When engineer Peter Ryan and his wife, flight attendant Alison Moloney decided to buy a house two and a half years ago they found themselves slap-bang in the middle of the housing crisis. As both are from Dublin's north city, they had hoped to stay in the area, but house prices dictated otherwise.

First they tried to buy a house on a new estate in Castleknock and went through the whole business of queuing to book it. When they got to the top of the queue they found there was a choice of three different styles. They thought about it overnight, but when they returned next day to alter the booking they found the price had risen by another £3,000, making it too expensive. They then started looking further afield and found a nice four-bed semi in a new housing estate in Clonee, Co Meath.

"It was a panic buy without a shadow of a doubt," says Peter. "We could see the way the market was going and Clonee was in our price bracket."

They moved to Clonee in June 1998 but Peter soon realised that he couldn't settle. "We made all the excuses under the sun before facing up to the fact. We didn't talk to one another about it for fear that it would make the other start dislike it too. It's not that we were unhappy - we were content but we just never settled .'

The biggest problem was that the development grew and grew, so what was once a small nest of housing mushroomed into a series of estates. "It was too far out, with too many houses and not enough facilites or local amenities. We had to drive to Dunboyne to socialise or shop," says Peter. Finally, after a year and a half, they decided to get out. "Deep down we always wanted to move back to where we were from," Peter says. The house gave them a good return on their initial investment of £95,000 - it sold for £162,000 just two years later.

However, 10 months passed before they finally moved into Croagh Patrick Road, Dublin 7, having lost out on a number of houses along the way. The first house they liked was taken off the market as the vendor decided to hold out for more money, and after that a number of houses just seemed to be beyond their reach as prices rose.

Finally, they did find one. But when Peter went to view it, he was so disheartened he didn't even bother to look upstairs as he was convinced that he would lose it as well. Alison couldn't bear to go and to view it at all.

Even when they bought the house in June last year, hoping it would be ready in time for their September wedding, a problem with probate delayed the move for six months. Now at last they have settled in. "The only way I can explain the feeling I have for the house is that when I walk through the front door I have a smile on my face and l know that this is where l want to be for the rest of my life. That's more important to me than a haggle over price." From an initial budget of £195,000, they ended up paying £225,000.

"Would we move again? Never in our life. Moving was a nightmare from start to finish, but we've no regrets, this is where we want to be."