Rental market in Wicklow Town/Ashford/Rathnew/Arklow.

ZeroSum76 · 06-03-2018 11:47pm #1

Apologies if this does not warrant a new thread, if it needs moving please do so... but I am wondering if anyone has any insight into what the rental market is like in these areas. Very little available on Daft.ie to reference. I am curious about what a ballpark rent would be for a family home/property in Wicklow Town, more specifically, say something with landscaped gardens on 1/2 an acre surrounding a 4 bed 2 storey detached house in a quiet estate close to the town. It's 30min commute to South Dublin in no traffic & 50 mins in rush hour. Considering a potential investment but while figuring out the viability would need to consider what reasonable rent might be on such a property. Would this be in the €1500 to €2000 per month category?

Moonbeam · 07-03-2018 12:47am

during rush hour it can take ages but Wicklow Town has the train.
I reckon about 2500 for what you describe but it is hard to know with out knowing exact location.
Arklow would be cheaper then the others and a lot further from Dublin, Glenealy is only up the hill from Ashford and is lovely too.

Panjandrums · 07-03-2018 1:09am

This post has been deleted.

Lumen · 07-03-2018 7:30am

Large garden is expensive to maintain, factor this in.

Not sure Wicklow town is an attractive commute to Dublin. I live 15 mins north of it and it's a pain in the balls.

ZeroSum76 · 07-03-2018 9:52am

Thanks for the replies. The property price would be in the €400k neighborhood. Would need another €20k or so to make it presentable for rent. Needs some fixing up.

I would need a mortgage of approx. €250k to purchase it and I would need a mortgage of about €270-€280k including the renovation work. In light of all of that I am guessing I would need to be getting approx. €2,000 per month to make it any way viable?

Also worth noting the intent is not purely for yield on rent. It's an investment into a larger property which my family might decide to move to one day. Rental would be something considered for a couple of years until we decide if we want to make the move ourselves. We have approx €100k equity on our current home but we do not want to sell it right now.

Sound daft?

ZeroSum76 · 07-03-2018 9:53am

Lumen wrote: »

Large garden is expensive to maintain, factor this in.

Not sure Wicklow town is an attractive commute to Dublin. I live 15 mins north of it and it's a pain in the balls.

Certainly not to anywhere north of Sandyford off the M50. Rush hour can be a pain but might suit folks who work in Bray/Dun Laoghaire/South Dublin and don't need to be in @ 8 or 9am. I guess that narrows it down too much!

Baybay · 07-03-2018 11:35am

Rental property isn't plentiful in Wicklow town just now, from what I can gather. Looking at Wicklow Buy & Sell for example, most days someone has an ad hoping to find somewhere to rent. Having said that, I don't know the expectation of size, money etc.
We had been considering building on a site just outside the town last year but difficulty finding somewhere suitable close by to rent while doing so meant that we bought a house instead.
If this situation still pertains, then adding to the rental options can't be a bad thing.

murphaph · 08-03-2018 8:54am

If the intention is to someday take possession and live in it, be very careful. The law has been moving inexorably towards complete security of tenure for tenants. It is absolutely not inconceivable that you may not be able to get vacant possession of the property when you want, if at all. I wouldn't be making any long term plans, given the fairly unpredictable legislative changes you might face as a landlord in the mean time.

ZeroSum76 · 08-03-2018 11:22am

murphaph wrote: »

If the intention is to someday take possession and live in it, be very careful. The law has been moving inexorably towards complete security of tenure for tenants. It is absolutely not inconceivable that you may not be able to get vacant possession of the property when you want, if at all. I wouldn't be making any long term plans, given the fairly unpredictable legislative changes you might face as a landlord in the mean time.

Thanks I had not considered that. Seems a bit mad that I might not be able to take possession/live in my own property. Clearly I need to research that element a bit more as I had assumed you could set a contract for a period of time (say 1 year for e.g.) and when the contract is up either decide to go another year or not renew? Understand the need for tenants to have rights though, understood that I might not have it all on my own terms.

Lumen · 08-03-2018 12:39pm

ZeroSum76 wrote: »

Thanks I had not considered that. Seems a bit mad that I might not be able to take possession/live in my own property. Clearly I need to research that element a bit more as I had assumed you could set a contract for a period of time (say 1 year for e.g.) and when the contract is up either decide to go another year or not renew? Understand the need for tenants to have rights though, understood that I might not have it all on my own terms.

Start here...

https://www.rtb.ie/landlords/helpful-info-documents

Claw Hammer · 08-03-2018 12:53pm

ZeroSum76 wrote: »

Thanks for the replies. The property price would be in the €400k neighborhood. Would need another €20k or so to make it presentable for rent. Needs some fixing up.

