On the Move: after almost a year we’ve finally taken the plunge

We did something different this weekend. No scrutinising the listings on myhome.ie; no fitting in swimming lessons and grocery shopping around viewings; no worrying about rising house prices and the growing demand for houses in Dublin (of which more later). We moved house. Yes, you read that correctly. Our house hunt has finally come to an end.

It took us almost a year, but we finally went ahead and bought. Having spent the better part of 10 months viewing about 50 houses, the decision to bid on this one was relatively straightforward. Although I’m not sure if it was a case of it being the “perfect” house – or the perfect time. We had come to the end of the road, and, having witnessed price hikes along the way, when bidding started on the house I was determined to see it through to the end.

So did we get what we were looking for? Almost. We got the area we wanted; a decent-sized house with potential for the future; a private back garden and good access to public transport.

We didn’t get a downstairs toilet – which can be rectified – and a south-facing garden – which can’t. I’m coming around to the idea of a northfacing garden: you get a lot more sun throughout the day than I had anticipated, and getting to enjoy the evening sun is a treat.

I can’t say the process hasn’t been difficult, and frustrating, and disappointing, but moving into your new home in a week when talk of mortgage arrears and respossessions dominates the headlines puts it all in perspective. It also makes you realise you might be a couple of missed repayments away from such a scenario yourself, so all those pricey renovations will be put on hold for the moment.

While the kids might be feeling a bit emotional about the move – the four-year-old says he is going to miss the kitchen table from our old house the most “because that’s where we eat” (you can see the priorities in this family) – it is nonetheless an exciting time. Or it’s going to be once we unpack and get over the lingering trauma from a visit to Ikea on a Saturday.

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For anyone out there considering making a move, I would say get out there and put the legwork in – it's really the only way of ascertaining property values in your desired area. Save, save and save some more because either the bank will want the money or you'll need it to deal with all the costs that arise.

Keep your head if you feel the bidding is getting ridiculous and don’t get overwhelmed by asking prices. Despite all the attention given to rising prices, I’m not convinced that it’s as strong a market as it appears.

Yes, there will still be strong demand for particular types of houses – most likely family three/four-bed houses close to good schools – and these houses will probably continue to attract multiple bidders and sell for above the asking prices. But I’m not sure that demand is across the board – even in Dublin.

I viewed one four-bed house in April that had come on the market at €495,000. A few weeks later the agent told me a bid was on the house at about €450,000. Four months later and either the bidder – or the vendor – failed to go ahead with the deal because it’s back on the market – albeit at the slightly higher price of €515,000.

And there are still a lot of problems to be worked out with the banks. Take the example of someone who went sale agreed on a property last January but who has only just moved in because the vendor was in negative equity and had to get the bank’s permission to sell.

In addition, there are plenty of properties that came on the market around the time we looked at the house we ended up buying in early July which are still on the market.

So if you’re looking at asking prices and getting scared, I wouldn’t back away. With more supply coming on the market – rightly or wrongly – as a result of the banks starting to work through mortgages in difficulty (Permanent TSB, for example, expects to push forward 2,000 “assisted voluntary sales”), it is possible price rises will not only moderate, but will fall off somewhat.