From Boom to bust,a story of absolute lunacy!

sillyoulfool

Just read this article on the Irish Times website.
Maybe there is something wrong with me but I couldn't feel any sympathy for the guy at all. He seems to be portraying himself as the victim instead of taking responsibility for what were truly lunatic decisions, who the hell buys two apartments in Bulgaria from a classifieds advert, using their credit cards?
Maybe this is what Inda meant when he said we went mad during the boom.


http://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/from-buying-flats-in-bulgaria-on-a-credit-card-to-bankruptcy-1.1718389

stefan idiot jones

Fair City was to blame?

FFS.

Keyzer

"He laughs mirthlessly when he recalls his initial foray into overseas investments. Fair City was to blame. It wasn’t until Askins-Byrne saw a character in the RTÉ soap buying a holiday home in eastern Europe that the notion even crossed his mind. A week later, he picked up a classifieds magazine and saw apartments selling in a Bulgarian resort for as little as €5,000. He bought one on his credit card."

I have no sympathy for anyone who buys property based off a storyline in a soap opera, and a crap one at that...

There's reckless and irresponsible but this is stupidity of a different caliber.

deandean

That's rough.
And he shouldn't be getting 188 per week if he's living at home.

mad muffin

I didn't go mad. My wife didn't go mad. Our friends didn't go mad.

Yet we're paying for THESE FÛCKEN FÛCKS THAT WENT MAD!!!!:mad:

dulpit

I've checked, and can't find any sympathy for the man. He got greedy, pure and simple.

And who buys property based on (a) a single classified, (b) because of FAIR CITY and (c) using a credit card????

Guy:Incognito

Keyzer wrote: »

"He laughs mirthlessly when he recalls his initial foray into overseas investments. Fair City was to blame. It wasn’t until Askins-Byrne saw a character in the RTÉ soap buying a holiday home in eastern Europe that the notion even crossed his mind. A week later, he picked up a classifieds magazine and saw apartments selling in a Bulgarian resort for as little as €5,000. He bought one on his credit card."

I have no sympathy for anyone who buys property based off a storyline in a soap opera, and a crap one at that...

There's reckless and irresponsible but this is stupidity of a different caliber.

The bigger problem is how many people has he murdered because of watching eastenders?

Roger_007

sillyoulfool wrote: »

Just read this article on the Irish Times website.
Maybe there is something wrong with me but I couldn't feel any sympathy for the guy at all. He seems to be portraying himself as the victim instead of taking responsibility for what were truly lunatic decisions, who the hell buys two apartments in Bulgaria from a classifieds advert, using their credit cards?
Maybe this is what Inda meant when he said we went mad during the boom.


http://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/from-buying-flats-in-bulgaria-on-a-credit-card-to-bankruptcy-1.1718389

This guy is just one of many who lost the run of themselves in a similar way during the "Celtic Tiger". Of course the mantra now is " it wasn't our fault, blame it all on the banks". Indeed the banks did act stupidly, but so did people such as this idiot and ultimately everyone is responsible for their own actions.
I know several people who bought 2nd, 3rd or even 4th houses and boasted at the time that they would make a financial killing in a few years when they sold them on.
It is very difficult to have any sympathy for these idiots. They were in part responsible for the runaway inflation in house prices. They increased the demand and therefore the prices. They were not trying to provide a home for themselves and their families, they were trying to make a quick buck.

mad muffin

Work houses. Reintroduce work house for them to pay off their debts.

lazza14

And Irish spent their money on SHYTE .... no investment in their kids education , paddies don't value it.

Look at the Chinese, people begrudge the success China has now - but they value education, the people are spending their money wisely.

Sunglasses Ron

Keyzer wrote: »

A week later, he picked up a classifieds magazine and saw apartments selling in a Bulgarian resort for as little as €5,000. He bought one on his credit card."

.

Is that even true (the price)? You would be very hard pressed to buy a apartment in a 3rd world country for that much, let alone one in an up and coming future EU member, in a holiday resort


It's been a long time since these ads were around but I always remember prices like 50K being touted (with the mythical promise that of course as soon as the Bulgarians are in the EU the apartment will be worth more than a Howth Head penthouse). I really can't believe there were apartments going for 5000- if there were, it actually would have been a good investment!

tobsey

He's not looking for sympathy for the fact that he ran up stupid debts. He says as much at the end of the article:

Irish Times wrote:

If he could rewind the clock what would he do differently? “I wouldn’t have bought the properties in Bulgaria and I would have used no credit. Credit ruins everything. By using your credit card you are handing your future over to someone else. Now if I haven’t got the cash in my pocket I don’t buy anything. I will never use credit again.”