I would need a mortgage of approx. €250k to purchase it and I would need a mortgage of about €270-€280k including the renovation work. In light of all of that I am guessing I would need to be getting approx. €2,000 per month to make it any way viable?

Also worth noting the intent is not purely for yield on rent. It's an investment into a larger property which my family might decide to move to one day. Rental would be something considered for a couple of years until we decide if we want to make the move ourselves. We have approx €100k equity on our current home but we do not want to sell it right now.

Sound daft?

It doesn't sound well advised. You seem to be committing a large amount of money on a property that you might or might not want to move into. You are also buying a relatively remote large property with high maintenance.
My view is that you should take the following into account. In a downturn it is the more remote properties which are the first to suffer falling rents and high vacancy levels. If you get trouble with a tenant, all your eggs are in one basket. You will be letting only to families in such a property. If something goes wrong, loss of job, marital difficulties etc, the rent might stop and there will be a lengthy eviction process.
You would be better to do something like pay down your existing loan and when you want to move you will have high equity and or savings.
If you want to invest you should buy a small house in Bray where tenants will always be available and you will have a better selection to choose from. When you want to move you can sell one or other of your existing houses or both.

Lumen · 08-03-2018 12:58pm

A house neighbouring me is rented. It's worth maybe 1m. The rent is something like 2.5k/mo. They could easily spend 500/mo on maintenance of house and grounds .

That's a 2.4% yield before voids. And you still get bad tenants at higher rents, the last occupants caused all sorts of issues to the landlord.

Yields on nice rural houses are pitiful.

ZeroSum76 · 08-03-2018 10:35pm

Claw Hammer wrote: »

ZeroSum76 wrote: »

Thanks for the replies. The property price would be in the €400k neighborhood. Would need another €20k or so to make it presentable for rent. Needs some fixing up.

I would need a mortgage of approx. €250k to purchase it and I would need a mortgage of about €270-€280k including the renovation work. In light of all of that I am guessing I would need to be getting approx. €2,000 per month to make it any way viable?

Also worth noting the intent is not purely for yield on rent. It's an investment into a larger property which my family might decide to move to one day. Rental would be something considered for a couple of years until we decide if we want to make the move ourselves. We have approx €100k equity on our current home but we do not want to sell it right now.

Sound daft?

It doesn't sound well advised. You seem to be committing a large amount of money on a property that you might or might not want to move into. You are also buying a relatively remote large property with high maintenance.
My view is that you should take the following into account. In a downturn it is the more remote properties which are the first to suffer falling rents and high vacancy levels. If you get trouble with a tenant, all your eggs are in one basket. You will be letting only to families in such a property. If something goes wrong, loss of job, marital difficulties etc, the rent might stop and there will be a lengthy eviction process.
You would be better to do something like pay down your existing loan and when you want to move you will have high equity and or savings.
If you want to invest you should buy a small house in Bray where tenants will always be available and you will have a better selection to choose from. When you want to move you can sell one or other of your existing houses or both.

Thanks. On a tracker mortgage rate with our current property which is less than 1% so makes even less sense to sell our current home. I guess one thing to note is that the property we are thinking of buying definitely needs some TLC. We could invest a small amount of money in remedial works, market it better and flip it in 1-2 years & make a profit. You guys make renting out/being a landlord sound scary though.

Claw Hammer · 09-03-2018 4:58pm

ZeroSum76 wrote: »

Thanks. On a tracker mortgage rate with our current property which is less than 1% so makes even less sense to sell our current home. I guess one thing to note is that the property we are thinking of buying definitely needs some TLC. We could invest a small amount of money in remedial works, market it better and flip it in 1-2 years & make a profit. You guys make renting out/being a landlord sound scary though.

You are now talking about buying a fixer upper and flipping it for a capital gain. This differed from your original statement. You are obviously not clear on what you want. Buying any kind of a large property can bring headaches and things can go wrong as well as right. In most cases the money spent on fixing up a property does not add an equivalent amount of value to the property. people always underestimate the costs. You should buy in a town and get a good yield and forget about remote large properties.

ZeroSum76 · 09-03-2018 5:09pm

Claw Hammer wrote: »

You are now talking about buying a fixer upper and flipping it for a capital gain. This differed from your original statement. You are obviously not clear on what you want. Buying any kind of a large property can bring headaches and things can go wrong as well as right. In most cases the money spent on fixing up a property does not add an equivalent amount of value to the property. people always underestimate the costs. You should buy in a town and get a good yield and forget about remote large properties.

That's a fair comment. My interest in the property is because I see value and potential. I have not fully decided what I intend to do with it as yet. Appreciate the advice.

Rental market in Wicklow Town/Ashford/Rathnew/Arklow.

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