You want to move home for good? Tips from people who’ve done it

• Date: 19 December 2020
• Author: Jeananne Craig
• Published date: 19 December 2020
• Publication title: Irish Times (Dublin, Ireland)

For many, the pang is no more than a fleeting nostalgia. For others though, the pull of home becomes something more powerful: a visceral yearning. And perhaps this year it's more acutely felt, when access to family, nature and community have become all the more precious.

More people than ever are poring over Irish property websites. Estate agents have noted a significant spike in interest from returning Irish seeking homes outside Dublin, and the Central Statistics Office reports that returning Irish nationals are at their highest level since 2007.

But how do you convert a sneaky browse of the property pages, or a misty-eyed daydream, into a full-blown, real-life move? And - paperwork, new bank accounts and PPS numbers aside - what steps can you take to make it as stress-free as possible? These returned emigrants have made the move and learned a thing or two along the way.

Make technology your friend Visiting a new area or a property in person is of course the best option, but if current travel restrictions are preventing you from doing that, friends and family back home can assist in conducting early recces and viewings. They can send WhatsApp photos and FaceTime you from inside the prospective home or rental accommodation.

You can also go full-on Miss Marple, using Google Earth and Google Street Maps to get a sense of the surrounding area, and search online for local news stories or planning permission applications you should know about.

Derry singer-songwriter Keith Harkin was living in Los Angeles when he spotted an almost 200-year-old dry-stone barn for sale on beautiful Inch Island in Co Donegal five years ago. With a hectic touring schedule that prevented him and his now-wife Kelsey from making the trip over to view it, the pair drafted in reinforcements.

"My dad was sending blurry photos and videos of it from his £10 phone," says Harkin. "We fell in love with the place. It took us a year to buy it, and the first day we set foot in the house was the day we got the keys." One year on, Keith and US-born fashion designer Kelsey married at Glack House, and relocated there in spring 2019, just before the birth of their son, Weylyn.

Town vs country If you've spent lockdown in a cramped apartment or a built-up city, you may well be craving the great outdoors and a major life shake-up, whether that's returning to the Irish countryside you grew up in, or

dreaming of somewhere - anywhere - liveable, affordable and beyond city limits.

But Cheap Irish Houses...