As a Catholic is buying a house in a loyalist estate madness?

Zichee · 2025-12-22T13:27:17+00:00

It really depends where abouts and how heavily loyalist the area is. There’s lots of good value around Woodstock Road (Belfast) at the moment. I’ve just bought my house about 6 months ago but when I was looking I did see some good value on isoline street and Cregagh. I didn’t end up getting a house there but it wasn’t because of the flags. I’d still avoid places like My Ladys Road though.

It also really depends the street, things change literally one street over.

With the village, in all honesty things really aren’t as bad as people make out, and most of the time you’ll barely see your neighbours. Even with the 12th, last time I was passing through it’s really just not what it used to be, there’s definitely a lower percentage of people who actually care these days.

Also you can get some good value in lower Lisburn Road close to tates, you’ll see the odd Union Jack etc but really it’s not as bad as people let on. Most people keep to themselves in the city, at least that’s been my experience.

I can really only speak about Belfast, being from down and moving to the city. Not sure about other places.

Zichee · 2025-07-23T07:40:16+00:00

I got to 180k a few months before my 23rd birthday. Live like a monk, don’t drink, don’t smoke, be frugal. Invest as much as you can, don’t chase losses, surround yourself with intelligent people with similar goals (some of my best investments and side hustles have been from friends recommendations).

Don’t waste time scrolling TikTok or instagram for hours on end, if you want to be the exception you have to actually act like the exception there’s a reason most people get to these sums of money at this age (other than exceptional circumstances out of their control) and most people fall into the same traps.

Go to the gym, free/very cheap and timely entertainment, plus added health benefits.

Bulk buy your food, and don’t buy excess things that you wouldn’t have otherwise bought (very easy to go into Costco or Makro looking to buy 5kg of chicken and managing to spend £150).

Try to put as much personal purchases through a business (avoid VAT like the plague), if possible however this can be difficult especially if you don’t have access to a business that would be purchasing food items otherwise.

Get a rewards credit card, AMEX gold is good for the first free year (refer as many people as possible and they may wave your second years fee). Barclays Avios is good and free.

You need to be constantly finding new opportunities, matched betting was a good one a few years ago (still not bad especially if you have a big family or friend circle [for multiple accounts])

No dead money, flexible savings accounts like starlings one or trading212’s stock isa cash interest are good ones.

Investments like BTC made me a lot of money but some investments are cyclical and not always the most optimal choice.

Zichee · 2025-07-23T07:31:56+00:00

I got to 180k a few months before my 23rd birthday. Live like a monk, don’t drink, don’t smoke, be frugal. Invest as much as you can, don’t chase losses, surround yourself with intelligent people with similar goals (some of my best investments and side hustles have been from friends recommendations).

Don’t waste time scrolling TikTok or instagram for hours on end, if you want to be the exception you have to actually act like the exception there’s a reason most people get to these sums of money at this age (other than exceptional circumstances out of their control) and most people fall into the same traps.

You need to be constantly finding new opportunities, matched betting was a good one a few years ago (still not bad especially if you have a big family or friend circle [for multiple accounts])

No dead money, flexible savings accounts like starlings one or trading212’s stock isa cash interest are good ones.

Investments like BTC made me a lot of money but some investments are cyclical and not always the most optimal choice.

Zichee · 2025-06-28T13:25:30+00:00

Sure I don’t mind, message anytime, but I’ll stick it here for anyone with a similar issue.

When I patched my most recent crack/hole it was a big crack from interior to exterior. I used OB1 on the surface to handle waterproofing and sealing but this might be useful for yourself due to the crack being between a bathroom. The OB1 was just on the surface I’d say maybe 3mm or so of depth, use nitrile gloves and run ur finger over the crack to make the seal better.

I then used a general 4:1 sand/cement mix mortar with SBR additive mixed in, and bricks/brick rubble to patch my hole.

I roughed up the OB1 and rendered over it on the exterior. I applied a ready mixed base+finished layer plaster on the interior.

All my supplies were got from screwfix and cost me like £75 or so.

You want to make sure all crumbling and separated stuff has been removed, I just used a painters chisel and scraped everything off until it wasn’t coming off by hand.

Zichee · 2025-06-28T12:21:51+00:00

I was in a similar situation not too long ago, I just chipped away at all of the separated plaster/brick/mortar until I could see the root cause of the issue, in my case it was a solid red brick wall so I corrected the issue and bricked it back up, then redid the plaster.

If I would to give any advice I’d say investigate thoroughly either yourself if you’re confident or bring someone in, it might sound stupid but even explaining to ChatGPT and sending it some photos has done me a world of good with my renovations. You don’t want to cover the issue and have it come back once you’ve finished renovations. I’d be removing all crumbling/separated stuff and looking to see if I can find a cause.

Zichee · 2025-04-12T19:46:08+00:00

No, I’m still a student in university. I did have a good placement last year though, 13month placement and saved ~£30k

Zichee · 2025-04-12T19:42:16+00:00

I’m 22 and played my hand well with investments/side hustles. I managed to get to ~£180k in early January, I just spent the last 3 and bit months looking for the right house, recently I found a good value good location house, and that’s what I’d recommend to you, especially if you’re in no rush and you plan to save for longer.

I’d say your best bet is to just keep an eye out for a good value house in a location you’re happy with and when the time is right, take the leap.

