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Boom times...frothy markets
As we’ve been describing in these pages for the past two years, things certainly have changed. For starters, Ireland’s ongoing economic frenzy means young people no longer emigrate to find work. In fact, the Irish government is now begging former exiles to return home to take up surplus jobs. With neighboring Britain opting to stay out of the single-currency club, this is the only English-speaking country in the Eurozone and the No. 1 target for foreign multinationals needing a European base. 
Boom times always equate with frothy housing markets, and again, as we’ve been reporting, most Irish homes have rocketed in value. Reading about ludicrously high real-estate prices, you may feel there’s no such thing as a good buy in real estate in the Emerald Isle. Not necessarily. 
Most of what you hear about prices relates to the Dublin area and counties along the eastern coast. In those places the streets are indeed paved with emeralds and buyers are paying at least Ir£200,000 for modest starter homes in suburbia. In Dublin’s more desirable residential districts, a family house won’t leave much change from Ir£350,000. As for Georgian town houses, well, they regularly break the million-pound barrier. 

Rural buys?
Elsewhere, the picture can be rather different. I recently wrote a book called Live Well in Ireland, specifically for International Living and its sister publishing house, John Muir Publishing. Part of my assignment was to hunt down areas where Americans with asset bases between $75,000 and $100,000 could buy their own Irish homes. Plus a retiree had to be able to live comfortably on an annual income of around $37,000. Could it be done? Habitable homes for Ir£65,000 or less? Obviously, Dublin was a no-go area and I knew most retirees would want something better than a “cottage to suit a handyman,” a crumbling renovation project that would require a lifetime of backbreaking work to fix up.

I’m pleased to report that yes, it can indeed still be done. Although the cost of rural homes has increased substantially, they still lag way behind Dublin’s crazy prices. It’s possible to find affordable properties here but with one caveat; avoid the guidebook locations: Galway and Connemara, quaint old harbor towns like Kinsale in County Cork, and the incomparable Ring of Kerry. Wealthy Dubliners have more money than  they know what to do with, and their spare cash has gone to fund second homes in Ireland’s most scenic counties.

Roscommon for less than Ir£50,000
Even so, on my travels around the country, I found countless properties that nicely fit my requirements. In my own county, Roscommon, many ready-to-move-into cottages and two-bedroom bungalows still surface for Ir£35,000 to Ir£50,000. The same price levels apply to properties in southern County Sligo, eastern County Mayo, and also Leitrim, a forested county of small towns and wetlands where vacationers come to mess about in boats on the silvery River Shannon. 

Farther south, another good place to hunt for affordable properties is County Tipperary, which offers as its main claims to fame an old World War 1 marching song (It’s a Long Way to Tipperary) and the Rock of Cashel, rising from the plains like a kind of Celtic Acropolis. Tipperary is Ireland’s largest inland county apart from the heritage town of Cashel itself. Its charms are understated by most tourist guides, and it still has the air of a well-guarded secret. On my own trip to Tipp, I came across numerous habitable cottages for  Ir£25,000 to Ir£35,000 and 2-bedroom bungalows beginning at Ir£39,000.

Price correction on the horizon?
As we’ve predicted in past issues, we do think the Irish property market is due to correct itself. So, why buy now?  Well, we don’t recommend you buy in Dublin...or anywhere, for that matter, where prices start in the quarter-million-pound range. These (inflated) prices, we believe, will fall. We’re talking about a different market, the rural home market where you can still buy for less than Ir£40,000. And any home with a Ir£40,000 price tag certainly isn’t going to plummet to less than the price of a tractor! Besides, not everybody looks at property purely for its investment potential, our home is now worth a lot more than we paid originally, but so what? I came here to live the good life, not dabble in property speculation. Ireland is where we wanted to make a home; we don’t intend to sell, so any potential swings in the market won’t make us lose sleep. 

Rent for Ir£400 a month
Of course, sensible souls rent before making any commitment to buy. That’s what we did, renting a furnished country house near Sligo town for what now seems a laughable amount - Ir£130 per month. What will it cost now? Well, many similar properties within three or four miles of provincial Irish towns rent for Ir£400 per month. Dublin is pricier - there you’ll pay at least Ir£550 for a one-bedroom, furnished apartment in a good location

How to find a “bargain”
The Irish Auctioneers & Valuers Institute’s Web site (http://www.iavi.ie/) gives a reasonable indication of countrywide properties and prices, though some members are better at keeping their listings up-to-date than others. They will give details of agents in your chosen area if you prefer to communicate via mail or telephone. Contact the IAVI, 38 Merrion Square, Dublin 2; tel. (353) (0)1-661-1794, E-mail: info@iavi.ie.
Current buys include the following:
• A two-bedroom country cottage overlooking Corbally Lough in County Roscommon. Ir£35,000. Contact Joseph Brady, Main Street, Carrick-on-Shannon, County Leitrim; tel. (353)78-20595
• A three-room cottage (Ir£25,000) and a two-bedroom bungalow (Ir£39,500) near Tubbercurry, County Sligo. Contact McCarrick & Sons, Teeling Street, Sligo; tel. (353)71-44300 or 71-85050.
• A two-story rural house with three bedrooms (Ir£42,000) and a three-bedroom country bungalow (Ir£60,000) in northern Tipperary. Contact John Lee, Main Street, Newport, County Tipperary; tel. (353)61-378121.
• A detached, two-story house with three bedrooms near the Mayo market town of Ballyhaunis. Ir£55,000. Contact Higgins & O’Brien, Main Street, Ballyhaunis, County Mayo; tel. (353)907-30088.

The current rental market
In rural Ireland, auctioneers are the main sources of rental properties, though you can now also find home-rental agencies in larger provincial towns like Wexford and Sligo. Dublin has a number of such agencies; one of the largest is Hooke & MacDonald, 52 Merrion Square, Dublin 2; tel. (353)1-661-0100. Furnished properties include a one-bedroom apartment in the Dublin suburb of Lucan (Ir£550 per month); a one-bedroom city-center apartment (Ir£600 per month), and a quaint two-bedroom cottage in rural County Dublin (Ir£650 per month).

If you seek a rural rental within easy reach of the capital, another agency to try is Ganly Walters (Lettings), 37 Lower Baggot St., Dublin 2; tel. (353)1-662-3255. It lists a furnished Georgian townhouse in the village of Slane, County Meath, for Ir£500 per month.
County Kerry is always a favorite location. Depending on size, most furnished homes around Tralee rent for between Ir£400 and Ir£450 per month. Contact James North, 33 Denny St., Tralee, County Kerry; tel. (353)66-7122699.