Stone Walls and Sheep Pastures

~ Meg

I bought a house in Ireland.

Three weeks is plenty of time. When I left for Galway on March 23, that’s what I thought, anyway. I was not, however, prepared for the crazy housing market.

My job, while my husband worked at the Galway branch of his company, was to find a place to live for when we return in June permanently. Initially, we intended to rent for a year or so, have a chance to adjust to our new country and then decide where to buy a house. It turns out that renting in Galway is very expensive. As a result, anything decent, that is also not outrageously priced, is snapped up quickly. So every time I called about a house or apartment to rent, it was already gone. Only places at the extremes –either very high end or absolutely wretched– were available. By the end of the first week of searching, I was beginning to get nervous.

Week two, with the advice of my husband’s coworkers, we warmed up to the idea of buying a house. We have, after all, been visiting the area for over 14 years and explored it thoroughly. Home buying does not work quite the same way as it does in the states, though. An estate agent (realtor) doesn’t take you around to see properties listed by other agents. Rather, you contact an agent who is listing a house you’re interested in and he or she will show you the place. I must have spoken to 10 or more agents while searching.

In the midst of all this, I visit our new bank in Ireland and speak to one of the customer service representatives. Of all the experiences I’ve had, the one with our bank is the best. Everyone was kind and super helpful. Unfortunately, they also informed me that without a record of Irish credit, we would not qualify for a mortgage. It would take 6 to 9 months of weekly salary deposits for us to even get a credit card. And it doesn’t matter at all how much money you have in the bank. This changes everything. Now I have to narrow my search to homes we can pay for with the proceeds of the sale of our Bucks County home. Stress level rising.

Finally, at the end of week two, we found a really great apartment for sale in a town about 15 minutes away. Orenmore is a coastal village, full of shops, pubs, restaurants, etc. and would have been walking distance to the beach. Perfect, right? Yeah, a lot of other people thought so too. We got into a bidding war over the place. Our final offer would have been accepted but the seller wanted to close sooner than our June date. Lost out again.

Now I’m really pushing the panic button. I am imagining us living in an Air BnB, bleeding money. I’m thinking how we might have to settle for a really crappy rental or a super long commute from an outlying town. I’m wondering if I’ll be able to walk places like I hoped to. We needed to expand our search.

We looked at a place in Tuam, a 40 minute drive from Galway. Priced right, the pictures online showed a modern, spacious, nicely fitted and well decorated town home. We visit it and discover it is in a ‘ghost estate’ –one of the developments the builders abandoned during the housing crash in 2008/2009. It backs up to a sports stadium. No joke, I could see the entire playing field from the upstairs windows. It faces half built homes surrounded by chain link fence. The neighborhood is grim. I need a drink.

We drive back to our hotel in worried silence. We spend the rest of the evening feverishly searching. And … we find it. The perfect place — only 20 minutes from Galway in a village called Headford. We call and it is still available. We go see it immediately and breath a sigh of relief. It’s also a townhome but in a quiet peaceful estate. It is an end unit in a row of three on a cul de sac. My front view is a sheep pasture surrounded by old stone walls. I can walk to the village, the supermarket and best of all, the pub! It feels like home.

We put down our deposit, hired a solicitor to handle the contracts, found an engineer to do our inspections. Just in the nick of time.

I bought a house in Ireland.

Published by Meg

Easily amused, never bored and constantly distracted. My creative pursuits include writing, drawing, painting and photography.

60 thoughts on “Stone Walls and Sheep Pastures”

    1. Thanks, Dee! Yes, the house sold within a week of being on the market. Zoom! That’s also a relief. I wanted to be able to walk places so that we could try to manage with just one car at first. Car insurance is expensive when you are a foreign driver. Once we get Irish drivers’ licenses it will be more reasonable. 😃

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      1. Awesome! Can’t wait to see it. It’s a shame the one near the coast fell through, but I’m glad y’all found something you like. I know in some countries that ex-pats aren’t even allowed to buy property. Can’t imagine having to rent long-term. Ugh.

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      2. Yeah the whole rental scene was awful. Honestly, the coastal apartment was pretty small for the money. We have much more house and we are still only 30 minutes from the shore!

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  9. Whew! Talk about just in the nick of time!. That find came at the 11th hour. So glad you found it.
    On the funny side, the place in Tuam, the ghost estate… is perfect for a writer. (lol)
    Enjoy your healthy short walk in Headford..to the Pub.
    Thanks for sharing Meg.

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    1. Hahaha! Yep, that’s a load off my mind. But you’re right about the ghost estate – I probably could’ve mined that for a whole lot of writing! Lol! Thanks, Darnell!

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      2. I am really excited, too. Being over there for three weeks, not being a tourist really made me feel like I live there. And despite the stress, it was awesome!

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  13. Great story, but it does sound quite like the experiences shared by most in the same boat – there should be a big red sign before getting into this “Warning – Reality Ahead” 😁

    I can’t imagine why an estate agent would take you round other agent’s houses? That’s like going to Tesco’s and them taking you to Asda, Sainsbury’s and Waitrose to buy your shopping. 🤪

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    1. That’s how it works here. You hire one agent to show you all the houses that fit your criteria. They will drive you around to look at all of them and the listing agent doesn’t even have to be there. But the sellers agent and the listing agent will split the commission which I understand is a lot higher here. 5-6% as opposed to 1% in Ireland. They also handle all the legal stuff though so you don’t need a solicitor on top of it all. I had no idea… 😜

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    1. Thanks, Rita! It’s a big move but we’re very excited. I’m sure I’ll have lots to talk about. I am looking forward to exploring my new country!

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