House hunting Douglas.

snottybridge

Viewing a house in Inchvale Park, Shamrock Lawn,I'm not too familiar with that area,anyone here have any experience/views on the place?Thanks in advance.

run_Forrest_run

It's a nice mature estate, I've never heard or any problems (social) with the area. Very good location obviously being so close to the village/car park

BurnsCarpenter

Shamrock Lawn is grand. Quiet out. Teenagers long grown up and moved on.

razorblunt

Snottybridge, great name!

SkySter

Live at the end of Shamrock Lawn for over 20 years. Quite area. Near school, shops, restaurants and pubs. Easy access to public transport. Plenty going for it.

Lekrub

What did you make of the area/house in the end? See it's still around.

snottybridge

Lekrub wrote: »

What did you make of the area/house in the end? See it's still around.

Nice area/house, I actually posted for my son who was viewing 1 of 2 houses for sale there, house went way above asking price in the end, he looked at another further up the hill towards Grange, that too went way above the asking.

Lekrub

snottybridge wrote: »

Nice area/house, I actually posted for my son who was viewing 1 of 2 houses for sale there, house went way above asking price in the end, he looked at another further up the hill towards Grange, that too went way above the asking.

Cheers for getting back. Normal then it's on sale agreed but ads are not updated. That's pretty disheartening to hear both went way above the asking. The prices are ridiculous. And no solution in sight...but paying for water? Thats a huge deal!🙄

run_Forrest_run

snottybridge wrote: »

... house went way above asking price in the end, he looked at another further up the hill towards Grange, that too went way above the asking.

yep, that's Douglas for ya...we're back to this crap of sale agreed prices soaring well above of asking price.

Fairdues

May need to move a bit further out. Is he heart set on Douglas area?

snottybridge

Fairdues wrote: »

May need to move a bit further out. Is he heart set on Douglas area?

He's looking in Douglas more for convenience, fairly regular bus service there as he doesn't drive, I think you're right though, he may have to start looking in other areas.

Fairdues

snottybridge wrote: »

He's looking in Douglas more for convenience, fairly regular bus service there as he doesn't drive, I think you're right though, he may have to start looking in other areas.

There's a good social life in Douglas and it's great being convenient to various services. If the houses are out of his reach, a little further away or another area might be necessary though. Not having a car does limit to places with good public transport links though, so I can see why he would be opting for the Douglas side.

liamjames1

Can someone clear something up for me. I am regularly noticing houses selling for way above the asking in Douglas / Rochestown area.

Recently heard of a house sold for 275k and an identical house 2 doors down put on the market a month later for 220k. Obviously it sold well above asking.

Is there any legislation / audit board to stop auctioneers from doing this? I had heard there was?

One auctioneers in Douglas is notorious for it at this stage.

run_Forrest_run

liamjames1 wrote: »

Can someone clear something up for me. I am regularly noticing houses selling for way above the asking in Douglas / Rochestown area.

Recently heard of a house sold for 275k and an identical house 2 doors down put on the market a month later for 220k. Obviously it sold well above asking.

Is there any legislation / audit board to stop auctioneers from doing this? I had heard there was?

to stop what exactly? There's nothing wrong with a vendor setting their asking price low, it's an effective way to get attention and get a nice bidding war going, sickening and annoying as that may sound.

Now if you're referring to another phenomenon that is phantom bidding then perhaps you have a point about trying to stop it, but first you must prove that it exists which the auctioneers will vehemently deny such a thing happens.

bigbrotherfan

liamjames1 wrote: »

Can someone clear something up for me. I am regularly noticing houses selling for way above the asking in Douglas / Rochestown area.

Recently heard of a house sold for 275k and an identical house 2 doors down put on the market a month later for 220k. Obviously it sold well above asking.

Is there any legislation / audit board to stop auctioneers from doing this? I had heard there was?

One auctioneers in Douglas is notorious for it at this stage.

