NAAS (Bellingsfield) or Ashbourne (Wafer lodge)

ClaireSh

Hi,

We are a couple with two young kids (2 month old and a 2 year old). Both of us work in Dublin city center and commuting is the least of our priorities when we buy; looking for a family home that we can live in for at least 15-20 years. We've been in the house hunting journey for the past 4 months now and we think we finally found two new build houses that suit our requirement/budget and we have to pick one! We know both houses don't tick all the boxes and want to be practical. So seeking peoples opinions to see which of the below two houses would they go for?

Bellingsfield, NAAS

Bellingsfield in NAAS developed by Ballymore group - the company has a reputation for excellent build quality. We witnessed top-notch materials (windows/doors/kitchen/bathroom fittings) used in the house we plan to buy and are very happy with it. The estate is adjacent to piper's hill estate both estates combined will eventually have more than 200 houses (mix of 3 bed semi, 4 bed semi, 4 bed detached and 5 bed detached). Bellingsfield is in the outskirts of NAAS town about ~ 1km from the town. Two big things about the house playing in our minds are -

1) We are told that the roof trusses used in the attic are not structurally suitable for an attic conversion. It is a full height attic that basically covers the outline of the floor. Kitchen can be extended but there is more work and therefore more expensive to do it. House has a large living room, kitchen and 3 of 4 rooms are double beds. Do we want to extend in the future when the house is already big enough we don't know.

2) Next door is two 3-bed semi houses allocated to social housing. These are also two pairs of such 3-bed semi social houses opposite to our house but not right in front. Private houses and social houses are mixed with 10% given to social housing. With all due respect we have nothing against social housing. We would happily be good friends with my neighbors as long as they are willing regardless of their socioeconomic status and we are totally up for state providing help for people who are in need. We just don't want troublesome neighbors (drugs/criminals) and we have come across previous posts suggesting it is highly likely with social houses next door because council randomly places people in them. Could this happen in an area such as NAAS and would this impact the resale value we don't know.

Wafre lodge (Ashbourne)

Wafre lodge in Ashbourne is developed by mullens group - the company we have not heard of and we don't think they are as popular as Ballymore. Its a small estate of 20 detached houses (4 and 5 beds) right on the main dublin road at the entrance of the town which makes it a lot easier to get in and out of the town. Its clearly advertised that the attic is future proof designed for ease of conversion. Also the kitchen cabinets and door to the rare garden are in such a way that it can be easily extended without much modification required to the existing kitchen. Quality of build isn't as superior as the one in NAAS.


1. Which one is easy to sell in the future (15-20 years from now).
2. Which one is a safer (less riskier) investment. ie., fetch a good resale value in the future.
3. Where would you raise your kids
4. Which of the two towns have potential for more growth in the future

We really appreciate any insights or feedback people can offer. Thanks a mil

zl1whqvjs75cdy

Wow good bit in that op there. You've done your homework anyways. You'll undoubtedly get slated for the social housing comments but id be with you on that. It's one of the things that put me off a couple of new builds that we looked at.

Can't comment on the meath property but I know bellingsfield very well. Naas is nice towm and plenty to do. It stands alone, which some of the other Dublin commuter suburbs do not. It has decent schools (product of them myself), good food and nightlife. Also as safe as anywhere when it comes to crime. The bad parts, bellingsfield is miles out of town. You're talking a half hour walk easily to the top of the town. There's two large schools in the estate, handy for now with the kids, nightmare for traffic though.

I know you said that the commute is the least of you're worries but naas is a tough commute in general, and bellingsfield is even harder as it's as far from the motorway as you can get, and also miles away from sallins train station. I would say you're looking at easily an hour 20 each way once the schools start back. If that doesn't bother you, grand, but not much point in having a lovely house if you're gonna spend the rest of your life in a car.

As for resale, if you're looking 20 years down the road I wouldn't worry, a million and one things could happen between then and now, none of which you have any control of. Buy the one that suits you best and live happily ever after.

As I said I can't comment on the other property but that's my 2 cents on bellingsfield.

ClaireSh

donkeyoaty0099 wrote: »

Wow good bit in that op there. You've done your homework anyways. You'll undoubtedly get slated for the social housing comments but id be with you on that. It's one of the things that put me off a couple of new builds that we looked at.

