swords any opinions? I am considering buying a house there.

B

brianfm

Guest
Hi all,

I was hoping to get peoples opinions on swords as I am considering buying a house there. I have heard some bad stories about some parts but it is a big area. Does anyone have any info/opinions on which are good and not-so-good areas in swords. Also is there any other issues to consider particular to swords,

thanks,

brian.

title edited by ajapale
 
Re: swords

Quite a long bus journey if you are commuting to the city centre. Not much chance of a rail/DART link anytime soon (unless you believe that the metro will actually be built in our lifetime). Good access to airport and M1 and M50. The Pavillons isn't a bad shopping centre, nowhere near as busy as Liffey Valley/Blanchardstown.
 
Re: swords

"Does anyone have any info/opinions on which are good and not-so-good areas in swords."


Brian - Swords is a big place, you might get more feedback if you can specify one or two areas of interest and people might comments with more detail.

Roy
 
Re: swords

I think Swords is turning into a massively developed expanse especially in the Applewood areas. The more mature areas are much nicely, River Valley, Highfield. It can be nightmare to get through with traffic. There is a plan to bring a slip road connection from the new M1 into Swords (around Little Chef on Pinnock Hill I think) to alleviate some problems, currently the only access points from the M1 are the Donabate and airport exits . Knocksedan is a new housing estate, the houses are nice, we were considering buying there, but there is a very un-organised feel off the place, no boundry walls or hedges. More specific info on your area of interest might get more specific info for you
 
swords

Hi all,

thanks for your replies. I am only at the planning stages of this and I do not intend to buy for around 6 months so I do not have any particular areas in mind. I have a young famaliy so I am looking for a quite, settled area ( so being near swords village in not a priority). The media has reported the locals in the area are concerned with public order offences (in relation to the swords village on weekend) and also burglaries. However you cannot believe all you hear in the media. Are these real issues with locals? Does living on the southside of swords or northside of swords make much of a difference when commuting to city centre? My price limit on a house is e340,000.

As for particalar areas how about borimhe, sanford, Castelview, Ridgewood and Seatown?
Also, anyone have any views on the national schools in the area?

thanks in advance for any info.
 
Re: swords

I moved to Swords two years ago , i find that the pubs and amenities in the area are not that great.
I was also voted the dirtiest town in Ireland no t so long ago but it has improved since.

I live on the main Street in Swords Plaza , which is now being overdeveloped, i have currently bought an apartment near to Malahide which is much more open, will rent the Swords one.

Rivervalley - Is run down and had a very bad name and reputation, not a nice place.

Borimhe - This is a newest "estate" but check out the neighbours , lots of health/social tenants and rented accomodation. Plus it is a bit of a concrete jungle.

Stay away from Applewood or anything that resembles an Albany home development. Their is one road in and one out and you are basically getting badly built homes in overdeveloped areas, which are at entrance market level. Most of these homes are already being resold.

If you get a chance Milton Hall Apartments opposite PinnockHill / Little Chef look great , they where all snapped up over 1/2 years ago but i have been informed that 1 or two units are being sold by the developer and only 30 something units.

Schools i do not knoe anything about , roads and access is great , and when the port tunnel opens it will be even better.
You basically hit traffic coming into the city centre, but who does'nt.
 
Re: swords

Oi! I live in Rivervalley and it's fine! OK, it has it's fair share of young thugs and thugettes hanging round the chipper but I've never seen any problems and any over the age of 25 is invisible anyway. The park which stretches from the back of the Lord Mayor pub to the depths of Rivervalley is lovely.

Sarah
 
swords

thanks everyone for your replies.
stobear, i might have a look at the knocksedan development, which estate agent is handling it.

thanks,

brian.
 
Applewood is a fantastic place

I think applewood is a great place. Its been build as a sort of village center. Really impressive, and in my opinion the way all developments should now be going.
And i'm told on the sly that Applewood is the leading contender for the last stop on the Metro.
I would stay away from the large houseing estate myself and go for something like applewood, which has the facilities to support the development.

Boroimhe is also nice, but a bit too big and not so well serviced.

Also anything within 5 mins walk of Swords mainstreet is way overpriced.

Are you limiting your options to Swords only?

Also you should visit these places yourself and see what you think. Dont take the word of posters here. They all have thier own opinions on where they would buy, but none of us will have the same circumstances as yourself.
 
Re: Applewood is a fantastic place

(Disclaimer) I live in Glasnevin so don't know Swords that well.

The one thing that worries me about Swords (and Lucan etc) is that there are 100's of 3- & 4-bed family homes being built but there are no facilities for younger people.

You mention that you've a young family. Where is your 15-yr old boy/girl going to 'play/hang out'? Are there football pitches, cinema's, youth clubs, schools etc? I worry that we're going to repeat the (historical) mistakes of Tallaght and Ballymun.

The builders of Adamstown (?) in the Lucan area have agreed to build their development in stages, ie, they won't be allowed to goto stage 2 until the stage1 shops/facilities/etc are in place.
 
Re: Applewood is a fantastic place

Knocksedan is on the way into Swords from the back of the airport, actually the village is a good 5 mins drive from here, it may be closer to Rolestown! Anyway there are loads of different house types, but after a spin through there yesterday, I like the houses, but the whole space is very 'undefined', no walls, fences, boundries, it feels unfinished. I saw a few finished but empty houses but it says its sold out, think it was developed by Mellony Homes , auctioneer Robt B Daly.
 
