AH - Why did you NOT buy what you were offered?

M

mayo exile

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Just thought I'd start a thread for those who may have been offered a place, but turned it down for whatever reason. Here is my own tale of woe already posted in the "How long was it before you got your keys" thread.


Threw in the towel today and won't be buying under AH scheme after finally losing my patience. Been waiting since December when I first received offer (see post above). Are all councils this incompetent in dealing with their "customers"? As with other posts here the level of procrastination and sheer amount of excuses given as to why things don't progress is incredible.

In a falling market I simply couldn't recommend AH to anybody as a way to buy a house.
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Still agree with these sentiments I posted last night. Excuses like "delay with the developer", "sent letter to start sale to solicitor, but he musnt have got it so we will send another", and other weak excuses made my blood boil!!
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i was offered a 1 bed apartment in clongriffin, then when i googled it i read all the hold ups re dart station, "the park", "anti social behaviour"
so i think its best to turn it down. however i feel gutted cos i want an apartment NOW. why i could not be offered herberton, or kilmanham square or hsq?? please
 
Hi folks

I have turned down a number of affordable housing offers. Several reasons for this:

* The AREA has to be RIGHT. Near transport, near town, near local amenities, good ambience and kerb appeal etc

* Away from problem areas, bad housing estates, crime etc.

* The area has to have a good FUTURE. What will it be like in 5, 10, 20 years time?

* The PROPERTY has to be RIGHT. Would you like to live in an apartment or house? Do you want a garden, parking etc. Do management fees apply. Do
you actually LIKE the property you are considering buying?

* Terms & Conditions: Is the property priced correctly? This has become the CRITICAL issue in affordable housing. Some properties were valued some time
ago and now prices are falling back all the time. Make VERY sure the affordable property is CORRECTLY valued. Think long and hard about the
CLAWBACK..... are you going to live there long term........10, 15, 20 years? Do you understand you must live in the property and cannot rent it out?

* Important......prices are coming down. Do your sums...could you now afford to buy a property on the open market instead? With affordable properties it's
a case of taking what your given. When you buy privately you CHOSE the property.

* Ask for advice: Talk to parents, friends, older people who know about property. Do your homework as thoroughly as possible, look at EVERY option, walk
around the area several times, take photos of the inside of the property, ask as many questions as you like.

Hope this is of some use.
 
girl28 said:
i was offered a 1 bed apartment in clongriffin, then when i googled it i read all the hold ups re dart station, "the park", "anti social behaviour"
so i think its best to turn it down. however i feel gutted cos i want an apartment NOW. why i could not be offered herberton, or kilmanham square or hsq?? please
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Dont stress girl 28, I was offered one of those, they were v.expensive. I dont think it was any kind of deal. Im gutted too, but im saving and keeping all options open. DCC are dreaming with their prices.
 
We were offered a 2bed apartment in Hampton Court (off grace park road) back in December. To date we have not been offered a viewing and were asked were we going to take the apartment over the phone (i,e. unseen!!)

To be honest an apartment is useless to us as we have a three & half year old anyway.

In summary DCC's lack of urgency in allowing us to view & the total unsuitability of the property offered are the reasons we turned this down
 
Been offered the last apartments in two complexes. I was on the refusal lists. Have been offered the apartments over 1 year later then the draw date. So always got offered the ones that other people have been refused. They generally have been the worst apartments in the complexes. Both on the ground floor with limited light, lack of security no balcony or patio compared with other apartments in same complex. Felt that down the line i would have difficulty selling. One complex I saw the show apartment completely different finish. Better Quality in Show apartment. However affordable housing market price was not significantly lower.
I look forward to the day when I can have an offer of a few apartments with good specs = to show homes or that the market price reflects the lesser quality finish.

I also refused another apartment the postman who delivers there told me that he was talking to the maintenance man who said that there was a structural problem with one block and that many tenants are saying they can hear everything from their neighbours such as kettle boiling, lights switching on-off.

Think Dublin City Council would want to get real with the huge prices especially in todays falling market.
 
Hi mrsk,
Just wondering what 2 developments you turned down as I'm in for an apt in Belmayne and Royal Canal Park....noise issues sound v like Belmayne from what I've read in other forums, although from what I remember it was mainly people in houses referring to noise from the updstairs apartment.
I haven't seen either or my offers yet....was told it'll be within next 2 weeks for RCP and couple of months for Belmayne.....but have my doubts.
 
I turned down one because of over-pricing and am glad I did because larger units sold privately at affordable price on open market within 6 months!!

Turned down another because I didn't feel safe in the area I was offered and these too were over-priced. A year on and the council are still trying to shift these units.

Turned down two others because they were in areas with no transport links.

I might have taken some of the above had I not known that I had also being drawn high up in Dun Laoghaire's list. Have now received offer that I want. 2 years waiting and refusing has been worth it :)
 
I turned down 2 places - one was a one bedroom appartment in the city centre - i have a daughter so that was never going to happen and the second was a 2 bed top story appartment - this was really nice and at the time reasonably priced but I had my heart set on a house
 
turned down BSQ as i thought they were to poorly laid out with noy much living space. also didn't like the way they were over looked by thr other blocks. no need for a tv. just face out the window and you could see into abotu 50 other apartments.

turned down Beechwood as I was offered the runt apartment good size 2 bedrooms but tiny kitchen and living space.

i reckoned that both woudl be impossible to resale, adn i wasn't willign to lose by FTB status. the market is still falling and theres much better value to be had out there.

also the terms & Conditions are not good, you are not allowed to rent, if in two years you want to move but can't sell, you are prevented from renting it. where as if you oen in privatly you could rent it out and live else where
 
I've been on DLRCoCo's list since 2005, and DCC and South County Dublin since early 2006. In that time have only been offered a 1 bed in Tallaght.