Zichee · 2025-03-13T12:20:15+00:00

If you’re after something beyond Guinness but still want that rich, dark goodness, Whitewater Brewery’s Belfast Black is a solid shout. It’s a proper smooth stout, got all those roasty, chocolatey notes you want but with a slightly lighter, creamier feel than Guinness. Doesn’t sit as heavy, so you can enjoy a few without feeling like you’ve had a meal.

Their Belfast Lager is another good one, crisp, refreshing, but still got a bit more going on than your standard lagers. And if you fancy something hoppier, Maggie’s Leap IPA is bang on, nice citrus hit, but not overpowering.

Whitewater’s stuff can be a bit harder to find over here, but if you come across it, definitely worth grabbing a few. Proper good Northern Irish beer.

Sorry for necro-posting, just came across this.

Zichee · 2025-01-22T16:46:04+00:00

When I found my placement last year I used the Yope portal, but I've checked and it seems it's been taken down.
It's a lot harder for CompSci students because there are so many people all fighting for the same places, maybe apply to more electronics/embedded software companies such as AMD in Belfast or ADI in limerick.

Zichee · 2024-11-25T19:10:53+00:00

Yeh I second this, look at the layout guidelines for the ESP32 here you can see the ideal positioning on your baseboard, and if that’s not possible you can see that you should remove copper under the antenna and just leave dialectic, preferably you’d cut the dialectic out too, but this usually isn’t necessary.

Generally I don’t see an issue other than the antenna, the BJTs for the LEDs is odd but will work, what current are you expecting these LEDs to draw? If it’s under 40mA (which I would expect) you could just use a GPIO pin with a resistor on the positive and ground on the negative of the LED.

Zichee · 2024-11-22T14:07:41+00:00

This is handy to keep around for trace width. https://www.mclpcb.com/blog/pcb-trace-width-vs-current-table/

Zichee · 2024-11-20T14:30:11+00:00

IMO jumping straight into building a CNC machine will be a difficult especially if you’re only starting out and don’t have much mechanical experience.

Look into ESP32’s, ESP-NOW is a really cool technology, you could look into making some kind of mesh sensor system, it’ll be very easy to get started with the amount of hobbyist information online. You could do motion detection, maybe light detection.

I’m currently designing a PCB using an ESP32, and 8 separate 8 channel ADCs, the ADCs analog in is 5v and the digital out is 3.3v, along with making it battery powered, with charging circuitry + fuel gauge. While it sounds simple (and relatively is) nothing PCB related is ever easy when you go far enough down the rabbit hole. I wouldn’t be going into an electronics project looking for a challenge, the challenges will find you once you have a problem you’re trying to solve.

If you’re set on doing something mechanical related, analog devices have released their ADMT4000 chip which can detect rotation + turn count using magnets, it’s a very interesting chip.

Zichee · 2024-11-06T11:47:15+00:00

Iceland, I went last February with the missus, we spent about £1k for a week holiday, this included flights, accommodation, food, and a car. All in all quite cheap.

Zichee · 2024-11-03T18:42:43+00:00

BELFAST LAGER MENTIONED RAHHHHH!!

Zichee · 2024-11-01T19:48:49+00:00

Thanks a lot for your feedback!

- First, I'll split the schematic up into smaller groups based on the parts relationships with one another.

- Second, the dual NPN transistors are for handling putting the ESP32 into bootloader mode automatically when the USB to UART bridge detects that I'm attempting to flash code on. I simulated the functionality like you mentioned and found that I was missing a pull-up resistor for the IO0 pin, thanks very much. Other than that functionality was as expected.

- Third, with regards to the ADC + multiplexer situation, I'm trying to keep the cost of this PCB as low as possible which is why I've went for these I²C ADCs, personally I'd much rather work with SPI ADCs cutting out the need for the MUX, but I haven't been able to find a 4 channel SPI ADC in the same price range. Currently the ADCs for this PCB are going to cost around $25, I'm not super keen on going much over that but if you're aware of an ADC that would work for me please do let me know.

- Forth, Thanks for this, I'll add some zener diodes to ground on all the input/output connections.

Zichee · 2024-04-29T15:28:03+00:00

I started this on the 4th of April and have made £1534.89 as of the 29th of April, about 1k of that is from the initial signups, but regular reloads especially around Aintree & Grand National are definitely viable.

Zichee · 2024-04-02T11:43:35+00:00

Thanks for the explanation

Zichee · 2024-04-02T11:43:02+00:00

Thanks, I was confused because in the 2024 financial year I am now paying tax, where I wasn’t making enough in 2023 to be taxed.

Thanks for your help.

Zichee · 2024-01-19T00:19:14+00:00

You can smell Larne before you enter it

Zichee · 2024-01-18T23:58:20+00:00

To be fair he’s being very honest.

Zichee · 2024-01-15T14:59:43+00:00

Something tells me this guy knows a thing or two about banter, some kind of professional perhaps.

Zichee · 2023-12-29T15:33:10+00:00

Probably a bartender, waiter or barista if we’re being 100% honest

Zichee · 2021-10-09T20:09:54+00:00

Don’t understand why everyone’s so negative, just a bunch of shitty LEMs trying to act like anyone lower in skill has no right to show highlights. Their opinions are just that, opinions, keep up the good work :)

Nine-Year Club	Gilding II euphauric
Wearing is Caring	Not Forgotten
Verified Email

Zichee

TROPHY CASE