It really depends on what you are looking for. The house prices for your average 3 bed semi in Bray are outrageous for a FTB. We are renting there for a few years now and have been house hunting for years and have just taken the plunge and bought in Arklow, basically we need a family home and can't stand renting anymore. We wanted to buy in Bray and earn €90k per annum jointly and still couldn't afford a house in Bray, we do have 2 small kids though so we have alot of outgoings like any parent.
Nicest areas are Herbert Road and Vevay Road and Old Connaught is nice too. Killarney Road, Boghall Road and Southern Cross are okay (some estates there are dodgy though pm for more details).
School are very good, our little lad in very happy in St.Patricks. Abundance of creches and we are lucky with an excellent one. Shopping is fine but you're very close to Dundrum and Cornelscourt so that's handy and of course you have the dart and M50 on your doorstep.
Greystones is allright, not mad about the place and it's mental to get out of in the mornings. The Dart service is still a bit crap, one an hour I think but at peak times it might be better. Charlesland is huge and the houses look crammed together, we looked there when they first went up and I just couldn't warm to it. The better estates like Bellvue and Burnaby is very big money!!. Good luck with your search, if I can be of any help give me a shout.