The problem is that as a 33 year old man he has no hope of working to repay €60k. He can't even get a job or profitable work to give him an opportunity to do so. That's the really sad part of the article. 60k is not that much money compared to some of the debts run up by the likes of Sean Dunne et al and whereas Dunne could fcuk off to the US and start making multi-million dollar profits on property deals this guy hasn't a penny to his name or hope of starting again.

Hell €60k is less than my negative equity but at least I have a decent job and will pay it back eventually, whereas this chap is living at home and his being made bankrupt over it.

jank

It sounds like a piece from the onion.

Sleepy

I'm sorry but I just don't accept that his situation is anything like as hopeless as he paints it out to be. I'm the same age with a wife and kids to support and while I have some debts from the "good times", I'm chipping away at them and should be debt-free again by about 35.

Presumably he's never been to college if he was working as a taxi driver so he'd probably qualify for the BTEA, FÁS courses etc. Why isn't he educating himself to better his prospects? It's not sympathy this chap needs, it's a good kick up the hole. File bankruptcy, get some education and he could be well on the way to having a decent lifestyle by 36/37. Sure he'd be 10-15 years behind the curve but he's no-one to blame for that but himself.

MS.ing

jank wrote: »

It sounds like a piece from the onion.

clearly hes a bit of a vegetable alright

darkpagandeath

ah yes I love the we went mad part and not upper middle class/rich went mad part. Don't recall any working/middle/poor people investing in property. Yet hmmm who got hit the hardest again..

Degringola

Sunglasses Ron wrote: »

Is that even true (the price)? You would be very hard pressed to buy a apartment in a 3rd world country for that much, let alone one in an up and coming future EU member, in a holiday resort


It's been a long time since these ads were around but I always remember prices like 50K being touted (with the mythical promise that of course as soon as the Bulgarians are in the EU the apartment will be worth more than a Howth Head penthouse). I really can't believe there were apartments going for 5000- if there were, it actually would have been a good investment!

I saw Bulgarian apartments for 5k on a property website 10 or so years ago because I remember both myself and my brother were looking at it and joked about buying one they were so cheap.

subway

does it really cost 1000eu a week to run a taxi?

Satriale

The time for blaming the monkeys is over, you should be looking to the organ grinders.

SpaceTime

Scale the figures up a few million times and that's the story of Anglo too!

The guy's situation is far from hopeless though. He just needs to move on and get himself a new career.

There are lots of educational opportunities for people who are on the dole and I assume he has no major outgoings if he's living at home.


33 isn't old either. Try doing that when you're 55+ and I know people who have.

gramar

Proposal for new compulsory subject to be taught in all secondary schools:

COMMON FCUKING SENSE!

darkpagandeath

SpaceTime wrote: »

Scale the figures up a few million times and that's the story of Anglo too!

The guy's situation is far from hopeless though. He just needs to move on and get himself a new career.

There are lots of educational opportunities for people who are on the dole and I assume he has no major outgoings if he's living at home.


33 isn't old either. Try doing that when you're 55+ and I know people who have.

Who will hire someone that age ? Your C.V wont get through the screening process most times. Age usual indicator of standard of living/family/responsibilities/mortgage = higher wage.

Dyr

Remember being driven around by some mong of a taxi driver, who told me he loved going over to new york 3-4 times a year with his missus for clothes shopping. he was "big into his labels"

that was when i knew the country was f***ked

cml387

He's not looking for sympathy, as such , he's looking for "The Governement" to "Do Something" for him.

geckovision

T1M3 of ur L1F3 wrote: »

Lyk if u cryd evry tyme

God these posts are annoying.

This guy is a moron. I've no sympathy.

Thought he could be a taxi driver and live a champagne lifestyle. Come on.

Apartment for 5k? If it sounds too good to be true...it is. I've never seen an instance in which this wasn't the case.

theholyghost

60k seems manageable if you had a job. You think you'd be able to pay some of it, like €100 a month for 5 years and call the rest of it quits rather than loose it all. If you had a job...

It's a very small "mortgage".

