To Dublin's Fair City

Learn more about Ireland in International Living Postcards--Sunday Edition

Sunday, July 8, 2007
Paris, France

When Lief and I first moved to Ireland nine years ago, we debated whether we should invest in a house…or rent.

"This market is at an all-time high," we pointed out to each other. "Can't possibly be a good idea to buy into it right now."

Nevertheless, we needed a place to live. Rental inventory was thin in Waterford at the time. After weeks of looking, we weren't finding anything that appealed. Then, one afternoon, an estate agent drove us outside the city, to Kilmeaden, to see a country house on six acres. From every window of the 200-year-old stone structure, the view was green fields, low hedges, white sheep, and ambling cows. Picture perfect. We cast aside our concerns over current values…and bought, fully believing that we were paying more than we should and that the market probably wouldn't appreciate further. In fact, we thought, this Celtic Tiger property bubble is due to pop.

Six years later we sold that house for three times what we'd paid for it. And it's worth more, still, today.

Goes to show what we know.

Lief and I are reminding ourselves of this experience as we prepare to relocate in Ireland again…this time to Dublin. Three years ago, we began dividing our time between Paris and Waterford, in large part to accommodate our daughter Kaitlin's desire to attend school in France. Kaitlin graduated from high school here in Paris last month. She left early this morning for a two-week holiday in the South of France with friends. From the sunny shores of southern France, she's headed to Annapolis, Maryland, where she'll spend the next four years attending St. John's College.

Kaitlin out on her own, our now family of three is considering its options. We've thought seriously about Panama…we've wondered if we shouldn't stay put in the City of Light…but, this week, we've decided: We're Dublin-bound.

Why Dublin? A lot of people are going to ask us that question over the coming weeks and months. As I've explained, Kaitlin has finished school, so we can't use her education as our excuse for spending time in Paris any longer. The sunny skies of Panama beckon…but our business is in Ireland. Time to get back to our knitting, we've agreed.

So why not Waterford? It's funny how you can back into the big decisions of your life…how they can be made for you by seemingly trivial practicalities. In this case, we can't stomach the idea of being in Waterford full-time, frankly, because that city is one of the most inconveniently located on the planet. We've spent nine years traveling to and from it. We've come and gone every way possible. And no way is good. No combination of plane, train, rental car, or taxi makes the trip anything short of really long and inconvenient.

Here's the truth: I need to be in Ireland more regularly, to be more closely involved with the day-to-day running of our business. But Lief has refused to return to Waterford. Being the frequent flyer of our family, he has a point.

So we've compromised on Dublin.

Seriously lacking infrastructure isn't the only reason not to move to Ireland. The Emerald Isle is today one of the most expensive countries in the world. Don't get Lief started on what it's going to cost us to relocate to the capital. Dublin is more costly in many ways than Paris.

Then there's the weather. Gray, damp, chilly…bleak.

On the other hand, this is a beautiful country, full of friendly folks. I can imagine worse things than spending a couple of years getting to know its capital as a full-time resident.

Will we buy? No way. This time I'm certain. This market is boiling over. We've spent the past couple of weekends scouting. Stepping on to the bottom rung of Dublin's property ladder will cost you a half-million euro…and that'd be to buy a cardboard-cut-out house you wouldn't want to live in. If you've got your heart set on something special, be ready to ante up a couple of million euro minimum. And you'd have to take temporary leave of your senses to put that kind of money into this market today.

For, mark my words: The Irish property market is due for a correction. As Lief likes to point out, I've been making that prediction for nine years. And, as I like to point out in turn, eventually, I'll be proven correct.

Regardless, Lief isn't going to invest 7 million euro here…which is the price tag on the house that got my attention last weekend. We'll be renting.

We've settled on Dun Laoghaire, a small coastal town about eight kilometers outside central Dublin where terraced Georgian townhouses overlook the sea and schoolchildren walk home for lunch each midday.

Dun Laoghaire is also home to the Lycée Francais d'Irlande, where we've enrolled Jack, so he can continue in the French system and keep his French…hedging ourselves in case we decide eventually to return to Paris. Meantime, as far as Irish-born Jack is concerned, he's going home, to be with his Irish brethren.

Kathleen Peddicord
Publisher, International Living

P.S. If not the Irish property market, where in Europe might you think about buying today for appreciation and return? Lief is bullish on Brasov, Romania, and Krakow, Poland. He and I both, as you know, are sold on Croatia, where we're in the early stages of renovating an old farmhouse outside Motovun, Istria. Lief is working now with our Euro-editors and staff on the program for our first-ever Live & Prosper in Europe Conference, scheduled for this September in Barcelona. He and they will reveal full details of their current top Euro-picks then and there. If Europe's on your radar screen, be in the room. Details here.

P.P.S. Paris isn't cheap…and Dublin is silly expensive…but not all Europe is costly. Lief and I look forward to the day when we'll be able to spend time in Croatia. Now there's an affordable place to live. As can be Portugal, Spain…even France, outside Paris. Yes, the dollar is taking a beating right now. Still, affordable Europe isn't a dream. Our editors can tell you where to find it. Read their free weekly recommendations and discoveries in The European. Sign up here.