Cheap Irish houses

jos28

Just starting on RTE now, looks interesting.

Mac0783

Have you ever seen such nonsense, why would a woman in her what early 30s, move from the middle of Dublin to the middle of nowhere in Sligo or mayo?? I know the job was to find somewhere cheap but those houses were laughable, up a boreen, long way from anywhere.

They could have found much better for 100k. That the woman might have actually considered. Did she even want to leave Dublin?

MintyMagnum

Mac0783 wrote: »

Have you ever seen such nonsense, why would a woman in her what early 30s, move from the middle of Dublin to the middle of nowhere in Sligo or mayo?? I know the job was to find somewhere cheap but those houses were laughable, up a boreen, long way from anywhere.

They could have found much better for 100k. That the woman might have actually considered. Did she even want to leave Dublin?

She wanted to get out of Dublin & was sick of renting - wants to own. She was looking at the west of Irl because she had family there. (Was what I heard)

jos28

I agree with you, it was just daft. I could understand if it was a young family who hadn't a hope of buying a house in Dublin and wanted a new life for their family. If she had been someone who wanted solitude it would have made sense.
Moving on your own, leaving family and friends behind to live in the back of beyond. The one is Charlestown was at least in a town and she would have some semblance of a life. I would have preferred to see a more realistic approach bringing her to places closer to home.

MintyMagnum

jos28 wrote: »

I agree with you, it was just daft. I could understand if it was a young family who hadn't a hope of buying a house in Dublin and wanted a new life for their family. If she had been someone who wanted solitude it would have made sense.
Moving on your own, leaving family and friends behind to live in the back of beyond. The one is Charlestown was at least in a town and she would have some semblance of a life. I would have preferred to see a more realistic approach bringing her to places closer to home.

Realistically, her budget as a single person was 100k.

NIMAN

Didn't see it, was she the girl with the website showing all houses round the country for less than 100k?

If so, it made an interesting blog but did it warrant a tv show?

saabsaab

Each to his or her own, they also had a dog. hard to rent with a dog.


I don't see a problem if you like country life. The big issue would be work. Not much employment in those areas unless you could work form home.

jos28

MintyMagnum wrote: »

Realistically, her budget as a single person was 100k.

I know that, but showing her houses closer to home would have made the programme more realistic. A quick look on daft shows plenty of old houses well within budget in places like Cavan or Longford. It was extremely unlikely she would pursue any of the houses she was shown tonight. Somewhere within commuting distance might have been a real option for her. If they had shown her the potential of ramshackle, rundown properties it would have been better in my opinion

jos28

NIMAN wrote: »

Didn't see it, was she the girl with the website showing all houses round the country for less than 100k?

If so, it made an interesting blog but did it warrant a tv show?

Yep that's the one. It could have but didn't deliver in my opinion.

Could have been a great TV show if it had a bit of budget and time. If it was a mish-mash of what it actually is, with a bit of Room To Improve thrown in, it could be good.

As it is, it's just like watching a long estate agent's pitch. Random tour of the house, tell you nothing you can't already see yourself. Also, the girl worked in Dublin and the narrator commented that the houses shown had a commute time of between 90 minutes to 2 hours to Dublin. That'd surely rule the houses out before you even start looking at them. Two hours (and I'm sure that's optimistic!) each way, each day.

I didn't see anything about the houses I wouldn't see from just looking at the online ads. No hints or tips for anyone considering doing the same, things to look out for, what's good or bad, etc. also on the last house, no acknowledgement of the working farm literally next door, and there's a long white shed right beside the house that wasn't mentioned either. Does it come with the house, is it belong to the farm next door, etc.

Could have been a good show, but really lacked. 60 minute show with a bit more effort might have been a good idea. Also didn't find yer one that showing the houses to be a particularly enjoyable host. Seemed a bit awkward or something?

Seen this on youtube, an "aftershow" video:

Posy

Deleted User wrote: »

also on the last house, no acknowledgement of the working farm literally next door

I was watching the show, thinking "there is a big busy working farm about 3 feet away, why is nobody mentioning this!!?"

