HOUSE HUNTER:The search for a house back in Dublin goes on – now he's being hunted by people with houses to sell
I LOVE opera. And yes, I get slagged for wearing tweed boxers. I don’t really mind, unlike pretty much everyone else I know, who wince at parties when I replace Justin Timberlake with the strains of Wagner’s Flying Dutchman, which is indeed a strain for many people. As we’re out looking for somewhere to live, we’ve noticed several houses we thought had long departed.Now they’re sailing back into view like any good ghost ship: some sales are falling through, and these houses are back from the dead!
It’s maybe not surprising but it’s happening. In the month since we got bruised bidding on a house in Monkstown, quite a few houses are back on the market, when we thought they were gone forever.
One house, near work but slightly off our normal hunting ground, bears this out very well. It’s the solid three-bed semi we’ve been looking to get our hands on since we started looking in February. It has a big garden, big rooms, schools are nearby and some of my family are in the vicinity. What’s more, the asking price dropped significantly each time it has returned to the market, down from six, to five, to where we can make a serious bid. And indeed we’re serious about doing just that.
Meanwhile, the search stepped up a gear last week when I was on Derek Mooney’s show on Radio 1. He asked the listeners of south Dublin to pony up a house for yours truly. Much to my shock, this particular tactic reaped big rewards: lots and lots of houses and phone numbers to work through over the weekend. Despite our best efforts though, we’re finding it hard to get through all of them, and so we’ve had to pull several all-nighters: I’m on the 50th pot of espresso of the weekend, and can’t feel my legs.
One particular gent even turned up at my day job in Monkstown. I was at home in Carlow, and a colleague rang me: “This gorgeous man turned up looking for you. He looked like the grandfather from the Waltons!”
It turned out a friend of this distinguished looking man was preparing to sell a house near the sea in Killiney, in an estate that’s worth a good snoop. The houses in this particular estate are about twenty-ish years old and bar one or two, are on sale for under €500,000. In actual Killiney, not estate agent Killiney! Things are looking up indeed.
I saw a couple of these houses on the internet, but paid little notice of them, because I couldn’t visualise their location. We may now be doing a scout, once we’ve replaced the well-worn tyres on the car.
Regarding our ghost ship house, we’re thinking about whether it’ll fly. And if we get it, that’s only step one on our 12-step recovery from the commuter belt. People bid on houses, but have to pay for them as well.
Take this story as a useful analogy. In Dublin city centre recently, we were accosted by a chugger. They work to get regular contributions for charities. They think that combining excessive friendliness and aggressive body language, will get you to hand over your bank details to them, a complete stranger.
They’re also harder to dispose of than the undead in a zombie movie. Times being tough and their persistence being relentless, colour was rushing to the cheeks of one friend who eventually couldn’t take it anymore: “There’s a recession – f*** off!”
Banks have no money. They go cap in hand to the Government because internationally, they have the credit rating of a chap sitting at an ATM with a paper cup. They’re given the same line my friend gave to the charity ninjas. The reality is that banks are hard to trust, despite the fact you have to.
As we continue our search, as we make offers, it occurred to me that it’ll be a whole other battle of nerves when we go to the bank looking for the mortgage the bank approved five months ago.
There’s hope, however, as prices in south Dublin’s recession cocoon finally get reacquainted with reality, and people realise that the old days have truly set sail.
