Buying a house in Ireland
Sometimes life doesn't give you lemons.
Moving from the UK to Ireland
After the 2016 Brexit Referendum that started the process of the UK leaving the EU, I put my London studio flat on the market and started looking for a new home outside the UK but inside the EU.
I thought moving to Ireland would be easy for me to move to for a number of reasons:
proximity to the UK (Northern Ireland even shares landmass with the UK, as you know)
people speak English
similarities in some institutions with the UK (from citizen’s advice to charities, for example)
relatively easy to organise the move across the Irish Sea
potentially fewer cultural differences
good exchange rate between the pound sterling and the euro giving me better buying power.
The reality of living in Ireland
I think the first thing that I noticed when I moved was that there is actually a strong cultural difference between the UK and Ireland. At times, I had to bite my tongue and stop myself from comparing Ireland and the UK (especially after seeing people rolling their eyes when I talked enthusiastically about London): they are two distinct countries, each with its unique history. Irish people are very patriotic and proud of their independence.
Also, although the Irish accent is endearing and charming (you only need to look at Barry Keoghan’s success), where I live, in the middle of Ireland (the Midlands), the accent is so distinctive that at times I didn’t understand what people were saying to me during my first year.
Viewing houses in Ireland
Naively, I initially thought I could buy a house in Dublin, but after a fair few viewings, I realised that the advertised asking price that I could barely afford was:
a) for complete renovation projects that were not ready to move into
b) for properties outside of Dublin
c) almost immediately over-bid by investors and property developers, pushing me out of buying at my maximum budget.
I bought a house in Athlone
Talking about my budget, I quickly realised that I had to search for a house in an area where property prices weren’t astronomical and someone in an Airbnb I was staying at suggested I look in Athlone, which is halfway between Dublin and Galway.
“Where did I get the money from?”, you may ask. Well, it turned out that selling in August 2018 in the UK and buying in Ireland at the tail end of 2018 meant that I had the budget to buy a house in cash. Yes, you read that right, I didn’t have to apply for a mortgage, which also sped up the buying process, which was useful as I didn’t have a place to live and the pressure was on. In fact, quite a big chunk of my money went to staying in Airbnbs but that wasn’t sustainable for months on end.
What did I buy? I managed to secure a terraced house with a small front and back garden which is about a 15 minute walk from the town centre. Not having a car means that being able to walk everywhere is really important for me. If you walk a further 5 minutes from the centre you get to Athlone’s railway station. There are also two urban bus lines running every 30 minutes (and I used to complain about overground train services in North London that were running every 20 minutes, those were the days!).
I did write about the house buying process in Ireland in an article a while back, talking in general about what to expect. I am grateful that I was able to buy a house in Ireland at the time, because with the current cost of living crisis it’s really difficult to get on the property ladder and unfortunately many people are unable to find affordable places to either rent or buy.
That’s a wrap, for now
To recap, I sold a studio flat in London, paid off the existing mortgage on it and with the remaining equity I managed to buy a two bedroom terraced house in Athlone. I think I did well for myself!
You can find out more about how much I paid for this house in my next premium post.
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Very good indeed. I know a bit about this too. I’ve put it in too🤗👵🏻 The material for moving here is off the charts. Now I’ll read your next article.