Repossessions

Duckjob wrote: »

I think it would be a hoot if the ODS members decided to set themselves up outside the development and resolved to stay there until the Kellys were let back into "their" house.

I'd love to see just how far the neighbours loyalty to the Kellys would stretch having a tent village of smelly hippies camped outside their doors for months on end.

More likely they'd set up a squat in the property- like to see the Kelly's faces then

riclad wrote: »

makes no sense to borrow 150k, if the rental income is 1200 per month.

Why not- thats a 9.6% gross ROI- a very decent rate of return (anything north of 7.5% makes the figures work as a generalisation). Even with the current reduction in mortgage interest as an allowable expense to 75%- providing there aren't any significant outgoings- this is still nicely in positive territory. The abolition of mortgage interest as an allowable expense would of course nuke this.

shangri la wrote: »

how were the bankers severly punished?

4,500 are due for the chop by the end of the year- they're still trying to negotiate redundancy- but the sticking point is the bankers are not happy with being treated in the same manner as public sector redundancies, and are claiming special treatment. Screw them.

true wrote: »

The people who benefit most from the country currently borrowing 14 billion a year are the public servants and the public servant pensioners and the politicians. They are the ones still creaming it compared to most other people. The average public servant in Donegal or Drogheda is still paid double that in Downpatrick or Dundonald. The country is still spending double on the public service compared to what it did ten years ago. The sooner the house of cards is brought down the better, for the sake of our grandchildren.

The banks are afraid to start repossessing in volume, because many there made such foolish lending decisions 4 or 5 years ago. The commission they got for mis-selling should be clawed back of the individuals concerned.

If you want to sit down and look at actual figures- the social welfare budget along with HSE sanctioned disbursements- is per claimant 12-14% higher than the gross average pay of a public sector employee (of course this also includes Mortgage Interest supplement and a bewildering array of other entitlements- but the fact of the matter is that more is spent on the average social welfare recipient, than on the average public sector employee). We all hear the stories about the ridiculous excesses of politicians and bankers- because they make good headlines- they don't however reflect the average employee- they are not exceptional by any means, given we have so many of them- but they are also not the norm.

Yes- the average public sector salary here is double that of a public sector employee in the UK- the inverse of this is our social welfare entitlements are, when enumerated, over 5 times the UK level. If you want to bring down public sector salaries and social welfare entitlements- you need to reduce the cost of living here- so it is comparable with where-ever you want to compare headline entitlements with.

The recent OECD study on how austerity and cuts are affecting people- states plainly that the only group in Irish society largely unaffected thus far by austerity are pensioners. It also pointed out that workers are delibertly having smaller families while social welfare recipients are having larger families, and suggested the government to explore how to lower childcare costs for workers as a matter of urgency. Wonder how they'll address this one- seeing as its not even tax deductable. Also seeing as its the OECD and not the Troika- doubt anything will happen.

We're getting away from the point of this thread though- which is repossessions.

Our politicians love playing to the media- and have enshrined the family home in the constitution. They have also allowed us the top five most expensive- gas, heating, electricity, food, clothing, footwear and car tax and insurance in Europe. So- on the one hand they're the good guys- and on the other hand- they have made living here so expensive compared with most of Europe, that our social welfare and healthcare bill exceeds our total tax take (ignoring all other expenditure- including public sector pay and pensions). Sometimes you have to scratch your head to check- do these people really think money grows on trees?

Irish society has historically been defined by parish pump politics- sure I'll vote for Jimmy and he'll get a new library for us, or a new road, or a swimming pool, or extra teachers for the school, or keep the local barracks open etc etc etc. Everyone is looking at how much they can grab for themselves at a local level- including the politicians, and no-one is looking at the bigger picture- actually governing Ireland as a small state on the periphery of Europe. And you know what- the few who have tried, and there have been a few, were punished by voters for not delivering the extra teacher, or filling in a few potholes or whatever.

As long as the population refuse to accept that there isn't a magic money tree rooted in the back garden of the Taoiseach's office on Merrion Row- that can be liberally shaken for whatever today's pet project might be- we are finished, troika or no troika.

The current arguments over whether we will be able to borrow more if we vote no to the fiscal treaty- are symptomatic of this. Do we really want to be incrementing our national debt by 10-15 billion a year ad infinitum? Where does it end? We are already considered toxic by the largest economy in Europe (Germany) and by the holders of 30% of Europe's government debts (Norway). If they allowed Greece default- we're certainly not the important spoke our leaders like to allude to. The only thing keeping us together- is the fear of Spain, France and Italy- and what they might do to ease their own predicaments- this weekends events make this even harder to call........

Doc Ruby wrote: »

The healthcare bill is largely public sector pay and pensions. ~800,000 persons are entirely dependent on the state for all of their income, between the public sector and the unemployed. The workforce is what, 2, 2.4 million? The upshot is that out of every three people two are paying for the third in taxes. The solution obviously isn't to tax the two to keep the third in the manner to which they are accustomed, its to cut the spending on the third.

We have a total public sector of approx 395,000 (down about 50,000 since 2008, through non-replacement policies). While you may argue that this is too high- in comparison to other EU countries- its the second lowest number of public sector employees per head of population, and its the lowest 10 in the 2011 OECD survey. The portion of the healthcare bill, when ascribed to various subheads- has fallen significantly in the pay subhead since 2008 (superannuation has risen- but this is a reflection of increased numbers opting for early retirement on pre-wage cut salary scales).

We have cut the paybill for the public sector- in two directions- by reducing numbers by 12% and also through paycuts and the abolition or serious curtailment of non-core pay disbursements (travel/various allowances etc). We have also initiated significant pension deductions for post 1995 employees. Certainly there is lots of further scope to tackle allowances and other payments- however the bashing the public sector gets on an ongoing basis in the media- almost seems like a vendetta, rather than a fair assessment of the situation- when you sit down and look at the figures.

With respect of our unemployment bill- the fact of the matter is that the vast bulk of the new unemployed are predominantly men, many of whom left school early without any qualifications- to get into the construction sector (and who can blame them when brickies were bringing home more net pay than public sector surgeons). When the bubble burst- this cadre of people had no fallback position- and indeed if the economy recovers- unless they receive significant training and assistance towards qualifications- they are going to languish on the dole queues forever (or unless they emigrate- as significant numbers are electing to do of their own volition).

We have not made significant cuts to core social welfare entitlements- we have cut many of the fringe payments- and indeed the proposals are to cut even more of them. Our headline social welfare rates are startling- when compared to most EU countries- hell, our basic social welfare rate is higher than 3 of the members of OPEC. Our cost of living is higher here too- however we need to ask ourselves- what should social welfare pay for- and why is our system a disincentive to working- as it most certainly is........

We have much wrong in our country- and do need to make significant revisions to literally everything we do. Playing the private sector card against the public sector- and vice versa- is simply letting the politicians off the hook- and honouring the sacrificial goat that Independent Media like to roast- as it sells papers....... Much is wrong in our country- and we do need debate- however instead of regurgitating sensationalism from the Indo- its probably better to look at facts........?

Repossessing any property not protected under the Family Home act- is a total no-brainer..... Why is it so controversial? Its simple business practice- you have a loan secured on an asset. You are unable to service the loan. QED, you loose the asset. It really is that simple.