The search begins!

The Search Begins!

Well, this might be a very short series of posts or if I get greenlit turn into an interesting one! I'm on a journey to try and own my own house in Ireland before I turn 80 and start wheeling a shopping trolley around the streets!

I have a deposit and had hope to buy last year but the Dublin housing market woke up and chased back to it's crazy days as quickly as it could before I could hop onboard. The numbers of viewings were crazy so I backed off until the Central Bank mortgage lending restrictions kicked in. Even now with prices around me at €275K I think this is a crazy sum and the quality of the second hand stock I've rented in for 20 years depressing. You would be left with nothing to fix the windows, insulation etc!

So, after viewing the Grand Design's programme on Container Houses I saw a ray of light. Here was someone with family land building a lovely place for £100K! Surely something smaller should be affordable for me? Possibly so but I contacted a few Architects the response wasn't encouraging. You can buy a single 40 Ft. Container all ready to go and have it shipped to Ireland and plug it in but joining two or more together and the problems start. You have to shore up the containers when you remove the common side areas which provide structural stability and strength. There goes that plan out the window.

My sister rang me about an Irish Architect who built his own home for €25K. The whole process I found exciting as the local knowledge that once existed to do this has been lost as specialized trades people took over. There are courses you can take on using Cob and Straw Bale houses etc so that's always possible but while looking into this I came across the term "Passive House". I'm not going to elaborate here on what that is but it sounded exactly like what I was after.

Now all I needed was to get some land. Not as easy as I thought! Land in Dublin is mostly held by developers and people with larger pockets than mine. Building outside Dublin but within commuter range seemed possible but the local needs issue is you need to either work in an area or be from the area (for 12 years or so!). I can understand why, they don't want one off builds turning up everywhere but developers aren't building the type of house I want to buy, some do build energy efficient houses but the rest build and move on, meet the regs & that's all.

In the UK there is a scheme to release land in a controlled way for self builders although even that land in the South East is too expensive for most, at least there are plots going. So, unless I marry a local I'm stuck! A derelict property is treated as a new build but a poor property which is habitable could be developed by tearing it down to build what you want. Guess what they cost?!! €50K-€120 and you've to pay to tear it down. A passive house requires a design from the foundations up so you can't reuse what's there and expect the same efficiency.

So, I could get a new site somewhere way out west but not within sight of the coast and if you end up in the middle of nowhere, while idyllic, I'm only ever going to see it at the weekend, and have to keep renting in Dublin for work. Sounds like the UK a bit? Who keeps an eye on the house when I'm gone? What about health / car issues and their impact? I've lived in Dublin all my life, my first preference would be to stay there close to friends and family.

So, in the process of investigating this area I found the following books really helpful. If you're looking to build and have a site (family site ideally!) I suggest you check them out and start thinking Eco and Efficient!

Housebuilder's Bible - Mark Brinkley (11th Edition currently)

The Sustainable Building Guide - Tim Pullen

I got two books on Passive Houses but I think you'd get as much online as I did out of them.

I went to the Ideal Home Exhibition in the RDS last weekend and spoke to a few of the people on the stands. I got good advice from the Architect you can book and sit down with.

Next up I'm travelling to the Self Build show in Cork on 7th November 2015 and visiting two energy efficient Houses the following weekend as part of Near Zero Open Door annual event.

Hope the above is of use and if you're trying to get on the property ladder good luck!