Like you said, decent potential for a show, but nothing a 10 minute search on Daft wouldn't throw up.

To go from Dublin to living by yourself somewhere that remote would be a major culture shock I think- at least the house in the town had a nearby Centra! :pac:

Despite my moaning about the show, I'm interested in the premise and hope to do it myself in future.

Does anyone know of any decent facebook pages or forums or such that are geared towards this (people renovating old houses, and the issues and such they run into along the way)?

macscoob

Waste of time this show. Had some potential. Learned nothing from it. Been realistic the majority of people are not looking to buy these homes because there in the middle of nowwhere and renovation can be a bottomless pity of money.

macscoob

macscoob wrote: »

Waste of time this show. Had some potential. Learned nothing from it. Been realistic the majority of people are not looking to buy these homes because there in the middle of nowwhere and renovation can be a bottomless pity of money.

To be fair, I like 'house' shows, and I also am interested in doing this exact thing down the line some time. The problem with the show is that it's a drawn-out daft.ie ad.
It should be an hour long show and it should be a script pattern of:

1) Introduce person/couple (i'll call them "guest") looking to get away from the grind of the city/town they live in.

2) Pick 3 houses to view; one must be less than €50k, and the other two not allowed exceed €100k.

3) Introduce house before guest arrives. Host girl explains why she picked it, what she likes about it, where it is, what the views are like and why it's so amazing. Cameraman is giving us a virtual tour of the house as this is happening.

4) Builder tells us what's wrong with it, how it needs a new roof and there's damp and mould coming through the ceiling upstairs. The insulation isn't great. He expands on all these points with WHY they're a problem and what could be done to fix them, and HOW MUCH it would cost to fix them (ballpark prices, of course).

5) Guest arrives to house, acts amazed or disgusted. Gives their reasons for loving or hating it (It's an RTE show, so it'll have to have a bit of misery in there somewhere, this guest might be dying of cancer or their late mother had a house like this before, yada yada).

6) Hosts and guest leave house.

7) Host talks to camera/viewer at home about a random thing. Asks a silly question that has no real bearing on anything, or that could be informative or is based on a stat of some kind. "How many houses in ireland do you think have been derelict in 2019?", "Do you know that flat roofs can lead to increased insurance cost? What angle does a roof need to be, at minimum, before it can no longer be considered flat?") etc. etc

8) Cut to ads, return from ad break with the answer to the question.

Repeat steps 3 - 8 again, twice over, for the 2nd and 3rd parts of the show.

9) For the last quarter of the show, have the houses compared beside each other with a roundtable discussion on what was good and bad about them, with the host, the builder and the guest. Throw random prices on the screen in some kind of info-graphic that shows the cost to buy each house and a projected renovation cost.

Work out the "true" cost of each house.

10) Tell the guest they must be mad in the back of their bollocks to even be considering buying any of the houses and laugh them out of the studio.

11) Prequel for next week's show.

macscoob

[Deleted User] wrote: »

To be fair, I like 'house' shows, and I also am interested in doing this exact thing down the line some time. The problem with the show is that it's a drawn-out daft.ie ad.
It should be an hour long show and it should be a script pattern of:

1) Introduce person/couple (i'll call them "guest") looking to get away from the grind of the city/town they live in.

2) Pick 3 houses to view; one must be less than €50k, and the other two not allowed exceed €100k.

3) Introduce house before guest arrives. Host girl explains why she picked it, what she likes about it, where it is, what the views are like and why it's so amazing. Cameraman is giving us a virtual tour of the house as this is happening.

4) Builder tells us what's wrong with it, how it needs a new roof and there's damp and mould coming through the ceiling upstairs. The insulation isn't great. He expands on all these points with WHY they're a problem and what could be done to fix them, and HOW MUCH it would cost to fix them (ballpark prices, of course).

