Sunday Tribune article -property crash and economic slowdown

Stargal

Folks, I know this kind of thread isn't always completely welcomed but I was looking for a bit of help/input with something.

My name is Christine Bohan and I'm a journalist with the Sunday Tribune (when I'm not modding the Celeb forum that is. Please, don't judge me...)

I'm working on an article for this Sunday's paper about the downturn in the economy, and one part of the article is looking at the property crash. It will look at how the real picture about the property market was (and is) being obfuscated by the vested interests in the property sector and the government.

For the piece, I'm looking to speak to a couple of people:
1) Someone who bought a house at the peak of the boom and is now facing negative equity/unable to sell out or trade up.
2) Someone who is looking to buy a house and is either a) having a hard time getting mortgage approval or alternatively b) sees this as the perfect time to buy a house.

If anyone is interested in talking to me for the piece it would only take a few minutes and could be done either by phone or by email, whichever is handiest.

And slightly off-topic: I PM'd the mods here before posting this and got permission from Victor to do so. I should also say that I've posted this request over on thepropertypin as well, basically casting a wide net (sorry, that's a terrible use of cliché).

So if anyone is interested, PM me or email me at: christine.bohan@gmail.com and I'll get back to you immediately.

Thanks in advance,
Christine

punchestown

You are a brave woman. Do you not recall what happened your former Buisness Editor Richard Delevan? Will your article be vetted by Ken MacDonald before publication or will he throw his toys out of the pram after it goes to print and demand your sacking?

johnnyskeleton

This is the second of these threads in so many weeks. Someone was claiming to be Ken McDonald from primetime a while ago.

Stargal wrote:

I'm working on an article for this Sunday's paper about the downturn in the economy, and one part of the article is looking at the property crash. It will look at how the real picture about the property market was (and is) being obfuscated by the vested interests in the property sector and the government.

For the piece, I'm looking to speak to a couple of people:
1) Someone who bought a house at the peak of the boom and is now facing negative equity/unable to sell out or trade up.
2) Someone who is looking to buy a house and is either a) having a hard time getting mortgage approval or alternatively b) sees this as the perfect time to buy a house.

A new purchasor in negative equity and someone having a hard time getting a mortgage are about as likely to know the real picture of the property market and the wider implications of an economic downturn as a tealeaf is to know the history of the East India Trading Company.

jackal

Is it just me or is sentiment turning against the property VI's in the media? Its a bloody shame that journalists are only getting interested in this stuff now. Perhaps you should include youselves (journalists) in the article, considering how the major media outlets have done nothing but slavishly report whatever the bank economists, EA spokesment and CIF have said.

Either the newspapers were not able to report on it for commercial reasons or were simply blindly incompitent and did not see this coming.

Good luck with the article, I think you will find it difficult to find the people you are looking for because who wants to put their hand up and say "I am a mug" in a national newspaper.

SimpleSam06

johnnyskeleton wrote: »

A new purchasor in negative equity and someone having a hard time getting a mortgage are about as likely to know the real picture of the property market and the wider implications of an economic downturn as a tealeaf is to know the history of the East India Trading Company.

I think she's going for the "human angle", trying to put a personal face on the downturn. It will sell newspapers and probably make more sense to the average punter than a windy economic dissection.

Christine if you want a juicier story, you might ask the question why the actual prices of houses that were sold are some sort of a national secret in Ireland, despite the fact that the Revenue Commissioners have got the exact data to hand, probably neatly graphed and charted over time. Is this not public information, paid for from the public coffers?

The implications of government involvement in this are clear, and could well extend to a reciprocal relationship of some sort with the property development industry.

This is a question I would like an answer to.

johnnyskeleton

johnnyskeleton wrote: »

This is the second of these threads in so many weeks. Someone was claiming to be Ken McDonald from primetime a while ago.

Well for what it's worth I can confirm that Stargal is Christine Bohan :pac:

Victor

OK, please be nice folks, Stargal asked us could she do this, she's part of the community, not a fly-by-night reasearcher exploiting boards.ie.

Stargal, one thing you might consider is the "was €340,000, now €285,000" claims - how true are they? Did any actually sell at €340,000.

johnnyskeleton wrote: »

Someone was claiming to be Ken McDonald from primetime a while ago.

That was Ken O'Shea.

TequilaMockingBird

Christine contacted me by PM with a similar request, but never replied to my PM. And I have given her permission to quote me. Nice. :rolleyes: