certainly wouldn't be buying a home there. Go visit the area and see it for yourself.

MayoSalmon, I don't think it is fair to brand a whole town as "not a great area". There are good and bad areas in every large town. Its also a lot closer to the airport than Nobber.

SarahMollie

kjr77 wrote: »

MayoSalmon, I don't think it is fair to brand a whole town as "not a great area". There are good and bad areas in every large town. Its also a lot closer to the airport than Nobber.

Humm, I think you'll find that opinion is pretty widely held. My perception of Balbriggan is too many boomtime houses/apartments, too far out from the city, and that there are nicer towns on the north county Dublin coast if you had to move out that direction.

I think someone currently living in the city center like the OP is, would find it a big adjustment.

kjr77

Have you lived there or is your widely held opinion just based on what you've read on posts like this. Obviously if you're travelling to work to Dunlaoghaire every day, its not a good option, a quick look at a map would tell you that.

SarahMollie

kjr77 wrote: »

Have you lived there or is your widely held opinion just based on what you've read on posts like this. Obviously if you're travelling to work to Dunlaoghaire every day, its not a good option, a quick look at a map would tell you that.

Presume this was aimed at me.

No, but I lived in North Dublin for most of my life and I've been out to Ballbriggan on numerous occasions. I don't think you need to live in every single area to have a view on it. I think I've lived close enough to know generally.

I wouldn't pretend to have much knowledge of parts of Cork for example, so I won't give an opinion on places there, but think North Dublin is right in my wheelhouse.

Also, I think the fact that you can even get a house for less that €150k in Ballbriggan demonstrates that many people view it as not the most desirable area.

kjr77

I've lived in balbriggan for over 10 years without any hassle. I think that you would feel the same way if the place you live was being described as some sort of ghetto. I like the fact that my mortgage doesn't eat up 40% of my income and that i have money for other things other than paying the bank.
Thanks for contributions and good luck.

Moonbeam

spaceHopper wrote: »

You'll be hammered in transport costs, what about bray co wiclkow, it's not far from DunL and you'd have more free time and save on travel costs.
Don't worry about your English it's fine

http://www.myhome.ie/residential/wicklow/property-for-sale-in-bray?maxprice=220000

How would he be hammered with transport costs?

Moonbeam

I own a house in Balbriggan but I do not live in it.
Balbriggan has a very multicultural population with people from all over the world.
There is the beach,a train and buses in to Dublin,it is inside the Dublin area for trains,there is a shopping centre .
www.taxsaver.ie will show you the Dublin area for trains and buses.