Clay Farm, Leopardstown, Dublin 18

shanedunne2000

HannahK wrote: »

How long has it taken people to close their snags?

Hi HannahK,

Have you started snagging yet? We haven’t heard anything from the builder for us to start...

rhubarb1980

Noticed that some people already moved in before Christmas. Were tiles in downstairs toilet and storage included in price?

shanedunne2000

rhubarb1980 wrote: »

Noticed that some people already moved in before Christmas. Were tiles in downstairs toilet and storage included in price?

Tiling in all bathrooms and kitchen included in price.

SouthKnight

For people who bought Fern house, can I ask how you will design your living room? Where do you put TV, sofa? As far as I know, the TV port is near the window.

cbanon22

Congratulations to those who have moved into Clay Farm. Can I ask about first impressions please? I will be moving into a Fern in a few months time....

newtothis90

Thanks for all the helpful messages! We are doing our snag soon, so excited!
Would love to hear first impressions also, how many people have moved in so far?

shanedunne2000

newtothis90 wrote: »

Thanks for all the helpful messages! We are doing our snag soon, so excited!
Would love to hear first impressions also, how many people have moved in so far?

Hi, has park confirmed a snag date to you? We are awaiting ours, not sure when it’s going to be...

newtothis90

shanedunne2000 wrote: »

Hi, has park confirmed a snag date to you? We are awaiting ours, not sure when it’s going to be...

Hi! We called them on Wednesday to see if they are able to give us a date for snag and fortunately they were. I'd probably call them to see what the status is

shanedunne2000

newtothis90 wrote: »

Hi! We called them on Wednesday to see if they are able to give us a date for snag and fortunately they were. I'd probably call them to see what the status is

Thank you, is your house in Larkfield Place? Just wondering if snag date is available for our block, or maybe you’re in another?

newtothis90

shanedunne2000 wrote: »

Thank you, is your house in Larkfield Place? Just wondering if snag date is available for our block, or maybe you’re in another?

No problem! Ours is Larkfield view actually. They were very quiet about the snag and we had to call them constantly so I'm sure it will happen soon . Have they given you an estimate at all?

shanedunne2000

newtothis90 wrote: »

No problem! Ours is Larkfield view actually. They were very quiet about the snag and we had to call them constantly so I'm sure it will happen soon . Have they given you an estimate at all?

They actually have this morning, on your tip we called them. So estimating week of either Jan 15th or 22nd. So not too bad.

newtothis90

shanedunne2000 wrote: »

They actually have this morning, on your tip we called them. So estimating week of either Jan 15th or 22nd. So not too bad.

That's excellent! Good luck :-)

Haidee_Hammond

SouthKnight wrote: »

For people who bought Fern house, can I ask how you will design your living room? Where do you put TV, sofa? As far as I know, the TV port is near the window.

We don't have a TV, we have a projector, so we don't care much for the connections, I am currently biased by the showhome, but I am checking potential arrangements with some online 3D design pages (can't remember the name of them now, but some are quite easy to use).

Haidee_Hammond

One question, were any of you guys able to lay the floors before you got the keys? (or will you be able to) Just trying to get an idea of the time frames.

Username2011

newtothis90 wrote: »

Thanks for all the helpful messages! We are doing our snag soon, so excited!
Would love to hear first impressions also, how many people have moved in so far?

Would also love to hear this? particularly interested in sound control in mid terrace houses-has there been any issues? previously people had posted that the mid terraces were very dark- has that been yer experience?

Thanks

Haidee_Hammond

By the way, I was wondering if anyone had been given proper plans of the house. In our contract there were none and the brochure has no measurements (I did find on internet proper plans for phase 2, but I'm not sure if the would be the same as phase 1). Also were any of you able to do the floors before having the keys?

Thanks!

Sheep Shagger

Missed phase 1, ridiculious price increases between phases is back with us

4 bed (Orchard) was €580k now €620k - gutted....

Haidee_Hammond

Sheep Shagger wrote: »

Missed phase 1, ridiculious price increases between phases is back with us

4 bed (Orchard) was €580k now €620k - gutted....

