A Review of My Housing Situation

Ok, this is long overdue but it's necessary for the next generations of UCF students who will be studying in Dublin. So here we go...

As you might know by now, rent in Dublin is exorbitantly high. It's a bustling city. Almost 2 million people live in the Greater Dublin area, accounting for nearly 40% of Ireland's total population. That's right, FORTY PERCENT of the Ireland's entire population lives in or around the Dublin area so it's no wonder rent prices are ridiculous.

I don't know about you guys but I have never tried to rent in a country/continent that I've never been to. I looked around on www.daft.ie for a reasonably priced flat but it's so complicated. There were many landlords looking for specific tenants--those of a particular race/ethnicity, older than a certain age, staying for a specific amount of time, etc.

It got frustrating, to put it simply. I searched and searched to no avail and I didn't want to go to Dublin without knowing I had a place to stay. The DIT Bolton Chaplain Alan had told me that there were instances in which students were forced to go back home because they just couldn't find a place to stay in Dublin. I didn't know anyone who's situation was that extreme, just a friend who ended up staying in a hostel for about 6 weeks while he looked for a place.

But back to what I was saying--I got really desperate because January was nearing and I still hadn't secured an apartment (homestays were out out the question since they either never responded to me or were too far from Bolton and every apartment complex near the school was booked until Fall '15... a bus pass is €100/month. No.).

I found a site called International Student Accommodation, sent them an email with my details and in a couple days they offered me a room in a building called Emmet Place in Dublin 8. I googled the place and there were some reviews good and bad reviews about it. I Google Earthed it, walked around the area, asked for more pictures and it seemed reasonable. Three single bedrooms, a shared bathroom (very generous size), and a fully equipped kitchen + tv + washing machine + small (read: practically nonexistent) living area. The other options were shared rooms so I booked it.

Some deets about ISA:
Single room: €175/week or €2,880 per semester
Shared room: €155/week or €1,980 per semester
that's for a typical 18 week semester stay. Any more is €160/€110 per week. I stayed for about 20 weeks. There's also a fully refundable €250 deposit fee. You also have to tack on €10 per pay period for utilities.

In total I ended up paying around €3500 or roughly €700/month for the flat.

now onto the pros and cons of the flat

PROS:
+ close to Lidl. A mere three minutes walk to the cheapest grocrey store in town
+ close to DIT Bolton. Just a 15-20 minutes stroll along the Liffey. (25 min for Aungier, 30 from Kevin)
+ close to Phoenix Park. For when you need to relax, clear your head and feed the lovely deer.
+ close to Temple Bar, Jervis, Dame Street area, O'Connell street. (15-20 minutes walk tops.)
+ wifi included, as is the washing machine
+ LOVELY FLATMATES. FRIENDS 4 LIFE!!!

So the majority of the pros are the location of the flat.

CONS:
- the price, obviously. 
- it's right off of Thomas Street which, if you ask any local Dubliner, is where the heroin addicts and Dublin junkies congregate. Often times there were drunk people hanging outside my building (on the very first day I arrived too!!! quite the welcome...). My flatmate came inside once and told me he had to squeeze his way to the front door, there were so many junking SHOOTING UP RIGHT OUT FRONT OF OUR BUILDING. And it's not a one-off thing by any means this was almost a weekly event...
- the TV was a box from 1970 and the cable didn't work. Believe it or not, they replaced that with a bigger 1990's TV they had sitting around in one of the employee's house... It was worse, nothing but static and only 7 channels...
- our shower was leaking into my flatmates room and it took ISA over 2 weeks to get it fixed. I had to ask my friends to shower at their places everyday for two weeks. Some days we didn't have a toilet since they tried to fix that too. They kept us out of the loop for most of the process... and didn't want to put us in another flat while it was getting fixed.
- there's a free cleaning service but the lady shows up at the most random times and leaves the flat in a worse state than before. That was SO ANNOYING.
- no cleaning supplies. the vacuum didn't work and the cleaning lady kept taking our brooms :(
- a general lack of competence from the ISA crew. They never seemed to give direct answers or were able to provide  definite answers.

the majority of the cons are how ISA runs their company overall.



Friends and I (who are all living in different ISA flats around town) often compare our situations and it seems to be the same all around. We payed too much for the service.

If you want to take the risk, you can always book ISA for two or three weeks and go to open houses in search of a moderately priced flat or if money is no issue for you then go ahead and book. I wouldn't recommend my flat in particular. If you're offered Blackhall, take it. If you're offered Brunswick Court, check it out for the first couple weeks and see what you think. There are so many defects in all of the apartments but I feel the company is too focused on racking in the cash they ignore our concerns.

So yeah, that's my housing situation. The 2 weeks without a bathroom and a floor in the flat really did it for me... But I'm just grateful that I had a place to stay for those 5 months so thank you ISA...

***Do know that the price for the flats are the same no matter the location/size of the flat. I'm sure my flat was the smallest they offered. My friend's living room was the size of my flat. They don't gauge price based on location or size. It's strange.***

But look around folks! I met people who were able to snag a shared room for about 250/month. Be persistent. Start early. Call. Call. Call!

If you have any questions about accommodation or public transport or distance or location or anything PLEASE PLEASE leave a comment and I'll get back to you!!! Dublin was an amazing experience and I want the same for everyone else!