Balbriggan or Clondalkin?

xiong · #1 06-05-2009, 01:29 PM

Hi to all, I am FTB.

Balbariggan, 3 beds house, 10 mins to training station
Asking price: 270k, I bid €210K, the estate agent just laughed from hearing my offer, do you guys think what i offered was ridiculous?

Clondalkin, Grange View Road, 3 beds house. asking price: 250k, i have not put any offer yet. thinking to put 200k on it.

I'm not an Irish, I need a place with less hassle.

will appreicate any words.

Hamek · #2 06-05-2009, 08:06 PM

If i were you, i would consider the distance to my place of work before anything else when buying a house.

Balbriggan is in the north of Dublin while clondalkin is in the south. Don't know where you work at the mo, but you certainly don't want to be travelling from one end of town to the other 5 days a week. Especially with the heavy traffic in Dublin.

Remember you need the job to pay your mortgage and getting to work late could cost you your job. Also spending too much time in traffic can be fraustrating and could wear you out making you less productive at work. Which isn't what you want.

Paying a little extra for convinience and my sanity is well worth it for me. But then it's your call.

xiong · #3 06-05-2009, 08:27 PM

hi hamek, thanks for replying. your suggestions are very helpful. i 100% agree with you. my work is based in city centre where is about 30 seconds from tara station. balbriggan is about 40-42 mins all the way to tara on the train. clondalkin is about 50 mins (i think) to city centre at peak time.

do you guys think my bargain was ridiculous? by the way, i have limited budget as well and not able to afford to pay a little extra!? :-(

FLANDERS` · #4 06-05-2009, 08:40 PM

I wouldnt have thought so, neither are premium areas of Dublin.....both of your offers sound quite reasonable to me

Hamek · #5 06-05-2009, 08:41 PM

well there isn't that much of a difference btw 40mins and 50mins. So either location should be fine provided commuting there wont be a problem.

As regards your offer, that's what you can afford and there's absolutely nothing wrong with it. By the was house prices have fallen a great deal in Balbriggan.

3 bed town house in a lovely area that sold for E317k in 2007 now sells for E225k.
2 bed appartments from E112k. And these are all new builds. Why not drive down to Balbriggan yourself and have a look around. Most of the new estates have bill-boards up with prices and contact numbers on them.

Good luck with your search.

Raskolnikov · #6 07-05-2009, 10:17 AM

It's worth mentioning that there's quite a large halting site off the Grangeview Road in Clondalkin. I'm not going to pass judgement over living in close proximity to the Travelling Community, but you'd be foolish to ignore that factor. Also, that part of Clondalkin isn't as well served in the public transport department (buses are less frequent and the Luas is probably too far away). The area would also be considered very working class. While not the worst area in Dublin; in footballing parlance, I would definitely put it as a relegation battler.

At €250k, it would not be for me.

pinkyBear · #7 07-05-2009, 10:28 AM

Hi there,
I work near Clondalkin and am familiar with Balbriggan - if it were my choice I would choose Balbriggan. Parts of clondalkin are pretty rough. And there really is no way of getting away from it.

If I were you I would take some time out to visit both areas at night. To get a feel for them. I have friends living happily in Balbriggan, it is relatively quiet...

P

pinkyBear · #8 07-05-2009, 10:57 AM

Can I ask, what is your budget? If you dont mind Da North Soide - would you think of Santry (appartments), Cabra, Malahide Road, Lanesborough in Finglas, the Coast Baldoyle, Fairview,Drumcondra.

I did a generic search in North Dublin and looked for anything under 250K. The apartment in Fairview - would be my fav - given it's location...
You may feel you would prefer a house - in my experience it is better to buy an apartment in a good area rather than a house in a not so good area. I do speak from experience here...

deedee80 · #9 07-05-2009, 11:57 AM

I did a search on myhome.ie for 3 bed properties under 300k in Dublin and there was plenty of choice. I would not limit myself to Balbriggan or Clondalkin. Just my tuppence worth you would get a 3 bed house in a quiet area of Clonee for around 250k. I used to live in Clonee and found it fine, grand and quiet and near to Clonsilla train station. Other areas popping up are Tallaght, Cabra, Finglas, Ballyfermot.... these were just the three bed houses though. If you went for an apartment you would have more choice. Or you could consider Kildare, somewhere on the train line in a nice area.

Deedee

xiong · #10 07-05-2009, 07:28 PM

Hi Raskolnikov,
good man yourself.

i never had any troubles from the travellers, but heard many "stories" about them.

you seems to know much about grangeview road... i surely will visit that area again at night time to see how it real looks like as pinkyBear suggested.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Raskolnikov

It's worth mentioning that there's quite a large halting site off the Grangeview Road in Clondalkin. I'm not going to pass judgement over living in close proximity to the Travelling Community, but you'd be foolish to ignore that factor. Also, that part of Clondalkin isn't as well served in the public transport department (buses are less frequent and the Luas is probably too far away). The area would also be considered very working class. While not the worst area in Dublin; in footballing parlance, I would definitely put it as a relegation battler.

At €250k, it would not be for me.

MandaC · #11 08-05-2009, 05:36 PM

I'm originally from Clondalkin and know good and bad areas v. well.

Grange View - sorry, no. It would not be one of the nicer areas within Clondalkin.

I would not bother going there at night either, not a great place to be hanging around. Not necessarily the estate itself, just the surrounding areas are not brilliant.

I had a look at myhome and there is some brilliant value to be had in Clondalkin at the minute.

northsideboy · #12 11-05-2009, 08:56 PM

In Balbriggan you are beside the sea with a few beaches nearby, there is an express Bus Eireann service to Busaras as well as the train service. Balbriggan wins Hands Down for me, but then I happily live there.

Macstuff · #13 12-05-2009, 11:31 AM

I agree with the other posters that you should perhaps broaden your search - if your budget is in the region of 210K you can afford more areas than those two that you mention... do a search on MyHome.ie and you might find something that takes your fancy.

The only additional observation that I can make is that in my opinion you are better advised to buy in an established area than a relatively new area.
Given the current climate it's certain that many of the amenities and infrasturcture promised by developers and local authorities for new towns will not now come on stream. At least in a developed area you know for sure what you are getting.

Best of luck with the house hunt.

Red · #14 12-05-2009, 12:33 PM

There is an RTE programme on this week (Friday I think) which will be about residents & neighbours in Balbrigganif TV guide is correct. Might be useful to watch before you make your mind up

lynchie · #15 13-05-2009, 10:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Raskolnikov

It's worth mentioning that there's quite a large halting site off the Grangeview Road in Clondalkin. I'm not going to pass judgement over living in close proximity to the Travelling Community, but you'd be foolish to ignore that factor. Also, that part of Clondalkin isn't as well served in the public transport department (buses are less frequent and the Luas is probably too far away). The area would also be considered very working class. While not the worst area in Dublin; in footballing parlance, I would definitely put it as a relegation battler.

At €250k, it would not be for me.

I beg to differ on public transport. With the 151 running 69 buses a day (every 10 mins at rush hour) past Grangeview estate on the New Nangor Road, im sure thats more than the number of buses serving balbriggan!!

I agree on that estate not being the best location due to the halting site next door, but the rest of Clondalkin is fine and I've never had any problems living there for over 20 years.

Sigmund · #16 13-05-2009, 10:41 AM

Hi Xiong, for what its worth use to live in Lucan and had friends in Clondalkin, not much difference between the two areas really so you could also consider Lucan although you have to be careful where ? however in Clondalkin you should consider somewhere like Monastery Gate which my mate lived in and I always thought was well located.

deedee80 · #17 14-05-2009, 02:54 PM

He is looking to spend around 200-250k Sigmund. What you would get in Lucan for that price, would be the part of Lucan that is really Clondalkin, iykwim, and not the nice part of Clondalkin. You might as well just buy slightly up the road in Clondalkin and get it for that bit cheaper cos the post code is different. I live in a really nice part of Lucan and there is absolutely no comparison where I am to the new estates up past the penny hill. I wouldn't recommend there as a good place to buy at all.

danika05 · #18 17-05-2009, 08:01 PM

Lived beside that halting site in Clondalkin for three years and never had a spot of bother. Not saying that was necessarily everyones experience, but would be happy to buy there again if my budget was in the 200k ish region. (and I grew up in Foxrock!!)

MandaC · #19 18-05-2009, 07:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by danika05

Lived beside that halting site in Clondalkin for three years and never had a spot of bother. Not saying that was necessarily everyones experience, but would be happy to buy there again if my budget was in the 200k ish region. (and I grew up in Foxrock!!)

Sorry to disagree with you...a family member lived there and moved out because the area was rough in general (not just the halting site) also a girl up the road left when she found 2 people from the halting site fighting with machetes in her back garden.

danika05 · #20 18-05-2009, 10:54 PM

hmmm... fair enough!