Car Park Space for 25K - to buy or not to buy?

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kelly123

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I bought a 2 bed apartment in Ringsend 4 years ago. At the time I couldn't afford to pay for the car park space which was €25,000. I now have some extra money which I was going to use to pay off the capital sum of my mortgage. However, I was thinking it might be better for my investment if I bought a car park space(still for sale at €25,000). There is limited on-street parking where I live but more double yellow lines are being painted every few months!
I plan to sell the apartment in a few years. Would the car park space increase the value of my property by more than the car park space's cost of €25,000 or would I be better off throwing my savings into the mortgage?
Also, if I do decide to buy the space, will I have to pay stamp duty/tax on it? (I am a first time buyer owner occupier.)
thanks
 
kelly123 said:
Would the car park space increase the value of my property by more than the car park space's cost of €25,000 or would I be better off throwing my savings into the mortgage?
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What are apartments with and without parking spaces selling for now? That should give you an idea of the price differential.
 
I would say buy the car space, subject to a few queries:
Is the space a secure, basement space or just off street? What conditions are attached to its use? (must you be a resident to park in the space or does the space have a potential income stream through renting/ leasing to a non-resident?) Are there any other special conditions attached by the management company?
 
Apartments with parking are more attractive than without. Not sure if you'll get back 25k but at least if the market goes south it will be easier to sell. You should also look into the rental market - ie if you could rent it what would it earn

Firefly.
 
kelly123 said:
I plan to sell the apartment in a few years. Would the car park space increase the value of my property by more than the car park space's cost of €25,000 or would I be better off throwing my savings into the mortgage?
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€25,000 for a tiny space to park your car. Day light robbery in my opinion. If I were you I would take my chances with on-street parking (as long as you are happy the car is relatively safe) and put the money against your mortgage.
 
IMHO (secure) parking spaces will become an ever more sought after comodity in Dublin over the next few years. Saying "€25,000 for a tiny space to park your car. Day light robbery in my opinion." is a bit like saying "€400,000 for a one bed appt in Ringsend. Daylight robbery IMHO." You might think it's dear compared to previously where no-one considered paying for parking. But it's the new reality.

If you can afford it, and the figures add up regarding resale or rental premium for an appt with a parking space, then I'd go for it. How many parking spaces are there in total there, and how many are still available for sale?
 
Buy the parking space. At 25K in Ringsend it will not lose money and will make the apartment easier to sell. Secure parking is getting scarce in Dublin, and with all the new building around the gasworks, as well as the Corpo's habit of painting yellow stripes everywhere, free on-street space is getting even scarcer. Buy it!
 
Did you check the price differential on similar places with and without a parking space to get an idea of the market value of such a space?
 
In the Pearse St, Grand Canal and Ringsend location & market I will not even look at an apartment that does not have a secure car park space.
You have done excellent in buying the apartment 4 years ago...and to be offered a secure car park space at only 25k just puts the icing on the cake.I know of a penthouse up the road from you in Grand Canal basin that did not have a C.P.S. and when the owner came to sell last year he had to buy one at well over the odds 60k plus to secure the sale of the penthouse. If I was you I'd buy the CPS for all the reasons most people have outline in a manner far better than I can...
Slán
 
Thanks for all the replies. To answer a few of your queries:
1. the space is in a secure underground basement behind electronic gates.
2. It can be used by non-residents and some have been rented out to non-residents (for about €120 pm).
The bad news is that I called the management company last week to organise a sale only to be told that the developers have increased the price to 35K! I simply don't have that much money and by the time I do manage to save another 10K, who's to say the price won't be gone up to 45K?
 
auto320 said:
Buy the parking space. At 25K in Ringsend it will not lose money and will make the apartment easier to sell. Secure parking is getting scarce in Dublin, and with all the new building around the gasworks, as well as the Corpo's habit of painting yellow stripes everywhere, free on-street space is getting even scarcer. Buy it!
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Hard luck on missing out, but try them with 30k and see what happens. Sometimes when a good deal comes along, as this did originally at 25k, you need to jump on it. 35k is probably stretching it a bit, but in your position I would pay 30k for it -- it will add at least that much to the value of the apartment, and will make the apartment that much more saleable.
 
kelly123 said:
The bad news is that I called the management company last week to organise a sale only to be told that the developers have increased the price to 35K!
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Three comments: (a) the seller has a vested interest in inflating the selling price to an interested potential buyer so don't assume that this is a fair market value (b) as I said check past/current prices for apartments with and without a parking space to sanity check the real fair market value and (c) as above bid what you can afford and what you think it's worth rather than being driven by the asking price and comments about this being a no brainer.
 
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