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Hot water bottles, tea, and strawberry pancakes were among the tools potential home buyers used to help them weather the nightly chill in Carlow over the weekend.
More than 30 people lined up in bitter weather to improve their chances of landing a home among 18 new properties on the Castle Oaks estate in the city, and the homes will hit the market on Saturday morning.
Auctioneer June Doran says the “unprecedented” interest comes from how work has been affected by the coronavirus; Working from home has “freed up” people to consider moving beyond Dublin, he says.
“What I see are people who have left Carlow and now see an opportunity to return. These are people with good money from Dublin who are now returning to Carlow while they can still keep that salary. That is going to have a very positive effect for the city ”.
Aoife Kelly from Carlow. Photography: Dara Mac Dónaill
Banking work
In Saturday’s queue, Aoife Kelly says she works at a bank headquarters in Dublin and the closure brought her own realizations.
“I felt like I was wasting money in Dublin and not building for the future,” he begins.
“I have lived in Dublin for the last 9 years. I have been living at home with my parents since March and finally stopped paying my rent in July, so the money I can save by not living in Dublin has meant that I have been able to double my savings. Eating out is cheaper, going for drinks is cheaper, taxis are cheaper, they are small things, but it all adds up ”, he says.
The pandemic means that it is now divided between working from home in Carlow and at the office in Dublin.
“That is where Covid has made a difference. For me, I always thought I had to stay in Dublin because that’s where the work is. But now I’m buying this house on my own, and if I wanted to do the same in Dublin I would have had to buy an apartment, but you want to be able to have a house and a garden and all that. Now you have the opportunity to continue having the career you want in Dublin, but perhaps later you will settle further away at home. “
However, she admits that these job opportunities may not have been open to her had she stayed at Carlow earlier in her life.
“It is more difficult to find work in rural towns like this. I think it’s a great draw that you can still have the job in Dublin and its money, but then the remote work and then get a house where you won’t be tied to a massive mortgage. “
Aoife Doyle and her father Jack Doyle queue overnight outside June Doran Properties, in the town of Carlow, looking for new homes on the Castleoaks estate. Photography: Dara Mac Dónaill
‘Help to buy scheme’
Aoife Doyle, a Carlow native, cites “quality of homes, location of construction, price of construction, and the Help to Buy scheme” as her reasons for choosing the property.
“I worked in Dublin, Belfast, London, Wicklow, before taking a position at HSE and coming back to Carlow,” he says.
Dublin is “out of the price range,” he adds. “Carlow is more affordable and it’s so switchable. These houses are attached to the highway.
“Like ten years ago, I never would have said I wanted to live in Carlow, but I’m happy to be back.” Her father Jack and his wife Marian held their places in line for about four hours in the middle of the night, so their daughter could get a break in bed. Then he came back early in the morning with tea to warm up.
Damian O’Toole, Dublin and Kate O Brien. Photography: Dara Mac Dónaill
Dancing on the floors
The couple Kate O’Brien and Damien O’Toole were among the first to start a vigil, arriving shortly after 4 p.m. Friday.
“We had heard rumors that there would be queues, but it was still crazy to imagine you would have this in Carlow,” says Kate.
They had been looking for a three-bed house in Dublin, where they both work, but decided to focus their attention on Carlow, Kate’s hometown.
“What he did for us was he put up a house in front of us in Dublin and it was two bedrooms, one bathroom, and it had 270 [thousand euro]. He should have invested another hundred thousand in it, it just isn’t feasible. As a three bed here it is 239. We wish we could try to enjoy our lives after getting a mortgage, we don’t want to be tied down to pay that for the rest of our lives while we are still young.
“I think the other discovery for us was that Damien and I are working in City West. We can get to City West in 40 minutes from Carlow and still be close to at least one of our families. “
He laughs at having “scared” Doran with inquiries about the houses in recent months. The houses are built to a high standard, O’Toole says, with more “solid” soundproofing than their counterparts in the capital.
“The way they are built in Dublin is nothing like this,” he adds.
Their test method included dancing together upstairs in Doran’s showhouse. “That’s what he sold me. You couldn’t hear anything downstairs. “
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