Purchasing an apartment in Dublin

klee2011

I have moved abroad since three years ago due to work. I have a child studying in UCD (second year this Sept) and another one (she attends a university in London) who has been offered a 1-year internship in Leopardstown, starting this Sept. Given the crazy rent for Dublin accommodation, I am thinking of buying a 2 bed apartment in Dublin for my children to stay for now and as an investment at a later stage. My youngest child is with me (abroad) at the moment but she is planning on returning to Dublin to do her 5th Year next year.
I haven't been keeping in touch with the Dublin property prices, other than knowing that rental has skyrocketed since I lived there a few years ago. I would like to get some views as to whether it is wise for me to invest in an apartment versus paying rent for my children. 
My budget is around 350K or less. What are some of the apartment places that I should be looking at? I want somewhere safe and easy to commute for my children. Location is also important as at any one time, there will be two of them who will head out to different parts of the town on a daily basis. 
What else should form part of my consideration in purchasing an apartment in Dublin? Management fees?

heebusjeebus

You'd get a 2 bed apartment in Stepaside or Sandyford for 270 to 290.
These would be close to the luas line and there would be bus routes to UCD.
Management fees would vary. Some of the duplex apartments would be €700 and this is on the low side as there are no communal spaces or lifts to maintain.

klee2011

What it is like to live in Sandyford? Would this area more of a young urban professionals area ? Would an apartment in Sandyford be easy to rent out or sold should my children no longer live there ?

4ensic15

I would not advise it. You are buying a long term commitment for a short term need. If you buy an property do it based on return and ease of management. It is cheaper to pay rent, despite the high prices.

awec

klee2011 wrote: »

What it is like to live in Sandyford? Would this area more of a young urban professionals area ? Would an apartment in Sandyford be easy to rent out or sold should my children no longer live there ?

The Sandyford rental market is almost entirely young professionals due to the number of businesses in the area and it being right on the Luas line.

You'd have no problem renting it out (unless things go very tits up, then all bets are off).

klee2011

4ensic15 wrote: »

I would not advise it. You are buying a long term commitment for a short term need. If you buy an property do it based on return and ease of management. It is cheaper to pay rent, despite the high prices.

Thanks for pointing that out. I am not familiar with the management (or the ease of it) of rental property in Dublin. Five years ago, my husband bought a 1 bed flat near a train station while he was working in Southwest of England (an hour by train to London). Its a smallish town but a commuter town, nonetheless with train services that connect to bigger towns. So, the location was good as there was always demand for rental accommodation. DH lived in rented accommodation for a year before he bought his own little flat. The flat was rented out right away after he moved and still is. The company that oversees the management services takes care of everything (repairs, wear & tear, collection of rent, etc) related to the tenancy of DH's flat for a fee. So, things have worked out very well as far as his property investment is concerned.
I guess the question I have is if Ireland or Dublin has similar professional services in management of rental properties. My previous experience while I lived in a rented property in Dublin didn't give me that impression. After my initial contact with the real estate agent, I never got any other services from them. But then again, I lived in landed property. Maybe things are different for tenants who live in apartments.

padser

klee2011 wrote: »

Thanks for pointing that out. I am not familiar with the management (or the ease of it) of rental property in Dublin. Five years ago, my husband bought a 1 bed flat near a train station while he was working in Southwest of England (an hour by train to London). Its a smallish town but a commuter town, nonetheless with train services that connect to bigger towns. So, the location was good as there was always demand for rental accommodation. DH lived in rented accommodation for a year before he bought his own little flat. The flat was rented out right away after he moved and still is. The company that oversees the management services takes care of everything (repairs, wear & tear, collection of rent, etc) related to the tenancy of DH's flat for a fee. So, things have worked out very well as far as his property investment is concerned.
I guess the question I have is if Ireland or Dublin has similar professional services in management of rental properties. My previous experience while I lived in a rented property in Dublin didn't give me that impression. After my initial contact with the real estate agent, I never got any other services from them. But then again, I lived in landed property. Maybe things are different for tenants who live in apartments.

.

Similar services exist in Dublin. I lived in a house once fully managed by dng. Dng let it, Rent was paid to them, they repaired stuff etc - landlord was a bank who obviously just got 80% to 90% of the rent from dng.

The_Conductor

The regulatory environment in Dublin- is very different from that in London- and while there are agencies who will manage tenancies for a landlord- I'd strongly advise against buying to suit a short term need, unless you had absolutely no other option. A lot of the larger agencies (such as DNG etc) aren't taking on new clients- and are actively trying to get out of the management sector- and the absolute number of landlords in Ireland- was only kept from a massive fall- by the restrospective inclusion of thousands of small development in the stats by the RTB in 2016 (their 2017 report will be out presently- which will make interesting reading).

Letting property as a going concern/business in Ireland- is significantly riskier a proposition for a landlord- than letting a property in almost any other country. It only takes one tenant to stop paying the rent and you could be down a significant amount of money and time (keep in mind- if the tenant decides to play the system- they could get 2 years + in your property- while they exhausted the appeals process- which unfortunately a lot of people do- because thats the way the system is set up).

Proceed with caution- and don't equate it to letting a property in London- you have a lot of safeguards in London- that landlords don't have here.

klee2011

heebusjeebus wrote: »

You'd get a 2 bed apartment in Stepaside or Sandyford for 270 to 290.
These would be close to the luas line and there would be bus routes to UCD.
Management fees would vary. Some of the duplex apartments would be €700 and this is on the low side as there are no communal spaces or lifts to maintain.

I had a look on daft.ie on the properties listed for sale and rent in Sandyford. I notice that there is a lot of short term apartment let near the Beacon Hospital i.e Beacon South Quarter but not many for sale. On the other hand, there are lots more apartments for sale near Blackglen medical centre/Blackglen Road e.g Rockview, Sandyview. These latter apartments also cost less to buy than those on the other side of M50.
what are the main reasons for the difference in availability, nature of the term of let and prices of properties between these two parts of Sandyford? Proximity to LUAS station? Quality of construction? BER rating?

ted1

Have a look at Tullyvale in cherrywood, on the LUAS line, M50 snd N11. There is a new town being built beside it so lots of new facilities too