Property prices in Ireland

We live on the southeastern coast. House prices seem very high to us, but rents are about half what they'd be in New England, where we came from. I do not recommend buying too quickly as you need to know what town or area really suits you long term.

A lot of the houses are so standardized it's hard to see any benefit from buying. We're very happy renters, have about the same or better housing that we would if we bought. It's nice not to be tied down. Selling our US house a few months ago was a relief. Again, we rented that house out for the first year, to hedge our bets. At some point we realized we were ready to cut that tie.

We're older, at a point in our lives where one good stroke can really ruin your day. The housing market in this area is not so robust as to ensure we'd be able to sell quickly. Concrete walls make renovation difficult. Most places have stairs or are further out in the country than one might want should a medical crisis arise. We have a warm, dry semi-detached, far better than anything we could afford in the US. We've been lucky with landlords--both have been excellent, but we are excellent tenants. The hundreds of years of British occupation has left its mark on landlord-tenant relations, unfortunately.

Be aware a lot of the housing stock that was slapped up during the boom is pretty shoddy. We live in such an estate. The workmanship in the house doesn't bother us as tenants but is almost laughable in places. We're constantly finding cracks in the walls and ceilings, corners that aren't even close to 90 degrees, vapor barrier sheeting left untrimmed and dangling around windows and doors. We are SO glad we don't own the place. One scam that happened during the boom had to do with the composition of building materials. Those houses are now crumbling.

This sort of thing happened in the US during the building boom of the early 1980's. It's common in boom times. People start to build spec houses. There aren't enough experienced workers to hire. A feeding frenzy develops and people will buy anything, just "to get into the market," not realizing they're in a bubble. The Dublin market is heating up now, so beware.

I highly recommend renting, at least in the non-Dublin areas.

I have a dream to retire to Ireland, perhaps NW area, or even an Aran island ? The process seems daunting though. As an older, single female, I just want to live out my years in beauty & peace, preferably near water, with an abundance of animal companions. Any caretaking positions available ? For animals, homes, or even a person if the match was acceptable. These posts on the site seem to be years old, anything from  2020 or thereabouts ?  Will be looking to escape the US under ( God forbid ) president Harris if that nightmare comes to pass..........

Hi and welcome to the Forum.

I'd really recommend that you come over and look for yourself.  I'd recommend you start on the Irish Government website that they've created especially to answer your questions; this link will take you straight there.

Hope this helps.

Cynic
Expat Team

Thanks very much. Will read up on the info.

You may not be as happy as you hope, auddie. Ireland tends to be quite liberal socially and politically. We have universal health care, free higher education, free travel passes and GP care for the elderly, free GP care for children six and under, a minimum wage higher than that in the US, liberal paid maternity leave, subsidised child care, monthly child allowances, etc. Abortion and same sex marriage are legal and our last Taoiseach was gay.

In short, the very socialist nightmare you're trying to flee. In fact, most of Europe has these things as a matter of course because we believe that is the function of government.

The Irish are puzzled and repelled by Trump. They generally consider him a threat and a danger on the world stage. I'd look elsewhere if I were you.