Following on from my last post, I thought I would share what I have learned from my first 3 months on the property trail as a first time buyer in the crazy Dublin property market.

Pay no attention to the asking price

I always knew that auction guide prices, or Advised Minimum Values as they are called these days, were of little use, but I had not realised how inaccurate asking prices for sales by private treaty were.
From my experience, which admittedly is focused on Dublin 2, 4 and 6, you have to expect a final sales price of about 10-15% above the asking price for properties in good condition. While prices are crazy all over Dublin, there is a severe shortage of small houses close to town in desirable areas. Anything that does come on the market usually sells for an astronomical price. People have plenty of money these days, and all it takes is for 2 people to really want a house. Here are a few recent examples (all sold in 2006) to put this in context:

• Modernised 800 sq ft 2 bed in Portobello - asking price: €575,000, sold for €670,000 (17% higher)
• Pristine 600 sq ft renovated 2 bed in Ranelagh - asking price: €525,000, sold for: €590,000 (12% higher)
• 915 sq ft modern 3 bed mews in Rathmines - asking price: €650,000, sold for: €870,000 (34% higher)

This means that you could cause yourself much unnecessary heartache and hassle by viewing properties at the top end of your budget. You have to estimate the actual price at which the sale will be agreed and determine whether you have any hope of making this at the outset. My advice is to wait for over a week when new properties at the top end of your budget come on the market. Then ring the estate agent and find out what offers have been made. If offers have been slow or low, you can then arrange a viewing with a more informed mindset. But remember, in the booming Dublin property market where most properties go sale agreed within 3-4 weeks, if there is little interest in a house, it’s probably for a good reason!

The internet is your friend

MyHome.ie has revolutionised the Irish property market. No longer do you need to trek round estate agents’ offices and await the newspaper property supplements with bated breath. In fact, if you’re doing any online research, the supplements will be old news to you! They can contain interesting articles and property news, and may even have in depth features on some of the properties you are interested in. It is useful to flick through them just in case you see something that you have missed online, but that is highly unlikely.

Frustratingly, MyHome.ie misses a lot of opportunities and would be a much more useful site if only they would invest in enhancing features such as search and e-mail alerts. However, it is still a great resource and when you ring round estate agents looking to be updated on their properties they will point you to this site more often than not.

Daft.ie’s alert system works a lot better. You actually get an e-mail with the property details as soon as it appears on the site! However daft.ie intentionally focuses on the lower end of the market, so if you are looking for something closer to town or something substantial on the outskirts, Daft will not be of much help.

Some individual estate agents offer e-mail and text alerts of their own. But be warned, just as when you ring them up, they can claim that they will keep you updated and contact you whenever a property matching your criteria arises, but that does not often happen in reality! However, the e-mail alerts from the following sites do definitely work:

• Sherry FitzGerald
• Gunne
• Lisney
• Property Team
• Youngs Auctioneers

Property e-mail alerts usually expire automatically after a month or so. Some sites do not provide you with a handy way of renewing them which is a bit annoying! However, if you are keeping a close eye on MyHome.ie, you do not need to sign up for any individual agent alerts. Just bear in mind that the only way of keeping up to date with MyHome is to physically visit the site and search; you cannot be alerted by e-mail or text.

Beware of properties without photos

In the age of the digital camera, it is a very bad sign if a property brochure does not have any photos included. If it has just gone up on the web, there may just be a delay in uploading the photos, but if there are still no pictures up after a few days fear the worst! While estate agents can make even the biggest dump sound appealing in their descriptions, the camera does not lie even after Photoshop has worked its magic.

You should also be suspicious if photos of all the standard rooms are not available. There are usually photos of the kitchen, living area, bathroom and at least one bedroom. If there is a photo of a key room missing, particularly the kitchen, it is normally because there is something major to hide.

Never trust an estate agent

Estate agents have a terrible reputation. I decided to embark on house hunting with an open mind. I am a very open person and take people as I find them on face value. However much I have tried to give estate agents the benefit of the doubt, I have unfortunately had to conclude that in general they are not the nicest people in the world.No matter how genuine they seem, how straight talking they appear, never, ever trust them!

They are working for the vendor and are working in a booming market where they do not have to actively sell anything! Yet, it seems to me that sellers have cause for complaint too. Several major agents only hold a few viewings. I have been informed on enquiring about several properties that viewings are now over and that the property is under negotiation. For all they know, I could be willing to pay a higher price for the house. How happy would be the vendor be to hear that potential purchasers are being turned away? In addition, I am amazed by how little knowledge many have about the properties that they are selling. I have viewed properties where the negotiator does not know the approximate age of the property, the type of windows it has or whether the attic is floored in.

Yet they deserve oscars for their acting ability - on the phone, in person and in prose. They can describe a house in glowing terms, even if it is falling down. During viewings, they dismiss major disadvantages as not being an issue. I had to admire the estate agent who swore blind that you would barely hear the Dart trains that passed by the back of the house, while a train was trundling past. It is during the bidding wars that they truly excel themselves. They lure you in, fill you with confidence, and then do not even sound guilty when you get outbid. They have seen it all before, and they should never give bidders false hope. Unless they want to keep as many puppets dangling in the bidding charade for as long as possible of course…

Pre Christmas bargains

While I had not started house hunting in the run up to Christmas, it is one of the few times when you can get some value for money in the Dublin property market.
While this is a quiet time with limited supply, most house hunters call off the search by year end, leaving those who stick at it to snatch the house of their dreams for less.

For proof of this, take a couple of my earlier examples. The 2 bed in Ranelagh that sold for €590,000 earlier this year had originally been sale agreed before Christmas for €525,000. Even more sickening, an identical house to the 3 bedroom Rathmines mews which sold for €870,000 just a few weeks ago sold in late 2005 for €650,000.

It’s a jungle out there!

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 26th, 2006 at 5:50 pm and is filed under house hunting, irish. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.