A home is a garden too

When moving to Galway you need to consider maintenance when you see your new garden.

Our house is on about half an acre. That's a lot of grass. No problem. But....(there's always a but)...we never thought about a garage to store a mower, a rake, shears, etc. etc.

So, if you are buying a house consider the size of the garden, how long it will take you to cut and manage, and where you will store whatever you need to do that.

On a separate note about gardens - considering the recent downpours throughout Ireland, be sure to also check your garden and house are not in the floodplains of a river or lake. Google maps can be handy for finding what waterways are near you - http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=galway&ie=UTF8&ll=53.445535,-9.063721&spn=1.452647,3.383789&t=h&z=8&iwloc=addr

Also consider how much time you will actually get to spend in the garden. If you can't spare the time to manage it, do you want the extra expense of having to get someone in to do it?

A garden is a big commitment. This is especially true when you have just moved to a new city, or even if you just need to get your first house to the stage you can call it home. It takes time, and if you are based in Galway that means a lot of gaps between showers too!

On the other side of that, a big garden which is well laid out and maintained can add vastly to the value of your house, as well as how much you can enjoy it.

Summary: when you make your list of things to consider when finding a home, be sure to include your ideal garden - be that small or large, paved or bedded.

Change all your own addresses, and forward your mail

When you buy your house, and move down to Galwya you are on cloud nine, but there are a million things to be done. Over the next while I am going to list them all.

The first is to change the addresses on all the mail you recieve. Here is a list of some you may need to change:

• Bank account
• Driving license
• Car tax/registration
• Car insurance
• Friends - your Christmas card list
• Tax office
• AA
• VHI/BUPPA/VIVAS

We decided to take the safe route and used An Post's redirection service. It lasts for 3 months and they will forward all your mail to your new address. Here are the costs from An Posts website today:

Residential In Ireland (fee per redirection)
Up to 3 months
€50.00

Up to 6 months
€70.00

Up to 12 months
€100

You can check their latest prices here : http://www.anpost.ie/AnPost/MainContent/Personal+Customers/Managing+Mail/redirection.htm