I know we were day for the "1st" day of phase one, all gone (apparently there had been a prerelease and all 3 beds were gone). I was also surprised, they are taking advantage, but it was the only house we saw that checked our boxes (but for the price of course ). Best of luck!

tradesman

Sheep Shagger wrote: »

Missed phase 1, ridiculious price increases between phases is back with us

4 bed (Orchard) was €580k now €620k - gutted....

Its the way it goes but I bet if you bought in phase 1 you would be smiling now?

awec

Sheep Shagger wrote: »

Missed phase 1, ridiculious price increases between phases is back with us

4 bed (Orchard) was €580k now €620k - gutted....

A 7% increase, slightly high but not massively so I think.

It looks pretty bad because these houses were mental prices to begin with for what you were getting for your money.

Haidee_Hammond

awec wrote: »

A 7% increase, slightly high but not massively so I think.

It looks pretty bad because these houses were mental prices to begin with for what you were getting for your money.

I keep hearing people saying how things like this, and I wonder if they see something I don't, or they don't value maybe the location as much as we do (luas line is extremely convenient for me and South is extremely convenient to him), but I couldn't for the life of me find anything decent in a good location for anything close to that price., I'm happy to hear about those better options (maybe too late to ask, but I would always prefer to know).

Sheep Shagger

tradesman wrote: »

Its the way it goes but I bet if you bought in phase 1 you would be smiling now?

Oh I know that's how it works and probably would be smiling. Was just hoping they wouldn't hit the €600k mark....doesn't make it any easier...

Sheep Shagger

Haidee_Hammond wrote: »

I keep hearing people saying how things like this, and I wonder if they see something I don't, or they don't value maybe the location as much as we do (luas line is extremely convenient for me and South is extremely convenient to him), but I couldn't for the life of me find anything decent in a good location for anything close to that price., I'm happy to hear about those better options (maybe too late to ask, but I would always prefer to know).

The fact the entire site is covered by two different LUAS stops is huge.

Thought the design/layout of the houses were a lot better than what's out there right now, intelligent and thought out properly in a lot of respects. Stuff you'd expect to be normal but hasn't been the case in the past.

Haidee_Hammond

Sheep Shagger wrote: »

The fact the entire site is covered by two different LUAS stops is huge.

Thought the design/layout of the houses were a lot better than what's out there right now, intelligent and thought out properly in a lot of respects. Stuff you'd expect to be normal but hasn't been the case in the past.

I know, it is the only option that didn't have something we weren't willing to accept (such as being slightly cheaper but requiring 100k in repairs, or over an hour commute), apparently, although none of us liked the price, that was something we were willing to accept (funny that). But I keep hearing /reading people that see them as bad value, and I wonder is because they are OK with long commutes, they haven't seen the horrors of the current house market, or they know better than I do, and I am missing something important, because I didn't find anything that was better value (once taken location into account of course, of not, Lucan has many cheaper options).

ruadhanbarry

We moved in before Christmas, and first impressions are positive. House is warm and quality has been as or above expectations.

Snag wasn’t too big, about two weeks to get it done.

We were not allowed to put in floors before getting keys, but in hindsight, I’m not sure how comfortable I would be having floors I paid for in a house I didn’t own yet. We did tile the rest of the kitchen, however, before we moved in. We used the same tiler as Park to match the kitchen tiles.

For anyone looking for a four bed, we moved into a Fern, but what did surprise me was the size of the Fern loft. It’s huge. To convert the Fern to a four bed would be much more cost effective than buying a four bed outright. Pros & cons to be considered, but an option.

awec

Haidee_Hammond wrote: »

I keep hearing people saying how things like this, and I wonder if they see something I don't, or they don't value maybe the location as much as we do (luas line is extremely convenient for me and South is extremely convenient to him), but I couldn't for the life of me find anything decent in a good location for anything close to that price., I'm happy to hear about those better options (maybe too late to ask, but I would always prefer to know).

I live around the corner so this location would have been perfect for us. We were really interested in this development when we saw that they were going to start building there.

But the houses themselves turned out to be fugly and cheap looking (especially the ones that are facing onto Ballyogan road) and parking is going to be a complete disaster. Medium term Ballyogan Road is going to turn in to traffic hell but that's not the developers fault.

In fairness the Luas being beside it is a big benefit for sure.

There are no better options right now, which is really why they can get away with these prices. I think the houses in Glenside were much nicer looking, though they were smaller and didn't have as good a location (though they also didn't have an ESB substation or a recycling plant next door).

Don't want to sound like I'm putting your home down, obviously it's what you wanted and that's all that matters really, not the opinion of some random person on the interwebs.

Haidee_Hammond

awec wrote: »

I live around the corner so this location would have been perfect for us. We were really interested in this development when we saw that they were going to start building there.

But the houses themselves turned out to be fugly and cheap looking (especially the ones that are facing onto Ballyogan road) and parking is going to be a complete disaster. Medium term Ballyogan Road is going to turn in to traffic hell but that's not the developers fault.

In fairness the Luas being beside it is a big benefit for sure.

There are no better options right now, which is really why they can get away with these prices. I think the houses in Glenside were much nicer looking, though they were smaller and didn't have as good a location (though they also didn't have an ESB substation or a recycling plant next door).

Don't want to sound like I'm putting your home down, obviously it's what you wanted and that's all that matters really, not the opinion of some random person on the interwebs.

Thanks for answering! It is what matters, but it also makes me wonder (and yes, they seem to be able to get away with anything at all, the things I have seen...).

Haidee_Hammond

ruadhanbarry wrote: »

We moved in before Christmas, and first impressions are positive. House is warm and quality has been as or above expectations.

Snag wasn’t too big, about two weeks to get it done.

We were not allowed to put in floors before getting keys, but in hindsight, I’m not sure how comfortable I would be having floors I paid for in a house I didn’t own yet. We did tile the rest of the kitchen, however, before we moved in. We used the same tiler as Park to match the kitchen tiles.

For anyone looking for a four bed, we moved into a Fern, but what did surprise me was the size of the Fern loft. It’s huge. To convert the Fern to a four bed would be much more cost effective than buying a four bed outright. Pros & cons to be considered, but an option.

Awesome, thanks a lot for that. By the way, because the houses are timber frame the contract says that you can't alter without talking to a structural engineer (or something like that), not like that means you can't, just mentioning it.
We bought the phase 1"and a half " so I am just trying to figure things out Glad you guys had a good experience so far. About the tiles, how did you do it? I was considering doing the same thing...

Sheep Shagger

Haidee_Hammond wrote: »

I know, it is the only option that didn't have something we weren't willing to accept (such as being slightly cheaper but requiring 100k in repairs, or over an hour commute), apparently, although none of us liked the price, that was something we were willing to accept (funny that). But I keep hearing /reading people that see them as bad value, and I wonder is because they are OK with long commutes, they haven't seen the horrors of the current house market, or they know better than I do, and I am missing something important, because I didn't find anything that was better value (once taken location into account of course, of not, Lucan has many cheaper options).

From what I've seen they are not bad value - guess it depends how much you value reliable public transport and dependency on a car.

Dublin bus is not reliable in most cases (except maybe the 46a).

Eric Cartman

Haidee_Hammond wrote: »

I keep hearing people saying how things like this, and I wonder if they see something I don't, or they don't value maybe the location as much as we do (luas line is extremely convenient for me and South is extremely convenient to him), but I couldn't for the life of me find anything decent in a good location for anything close to that price., I'm happy to hear about those better options (maybe too late to ask, but I would always prefer to know).

580k for a 4 bed house, in an estate, on a small plot is mad money in my opinion , no matter where it is. In 2013 the same house would probably be worth 400k which is about what they're actually worth. Easy access to credit has people driving up prices against each other as its easier to get mortgages, its boom time escalation all over again. Now they can justify it as everything else around it is going for that kind of money but looking at it as a cold hard fact of it being a pile of bricks and building cost - its not worth 580k at all.

"houses are worth what people are willing to pay" only works for buying cash, logic and reason about affordability goes out the window when its paid back over 35 years.