Certainly, there has been evidence of a major cooling off in Dublin within the last few weeks. (NB I am touching anything that looks remotely wooden as I type!) This could just be the traditional summer slowdown where house hunting is abandoned as holidays and warm weather go to our heads, an automatic correction of the mad panic since the start of 2006, or the harsh reality of all those interest rate increases. Whatever the reasons, while you were lucky to get in the door of an open viewing on a Saturday in March, now estate agents are actually ringing people to follow up after viewings!

Whether all hysteric house hunters return in September or not, any perceived cooling off in the Dublin property market must be viewed in context. Sherry Fitzgerald reported today that the price increase for second hand houses in Dublin for the first six months of 2006 was 21.2%. Bear in mind, that the equivalent increase for the entire year in 2005 was only slightly higher at 23.3% and was considered an outstanding year! This seems incredible and such paper based conclusions may not paint an accurate picture. Just one big surprise auction result could have skewed such results dramatically. Even the Dublin property market cannot sustain increases of 20% every 6 months! Yet, even if the real growth is not as impressive and there are some subtle signs that the so-called “soft landing” might be starting, it will be some time before anyone starts getting serious value for money.

I had actually forgotten all about it for a while, but since I have been house hunting, it has come into its own. If the glossy brochure says a Luas station or village is a “short stroll” away, you can find out exactly how many minutes it will actually take. Yes, the mathematician in me loves the precise calculations, although I fear that they have not taken obstacles such as traffic lights and crowds into account!

This service is really handy when you don’t drive. If you are going somewhere you are not familiar with e.g. to go to a doctor or interview, you can see in an instant exactly where you need to go. The journey planner will also tell you the nearest Dart or Luas station to your destination. If Dublin bus routes are ever integrated into it, it really will be worth raving about!

My life has been fairly topsy turvy of late with enough twists and turns to fill a chick lit novel. Don’t worry, I am not depriving my blog in order to save all the goss for my bestseller! I just have not had the time to share some of it and the inclination to share the rest, not that much of it is of any interest anyway. It’s just exciting to a tragic wannabe geek!

House hunting is still my main pursuit. Almost four months on the property trail now. It was both consoling and depressing to read recently that my recent anecdotal evidence regarding the Dublin property market is backed up by Sherry FitzGerald’s quarterly findings. Dublin house prices rose by 11% in the first 3 months of 2006, which means that prices have increased by over 30% since March 2005!

Not content with attempting to move house, I am also in the process of changing jobs. This is the first time that I have done the “find another job when you already have a job” thing, and I did not like living a double life one bit, so it’s a big relief that it’s all out in the open now. I have been serving 4 weeks notice which felt a bit strange to start off with, but at least it has given me some time to get used to the idea! So, next week will be my last week in my current job after over 2 years, which seems like forever when you’re 25! Then it’s straight into my new job which will be a bit of a change from my code bunker but I’m quite looking forward to a fresh challenge.

They say a change is as good as a rest, so why am I so exhausted? At least stitching always stays the same, and it is keeping me somewhat sane these days. I have used a snapshot of my latest cross stitch project to illustrate this post. Many hours in, it’s still very much a work in progress! Any ideas what it is? Maybe I will throw away my pattern and turn it in to something else just for a change!

So far, I have been working on my wishlist:

• Near town (to minimise the trauma of Dublin commuting)
• Not “in need of modernisation” (since I can’t even wire a plug)
• Near some nice sweet shops
• Near McDonalds

It’s not much to ask for really. So that’s the ideal, and my current situation is my bedroom in Blanch, so I hope I will be able to come up with a compromise!

I have also paid my first visit to MyHome.ie. I realise that the Internet has revolutionised the estate agent business and is a godsend to all property buyers, but I’m a bit let down by the undisputed champion of Irish property sites.

I know that everyone uses it and finds it extremely useful (even those who barely know how to check their e-mail). However, from my initial forays, it appears that you cannot even order your search results or do a free keyword search!? The fantastic e-mail alert service available to the special people who register deserves a special mention. I signed up to avail of this and set up a couple of searches. I have been receiving identical e-mails most nights ever since (usually when the new properties have already been on the site most of the previous day) containing the extremely useful information below:

Hello,
You have new listings from MyHome.ie®
Go to http://www.myhome.ie/members and log in to view your new properties.

Well that’s a great help! Maybe they are just afraid you would not be able to take the excitement of actually maybe seeing the addresses of the new houses directly in the e-mail.

Update May 2006: Lo and behold, myhome.ie now include details of the latest 4 properties to match your criteria in their e-mail alerts. Progress at last!

At least daft.ie is a lot more sensible. It’s nice to see a site focusing on the First Time Buyer too.