We have had an offer accepted on a house, and not only does it have a futility room

[bran]

but also a pantry on a north-facing wall. [smug]

I'm completely confident that the second we move in there my indifference and ineptitude with housework and cooking will be just a memory and I will become a domestic goddess. My children will stop making a mess and breaking things and will be responsible and domesticated instead.

Don't tell me how delusional I am please, let me dream for a bit at least.

Can't believe you are moving back at last Bran! I'm sure I chatted to you years ago about it - so long ago that I can't remember what my MN name was back then!

Are Dublin prices still as scary as they used to be?

Yes, I have been obsessing about considering this move for quite a while. We did buy in Dublin and we have been quite fortunate with the location, it's not too far from my parents, close to a tram line and close to a church (DH doesn't drive and goes to church more than I would want to). The only thing it lacks is a primary school within walking distance, but it should only be a 15 min drive and hopefully there will be an opportunity to car-pool.

Decor - prices are still too high IMO for the size of population and the average wage, but they are seriously lower than when we were first considering moving. Where our new house is large detatched family houses have fallen in price by 63% from their highest point, large houses have fallen by about 50% throughout Dublin generaly. There is a huge pool of unsold and unsellable new-build flats and all over the place you can see building sites that have just been abandoned part-way through the build. I think house prices might fall a little further, but (again IMO) they will probably rise more slowly than inflation for a long while to come in order to settle at a more realistic level.

Bustle - a housekeeper would be good, but I think what I really need is an old-fashioned housewife. A 1950's model who bakes and cleans and scrubs the children clean before hubby comes home from work, but who doesn't like sex (I can take care of that part of a wife's role). I think Dublin might be a bit too conservative for that concept though.

Your new house sounds fab too, good luck with your move? I will probably be back on MN looking for decluttering tips before my move.

Sounds lovely good luck with the move (we are decluttering in preparation but I have no useful advice!)

Agree things will take ages in our tiny flat I could cook dinner/wash clothes tidy up etc etc and bath kids now all these things need doing separately

Sounds like a good location Bran. My sister would love to get a house in Dublin - she also says they have become more affordable - but she would have to sell her apartment first which won't be easy.

What's the job market like?

Is your sister in Dublin DecorHate? I think she's right, it won't be easy to sell an apartment there. It'll be hard to get a mortgage too for the next few years.

I'm not very clued up on the job market there but I think it's probably pants. Obviously the construction sector is at a standstill. Public servants have had pay cuts, as have a lot of private sector employees. I think most people are having to cut back on non-essential spending so a lot of the service and retail industry is suffering.

The whole thing reminds me of the recession of the 1970's except that fortunately this time inflation and interest rates are low. DH has already had people who work in his specialty in Ireland contacting him to see if there are any jobs going in the UK. I think there will be an increase in those with valuable skills commuting to the UK while leaving their families in Ireland, or else moving their families to wherever the work comes their way.

What are you doing about jobs then or will your dh commute for a while?

Yes sister is in Dublin and has twins so could really do with more space!

It's sad that emigration is on the cards again for so many and I think the youngsters leaving school or university will find it harder than my generation - my friends children seem very spoiled materially.

It is a bit sad that there will be mass emigration again, but it seems normal to me. I left straight after university over 20 years ago so I was towards the end of the last big wave of emigration. I went to my 20 year school reunion and only a very small proportion of the people there had stayed in Ireland for their entire working life to date.

It's obviously not good for Ireland to have their best and brightest (not that I was in that category) leaving but I do think it's quite good for individuals to be mobile and live in different cultures. If those people move back to Ireland they bring a wealth of knowledge and experience back with them.

I sympathise with your sister, I have a 5 yr old and a 2 yr old in a flat and sometimes they are literally bouncing off the walls. I'm looking forward to having a garden so I can shove them outside to run off steam. I think some of our current neighbours will breath a sigh of relief when we go too, especially the ones directly underneath us.

I'm not planning to work over there. I stopped work about 2 years ago when DH had a six month contract in Amsterdam and DD is quite clingy so I won't even consider going back until she is at school. I'm not sure what's going to happen with DH, he does contract work so he tends to travel a bit anyway. Hopefully he'll manage to get work in Ireland, but I think initially he'll be back to London a fair bit. We're keeping the flat here until we see how much he needs to use it. It does really unsettle the DC when he's not here. They're fine with him not being home for bedtime a few nights a week if they get to see him in the mornings, but when he's not here at all for a working week they get upset.

I was part of that last wave too Bran - my sisters who are a bit younger managed to stay in Ireland.

Most of my university classmates emigrated but a lot moved back to Ireland during the boom time. I do wonder how they are faring now... I was never convinced that the good times would last there, seemed very reminiscent of the UK in the late 80s in terms of the mad spending and we know how that ended!

When do you think you will move?

We're moving at the end of August.

I was saying for years that house prices, and the boom in general, were unsustainable. There were plenty of economists saying the same thing, but I guess people weren't feeling the risk even if they did logically understant that it was too good to be true. It did get very flash and 80's for a while. I remember one time I went to visit and just about every car on the road was brand new. I was really shocked when I visited after the crash and there were people begging at most sets of traffic lights. It was like two different countries not the same one 4 months apart.