SpaceTime

darkpagandeath wrote: »

Who will hire someone that age ? Your C.V wont get through the screening process most times. Age usual indicator of standard of living/family/responsibilities/mortgage = higher wage.

Plenty of people are hired in their 30s. I see it every day.

Depends on your experience, qualifications and everything else.

Dyr

SpaceTime wrote: »

Plenty of people are hired in their 30s. I see it every day.

Depends on your experience, qualifications and everything else.

is taxi driver a qualification?

jobless

Bambi wrote: »

Remember being driven around by some mong of a taxi driver, who told me he loved going over to new york 3-4 times a year with his missus for clothes shopping. he was "big into his labels"

that was when i knew the country was f***ked

I remember similar, a taxi driver bragging about buying a house in citywest for 350k and reckoning it would be going for 700k + in a few years because the luas was going up there...
I sat in the back of the taxi stunned in bemusement..

SpaceTime

cml387 wrote: »

He's not looking for sympathy, as such , he's looking for "The Governement" to "Do Something" for him.

I'm not sure what else it can do.
1) Updates law to allow write down of debts.
2) Pays him basic income.
3) Will provide him with retraining opportunities through Fas, various back to education schemes, start your own business schemes, springboard, internship opportunities (paid by the state)
4) Will most likely cover his healthcare.

The government provides huge safety nets.

The opportunities are there and the services are there. I'm not entirely sure what else 'we' (since the state is actually funded by us and run on our behalf) can do.

SpaceTime

Bambi wrote: »

is taxi driver a qualification?

I'm suggesting that rather than waiting around he should immediately retrain!

dodzy

I'd be more concerned about the mental health of the person(s) who chose the colour scheme for that attic room. It's beyond mank.

c_man

darkpagandeath wrote: »

Who will hire someone that age ? Your C.V wont get through the screening process most times.

33? Really?! By and by, we took on a bunch of interns (software dev) recently. One of them is in late 30s, another is 41.




An apartment on a credit card? Jeez.

Guy:Incognito

darkpagandeath wrote: »

Who will hire someone that age ? Your C.V wont get through the screening process most times. Age usual indicator of standard of living/family/responsibilities/mortgage = higher wage.

It's hard but hopefully not impossible. I'm trying to get back in to a young persons job (apprentice mechanic) at 33 and finding it hard to get a call back, never mind an interview. You would think having experience would be an advantage, but so far it doesn't seem to.

geckovision

He's getting 752e per month, he's living at his parent's home, has no car, presumably minimal to no rent and he can't make a payment off his debt?

SpaceTime

c_man wrote: »

33? Really?! By and by, we took on a bunch of interns (software dev) recently. One of them is in late 30s, another is 41.
An apartment on a credit card? Jeez.

Bear in mind many posters here are about 15. So they think 25 is retirement age. 33 is unimaginably older than their dad probably.
40 quite likely old folks home time...

You guys realise people often change careers in their 30s and 40s without a hitch ?!

Not everyone will demand huge wages based on age ... They will based in experience though!

Normal careers don't follow the same timeline as a premiership footballer!

Gambas

mad muffin wrote: »

I didn't go mad. My wife didn't go mad. Our friends didn't go mad.

Yet we're paying for THESE FÛCKEN FÛCKS THAT WENT MAD!!!!:mad:

Well, at least now you get to feel like you're going mad too.

Cabaal

I can't feel sorry for this man, I just can't.

He made seriously idiotic decisions, he didn't for one second think about what would happen if he lost his job.

SpaceTime

I can feel sorry for him because he made some bad financial decisions but, I think he's still in a FAR FAR better position than many billions of people all over the planet!

Even compared to Americans for example.. In his situation in the US you could be really, really destroyed financially and left without income, housing or health cover.

It's a comedown but, with a bit of a push he'll be 35/36 debt free with a new skill under his belt and a chance to start over!

Use the damn services that are being laid at your feet!

The government is doing a hell of a lot when you think about what's available.
Its not your mammy though!

snubbleste

Ridiculous carry-on

He's very fortunate to have family to help him, €188pw and his health.

sillyoulfool

geckovision wrote: »

He's getting 752e per month, he's living at his parent's home, has no car, presumably minimal to no rent and he can't make a payment off his debt?

Exactly, seems to me he doesn't want BTEA or BTWA because then he would have to pay some of his income off his debts.