Hard to believe we're back at this stage, when the bottom fell out of the market, just a few short years ago. It definitely seems to go in cycles and now that things are gone daft again, it may be worth waiting until this madness is over. I was thinking of buying a property during the previous boom, when a relative of mine kept telling me there would be a crash and NOT to buy. Luckily, I took his advice. The fact that rents are so high is putting more pressure on people to buy now though.

liamjames1

run_Forrest_run wrote: »

to stop what exactly? There's nothing wrong with a vendor setting their asking price low, it's an effective way to get attention and get a nice bidding war going, sickening and annoying as that may sound.

Now if you're referring to another phenomenon that is phantom bidding then perhaps you have a point about trying to stop it, but first you must prove that it exists which the auctioneers will vehemently deny such a thing happens.

Time wasting for one. Using it as a method of gathering names and numbers.

Not saying it's not a good sales tactic but just feel sorry for people who plod along with 5-10% fat in there budget only to see it sell for 20% above ask and theyve been used as a stalking horse to drive price time and time again.

Realistically in such a liquid market if you can't guide a house to within 10% of sale price in 90% of your cases you'd have to wonder why not?

I need to read the legislation in detail again but think there is something in there in section 6 part 55 onwards.

bigbrotherfan

Houses in estates can vary considerably in terms of condition, extensions, maintenance, quality of decor, windows, insulation, aspect, site, size of site/garden, privacy, etc. etc. I am aware of houses within the same park where there is a considerable variation in asking price, which reflects the above. It does not always have to be a case of what's listed in the above posts.

liamjames1

bigbrotherfan wrote: »

Houses in estates can vary considerably in terms of condition, extensions, maintenance, quality of decor, windows, insulation, aspect, site, size of site/garden, privacy, etc. etc. I am aware of houses within the same park where there is a considerable variation in asking price, which reflects the above. It does not always have to be a case of what's listed in the above posts.

Understood and agreed.

But you are addressing an example I used not the point I'm making.

They are "experts" so factor this into the valuation / guide.

bigbrotherfan

liamjames1 wrote: »

Understood and agreed.

But you are addressing an example I used not the point I'm making.

They are "experts" so factor this into the valuation / guide.

Also understood and agreed. This is another important consideration to factor in, nonetheless, while not in any way dismissing your point.

Fairdues

run_Forrest_run wrote: »

yep, that's Douglas for ya...we're back to this crap of sale agreed prices soaring well above of asking price.

Have also heard of a few cases of gazumping of late and not just in Douglas.

pwurple

bigbrotherfan wrote: »

liamjames1 wrote: »

Can someone clear something up for me. I am regularly noticing houses selling for way above the asking in Douglas / Rochestown area.

Recently heard of a house sold for 275k and an identical house 2 doors down put on the market a month later for 220k. Obviously it sold well above asking.

Is there any legislation / audit board to stop auctioneers from doing this? I had heard there was?

One auctioneers in Douglas is notorious for it at this stage.

Hard to believe we're back at this stage, when the bottom fell out of the market, just a few short years ago. It definitely seems to go in cycles and now that things are gone daft again, it may be worth waiting until this madness is over. I was thinking of buying a property during the previous boom, when a relative of mine kept telling me there would be a crash and NOT to buy. Luckily, I took his advice. The fact that rents are so high is putting more pressure on people to buy now though.

Did you buy in 2013, at the bottom of the market instead? 

There's a difference now. In 2007/2008, some people were buying second and third properties, holiday homes etc, Leveraging equity in one house to buy more houses, and all sorts of similar nonsense, along with those who just wanted someplace to live and were seeing everything flying out of their reach. 

What I see now, is people in their 20's and 30's, who are now older and simply looking to buy a place to live. There's a lack of supply, because the builders went bust as well, so the prices are rising. What I'm more worried about, is the return of the cowboy builder.

liamjames1

Just for interest I am putting this up here.

http://www.daft.ie/cork/houses-for-sale/frankfield/185-west-avenue-park-gate-frankfield-cork-1416670/

A similar property (I can't see the difference from what is available) a couple of doors down closed on the property price register for €320k and another one for €300k in the last 2 months so wondering why this has gone up for €240k.

I will update this after it closes to see actual selling price just for our reference.

bigbrotherfan

liamjames1 wrote: »

Just for interest I am putting this up here.

http://www.daft.ie/cork/houses-for-sale/frankfield/185-west-avenue-park-gate-frankfield-cork-1416670/

A similar property (I can't see the difference from what is available) a couple of doors down closed on the property price register for €320k and another one for €300k in the last 2 months so wondering why this has gone up for €240k.

I will update this after it closes to see actual selling price just for our reference.

There could be another reason why the house is selling,'As is'. I don't know the house, obviously but sometimes, a house could need significant work.

Balmed Out

Was actively trying to buy in a town with limited supply from 2010 till we finally bought in 2016 and the tactic of setting a low price to encourage a bidding war when people get emotionally attached happened as often at the bottom of the market as it does now.
I bought a house for 60k more than the asking and the next door neighbor house with a much smaller garden sold two months after for 10k more. It could have gone 10k less just as easily and I think we both did quite well really.
What I did having been on the losing side very often was to tell the auctioneer we had agreed to buy elsewhere but it looked like a divorcing couple and it might not go through and could he get back to us when he was close to going agreed. The sudden appearance of a new bidder can turn others off.

Other than an estate agent tactic one thing I came across surprisingly often were houses being sold for significantly less then one would expect but there was some planning issues and it was being sold without a certificate of compliance and so you couldn't get a mortgage on it. Cash only.

bigbrotherfan

Balmed Out wrote: »

Was actively trying to buy in a town with limited supply from 2010 till we finally bought in 2016 and the tactic of setting a low price to encourage a bidding war when people get emotionally attached happened as often at the bottom of the market as it does now.
I bought a house for 60k more than the asking and the next door neighbor house with a much smaller garden sold two months after for 10k more. It could have gone 10k less just as easily and I think we both did quite well really.
What I did having been on the losing side very often was to tell the auctioneer we had agreed to buy elsewhere but it looked like a divorcing couple and it might not go through and could he get back to us when he was close to going agreed. The sudden appearance of a new bidder can turn others off.

Other than an estate agent tactic one thing I came across surprisingly often were houses being sold for significantly less then one would expect but there was some planning issues and it was being sold without a certificate of compliance and so you couldn't get a mortgage on it. Cash only.

It's very hard to trust auctioneers as it seems, with a lot of them, it seems to be games being played. Some are obviously more straightforward then others but phantom bidders are always a worry.

Balmed Out

I bid and lost on possibly up to a dozen houses since the property price register came in and never once was the sale price not equal or above the price on it.

Not said there aren't shenanigans but less often then people expect and less often phantom bidding. I remember two homes that were bank sales from a developer that were asking a lot (next door to each other small development), I told auctioneer to let me know if price was going to drop as what I could afford was well below the asking. About two years later both houses sold on the same day for 1 euro apart and well below what I told the auctioneer I was willing to pay. I would have viewed houses in the mean time with the same auctioneer so he knew we were still in the market.

Lekrub

bump...Has anyone gone sale agreed on a house yet?

CHealy

Lekrub wrote: »

bump...Has anyone gone sale agreed on a house yet?

I have been for the last month, won't pin point location but not a million miles from Douglas. Haunted everything is going so smoothly so far.

Balmed Out

CHealy wrote: »

I have been for the last month, won't pin point location but not a million miles from Douglas. Haunted everything is going so smoothly so far.

Fingers crossed for you, great to have own place.

CHealy

Balmed Out wrote: »

Fingers crossed for you, great to have own place.

Nice one. Only got approved start of January, looked at about 15 places over the next month and bidded on 4 until we got lucky with this place, things well in motion now so fingers crossed. I'll be some lucky bollox if I pull it all off in the space of 6 or 7 months after hearing stories of people at it for a few years.

Lekrub

CHealy wrote: »

I have been for the last month, won't pin point location but not a million miles from Douglas. Haunted everything is going so smoothly so far.

Nice one, I'm more or less in the same situation. Just got to the sale agreed stage. Did you get an pre sale inspection? (not the valuation for the bank).

I got an engineer to check the house over. I mainly wanted to find out for subsidence since I heard so much about it and even saw some ads on daft saying their houses were already underpinned.

He done the inspection and sent a long report but it basically says he can only vouch for visual aspects and yea everything is fine. He didn't check the gas boiler or heating system, or electrics, or drains, or much else. And as far as subsidence goes he can't help you should insurance companies.

I feel like a car get's a more thorough check than a house. Any of these jump up for you?

CHealy

Lekrub wrote: »

Nice one, I'm more or less in the same situation. Just got to the sale agreed stage. Did you get an pre sale inspection? (not the valuation for the bank).

I got an engineer to check the house over. I mainly wanted to find out for subsidence since I heard so much about it and even saw some ads on daft saying their houses were already underpinned.

He done the inspection and sent a long report but it basically says he can only vouch for visual aspects and yea everything is fine. He didn't check the gas boiler or heating system, or electrics, or drains, or much else. And as far as subsidence goes he can't help you should insurance companies.

I feel like a car get's a more thorough check than a house. Any of these jump up for you?

Ya we are after getting three engineers out, its an old house built in the 40's so I wanted to be triple sure but these house are better built than the ones today. Cost me an arm but for piece of mind it was well worth it because they all came back to me with pretty much the same report and all is ok. But as you said, they didnt go in there with diggers to check drains or anything so thats always a risk after the buy.

Lekrub

CHealy wrote: »

Ya we are after getting three engineers out, its an old house built in the 40's so I wanted to be triple sure but these house are better built than the ones today. Cost me an arm but for piece of mind it was well worth it because they all came back to me with pretty much the same report and all is ok. But as you said, they didnt go in there with diggers to check drains or anything so thats always a risk after the buy.

I'd imagine, I was a bit sickened paying the fee when the likes of the heating system/boiler wasnt included but small money vs the house cost so well worth it. Good to hear someone else's feedback. Best of luck with the house.

If it's use to anyone too, I checked and a couple of companies including Allianz for subsidence cover and they wouldn't cover anywhere in Cork city or close surrounds cos of flooding and subsidence issues. FDB and aviva do no bother though. I'm sure a local broker would do a decent job of this too.

liamjames1

liamjames1 wrote: »

Just for interest I am putting this up here.

http://www.daft.ie/cork/houses-for-sale/frankfield/185-west-avenue-park-gate-frankfield-cork-1416670/

A similar property (I can't see the difference from what is available) a couple of doors down closed on the property price register for €320k and another one for €300k in the last 2 months so wondering why this has gone up for €240k.

I will update this after it closes to see actual selling price just for our reference.

Sale agreed at €325. Shock horror :mad:

Lekrub

liamjames1 wrote: »

Sale agreed at €325. Shock horror :mad:

€240 -> €325? That's crazy.

theboringfox

liamjames1 wrote: »

Sale agreed at €325. Shock horror :mad:

It's funny how the market finds its price. Still seems odd to set the price that low so I'd still wonder that maybe it was not as good as those others. I get concept of setting low asking but that seems too low...though it seems to have worked

liamjames1

theboringfox wrote: »

It's funny how the market finds its price. Still seems odd to set the price that low so I'd still wonder that maybe it was not as good as those others. I get concept of setting low asking but that seems too low...though it seems to have worked

Like most markets there will always be some buyers slightly better educated than others which drags prices to market rate at that point in time.

Just find it ridiculous that a company would consistently price properties so far below market and waste people's time to get the 2/3 real contenders in the door.

Ludo

liamjames1 wrote: »

Just find it ridiculous that a company would consistently price properties so far below market and waste people's time to get the 2/3 real contenders in the door.

Looks like they are doing a pretty good job to me to be honest. Their job involves getting best price for seller which they seem to be doing. I really don't see the issue.

Balmed Out

liamjames1 wrote: »

Like most markets there will always be some buyers slightly better educated than others which drags prices to market rate at that point in time.

Just find it ridiculous that a company would consistently price properties so far below market and waste people's time to get the 2/3 real contenders in the door.

The more bids, the more emotive, the more emotions the more people are willing to bid. Just set your max tell the estate agent you're interested and to come back to you with final bids.
What put me off a few times until I decided to do the same myself is to come in at the very end when bidding is creeping up and bid a good bit more in the hope of scaring the others off.

Mumha

Lekrub wrote: »

€240 -> €325? That's crazy.