Knocksedan

Talk about overpriced houses. Buy in Knocksedan if you want to waste your money.
These are Foxrock prices. Celtic helicopters is beside you. The airport is closer to you than Swords Village.
Absolutely no facilities, shops of any sort.
All in all a bad buy in my opinion.
 
Re: Knocksedan

Also re: Knocksedan and other places to the South West of Swords village. Be aware that there is a Northern Parallel runway going to be built eventually at Dublin Airport (it will happen sooner or later despite what the NIMBYs in Portmarnock say).. It will be East - West oriented (parallel to the existing runway on the south side) .. this will bring aircraft noise a lot closer to places like Knocksedan etc.
 
swords

I live in Abbeyvale in Swords for 8 years and have seen the town grow west and south-west. Overall, Swords is fine for us in terms of shops, schools and the Abbeyvale estate has plenty of green open spaces for kids to play.

On the plus side;

- shops (pavilions, main st, Airside - B&Q/Atlantic/Smyths Toys/Motor dealers/Harvey Norman)

- schools; reasonable number for the population. My son is quite happy at his primary school.

- Restaurants ( such as LaSpada, good price/nice food, Trentinos - trendy if a bit pricy)

- Pubs; no worse/no better than any other town.

- Jackie Skelly Gym (Applewood), ALSAA (near Airport)

On the Minus side;
- Traffic; Access to Swords is woeful. Driving from Swords Manor/Abbeyvale/Berwick side of the valley into Swords main St is via two small, steep hilly roads. Need plenty of clutch control there !!

- Traffic around the Pavilions is terrible. It still amazes me how a developments like this get the OK without building adequate road access.

- No cinema. One is planned but the developer seems not to want to bother even though it was a planning condition attached to building the Pavilions.

- Very few amenities for children. We usually go to Malahide for the beach and Castle.

- Water supply frequently cut-off due to bad, old pipes.


A lot of people from Abbeyvale have moved into Knocksedan. Fine big houses but over-priced. You MUST have a car (no access to bus, no footpath into Swords) although a helicopter is available across the road : D

Your choice depends on your expected lifestyle, really.
 
Re: swords

I have to say the traffic situation in Swords Main Street is crazy , the access too and from the forest road is dire and the old Motorola"Albania Homes" site is very poor in deed.
This drives up the house prices on the Southern side as access is so much easier there.

Has anyone seen the development on the main street across from the Pavillion , i have seen the plans and i have to say stay away.
The apartments being built are very much like the one's in Carnegie Court, very crampt and designed around quantity rather than quality.Plus i have been informed that a degree (about 35%) of investors have outlined them for Social or HB letting.

Swords is great if you are buying to let for the business letting environment. I have one apartment currently out to a well known Car Rental firm. They set up a 2 year contract, pay for any damage and i also get paid when it is vacant which seems to be about one quarter of the time.Plus they want first option on renewal , lots of opportunity there.
 
Agree with you on the Main street

I Agree with you on the Main street, but if you want to get to the North side of Swords its 5 minutes from airport via M1. Turn off the M1 past Swords and double back and you're on the north side of Swords. Faster than getting anywhere on the southside of Swords AND you miss out on all the traffic caused by the pavillions.
I do wish someone would look at planning these new shopping centers properly.

Remember Swords to Balbriggan, Rush etc is green belt.
Swords is well in the commuter belt. And as traffic gets worse , the closer to town you are the better.

Blanch is a disaster area to buy in. Way too congested. Lucan is getting as bad as blanch.
Finglas is Gansterland.
South-side takes too long to commute to city unless you're on the Dart or 46A and is way overpriced.

There are pros and cons to all, but it all has the effect of pushing people to buy in Meath, Kildare even westmeath and cavan now.

Definitely buy in Dublin, but examine all your options there.
 
Lucan

I'd stay clear of Lucan - I had a house (I'd rather not mention the name of the estate) there that was continuously giving me trouble. I came to do a snag list on my new house one day only to find a horse in my hallway. What a start.

Then the traffic was awful - just to get out of the estate. I know of one family who have bought a 4 x 4 jeep and they use it to barge their way up on the path every morning (cutting up the grass in the process) to bypass the cars queueing to get out. Rumour has it that they are relatives of a well known crime gang.

Then their is the house quality. One day I was plugging in the iron and the socket fell through the wall. I could also see right through to next door from the hor press upstairs.

There are few shops and nowhere in Lucan sells the cream for my eczema.

I have since moved to Swords and love it.
 
Funny you should mention the horse.

I was viewing a house in Lucan about a year ago and one the way out the door 2 kids were riding down the road on Piballed horses. You should have seen the estate agents face.
I wish i had a camera
 
swords

Hi all,

thanks for all your replies. i am going to be renting in swords for 6 months and then buying. my priorities a 3 bed semi in a quiet area and then communte time to city centre. I am trying to idenify the nice areas know because best case scenario is that I rent in a area I can buy to minise the moving trauma on the kids.
Does anyone have any opinions on the national schools in area?

thanks again,

brian.
 
swords

brianfm,
My son goes to St Cronans NS, Brackenstown Road. We've had no problems with it.
About 2 mins drive from Main St, I'd say, (or 20 mins child-speed walk! ).
 
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