Fratton Fred

The mad thing is, the estate agents are trying to create the same frenzy they did six years ago and it looks like people are stupid enough to fall for it.

Zebra3

sillyoulfool wrote: »

Maybe this is what Inda meant when he said we went mad during the boom.

Kenny, the two faced hypocrite knows quite well the average Irish person wasn't to blame, this is an exceptional story and the institutions who loaned this particular man money are also to blame.

This story is not an example of why the Irish taxpayer should have bailed out foreign banks.

tin79

FFS the financial crisis started 7 years ago. Can we get over it.

Chairman Meow

"From boom to bust, the story of an idiot with no fiscal awareness who suddenly found himself with alot of disposable income and wasted it on completely idiotic property decisions, month long holidays, and is shocked to find he's now bankrupt"

Hold the front ****ing page

SpaceTime

There was a pretty high % of really crazy stuff went on.

We didn't 'all' go mad. I certainly didn't anyway but enough of us did to do a hell of a lot of damage.

The problem was the banks who were supposed to be sensible, prudent lenders were even madder than the speculators in a lot of cases!

Then the whole bloody lot of them want their losses socialised yet would be the very first people demanding austerity and ends to actual social spending!

Gambas

Fratton Fred wrote: »

The mad thing is, the estate agents are trying to create the same frenzy they did six years ago and it looks like people are stupid enough to fall for it.

Estate agents don't give borrow or loan hundreds of thousands of euros. Responsibility lies elsewhere.

geckovision

Chairman Meow wrote: »

"From boom to bust, the story of an idiot with no fiscal awareness who suddenly found himself with alot of disposable income and wasted it on completely idiotic property decisions, month long holidays, and is shocked to find he's now bankrupt"

Hold the front ****ing page

I wish I'd thought of that username.

gramar

Chairman Meow wrote: »

"From boom to bust, the story of an idiot with no fiscal awareness who suddenly found himself with alot of disposable income and wasted it on completely idiotic property decisions, month long holidays, and is shocked to find he's now bankrupt"

Hold the front ****ing page

Doesn't necessarily mean he had a lot of cash. He had access to a lot of credit and made some Homer Simpson type decisions.

Cabaal

Gambas wrote: »

Estate agents don't give borrow or loan hundreds of thousands of euros. Responsibility lies elsewhere.

So who do you blame...the banks again?

I hope not, What about the idiots who took out the loans in the first place?

When i bought my house we were very tempted to get a 4 bedroom detached, but instead we opted for a 3 bedroom semi which was smaller but alot cheaper.

Why did we do this?

Because it took us about 30seconds to figure out that if me or my wife were out of a job in the morning we'd be screwed instantly as we wouldn't be able to cover our bills.

Thats all it took, 30seconds, 30 seconds for me and my wife who are both adults to act like adults and to make a proper adult decision about the fact that although the 4 bedroom house was nicer it would have been a very poor long term decision if even one of us ran into money problems.

Its not alot to ask for grown adults to actually think about the decisions they make!

As luck would have it within 2 months of moving in to our house one of us lost a job but we have always managed to make payments and now both are in full time employment again.

Its an easy cop out to blame the banks, but in all honesty nobody held a gun to anyone's head and told them to take out 400k loan for a house, get new cars every year and get loans for holidays etc.

Gambas

Cabaal wrote: »

So who do you blame...the banks again?

I hope not, What about the idiots who took out the loans in the first place?

When i bought my house we were very tempted to get a 4 bedroom detached, but instead we opted for a 3 bedroom semi which was smaller but alot cheaper.

Why did we do this?

Because it took us about 30seconds to figure out that if me or my wife were out of a job in the morning we'd be screwed instantly as we wouldn't be able to cover our bills.

Thats all it took, 30seconds, 30 seconds for me and my wife who are both adults to act like adults and to make a proper adult decision about the fact that although the 4 bedroom house was nicer it would have been a very poor long term decision if even one of us ran into money problems.

Its not alot to ask for grown adults to actually think about the decisions they make!

As luck would have it within 2 months of moving in to our house one of us lost a job but we have always managed to make payments and now both are in full time employment again.

Its an easy cop out to blame the banks, but in all honesty nobody held a gun to anyone's head and told them to take out 400k loan for a house, get new cars every year and get loans for holidays etc.

Sorry, my post was less than clear. Borrower and lender both to blame IMO. It's the suggestion that EA's 'made people do it' I was taking issue with.