'It's a buyers' market - and I was perfectly prepared to walk away'

First-time buyer Nicola Woods didn't rush into buying the apartment she will move into next month. She started researching the Dublin property market about a year ago from London, regularly checking websites like MyHome.ie and Daft.

The 26-year-old from Churchtown, who went to work in financial services in London after graduating in economics from Trinity College in 2004, always intended to move home. Her househunt started in earnest in July, when she moved back to work as a business analyst with Ulster Bank.

She put her analytical skills to good use to make her choice of property: she knew what she wanted, the price she could pay and was well aware that even by last summer, prices were falling in a buyers' market. If she didn't get what she wanted, she says: "I was prepared to walk away."

She decided that she wanted a large two-bedroom two-bathroom apartment, because she planned to rent a room to avail of the rent-a-room tax break scheme. (You can get up to €850 a month tax-free rent since the last Budget.) She wanted a second-hand apartment rather than a new one "because prices are more established, and there's greater uncertainty around new property prices".

She decided on somewhere in the Grand Canal Street area of Dublin 2 because it's in walking distance of her George's Quay office - but also she'd identified the city centre as an area where rents were staying strong. She reckons she can get €700 to €750 for her room.

And although she was buying a property as a place to live, she was also keeping an eye on its resale value, and decided from her research that two-bed apartments sell better than one-beds.

By the time her hunt began in earnest, she knew the sizes and prices of "every property in the area". She made bids conditional on stamp duty on second-hand properties being abolished for first-time buyers, a promise made in the election. That also let her move up a price bracket.

She didn't get any special treatment from her bank employer, but went to one of its mortgage advisers as a regular customer and decided to get a tracker mortgage. With a good sum of money saved from her work in London (benefiting of course from the sterling exchange rate) and with some help from her parents ("like everybody else", she laughs) she bid for a 75sq m (810sq ft) two-bed in Pembroke Square, a 10-year-old Cosgrave-built apartment block on Grand Canal Street near Barrow Street in Dublin 2.

She bargained down from the asking price of €635,000 and closed the deal at €595,000. She bargained with the vendors to buy all the furniture at a discounted rate, and plans to replace it bit by bit.

The purchase will leave her with little disposable income and she knows she'll have to cut back on nights out and travel, but she was happy with the property and closed the deal before Christmas.

Does this very savvy first-time buyer have any advice for other first-timers?

Get a very good solicitor, she says - it's essential to deal with any complications.

And get the TRS1 tax form to get your mortgage interest relief and make sure to send it to the Revenue before your first mortgage repayment.