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Maggie Molloy, who presents Cheap Irish Homes on RTÉ, tells Irish Country Living Women & Agriculture Conference attendees that it’s not that what’s meant for you won’t pass you by – it’s what’s meant for you will come easy.
“I remember taking this woman around west Cork. She and her son were looking for a home,” Maggie tells attendees.
“We brought her around to a couple of houses and there was one which was really special, but we thought she couldn’t afford it. The first time she saw it; she teared up – she loved it – and just said, ‘I’m never going to be able to get this.’ Afterwards, she rings me and it turns out the estate agent owned the house. He’d had two tenants and both had completely trashed the place. He said to her, he wanted someone who would love it. And he sold it to her for the money she had.”
In conversation with Irish Country Living journalist Jacqueline Hogge, Maggie explains the ins and outs of purchasing so-called derelict homes, navigating planning permission and grant schemes and how she has transformed her own cheap Irish home for an absolute steal.
“It was a kip,” she says, laughing. “But I had to live somewhere, and even if it might take 10 years [to renovate], at least I had a home. The roof was good, but it had nothing else. Cement on the floors, no lovely flagstones, and those lino tiles that every farmhouse had. I spent maybe €15,000 on the house.”
Is the grant system working?
Maggie explains to attendees that it is largely down to individual county councils to decide what rules you need to abide by when renovating an older farm house.
In terms of SEAI grants, she says she has heard from people who have got on brilliantly with the process and also from those who have struggled.
What you need to do is talk directly to your county council – don’t just look online
“It’s like getting a mortgage: you could spend five years talking to people about what you need but until you walk into that bank you could have been getting the wrong information the whole time,” she says.
“What you need to do is talk directly to your county council – don’t just look online,” she adds.
“All are different in what they want, so find out about dwellings in your locality. The money is there; you just need to get that info from your own county council.”
Cheap Irish Homes
The final episode of this season of Cheap Irish Homes is on tonight. Maggie says this is one no one should miss as it is a very special “full-circle” moment for her, personally.
“I remember the very first day we ever filmed - I was so nervous and very green,” she recalls.
“I remember we visited a little tailor shop in Skibbereen. Well, as it turns out, our renovation on tonight’s show is actually that shop. The woman who owns it actually saw it on the show and she bought it.”
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