Athlone

J

joc66

Guest
hi there, im planning on buying a home, looking at one in Athlone - anyone any advice about the area.

What is the market like down there? competitive?
Schools?
General Amenities?
Crime?
Facilities - nearest hospital, GPs, etc
Commutable distance from Dublin? viable?
Ability to resell?
 
Hi joc66

Athlone has a good website www.athlone.ie with all the information you need. Crime is low, well served by schools, has an IT that is seeking university status. Has a good train service to Dublin first train at 5:15 am then 6:35am etc. Alot of housing development, plenty of rental property. Three hospitals nearby Ballinasloe,Mullingar,Tullamore.
 
Hi Joc66,

I moved to Athlone earlier this year from Dublin, and am loving it so far!!

The property market in Athlone seems to be booming at the moment, there are new housing developments starting all the time. The averge three bed house goes for under 200K. House prices, as the rest of the country has been steadily increasing over the last number of years, with the new shopping centre being development, I think Athlone will be very attractive to house buyers.

The Schools are excellent, Aloysius College came fourth on the best schools in Ireland list on the Irish Independent recently(I know the criteria for this list is debatable, but I know someone going there and the teachers and sports are excellent.
Athlone also has a national and secondary Gaelscoile.
Athlone IT has also expanded with the new Nursing school completed some time ago.

There is a good industry down here, with a strong IT sector with Ericssons in Athlone, GMAC is commutable to in Mullingar, as well as other smaller IT companies(MAPICS, Alienware to name a couple).
There is also a strong Pharmaceutical presence with ELAN and another pharmaceutical company to open shortly. Abbotts Diagnostics is commutable to in Longford....
This is just a short list of companies in Athlone.

There is a hospital in Athlone, but it mainly for the elderly, the nearest hospital is in Tullamore and Mullingar(Midland Regional Hospitals) There is an Ambulance Depot in Athlone to get you to either of these places quickly!! GPs are the same as anywhere else I would have lived.

West Dublin is easily commutable to, especially with the new bypass of Kinnegad! It takes about 1 hour and half to get to Lucan/Liffey Valley. After this you're going to hit the usual Lucan traffic into the M50 Roundabout and city centre. There is also a train service that leaves Athlone at 6 and gets to Dublin before 9...(seems long now that I type it!!)

For information on the new shopping centre visit:

www.athlonetowncentre.com

Hope this helps!!
 
  1. the housing market is ok your best option is to go for houses in monksland roscommon side of athlone there are alot of nice houses being built there but are over 200,000 euro.
  2. the 5 secondary schools in the area are very good most are in the top 10 or 20. Aloysius is better for repeats more than anything else. Mairst, bower and summerhill are better all round schools and ACC is a good technical school but the pricipal is a bit of a so and so.
  3. Crime is low but there is a underlying drug problem, worsened by the closure of the drug and alcohol anonyous centre because of nagging parents.
  4. Athlone also has a hospital but uses ballinasloe for serious operations there are alot of good GP's and dentists in the area.
  5. Athlone has alot of football, gaelic teams a good rugby club(hosted ireland u-21's games) and alot of gyms and a good swimming pool.
  6. It only takes less than 1 and a half to get to dublin and hour to galway.
  7. You can resell your house with no problem, there are alot of new younger buyers in the area eg housing in my area was sold for 175,000 then resold in less than a week for over 250,000 even though it was timber framed.
 
  1. You can resell your house with no problem, there are alot of new younger buyers in the area eg housing in my area was sold for 175,000 then resold in less than a week for over 250,000 even though it was timber framed.
What area are you on about here?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top