Growing tired of renting a small boxy apartment in the centre of Dublin, Celine Dawson was keen to get onto the property ladder. Excited at the prospect of owning her first home, she wanted something larger into which she could inject her own style. ‘I didn’t want to be too far out of town and I wanted something that was easily commutable into the city. I have always liked new houses but realised buying an affordable one would mean having to move further out of the city.’
After spending several months looking at properties she had almost given up hope of finding the ideal place, they were either too expensive or too small. ‘But I saw an advertisement in the paper for a new estate on the outskirts of the city so I decided to take a look. To my surprise I found a reasonably-sized terrace which seemed to tick all the right boxes, it had a well laid out interior with a good-sized high-quality kitchen and bathrooms, a manageable garden, and it had easy access to the city, but I knew that buying it would stretch me financially’, explains Celine.