Dreaming...

[sumi]

I'm impatient, I'll admit that. Things haven't been easy here, since we came back last year May, we've been through some very challenging times and it's not letting up. I'm just praying something will happen soon, that I can go back. Right now, just knowing we have a definite buyer and a time frame will help. I won't mind spending another 3-4 months here, as long as know after that things will come right again.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Being in limbo is never easy...

 

[sumi]

Look at what I found: http://www.daft.ie/sales/raheela-frenchpark-roscommon/470132/ It's a bit over our budget, but it comes with plenty land and outbuildings. And it's been for sale for years, so they might be willing to negotiate a bit?

 

[baymule]

Cute cottage, but I read that as .10 acres as in fractions of an acre. Am I missing something or is that the full ten acres? That cottage does seem to be bigger than the other one but it doesn't list square footage. They sure have come down off their high horse on price haven't they? You just might be able to parley a better price on it.

 

[sumi]

C.10 acres is short for circa 10 acres, or roughly 10 acres. This one has 3 bedrooms and looks much bigger than the Galway one. Between the two I'm actually leaning towards this one, because this one has roughly the same amount of usable land, the extra bedroom and those outbuildings are perfect for what I'm planning. I've looked at the satellite pic and there is a barn or something out in the pasture, which is exactly where I want one. The property market bombed in Ireland over the last few years and previously valuable properties are now worth a fraction of their worth 5-6 years ago. Many of the properties that got listed pre-disaster, like this one, dropped to 1/4 of their original asking price already. I've seen one go from over e200,000 to e30,000. It's depressing.

I look at listings on Daft.ie almost daily and today I found about 20 new listings in the up to 50,000 range and those were just the ones that meet my search criteria.... Previously unaffordable counties like Cork, Galway, Wexford and Kilkenny are showing up more and more now.

 

[Britesea]

A little scary. Maybe jobs are hard to come by. I don't know if one or both of you are planning on working for extra income, but if you are, make sure that you won't lose the house if you lose the income.

 

[baymule]

Housing prices bombed here too. Our brilliant politicians decided a few years ago that EVERYBODY deserved to buy a house. Nice thought, but not everybody is responsible enough to own a house. So our elected liars gave home loans to anybody with a pulse and when the economy slowed down, guess who bailed on their loans?

In the meantime, housing had boomed, prices had shot to the moon and beyond, and many people owed more money on their homes that what they were worth. They couldn't even sell them to get rid of them, so most people elected to walk away. Oh, and they trapped the unsuspecting people with variable interest rate loans too. Real dirty dealings on those poor folks. A lot of people really were good people who got caught up in the excitement of owning their own home and got caught in the down swing crunch. And a lot of people weren't qualified to start with, so when their variable interest rates went up, they couldn't afford their house notes.

It was a real mess. For awhile it was a shark feeding frenzy and they couldn't write mortgage loans fast enough. Then the economy tanked and housing hit the dumps. Loans were foreclosed all over the country. Things seem to have leveled off, interest rates are low and so are houses.

Here in Texas, jobs have held steady and we didn't see so much housing crash as other parts of the country. The place DH and I just bought was a foreclosure, we bought it for around $45,000 less than it sold for originally. Comparable places are selling for much more than we paid for ours.

Sumi, grab your piece of the pie while prices are down. History repeats itself and while prices may continue to slide, in time they will go back up. This is your opportunity knocking!

 

[goatgurl]

read baymules last paragraph again, it holds much truth. any news on your present house yet?

 

[sumi]

@Britesea Jobs are very hard to come by over there, any kind of job. Thankfully I work online, so I've got that, but I do plan to start some money generating activities on the farm, which is part of the reason I'm aiming for more land.

@baymule Same thing happened there. They were a poor country and then became part of the EU, who took away their fisheries and forbid them to grow sugarcane, which were two of their biggest earners... They threw money at the people like you won't believe. Our neighbour told us how someone arrived on his farm with a brand new BMW, complete with his name on the number plate, telling him he can buy that car, no problem. He didn't, but many people did and more. Then the world economy bombed and the EU needed Ireland to start paying back their debts and many people couldn't. Now you see a lot of things like this:

http://www.daft.ie/sales/clonoose-ballyheelan-cavan/659933/
http://www.daft.ie/sales/monellan-crossroads-killygordon-donegal/942244/

We looked into building costs over there and I promise you, it cost more than those asking prices to get these two houses to where they are.

People are leaving Ireland in droves, up to 250 people a day. They're cutting their losses and leaving the sinking ship. Though the Irish government is working hard to save their country, they are repaying their debts and I feel over time they will get back on their feet again.

@goatgurl That is what I'm going to do. I'm going to buy my farm, see how things go and invest in more property, as and when my finances allow. I can now get a small house or a flat for as little as e12 000. That could be a nice nest egg for us, or a possible future home for my son when he leaves home? A good investment for when things come right?

I do actually have small news on our present house. There is a guy in town here who works as foreman for one of the local big farmers. He is renting a house in town, but that house sold, so he came here to see if we'd rent him and his family our main house. We agreed, warned him that our place is also for sale, etc, etc. He left to go get his wife to come look at their new home and when he came back he started asking DH about our price etc. Looked very surprised at our asking price and started talking about his sons wanting to possibly buy a house with him and that he could get a home loan and he'll talk to his boss about helping him get a loan... He said one of his sons is coming for a visit next week and he'll talk to him about buying our place. It's still just talk, but you never know? Something may just come of this

 

[Denim Deb]