5) Guest arrives to house, acts amazed or disgusted. Gives their reasons for loving or hating it (It's an RTE show, so it'll have to have a bit of misery in there somewhere, this guest might be dying of cancer or their late mother had a house like this before, yada yada).

6) Hosts and guest leave house.

7) Host talks to camera/viewer at home about a random thing. Asks a silly question that has no real bearing on anything, or that could be informative or is based on a stat of some kind. "How many houses in ireland do you think have been derelict in 2019?", "Do you know that flat roofs can lead to increased insurance cost? What angle does a roof need to be, at minimum, before it can no longer be considered flat?") etc. etc

8) Cut to ads, return from ad break with the answer to the question.

Repeat steps 3 - 8 again, twice over, for the 2nd and 3rd parts of the show.

9) For the last quarter of the show, have the houses compared beside each other with a roundtable discussion on what was good and bad about them, with the host, the builder and the guest. Throw random prices on the screen in some kind of info-graphic that shows the cost to buy each house and a projected renovation cost.

Work out the "true" cost of each house.

10) Tell the guest they must be mad in the back of their bollocks to even be considering buying any of the houses and laugh them out of the studio.

11) Prequel for next week's show.

I think you should direct all the shows from now on.....Be some good tv by the sounds of it🀣

mickdw

This was a bit of a joke of a show. Nice idea but one house at 39k was basically a site.
2 storey house had potential alright but that was about it.
As an Engineer myself involved in housing, the Engineer fella on the show didnt inspire much confidence. He came across more salesman than Engineer pointing out so called benefits yet ignoring the very obvious issues for the most part.

mickdw

mickdw wrote: »

2 storey house had potential alright but that was about it.

I think for most people, if you were looking at an old-old house to renovate that had been sitting derelict, then a two storey house might seem a bit daunting?

I'd be personally concerned about floors ready to collapse or need replacing upstairs, and would replacing them interfere with the structure if the joists supporting upstairs were supported in the walls of the house. You could potentially be looking at more of a demolition project, rather than a renovation project, if you got unlucky?

(Entirely open to correction, of course).

Bigus

In fairness a lot of Dublin people wouldn’t know you could buy a move in house for under a €100 k in the sticks, so I’d say you’d be surprised how many people learned from this show.

To this end I never understand why auctioneers don’t display the price of properties on the actual site SIGN !

I’ve mentioned this idea of displaying the price on the auctioneers board at the house to a few auctioneers who all agreed it would be a good idea , but they don’t do it , it would cut out a lot of bull and encourage out of towners to think twice ,as they drove past a property if the price was displayed.

I understand why they didn’t do it before t’internet , but not now.

As for the show , I agree that “engineer “ was more of a salesman than a some ropey auctioneers, I’ve met.

However,With all this post Covid, new working from home though, a 2 hr commute would be do-able, a few times a month, so the show might have accidentally fallen on its feet, timing wise .

enricoh

I thought it was decent, the house in Charlestown was good value at 95k. Yer one would be better off on the dole n on to the housing list in Dublin!
Dermot bannon wouldn't get a glass cube extension done for that!

Cal4567

Actually with decent broadband and a job that meant you could work from home, and that could becoming more 'normal' very soon, it has a lot going for it. I must admit to a guilty pleasure these last 6 weeks. Solitude. Not on my own but with the family. I could do about 80% of my work remotely as well, certainly don't need to be at a desk in an office 5 days a week.

Most places are only 2/3/4 Kms from the nearest town if not closer. This is something I would give consideration to now my children have grown up.

If you like socialising and want to me in the pub every weekend with your mates or have to be close to a gym, then it is probably not for you. Maybe this is why so many we are told have 2nd homes - although I must admit to not knowing anyone who does.

Steer55

Deleted User wrote: »

Despite my moaning about the show, I'm interested in the premise and hope to do it myself in future.

Does anyone know of any decent facebook pages or forums or such that are geared towards this (people renovating old houses, and the issues and such they run into along the way)?

https://www.facebook.com/selfbuild/

https://www.facebook.com/cottageology/

We renovated large old derelict house from scratch but it was in an urban area, most enjoyable project we ever undertook.