I would suggest it was ridiculous to put it on at 240K, it was worth way more than that. We bought my MIL's house in the Lough for 240K, and we are going to have to spend 50/60 upgrading it.

Dbu

Thats a crazy price for a house, that in my opinion is not even in Douglas. Its a fair walk from Douglas village to there.

CZ 453

Only seen this thread now. Lived in Shamrock Lawn for about 3 years. Nice area.

The parking around the school is a nightmare as is the morning traffic. Our place was robbed(burgled) there as was our neighbours and many other houses on the same night.

D'Agger

liamjames1 wrote: »

Like most markets there will always be some buyers slightly better educated than others which drags prices to market rate at that point in time.

Just find it ridiculous that a company would consistently price properties so far below market and waste people's time to get the 2/3 real contenders in the door.

Ludo wrote: »

Looks like they are doing a pretty good job to me to be honest. Their job involves getting best price for seller which they seem to be doing. I really don't see the issue.

Cork, for property agents, is like Florida for Tony Montana in Scarface right now.

For example - Jacobs Island, an apartment went up recently for 185k, which is well below market but it drummed up huge interest. Went down there to see it and knew that you'd have to throw your full spend at it the next day based on their tactic of having the place mobbed. Rang up and sure enough, the current offer was 235k the next day.

They're doing their job but again, we're seeing another property bubble which is growing based off of pure and utter greed. People want the max they can get for their property sale and given the lack of supply in Cork they're able to with property agents all too willing to push that agenda in order to secure bonus & commission.

grogi

D'Agger wrote: »

They're doing their job but again, we're seeing another property bubble which is growing based off of pure and utter greed. People want the max they can get for their property sale and given the lack of supply in Cork they're able to with property agents all too willing to push that agenda in order to secure bonus & commission.

I want to see how you don't want to get what your property is worth...

D'Agger

grogi wrote: »

I want to see how you don't want to get what your property is worth...

I'm saying what the property is worth is being driven upwards repeatedly which is creating a crazy market in Cork right now. I'm not saying people should sell for less - the lack of supply in relation to demand is causing this imo

theboringfox

grogi wrote: »

I want to see how you don't want to get what your property is worth...

Yep. Agent's job is to maximise price. Prospective purchasing party can buy or walk away. The CB rules mean likelihood of bubble much lower. Saying that I would be slow to borrow up to 3.5x. We went to 2.0x excluding any bonuses. I am in a plain 1000sq ft 3 bed semi. Could have bought much nicer home but chose not to. That may not be the right decision. I am just a conservative person. The old rules in our parents time were 2x first salary plus 1x second salary. So we are still above that. Rules pushed up when rates of borrowing fell.

Agent does his job to maximise price and people need to assess own affordability. I am a little fearful that people are treating maximum permitted loan amounts by LTV and income multiples as a guideline on how much to borrow. As in if Central Bank says I can borrow this much then it is all good!

Lekrub

Did anyone view this property in Donnybrook? I viewed it and it's very nice. 'd be interested to find out what the final sale price was. It went quickly, after 1 week I think.

http://www.daft.ie/cork/houses-for-sale/donnybrook/13-daneswood-montpellier-road-donnybrook-cork-1450719/

run_Forrest_run

Lekrub wrote: »

Did anyone view this property in Donnybrook? I viewed it and it's very nice. 'd be interested to find out what the final sale price was. It went quickly, after 1 week I think.

http://www.daft.ie/cork/houses-for-sale/donnybrook/13-daneswood-montpellier-road-donnybrook-cork-1450719/

says Sale Agreed so the sale may not have gone through yet. You can however always consult the Property Price Register for all sale prices.

Lekrub

run_Forrest_run wrote: »

says Sale Agreed so the sale may not have gone through yet. You can however always consult the Property Price Register for all sale prices.

Thanks but property price register isnt usually updated to around 6 months after the keys are exchanged, (I think).

Malari

Lekrub wrote: »

Thanks but property price register isnt usually updated to around 6 months after the keys are exchanged, (I think).

In my experience it's a lot quicker than that - maybe a few weeks.

grogi

Malari wrote: »

In my experience it's a lot quicker than that - maybe a few weeks.

Yes, few weeks from Sold, not Sale Agreed.