Relocating from the North to a job in Dublin, (Drogheda Perhaps?)

C

chemicrazy

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Would love some help with choosing the best place to live. I will be relocating from the north to a job in dublin, and seeing what it costs to rent in the dublin area is making me weep. Will be earning about 70K, and am just wondering about the suitability of commuting from places like drogheda. It would suit me, as it will be close-ish to home. need a 1 bed place, preferably a 2 bed, but dont think I'll be able to afford that really. Am curious to know what drogheda is like to live in, really. Have been on daft, and anywhere closer to dublin seems to be prohibitively expensive. Can take the train to work, but will need to take my car into dublin every so often.
I'd be greatful for any tips...

thanks
 
Re: relocating from the north

Depends where your workplace is chemi and how far it is from train station.Northside of city is always cheaper rent.

If you want to buy, there are new developments all over the city and plenty of 1 bed apts for sale too.

We need a bit more information before can help, so can give general area that would suit you.
 
Re: relocating from the north

Thanks culchie,

buying doesnt suit me because I still have financial obligations up north, well it doesnt suit me for the next year or so. will be working within 10 min walk of connolly station, so the idea of taking the train to work seems quite civilised. There will be times where I will need to take the car in for short periods before I have to hit the road (theres a fair bit of travelling involved in the job).
In a perfect world, I'd love a 2 bed place (so I can have my kids stay comfortably over at times), but I dont think thats going to be an option. I really dont want to pay more than 950 euros including travel, which is what made me think drogheda isnt so bad: apparently you can get a monthly train ticket to/from connolly for about 165 euro (this took more work to find out than you can believe: the Irish rail site is a joke). Even when I look at commuter towns around dublin on daft, it seems like it will take me over budget.
Would consider living west of dublin (not south if I can avoid it), but living north of it appeals to me more so I can get back easier.
Have checked out places on the web in drogheda town centre, but if there was good car parking at the station that wouldnt be such a big deal.
Any advice would be greatly, greatly appreciated
many thanks
chemi
 
Re: relocating from the north

The car parking situation on Drogheda is a bit of a nightmare at the moment. I think it's full by about 7am and I don't think there's any room to expand it.

If your employer is part of the tax saver scheme that will take about 45% off the cost of your train ticket.

950 including travel is a tight budget for any town that's in the Dublin commuter belt, which Drogheda is at this stage.
 
Re: relocating from the north

Hi chemi

Ok you'll need to stick northside or drogheda then. well the tax savings would help a bit if possible. I'm afraid a 2 bed will be tight on that budget alright.Mind you daft is expensive I think, I would recommend Evening papers for def idea of rent rates. They are cheaper in West Dublin but chemi the commute can be a nightmare driving or by bus.Both not great options in my experience. I have a friend that lives in a house split up in rooms and she might have contact details that may help as area would suit you, not far from connolly.Her rent is affordable but you would need more space.

Hoping someone comes forward with rents for drogheda as that might be best option.I'm afraid Dublin is expensive and it is best to avoid southside for commuting alone for you, unless you are lucky enough to get a city centre pad that isn't too pricey, but compromises on quality of apt would be needed.
 
Re: relocating from the north

If you look on the daft website you will be able to get an idea of the price of one or two bedroom places in drogheda to rent. It seems your price range of about 950 a month including travel is a bit low for two bedroom places but you would probably get a 1 bedroom - most one bedroom places are in apartment blocks so I'm not too sure how suitable they would be for kids staying over.

The parking in Drogheda train station is a nightmare - it can be full by 7am or 7.15 most mornings and it can take a while to get out of it in the evening (especially if a couple of trains from dublin arrive in at the same time!)

The traffic in evenings can be a nightmare in Drogheda as well - it could take a while to drive too depending on where you are renting. The places within walking distance to the station are obviously more expensive though!

Also bear in mind, if you are getting the train home from Connolly station in the evenings, most of the trains can be fairly full by the time they get to Connolly so it can be a bit of a squeeze and you could end up standing for most of the journey home!
 
I rent a huge two-bed two-bath apartment in Drogheda town centre, fifteen minutes walk from the train for €800 a month for the whole apartment. Secure parking on site is around €100 a month or €20 if the car is gone during the day. The whole block is rented out by the management company and they have an on-site receptionist and other staff to fix things and clean things and so on. I don't know about renting other places since I've been in the one place for over three years but daft should give an indication. I would have thought there'd be a lot of empty apartments since so many people were building them over the past while. Probably a lot easier and cheaper to get an apartment than a house.

