Fair enough, opinions differ. Fifteen years ago, I'd have agreed entirely that Dart justified a significant premium over commuter rail. However, the Maynooth line has dramatically improved frequency in recent times. (No real direct experience of the Naas line, but I'd imagine there's significant investment going into it.)
Ordinarily I would agree but there is actually much more selection for buyers than for renters these days in Dublin.
Thanks! yeah, still a long way til then. We both work from home so transport isn't an issue at the moment.
In which case unless you really need to be in shouting distance of family, I'd ditch Dublin & look for better value elsewhere.
You're right, it's subjective, but I guess "good for families" means, first of all, safe. That when walking around the area you feel ok, no need to be on the lookout or avoid certain places / people - as far as can be in a large city, obviously it's never 100%, but in every city, some areas are better than others in that respect. Alsoת with access to good schools, in our case primary schools (10+ years til secondary school will be relevant).
Thanks, which areas for example? We still want to live in the city as we're both urban types, so currently not looking beyond the m50, although for the same price, you definitely get more there.
We both work from home so I didn't mention the transport issue, I agree it's very important if you have to get to work every day.
You could look at the Phibsboro, Grangegorman, Cabra, Navan Road, Ashtown, Castleknock, Carpenterstown corridor. Mixture of long established "nice" areas and rapidly gentrifying areas courtesy of Luas, commuter rail and new third level campus.
We're moving alone, no family there. I see what you mean by better value, but as urban types, we'd still like to be in the city (although with a young kid, it's obviously harder to enjoy city life as much), so looking for areas that may be quieter, but within a reasonable distance of the centre.
Thanks, it's very logical to rent first, unfortunately not practical for us as we're moving with pets. And yeah, it's much more expensive compared to buying, at least in our circumstances. We both work from home, we don't know anyone there (yet), atheists and not looking to be around expats from our country. So that leaves us with access to good schools, access to parks is important, but every house we're currently considering has some parks close by. Proximity to the centre is what we trade off, but that's ok with a young kid, it's not like we can go out much anyway
With all that in mind, we're looking for somewhere where everyday life is nice, and once in a while you can take a cab to the centre for an evening out.Thanks, I read a lot about childcare being difficult to find, but by the time we move, our daughter would only need 1 year of ecce before starting school. Is ecce as difficult to find as well?
Dublin's not the only city in the country - there are those who would claim it isn't even the capital!
Yeah, we both work from home. We're both urban types so still prefer the city (at least for now), so that's why I'm enquiring about locations in Dublin.
you're both right, it's more rational to rent first, but 1. we're moving with pets, which makes renting far less practical 2. as you said, there's more selection for buyers, and it's financially better for us.