NIMAN

Does Ireland need its own version of 'Home Under The Hammer'?

I used to watch that every chance I got, gave a good indication of what could be done with some properties and for what sort of money.

mickdw

Deleted User wrote: »

I think for most people, if you were looking at an old-old house to renovate that had been sitting derelict, then a two storey house might seem a bit daunting?

I'd be personally concerned about floors ready to collapse or need replacing upstairs, and would replacing them interfere with the structure if the joists supporting upstairs were supported in the walls of the house. You could potentially be looking at more of a demolition project, rather than a renovation project, if you got unlucky?

(Entirely open to correction, of course).

Valid comment but from what could be seen in the show, this 2 storey was likely the right side of being a moneypit and looked ok value with the 2 storey shed also on site.
The other properties had nothing at all going for them other than the sites.
The first house had been refurbed but the layout looked terrible. The others were sheds.

Steer55

Anyone guess the renovation costs for the house in bodyke in tonight's show?

mickdw

If bodyke was the 2 storey farmhouse, 200k upwards imo.

Steer55

mickdw wrote: »

If bodyke was the 2 storey farmhouse, 200k upwards imo.

Was thinking much the same, alot structural problems on the outside. It really was a crazy asking price to begin with.

They were all horrible houses tonight, cold and univiting.

retro:electro

I find the show completely depressing tbh. Good concept in theory but everything about it seems drab and dated and it’s not one bit aspirational. Here’s what 100k can get you, a derelict piece of shlte in the back arse of behind. Oh great fab thanks.

jos28

I thought tonight's episode was a bit better than last week. At least this girl actually specified an area and showed some interest in old houses. I'd have run a mile from the one in Bodyke, it would eat money.
I'd have gone for the one in Borrisoleigh, less work to be done and a huge garden. I'd be really nervous living alone in a remote area. I'd much rather have the option of having people/pub/shops nearby.

Her episode two recap:

Thought this week's show was better than last weeks, but it's still hard to look beyond it being the equivalent of a Daft.ie advertisement.

I'd have to agree with others aswell that the houses may well seem cheap on the face of it but once you include any kind of restoration/renovation to them, you're looking at a much heftier price, unless you're the type that has a lot of spare time and a big interest in DIYing things.

It does make the overall effort involved seem a bit less worth it, especially considering you kinda need a lot of cash to be able to get in the door of many of these houses. A new build at 300k might seem much more expensive on the face of it, but you'd likely get a mortgage handy enough, first time buyer grant, it'd need no renovating, and likely be much closer to your job, saving you on transport costs etc over time.


That said, it's still my plan for the future. Clear mortgage on the current house in hopefully the next 3-4 years (assuming my job remains intact) and then try and find something on the cheaper end of cheap, and DIY it over a few years.

Steer55

Deleted User wrote: »

A new build at 300k might seem much more expensive on the face of it, but you'd likely get a mortgage handy enough, first time buyer grant, it'd need no renovating, and likely be much closer to your job, saving you on transport costs etc over time.


.

First times buyers grant disappeared years ago. The young lady in last night's programme said she could only get mortgage approval for €120,000 so a €300,000 new built for her would be out of the question. This one on daft looks like a great buy, it's much newer and more modern though I'm not familiar with the area. https://touch.daft.ie/for-sale/terraced-house-38-hyde-road-prospect/1528943

jippo nolan

Steer55 wrote: »

First times buyers grant disappeared years ago. The young lady in last night's programme said she could only get mortgage approval for €120,000 so a €300,000 new built for her would be out of the question. This one on daft looks like a great buy, it's much newer and more modern though I'm not familiar with the area. https://touch.daft.ie/for-sale/terraced-house-38-hyde-road-prospect/1528943

Has it bulletproof windows?

Steer55

Is it that bad :eek:

Steer55

Steer55 wrote: »

First times buyers grant disappeared years ago.