Trains are very frequent and the journey isn't too bad although getting on at Connolly in the evening means virtually no chance of a seat as most of the trains start from Pearse so are full by the time they get to Connolly.

Alternatives are the Bus Eireann bus which can be ridiculously slow or the Matthews private bus which drops off on the Gardiner Street end of Parnell Street and goes every half-hour at peak times. It's cheap enough too - they have a website you can check prices on. Downside is getting caught in traffic at Whitehall and Drumcondra.

I used to work in Dublin 2 and get the train and with flexitime it was ok, but when I was in college on the northside, I went on the Matthews for comfort - got the bus at 7.30 and was in college around 8.50, including a ten minute walk after drop-off.

Drogheda's improved a lot as a town but it's got a long way to go - lot of urban sprawl with precious few amenities. It suits me well enough but I wouldn't be mad about it. I think Drogheda's major selling-points are its transport links and proximity to Dublin.
 
If I were to rent in Drogheda I think I'd definately try to get an apartment here [broken link removed] Have friends living there and it's so handy for the train/bus to Dublin, plus it's relatively cheap in comparison to Dublin rent (northside rent that is). Also there's none of the hassle of dealing with landlords as there's staff onsite to deal with all problems. (Actually this place sounds strikingly like the place a previous poster mentioned).
 
Something else I should have mentioned is that my sister commuted between Dub/Drog for quite a while. It took her less time to get from Drumcondra to Drog on the Matthews bus (about 45mins) than it would take me to get from city centre to where I live on the northside.
 
Thanks so much to everyone for the advice. Jeez, Im starting to wonder why the hell I took the job! Nothing is ever as simple as you'd hope. I reckon my employer would do the tax relief thing (though I better ask) for the train, but I never even thought about pearse station folk takin all the seats. I suppose the worst thing I've heard is hearing how Drogheda station car park fills up so early, cause I would have been willing to live in the middle o nowhere if car parking was relatively simple.
I think the 1 bed place is the only option: my kids are old enough that apts are not a problem, and hell they can rough it when they come (sofa beds, sleepin bags, etc).
Still fancy the general idea of drogheda, but would be more than happy if someone can give a suggestion of a place generally to the north of dublin, that has handy access to public transport to/from the place, that I could get a 1 bed place (not in a slum) for 1000 euro inc travel (I know, Im not asking for much.....if ya dont ask, ya dont get my mum always told me). Didnt fancy sharing a place considering I'd like to have the flexibility to have my kids over, which wouldnt suit some, but I'm starting to have nightmares that it might be the only way.

Thanks again for all your help everyone!
chemi
 
Have you looked at Balbriggan, Lusk, Rush, Swords? A good website is www.daft.ie where you can put in your criteria and your max. rent to see what is available.
 
Hi chemi

just test the budget on the website for North Dublin and see what ye come up with.Might be lucky.
 
A better call might be Ashtown, there are several new developments there, it's 4 miles from the city centre and the arrow train runs to connolly, additionally, there are plenty of buses. It's about 5 mins from the M50 too, so it's handy for going home. Rents according to Daft are from 1100 - 1400 for 1 beds and 2 beds respectively, but I have it on good authority that you should be able to negotiate a 100 or so off those rather hopeful requests.
Imo there's no point in working in Dublin and living in Drogheda, you'd be better off staying up north, all depends on what you want, but life experience wise, there's no comparison.
 
Balbriggan might suit - you can rent a 2 bed apartment for €800 - €900. Don't rely on daft alone - ring a few estate agents in Balbriggan - u should get what you're looking for. Very frequent train service to Connolly
 
Have just spotted this thread.

Have you come up with anything/anywhere yet ?

I live in Belfast with our 2 kids while my husband works in Dublin-went through all the fact finding your doing now, 4 years ago. Look at 'myhome2let.ie', 'let.ie' ,as well as 'daft.ie'.

Husband has just moved to an apt in the beautiful seaside town of Malahide which you probably know has a dart station. Was able to negotiate a reduction on advertised rental price and a much shorter lease.
 
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