Retiring to Ireland or buying a second home here?

It’s not unusual for overseas buyers to get in touch with me when they’re thinking of buying a holiday home in Ireland or taking early retirement in Ireland.

Very often buyers come with a list of properties they’re interested in or with questions about the market eg. is this a good time to buy? Some buyers have a checklist eg. sea views,  period features etc.

Fair enough. This is all completely reasonable.

And of course, we need to get clear on our needs, preferences and and price points before we can complete our search and purchase.

However I’ve come to the view that when you focus exclusively on the property search, you stay on the starting side of the search journey.  What I mean by this is that when we buy a property we are completing a journey that starts with the search and ends with us owning and living in the newly acquired property.  If we focus exclusively on the search process, the checklist, the market etc we can lose sight of journey’s end.  By journey’s end, I mean the point at which you are waking up in your new home in Ireland and you are feeling completely delighted that you’ve bought it. 

So my suggestion is that you imagine for a moment that we have fast forwarded very successfully through the whole search, viewing, negotiation and legal process . Imagine that  you have now moved into your new home and are feeling very happy and glad that you made the decision. 

My experience is that when we allow ourselves this imaginative leap, it can give us some new and often more personal information that can help us with our buying decisions. 

For example, a client of mine, who lived in the USA, engaged me to find an apartment, in great condition, with seaviews on the south side of Dublin. She also had a price range that was comfortable for her. I duly did find the apartment and my client flew over to view it with me. She loved the apartment and started to imagine herself living there. It was only when she did this imaginative excercise that she realised that she was picturing herself and her dog, walking happily along the sea front. The only problem was, that she hadn’t mentioned anything about a dog to me and in fact she didn’t actually have a dog or any pets. It was just when she really started to picture herself in the apartment that she realised she had a longing for a dog. As it happened, this apartment complex didn’t allow dogs so it was no longer of interest to my client. The key point is that if I had invited her to do this imaginative excercise in advance of our search, it might have produced this extra bit of information which in turn could have shaped and narrowed our search.

So in addition to setting up your search on DAFT.ie and Myhome.ie, doing your viewings and getting your finances organised, may I suggest you imagine yourself in your new home and ask yourself   “What is it about this property that makes me so glad I bought it ?  “ eg. have you a lovely village close by that you like walking to and having a coffee in?   Do you love your beautifully planted garden?  Could you sit all day and look at the sea views from your sitting room?  Do you have a golf course close by that you love playing in?  Do you now have room to have a garage for your vintage cars? Livery close by for your horse?  A beach that you can swim from close by?  A new tribe of friends who share your passion for history / hill walking / rally driving / singing / music / painting ?  What is it about life in this house that makes you so glad you bought it? 

If it’s a second home for you, how often do you come here?  Do you love having space for your friends to visit?  Are you delighted not to have to lift a finger to do any work here…. or are you loving getting stuck into a big renovation?  Is it just the right distance from the airport?  Is it nice to have people say “Welcome back” when you come?  What is it about this house that makes you, when you’re far away, click and book flights to come to Ireland.

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