Can't comment on the meath property but I know bellingsfield very well. Naas is nice towm and plenty to do. It stands alone, which some of the other Dublin commuter suburbs do not. It has decent schools (product of them myself), good food and nightlife. Also as safe as anywhere when it comes to crime. The bad parts, bellingsfield is miles out of town. You're talking a half hour walk easily to the top of the town. There's two large schools in the estate, handy for now with the kids, nightmare for traffic though.

I know you said that the commute is the least of you're worries but naas is a tough commute in general, and bellingsfield is even harder as it's as far from the motorway as you can get, and also miles away from sallins train station. I would say you're looking at easily an hour 20 each way once the schools start back. If that doesn't bother you, grand, but not much point in having a lovely house if you're gonna spend the rest of your life in a car.

As for resale, if you're looking 20 years down the road I wouldn't worry, a million and one things could happen between then and now, none of which you have any control of. Buy the one that suits you best and live happily ever after.

As I said I can't comment on the other property but that's my 2 cents on bellingsfield.

Thanks for your reply donkeyoaty0099. I agree with you - it is half an hour walk for sure. In terms of the school traffic, I don't think it is an issue because we would be on the road at 7.15 to catch the train. One hour 20 each side is not a problem as we drove more than 2 hours each side when we were in the states. My worry though is the empty land behind piper's hill/bellingsfield all the way up to R411 (

Based on your knowledge of the area, do you expect to see more houses filling up this land? NAAS has big plans for expansion - NAAS local area plan 2018-2024. We couldn't get much information on where the next wave of houses are likely to be built. I suppose my worry is if there isn't enough development around piper's hill it will be perceived as an estate that is miles away from the town.

zl1whqvjs75cdy

I think the next area marked for development is on the blessington road, across from the construction entrance of Stoneleigh. There is a bit of a danger of bored kids hanging around that estate with it being so far from town. Don't know what rhe plan is for behind it I'm afraid. Would you consider Stoneleigh? It's miles better location wise. Can nip out the back roads to Dublin too.

April 73

I’d choose a smaller development of only 20 odd 4/5 bed detached houses, that are more future proofed for expansion.
Ashbourne is a decent commute to Dublin (I know you said it doesn’t matter but it does affect people in the long term). There’s a regular bus that goes through the Port Tunnel that makes the commute very viable. You’d be walking distance to the town & Ashbourne has plenty of amentities.

Mantis Toboggan

OP have you considered Stoneleigh in Naas? I'd have that well ahead of Bellingsfield on a number of factors. Don't know much about Ashbourne but Naas is a lovely town with good facilities and nice restaurants and pubs. Best of luck with whatever you choose.

ClaireSh

Ellie Beautiful Lace wrote: »

I think the next area marked for development is on the blessington road, across from the construction entrance of Stoneleigh. There is a bit of a danger of bored kids hanging around that estate with it being so far from town. Don't know what rhe plan is for behind it I'm afraid. Would you consider Stoneleigh? It's miles better location wise. Can nip out the back roads to Dublin too.

Ellie Beautiful Lace, We looked at a similar house in stoneleigh. The house was slightly smaller with smaller windows compared to Bellingsfield. Stoneleigh was also the last house in estate. There is plan for pedestrian exit but no road for the cars to exit onto Blessington road?

ClaireSh

April 73 wrote: »

I’d choose a smaller development of only 20 odd 4/5 bed detached houses, that are more future proofed for expansion.
Ashbourne is a decent commute to Dublin (I know you said it doesn’t matter but it does affect people in the long term). There’s a regular bus that goes through the Port Tunnel that makes the commute very viable. You’d be walking distance to the town & Ashbourne has plenty of amentities.

April 73, we thought about how important it is for us to extend and we decided not to take it into account while deciding between the two houses however I agree it has good scope for expansion in the future. Would you mind if I send you a PM with more questions?

ClaireSh

Tyson Fury wrote: »

OP have you considered Stoneleigh in Naas? I'd have that well ahead of Bellingsfield on a number of factors. Don't know much about Ashbourne but Naas is a lovely town with good facilities and nice restaurants and pubs. Best of luck with whatever you choose.