I turned it down because it was too small and in my opinion unsuitable, as there was no storage space and I couldn't see myself living in 2 rooms for the next 20 years.

I was only given a few minutes to decide if i was interested when I went to view it. I spend more time deciding which t-shirt to wear every day.

I don't think any effort is made to match the buyer to the property, for example, age and income.
 
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Hi mrsk,
Just wondering what 2 developments you turned down as I'm in for an apt in Belmayne and Royal Canal Park....noise issues sound v like Belmayne from what I've read in other forums, although from what I remember it was mainly people in houses referring to noise from the updstairs apartment.

Yes one was for Belmayne, DCC rang me and asked why I didn't accept offer for Belmayne, I said I heard about noise, DCC then told me that they were all sold, I told DCC that I didn't believe that as I had got two glossy brochures showing plenty for sale.

From what I've heard for Belmayne, Developer has changed plans to build more apts as he can't shift the ones he has and that he is changing plans to build houses instead of apts as there is an oversupply of apartments in that general area.

Think affordable housing price for this area is seriously overvalued, I think in the last affordable housing newsletter they were €280,000, I think that the developer will sell on private market for this close to this price very soon.[/quote]
 
Turned down 2 two bed houses in good areas. My partner and I are both in our mid 30's and hope to have children in the near future. The council are looking at the future with the 20 year clawback system however I feel they are not looking at applicants future plans when allocating houses - only what they need right now.
 
Hi mrsk,
Yeah I heard the same about the noise issue with Belmayne but from what I recall it was people in the houses referring to the noise from the apartments above. Obvioulsy if you're in an apt with a floor above you're likely to have the same problems. I haven't had a viewing yet but I was up there last night for a nosey around and there are loads of vacant properties...also there's a whole block behind hoarding that is still in the process of being finished!! I think you're right.....the developer is having difficulty selling the exisiting apartments as DCC told me last week that if I pursue Belmayne then I'd be buying directly from him. Also on the price....they were quoted as being 262-275k in the letter I received from them, I can't remember what they were in the last newsletter but probably the same I guess. I thought 262-275 was ok, considering Royal Canal Park are 250 - 295....was out there last night too as I was offered one of those also..wasn't impressed with the surrounding locale.....horses roaming aroud the place, thought it was very claustrophobic or something.....and yes the canal is nice running through it but by no means a selling point!! Was quite disappointed with them from the outside anyway.

Im not sure what to do about Belmayne....2 beds (not ground floor) are going for 330 or 340 at the moment but not shifting either but are they likely to drop a 1st floor 2 bed from 330 to even 275.....fingers crossed they do but i could be waiting I'd say! :(
 
Teknon said:
Teknon said:
Does this mean that if you buy in Belmayne you are buying the apartment outright and not through the AH scheme ??
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Hi Teknon,
To be honest I don't know...I was caught on the hop when she said it so it only dawned on me after I got off the phone. That's what it would seem like to me....but I can't imagine I'm getting an apt in Belmayne outright for the AH price-tag. Blue in the face ringing them to comfirm a fax was sent last week so I'm gonna ring them tomorrow to get some confirmation as to what this really means..I'll keep ya posted on any feedback
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FTB1975 said:
Teknon said:
Hi Teknon,
To be honest I don't know...I was caught on the hop when she said it so it only dawned on me after I got off the phone. That's what it would seem like to me....but I can't imagine I'm getting an apt in Belmayne outright for the AH price-tag. Blue in the face ringing them to comfirm a fax was sent last week so I'm gonna ring them tomorrow to get some confirmation as to what this really means..I'll keep ya posted on any feedback
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FTB,

If you want a place in Belmayne, I would contact Hooke and McDonald (Telephone: 01 6318402) and tell them you are interested. Inform them you have approval for mortgage and are ready to buy. Tell them the most you can go to is €250,000 and if they are not interested its no skin off your nose. It is a buyers market out there and that is not changing over the next couple of years. There is over supply of apartments and they would be foolish to not consider your offer (personally speaking I think €250k is too much but if u are willing to pay ah price of that)
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Clown said:
FTB1975 said:
FTB,

If you want a place in Belmayne, I would contact Hooke and McDonald (Telephone: 01 6318402) and tell them you are interested. Inform them you have approval for mortgage and are ready to buy. Tell them the most you can go to is €250,000 and if they are not interested its no skin off your nose. It is a buyers market out there and that is not changing over the next couple of years. There is over supply of apartments and they would be foolish to not consider your offer (personally speaking I think €250k is too much but if u are willing to pay ah price of that)
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Hey Clown,
Ya don't work for H and McD do ya??:D
I reckon I'd be laughed off the phone....are they really that desperate to get rid of them...the 2 beds are going for "from 315" preumably for a ground floor....but I've seen 2 bed 1st floor for 330 and 340 which IMO is totally over-priced....dont think I've seen a 2 bed going for 250k in about ten years!!! ..well actually I have but not in Dublin or within an 2 hour commute of Dublin. I suppose it might be worth a shot.....
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