According to revenue, the Help to Buy scheme is open til end of December 2021.

The young lady in last night's programme said she could only get mortgage approval for €120,000 so a €300,000 new built for her would be out of the question. This one on daft looks like a great buy, it's much newer and more modern though I'm not familiar with the area. https://touch.daft.ie/for-sale/terraced-house-38-hyde-road-prospect/1528943

Not familiar with the area myself, but a quick mooch on Google Maps shows me this is fairly close by so can't imagine anyone with a budget exceeding the cost of the house buying there, unless they were from the area and knew it, and it's inhabitants, well.

There's also THIS HOUSE on the same street, at 20k at auction (albeit, looks fire damaged).


These are ones I seen online that I think look suitable to the girl on the show:

Tiernahille, Ballingarry, Co. Limerick, V94 H32Y

€50k - 4 Bed, 2 bath, has all you need to get a mortgage on it (kitchen, bathroom). Comes with a fair bit of clutter ("outbuildings" my hole) but nothing a few slaps of a sledgehammer and a couple of skips wouldn't soon sort out. Has houses either side, so not completely isolated.

It's auction, so the price could go mental of course, but assuming it's had for €60k or less, that leaves €60k to put into renovating, which would travel a fair bit as the house seems generally okay (although they avoid the ceilings in every picture, so I presume damage to the roof, causing dampness).



Rathmoy, Borrisoleigh, Thurles, Co. Tipperary, E41 F7Y7

€55k, 6 Bed, 4 Bath. Again, auction, so price could be misleading, but a big house, with 3 acres. Messy in the photos, but looks like there's no structural issues, with the exception perhaps of one of the rooms that looks particularly damp around one of the windows/radiator in the last couple of pics.

As above, it's rural and isolated, but yet still has neighbouring houses so you're not alone if you need help or assistance or such.



Ballyrichard, Mullinahone, Co. Tipperary

€40k, 3 Bed, 1 Bath. Not auction so likely to be a more realistic price. Would leave her €80k to renovate and extend if she wanted. Also comes on a long narrow .75 acres of land that has a road on both sides, so if you wanted, you could cut it in two and sell the bottom half as a separate site to recoup some money if you wished.

It's up as detached, but it looks semi-d to me, which again, means you're not out on your own, but considering you've a reasonable site, you still get a decent bit of privacy. Although it's only about 25 minutes to the M8, it's nearly 90 mins from limerick city, and yer one never said exactly where she worked so could be too far away.

Steer55

I think many of the houses up for auction have title issues so you prob be taken on alot of hassle trying to sort them afterwards as well as increased legal expenses.

Just in relation to the Hyde park property posted above, i posted a nearby location that was in bits.. maybe it's not.

This is mad!

https://www.google.com/maps/@52.6502585,-8.6298752,3a,90y,168.89h,83.76t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s5JLqW7T3dz7bGk6gzEDMOg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

Take one step forward and google goes from 2009 to 2014...

macscoob

All the houses shown on the shows are still up for sale....reality of renovating must of kicked in

macscoob

macscoob wrote: »

All the houses shown on the shows are still up for sale....reality of renovating must of kicked in

I think a lot of people dream about this, but don't take the effort involved into consideration. These are only worth doing if you can at least DIY a large portion of the work.


Handing it over to a contractor and you may aswell just buy a new build in Dublin. It's the saving you could make from getting stuck in yourself that makes them appealing (to me, anyway). I'd enjoy getting stuck in and doing what I could. The two people on the show so far don't quite give off that vibe.

Posy

It says at the end that it was filmed in February and March, so I assume the pandemic will have gotten in the way of anyone buying anything.

I'd imagine putting social distancing measures in place on a TV show like this would be fairly easy (there's only a handful of people involved from what I can see - usually the two hosts, two guests and there seems to be a cameraman sitting in the back seat of each car, so about 6 people needed to pull the show together out and about?).

So I'd imagine it'd be easy enough to keep filming on that basis, anyway.


EDIT: Just realised I completely mis-read your post, Posy!