I'd like to know about those other factors. Can I PM you if that's ok?

April 73

No problem if you want to pm me.

bluelamp

I don't think you would be disappointed with Naas. Great pubs, restaurants, schools, nice parks and playgrounds, public gym and pool, the lakes, punchestown, good bus service and train from sallins.

The estate you're looking at is very far out though, its a long walk. Think about when the kids are teenagers, or when you're reliant on taxis back from the pub etc. It's also as far as you can be from the train station.

Are you determined to get a new house? There are some lovely quiet estates that are much better located. Sunday's well, meadow court, rathaskar heights, Elmwood, Lakelands, the paddocks etc. You're closer to the town, closer to Dublin, much closer to buses and the train.

Feel free to PM me if you want any more info.

hanaimai

Can't comment on Naas but I currently live in Ashbourne and am house hunting there as well with my partner (he grew up in Ashbourne). I know Wafre Lodge and the houses are lovely, location is brilliant. Would've bought there ourselves but they're a little above our budget unfortunately! The commute from Ashbourne is generally no problem - I rented in Dublin for 10 years before moving out here and it used to take me as long to get from one side of the city to the other sometimes as it does now to get from Ashbourne to the city centre! Wafre Lodge is within a couple of minutes walking distance to the bus stop and there's a Bus Eireann service as well as a private service (Ashbourne Connect). The Connect takes 35-40mins in the morning from the Wafre Lodge area to the IFSC, and about the same back, although I find the morning times more consistent as traffic is generally worse in the evening in my experience.

Ashbourne itself is a great town. It's grown a lot in the last few years so has a good few shops, restaurants and all your supermarkets. Parking is free in the won too which is fab! It's also very close to Blanchardstown (15-20min drive) if you're looking more a shopping centre, cinema etc. and driving into Dublin on the weekends only takes about 30mins. Wafre Lodge is very close to a primary and secondary school there, but there's a couple of schools in Ashbourne including some quite new ones.

As I mentioned above, I can't comment on Naas really but I certainly recommend Ashbourne. I've really loved it since I moved and I'm very happy to settle down for the long-term here.

GavMan

Have you considered Newbridge OP? There are some new houses being built in Kilbelin Abbey outside the town. There is also a small development of houses underway further down the Athgarvan Road near Kilbelin Abbey. Both of these will be similar size to those in Bellingsfield. There is a new development of houses by the train station also

The benefit would be that it is just a 5 minute drive to the train station Newbridge. Fares are a good bit more expensive than from Sallins but the houses will be cheaper. Not much of an issue using the tax saver tickets.

I looked at Naas a lot 4 years ago when I was buying and while the town is nice, I didn't think there was much in it better than Newbridge. Naas does have better pubs for sure but that wasn't a factor for me. Not sure about you. Probably not with 2 kids. Newbridge has similar local retailers and it has the Whitewater which has most of the shops you get in Dublin Shopping Centres. The other issue I had with Naas is that a lot of things aren't actually in Naas. If you're in Bellingsfield, you're going to have a hike either through or around to get to the likes of Tesco, Lidl, Globe Retail Park, Odeon, etc. There is an Aldi a short drive away however. That was the big plus for me. In Newbridge, everything is actually in Newbridge. You have Dunnes, biggish Tesco and a Lidl. An aldi is planned in a redevelopment of the courtyard shopping centre. Odeon is in the Whitewater in the middle of the town. There are a couple of nice restaurants to eat and a number of nice cafes have opened recently which means there are pretty good Brekkie, brunch and lunch options now. In Newbridge Retail park there is a SuperValu, Homestore and more, DID, maxi zoo and Costa Coffee. Another Costa in Tesco. 2 post offices either end of the town. A few filling stations and the Keadeen hotel, Garda Station. Bus and Train services are about the same.

Something to chew on if you're not totally happy with Bellingsfield. I understand your social housing thoughts too. With that being said, the vast majority would be so glad to be housed they would treat it like their own. As with everything, it's a small minority that give the reputation. Plus, many many of us have had terrible Neighbors who were the owners so its luck of the draw even if those houses weren't social stock...