Car Parking Spaces for €20k a pop!

A

Angelina

Guest
Hi all
I would really welcome some advise please. I have just invested in a small one bed appartment - at a crazy price. The agent is selling car spaces for €20k each. That seems a very high price to me.
Q - Will I have difficulty renting the appartment if I don't also buy the car space. (It is within walking distance to town - beside lots of bus routes and near clontarf dart station.)
Q - should I buy one - will I get any return on it?
Q - How does the security work on appartment blocks?
Q - If someone parks in my space what happens??
There is an appartment block accross the road that is letting spaces because not all were sold.
Q - is it me or didn't car spaces come with appartments before???
Thanks
Angelina
 
Probably depends on the target market for your apartment, students may not be too interested in a parking space, but as it's a "small one bed" you're possibly targeting a young professional couple, who would be more likely to have a car. You can always let the parking space separately if the people who take the apartment don't want it, offer them two rates, one including the space, one excluding.

Owners of parking spaces will get one or two fobs which will open the gates, either at the press of a button or by holding them near a proximity sensor near the gate. You shouls also get a key code to operate the gate independantly of the fob.

The management company should engage the services of a clamping company to help stop illegal parking. They will put up signs saying clamping is in opperation with a number to call if someone parks in your space.

I think parking spaces were always sold seperately where there were fewer spaces than apartments. In the last number of years, planning regulations have ensured that is always the case.
Leo
 
Thanks Leo
I think I will hold off and rent one seperately if it is going against me - quoting two prices is a good idea.
Angelina
 
I would take one even at 20K. The additional on the mortgage would be approx 110 per month over 20 years (less if mortgage is over a longer period). Try and keep seperate from mortgage if possible. Talk to your solicitor.
Find out how much parking is in the area. If its free it won't be for much longer and will increase as time goes on. As leo says you could lease this space for a similar amount or even more as secure parking thereby gaining additional income. You will have to declare this income on your annual return.
 
asdfg said:
Try and keep seperate from mortgage if possible.
Click to expand...
Why? Do you mean having a shorter term on the parking space part of the mortgage or something else?
 
Hi

You should definitely get a parking space. You will limit the rental market available to your apt. I know that you can rent one accross the road, but you dont know how long this may be available to you. Also when you go to sell the apt , the parking space will easily cover itself.

I bought a one bed apt and the parking space was 10k. A year later the parking space is 15k.
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by asdfg
Try and keep seperate from mortgage if possible.


Why? Do you mean having a shorter term on the parking space part of the mortgage or something else?
Click to expand...

If you sell the apartment you may want to keep the parking space or visa versa in the future. I just thought it would be slightly easier to legally sort out now. It may cost a little in legal fees now but would be cheaper and easier to sort out now imho.
 
Thanks Clubman - I was reading other posts and don't want to double up on legal fees. Buying it pushes me up into the next stamp duty band so the cost is more like €23k now!
I've decided to bite the bullet on it and get it anyway. I don't want to limit my rental market.
Angelina
 
Have you crunched the numbers with and without the parking space outlay to make sure that the whole investment is viable and the most suitable for your circumstances? It just sounds like you are deciding to purchase the parking space very casually on the basis of some posts here. No offence intended by this - just trying to give you the benefit of some (hopefully) objective observations! :)
 
I've been cruching numbers all day - It will increase my mortgage by €90 per month.
I am not offended, I'm not casual about this at all and no offence back when I say that I have other sources of advise - I've been discussing this non stop with my accountant friends + I rang an agent that lets in the area who said that I really would be limiting my market if I don't have a space. I also rang the agent selling the space and he assured me on the security aspect.
I want to buy this and forget about it really - have it as a pension investment for the long term. I suspect that the parking will be more of a thorn in my side if I don't get one now.
Objective observations always welcome.
a
 
I've always thought parking spaces were good "investments" as they seem to have gone up quicker than appartment prices, though now at 20k, they're quite expensive. Other thinks to think about:
- any possibility you might want to live there in the future & would need parking?
- parking is often let/sub let, what's the going rate in the neighbourhood?
- check maybe daft.ie for differences in rental rates between appartments with/without parking, or even see if that type/location of property generally has parking included.
- check estate agents (for other complexes?) as to price differences when re-selling with or without parking.

I suppose there is also the hassle factor. Is this something else you're going to have to manage?
 
Buying a parking space as a standalone transaction could mean non residential rates of stamp duty
Click to expand...

Good point. Forgot about that. If bought seperately and property is close to the treshold could you avoid/pay at a lower rate of stamp duty on the property and pay non residential stamp duty on the parking space.

Sorry if this is rushed. I have to go
 
Car parking spaces near the city centre will be more and more in demand as time goes on. I bought a new apartment recently, and the selling agents pointed out that even those people that buy penthouses for 1.5 million, are only allowed one parking space in the complex per apartment. People like these will be willing to pay very good money to rent a second space in the same complex.

As regards security, in the complex I'm currently in, "security gates" means absolutely nothing of the sort. People can just walk in after a car, and nobody jumps out of their car to ask who you are. Basically, you have to treat apartment comlex parking just like on-street parking: always lock the car, leave nothing of value in the car, and NEVER leave the remote control for the gate in the car.

Poeple do park in the wrong spaces from time to time - you can get a metal bar fitted to the space that blocks the space (and works with a padlock) for a few hundred euro as far as I know.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top