That starter home is now permanent for so many
looking back, the phrase "getting your foot on the first rung of the property ladder" should have been blue-pencilled from the start.
Up and down the country, in cities, towns and villages, there are young people, carried along on the wave of what we now recognise as a type of property hysteria, who are now living in places they hate, all because they wanted to get their foot on the first rung of the ladder.
If we can learn one thing from the debacle of the property crash, it is that when buying that first home you simply must buy where you are prepared to stay, should things go "belly-up".
We all bought into it. The developers, builders, mortgage providers, selling agents and property writers. And most of all the young people it was aimed at -- the hundreds who couldn't wait to put down a deposit on a property, no matter how small or unsuitable. No matter how difficult the repayments would be.
The "starter" home idea, originating in the US, was tempting. It almost justified small properties in awkward or unpopular places. After all, the units were meant to be a launching pad for our young people, on their way to becoming serious property owners.
This should never have been solely about buying a property that would increase in value -- an investment. This was -- and still is -- about a home. The place to live and bring up children. It doesn't matter hugely whether it is big or small, simple or sophisticated. What does matter is that it should be in the right area -- right for you.
Buying a "starter" home simply to have a property, confidently expecting to sell it easily and profitably and move on in a short few years to bigger and better, was an expectation. But buying for what is an unknown future brings with it a terrible risk. You could -- and it turned out so many young people did -- get left with the property, unable to sell it. This must never happen again.
One young couple I know bought an apartment -- in their native Dublin but far away from family and friends. It was considered to be a "good buy." They knew nothing about the area but the apartment was lovely. It had been well decorated -- the show unit was a dream. They were both going out to work every day so their neighbours and their environment didn't matter much to them.
But then she became pregnant. She was quite sick in the early months and was at home a lot. This was when she realised that she was living in an area that she just couldn't stand. Things didn't improve when the baby arrived. They weren't near enough to family for help with the baby. They tried to sell, but couldn't and are now stuck, waiting for the market to pick up when they can move to where they should have gone in the first place. An area they knew. Near friends and family.
People buying a home for the first time should be very careful and if they are in doubt they should rent in the neighbourhood until they are certain it is the right choice.
The actual property is the least important thing. The old saying was that you should own the smallest home in the nicest neighbourhood you can afford! As long as the house is well built, everything else about it can be fixed, over time. But the neighbourhood will remain the same.
If you are in the business of buying a home, drive around on week days and weekends, during the daytime and evening. See who your neighbours will be. Are they young or elderly? Are there children around and are they reasonably well behaved? What is a Friday or Saturday night like? Is there noisy boozing by gangs of young people?
If you have grown up in a particular neighbourhood you may be tempted to buy there -- but remember that the people now living there are likely to be much older than you, and there will be fewer young children for yours to play with.
And of all the necessities, if you have children, or plan to have, being near schools, both primary and secondary, comes top of the list. When you are starting out it is almost impossible to visualise having a 12- year-old offspring in need of schooling, but it is something that catches up on you very fast.
Waiting anxiously for the children to arrive home from school if they have to get two buses, is no joke. If they are a five or 10-minute cycle, or a 10-minute walk from their school, life becomes so much easier. No school runs! And it makes after-school activities much easier to manage.
Public transport matters, as do good local shops. Accessibility, convenience, security and safety -- all these should be taken into consideration when choosing one's first home. But above all, you have to like where it is. Because you may have to stay there!
- VALERIE MCGRATH
Irish Independent
