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Ireland: Retiree Gayle Stacey is back in the news:
I just do not understand the Irish Govt's stance on this. I do not advocate an 'open door' policy but as anyone (wealthy or not) in the EU can arrive in Ireland and avail themselves of welfare etc I cannot understand why Ireland sets such high levels of income requirements on US citizens. US citizens are probably the only people who do not expect 'hand outs'. I mean who, in heaven's name, has an income of 50,000 Euros? Only the rich. From my experience of living in Ireland 2015/2016 one can live on a lot less than 50,000 Euros (and that is a couple) especially if one has private health insurance. All I can say is Good Luck to you all!
Ireland: Cost of Living for Retirees:
I totally agree; totally crazy! I cannot understand the Irish attitude to US citizens; particularly taking into account the historical connections. Who, in heaven's name, has retirement income between 50,000 and 100,000 Euros? If I was an US citizen I would be less than happy. Ireland, like the rest of the EU, are letting in thousand of 'illegals' which cost the country (and therefore its citizens) a fortune but, in effect, discriminate US citizens who have an inherent culture of not expecting handouts. I am totally befuddled!
Ireland: Bringing a Dog into Ireland:
You should try doing it from Australia! A long haul and very expensive. Our cat had to stay in Dubai (for a rest break of half a day I think it was) before on travelling. Getting him out of Australia into Ireland was easy; getting him back was not so easy as Australia is very strict re rabies etc but he (and we) survived the ordeal. The people along the way do look after them.
Ireland: Buying a house:
We went to Ireland February 2015 intending to retire and purchase a house. We had cash. We departed Ireland June 2016 to return to Australia. Irish Real Estate is dysfunctional. We put in five offers, had four building inspections all to no avail. Read my posts on this forum. The main problem if one gets over building inspections, lack of building permits, false land boundaries, etc is the fact that it appears to take a long time to close a deal. When you pay a deposit and go 'sale agreed' this does not guarantee purchase (though if purchase does fall over your deposit is returned). One can go months before one actually signs a contract and at the very last minute the Vendor can change his/her/their mind and either sell to someone else at a higher price or try and get more money out of you. Each and every property we sold was owned by an overseas Vendor who had purchased during the Celtic Tiger, paid too much, prices had fallen and they refused to maintain their properties and the damp in Ireland plays havoc with buildings if left vacant/neglected. Here in Australia is a building report comes in with faults one can negotiate and reduce the asking price. We found in Ireland the attitude was 'take it or leave it'. As an aside to this, a couple of the properties we put good offers in on but after building inspection tried to negotiate but failed, were sold at far less than we offered. Footnote: Difference between Ireland and Australia - we arrived back 12 June, signed a contract to purchase 27 June, moved in 12 August. Opening a bank account can be tricky. Amazing really, you can walk in to a car dealer, pay cash for a car with no problem at all. Trying to open a bank account is tricky from the point that one of the things you need is a bill from an utility provider and unless you have been renting you don't get one. The banks do not take into account a mobile phone contract. We got over that hurdle by taking a few documents with us from Australia (cannot remember exactly how we pulled it off). The banks also do no pay interest on your money. Once we realised buying a property was not going to be a quick process, we ended up sending our house fund back to Australia to earn 3% rather than 0.01%. until we purchased (which of course did not happen). Also, we brought a letter from the insurance company stating we had a no claims history in excess of five years which saved us a fair amount of money on car insurance. We do have dual British/Australian citizenship which helped as we could use both as and when needed. To go back to the initial point on buying a house. I researched for a couple of years and thought it would be easy to purchase a property, how wrong I was. In hindsight we should have rented for a year (many problems with that, in general expensive and lack of decent properties to rent depending on where you intend to live) but as we thought we would have found a property within 3 months (how wrong we were!) and ended up going from pillar to post between holiday home lets (expensive) until for the last six months we found a place for six months at winter rates. Not sure if the above is helpful or not. The country is beautiful and we still miss a lot of aspect so follow your dream but take off the rose tinted glasses, expect it to be difficult and you will probably breeze through. All the very best. If you can cope with the intense rain (the weather was the second deciding factor to return Downunder) you will find a beautiful country. Give it a year and if it doesn't pan out for your at least you will have spent time in a beautiful country with great people. Good Luck!
Ireland: Somebody cheer me up!:
Hello, We brought our cat with us from Australia. Yes, it was very difficult. Sorry to say, one other thing we found was the catteries are not good. I am not saying across the board but we found in South West Cork (and one was in Clonakilty) standards not high. We used to put George with Kittys Cattery (Lisa Tivey) www.kittyscattery.ie in Kealkill outside of Bantry. Rentals are very difficult (and expensive) in general. We were in Ireland for 16 months, based mainly on Sheepshead Peninsula and literally went from one holiday rental to the other. We did manage to find a 6-monthly holiday let through winter but had to vacate before the season began. Agent was Elaine Spillane of peninsula.ie. Very helpful but area may be remote for your purposes. Arriving in September is a good time as the season has finished and you will probably find something from September to March at hopefully winter rates. We arrived in February and managed to find a 3-month holiday rental to start us off. Hillcrest Farm (Agnes and Joe) www.ahakista.com. Hillcrest says no pets but they had people before we came with a couple of cats so that opened the door for us. We stayed at their rental bungalow which they rent out longer term which may or may not suit. Ahakista is about half way down the Sheepshead Peninsula. A stunningly beautiful area but may be a little remote for you. Bantry 20mins. Skibbereen 40mins. Clonakilty 60mins. Happy for you to mention me (Irene Hay) if you contact either Elaine (Peninsula.ie) or Agnes (Hillcrest Farm). Once on the ground you may get lucky. We returned to Australia June 2016. Good Luck!
Ireland: Advice on moving to Ireland:
Hi if you check out my contributions on this forum you will get my slant on our experience in Ireland but we do not have children. We were hoping to retire. We are dual British/Australian citizens. We spent 16 months in Ireland but are now back in Australia. The bottom line for us was the weather it was too aggressive (rain, rain, rain) and the dysfunctional real estate system finally defeated us. We were mainly based in South West Cork on The Sheeps Head Peninsula, the scenery was stunning and Kenmare too in Co. Kerry is a great place. Renting accommodation is difficult; be sure you check out the BER rating as utilities are expensive. We found the medical system good (Bantry Medical Centre), very caring though we are in good health for our ages. My understanding is a Medical Card is means tested. We miss a lot of aspects of Ireland and would like to be closer to Europe for holidays etc. In fact I wanted to retire in Italy but that did not work out. We returned to Australia in June 2016 and have bought a house but finding settling back Downunder quite difficult. Boring and too far away. Good Luck in your quest. Everyone's experience is different.
Ireland: Moving in Ireland:
Finding decent rental accommodation is not easy and is expensive.
Ireland: Moving to Ireland:
and then there is the RAIN.
Ireland: jobs:
I say again for the umpteenth time I am astounded at the difficulties US citizens have in living in Ireland. I would have thought with the history of Ireland and America, that US citizens would have been welcomed with open arms. It is a total mystery to me.
Ireland: Craigs List Lettings:
donedeal.ie is great for selling cars. We sold our's before returning Downunder. We thought it would be difficult to find a buyer but it was gone in a blink of an eye and we had to hire a vehicle for a month! My friend who lives in North Carolina but is originally from Ireland, has just arranged a rental in Dublin on sabbaticalhomes.com.
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