We travelled to Ireland in late January, 2025 hoping to rent a house on a one-year lease. The rental market is currently out of control throughout Ireland, with every new listing getting hundreds of applications. Renting to a non-EU citizen adds complications that few (if any) Irish landlords are willing to deal with, understandably.

Towards the end of our trip, we decided to check on homes for sale, mostly just to see what was available, but still looking for rentals. After a few days of looking, we came to the conclusion that renting was unlikely to work for us, so we began focusing on trying to find a home that would work for us. But that comes with lots of complications.

But after visiting a few properties in northeast Ireland, we found one that seemed just about right - not perfect, but something with the size, price range, location, and layout that will work nicely for our current needs.

We put in an offer in late February, and then returned to our home in Texas. After some back-and-forth, the seller accepted our offer. The process for completing a home purchase in Ireland is very different from the ones used in California and Texas, and the time difference complicates communications, but as of now we’re grinding through all the steps - inspection, contracts, getting our Irish visas in place, arranging for payment, etc.

The property we’re trying to purchase is in County Louth. While most of Ireland takes a few days off before and after Easter, in Louth all solicitors take an extra week off following Easter.

We’re returning to Ireland next week, so hopefully we’ll be able to move things along more quickly.