Virgin Media Television presents Help Me Buy A Home, a brand new show hosted by buyer’s agent Liz O’Kane and comedian Michael Fry which follows the journey of house-buyers amidst Ireland’s housing crisis.
This is a series about people who are at a point in their lives which should be joyous but is instead a massive financial, emotional and life-impacting minefield.
In the first episode of the six-part series which airs at 8pm Sunday, April 23 on Virgin Media One, Liz O’Kane guides prospective buyers through the twists and turns of house-hunting.
Emma is a 34-year-old working professional who has been on the market for a modest Dublin apartment she can call her own for 12 months and counting. Having moved back home with her parents to save money, she questions what more she can do.
“It’s madness what’s going on. I work in a good company, I have a good amount of savings. I don’t want a mansion. I just want somewhere small. And it should not be this difficult,” she ponders.
Are singles locked out of the housing market? Can Liz help Emma through the muddied waters and land her dream home? And is the process as daunting as it seems?
Meanwhile, Mike and Anna are a retired couple seeking somewhere to settle, with their current abode up for sale. The pair are cash buyers with a budget of €350,000. As they scout properties in the south-east of the country, they learn that their original spec is not exactly what they have been seeking. So can Liz help them figure out what they really want?
Elsewhere, Michael Fry is a member of ‘generation rent’. Now in his late 20s, he has moved nine times in the last 10 years. Frustrated with seemingly no light at the end of the tunnel, he feels he and many friends ‘have done everything right’ in terms of education and work, but are now further than ever from buying their own home.
He spends the day with housing minister Darragh O’Brien to ask questions with which he and many others have grappled; What is being done for his generation? Why have investment funds been allowed to snap up so many properties? And is there any sign that things might improve?
“It’s been a thing for my whole adult life, the housing crisis. We’ve had people say like with health, like with other areas of government that ‘we can’t fix this overnight, we can’t wave a magic wand’. But there comes a point 10, 15 years later where you’re still with the same issues,” he questions. But is there hope for Michael and countless others in a similar situation?
“I won’t be letting my parents stick a treadmill in my old room just yet,” he comments.
‘Help Me Buy A Home’ starts at 8pm Sunday on Virgin Media One and Virgin Media Player.