I'd imagine if a serious offer was made on any of the properties they'd be at least marked sale agreed on the property sites?

Episode 3 Aftershow video:

This week's episode didn't really do a whole lot to encourage people to 'live the dream' I wouldn't say. All relatively expensive houses, considering what they were. The Mayo one (2 storey with 3/4 acre of land) was the best of the bunch in my opinion, by far. Unfortunately, according to the description in the 'aftershow' video, it has been taken off daft. So presumably someone made an offer on it.

Bogfairy

Show has potential but is drab enough in all fairness. Its like daft.ie live, although you get to see a little bit more of some of those properties.

Whilst I appreciate what engineers do, and a good one is worth their weight in gold, they are not trained the same way as architects. Some of his 'design' advice can be extremely mundane.

saabsaab

The thatched house might have a higher insurance cost also mortgage?

Steer55

saabsaab wrote: »

The thatched house might have a higher insurance cost also mortgage?

The thatch will definitely have to go

kirving

Bogfairy wrote: »

Whilst I appreciate what engineers do, and a good one is worth their weight in gold, they are not trained the same way as architects. Some of his 'design' advice can be extremely mundane.

He either glossed over, or the producers omitted the reality of renovating an old house on a bog. Sewage? Broadband? Rewiring?

It's a complete minefield to say the very least, and recommending to a young couple on the pretense of being 'cheap', is bordering on morally wrong IMO. It would cost another 200k to bring it to modern living standards, and then some.

It's a disservice to the house too I think, a very wealthy buyer and visionary architect is what the house deserves.

Episode 4 Aftershow:

Not sure why I'm still watching this to be honest. It's completely wandered away from being anything about Cheap Irish Houses. You can get a house in Drogheda for under 200k, able to be lived in and less than an hour from Dublin.

Now, I live in Drogheda area so it's easy for me to pick this area as an example, but if I can buy a 2 bed, 1 bath, with a big garden, loads of space to extend, Less than 10 minute walk from a hospital, a shop, a town centre, has it's own driveway, is ready to move into, etc. with an asking price of €160k, then I don't see how the houses on the show are a good example of "the secret side of the Irish property market" at all.

The €40k house looked appealing and looked like a couple of weeks of DIY would do it a lot of good, and remain in the 'cheap and cheerful' category.

In the description of the Youtube Videos, she usually posts the links to the houses on Daft/MyHome, but this time around she reckons they've all been sold or taken off the sites. Which can be good or bad, depending on how you look at it. I reckon a follow-up show in a year or two would show that none of these houses had been bought by the people in the show. This show makes it look like it's genuinely a pipe dream to get into a 'cheap' Irish Houses. There are some nice little gems out there, but when the asking price is over €100k and still needs an almost entire refurbishment, it doesn't qualify as 'cheap' in my opinion. Only cheap compared to certain Dublin houses.

angeleyes

NIMAN wrote: »

Does Ireland need its own version of 'Home Under The Hammer'?

I used to watch that every chance I got, gave a good indication of what could be done with some properties and for what sort of money.

I love HUTH - but am always amazed at what developers can achieve on their budget. What can be done for £20K Sterling would cost €45k and more.

BarryD2

Deleted User wrote: »

I think a lot of people dream about this, but don't take the effort involved into consideration. These are only worth doing if you can at least DIY a large portion of the work.

Been there, done that. A deal of work, but if you can spread over several years, entirely doable.

Nika Bolokov

angeleyes wrote: »

I love HUTH - but am always amazed at what developers can achieve on their budget. What can be done for £20K Sterling would cost €45k and more.

Some of them must be telling porky pies so they don't look like they lost money on TV.

So Mike, you replaced all the windows, put in a new kitchen and bathroom, put on a new roof and plasterd painted and put in new flooring in every room. Oh and you had to put in a new boiler and rewire. Did you manager to stick to you budget of 8,000 pounds?

Yeah just a little over came in at 8,500 but happy enough.....

No way they all do that for that money!