Tips from
Dermot Bannon
on what to look
for when buying
your new home.
1. Know your location, take a trip to your local authority office
and check the development control plan to know what the
future plans for the area are. There is no point in buying that
dream house only to be overshadowed in a couple of years by
an office development!
2. Walk the area and know your amenities, shops restaurants,
schools etc. your life circumstances may change the location
and house will need to be flexible to your needs.
3. Try to buy a house with a good aspect, we love our private
back gardens so a sunny south facing rear garden is would be
the number one choice, for living and extending opportunities,
an evening garden facing west would be the next on the wish list.
4. Try to buy a house that has room to expand in the future,
preferably to the side if not to the rear, so ensure the garden is
large enough to handle this.
5. Try to buy a house where you can convert the attic, this
means looking for a house with a traditional cut roof, not a
prefabricated one, ensure that you will be able to put in a ceiling
at 2.4m or 8’ for at least half of the floor space.
6. Check if the building is a protected structure, if it is and you
want to change it around a lot this may not be the house for
you, a protected structure is a labour of love, know what you are
getting into.
7. With fuel and energy costs only going in one direction, up!,
check the BER rating, if it is low ensure you hold back enough
of your budget to upgrade insulation, windows and fit a new
boiler, check out seai.ie for grants available.
8. Make a wish or a brief for what you are looking for, try then
to allocate rooms or spaces in the house to them, follow the
light morning rooms to the east, day rooms to the south and
evening rooms to the west, try to see the house as a blank
canvas as opposed to the traditional layout.
9. In older properties look for a house for as many original
features like fire places and timber work still intact, even with a
very minimalist contemporary renovation the older features work
really well giving great character and a trace of history
10. Employ a professional to look at the structure to ensure
there are no major defects, most things can be fixed but at what
costs? Check the house complies with the building regulations
and if the house has asbestos or the likes of dry rot.