Queueing up to buy houses and house expos during the boom

Teyla Emmagan · 28-08-2011 09:28PM

I have a friend who keeps thanking me for persuading her not to buy an apartment in the Liberties back in 2008. She was adamant that she wanted it, and had it at a good price, so I said 'Let's go up and see the place'. So we walked from Dame St. Found the place, looked lovely, I said 'Let's walk around', within 2 minutes we were in hellhole territory (it was a lovely apartment surrounded by really scary flats with loads of burnt out cars and terrifying youngsters glaring at us). Thought we would never get out of there. Anyway, she decided to hold off. Thank God, to be fair.

She had only ever approached it from the good side before. You can't stop people coming in from the back though etc, and they're the scary people who will be on the bus with you on the way home.

mattjack · 28-08-2011 09:38PM

my favourite exotic development was Adamstown...comes with its own train station ..something about the place reminds me of a documentary on Stalingrad...mud,half built buildings and the f**king cold along with lots of forlorn looking people walking around.

johngalway · 28-08-2011 09:43PM

jam_mac_jam wrote: »

Yeah because nobody saw it coming...

God give me strength, when I saw that headline in the Indo :mad:

But, I suppose when them that didn't see it coming had their heads shoved that far up their own arses they had reason.

Not good reason, but reason all the same.

Nodin · 28-08-2011 09:50PM

Paarse Krokodil wrote: »

The eircom shares were a dead give away, with the amount of advertising for it going on at the time it reeked to high heaven of a Pump n Dump.

and sure enough once all the suckers had bought in the shares started to plummet. Who actually benefited from this scam?

Indeed. Its one thing to throw loose change on a horse or the lotto, rather another to sink serious cash into something because 'it can't go wrong'.

It has to be said I avoided the housing thing because I refused to get into what I considered excessive levels of debt, rather than any foresight into the housing collapse. The only thing there I noticed was what I considered to be the excessive number of hotels going up.

7sr2z3fely84g5 · 28-08-2011 09:51PM

Sponge Bob wrote: »

http://www.zimbio.com/pictures/yU0eKo_xPPO/Jamie+Louise+Rednapp+Unveil+Gorgeous+Living/v0xoWGzg7P2

i forgot about that one,thanks for the memory!.

Teyla Emmagan · 28-08-2011 09:53PM

Am still glad I couldn't afford to buy into the Eircom shares thing at the time. Seems like everyone else I knew did though...

hmmm · 28-08-2011 10:11PM

Teyla Emmagan wrote: »

Am still glad I couldn't afford to buy into the Eircom shares thing at the time. Seems like everyone else I knew did though...

What most people forget is that Eircom shares rose in price on the day they floated. People could have sold on day 1 and made money (and many did, myself included), but they got greedy. When they lost out, they wanted the taxpayer to pay off their losses.

tolosenc · 28-08-2011 10:13PM

Would people not just, y'know, rent?

previous user · 30-08-2011 02:44AM

mikemac wrote: »

Sure who couldn't resist these by Darndale, near the halting site ,Northern Cross

Sex Sells

Future ghetto land out there

I remember seeing these ads in the paper for the firs time,
Insane, would people actually look at that and think I can have that lifestyle too, idiots!

dsmythy · 30-08-2011 03:14AM

Are these the same people hoping for their mortgage debt to be forgiven?

Mike 1972 · 31-08-2011 12:03AM

hmmm wrote: »

What most people forget is that Eircom shares rose in price on the day they floated. People could have sold on day 1 and made money (and many did, myself included), but they got greedy. When they lost out, they wanted the taxpayer to pay off their losses.

For the first fifteen days the trading was restricted to "institutional investors" (This is the REAL €ircom swindle that the media never picked up on) however the shares were still trading well above the flotation price (albeit not at the dizzy heights the II's could have sold them at) well after that so your point still stands.

Made a few bob on it myself. Didnt particularly approve of the privatisation but figured it inevitable that some fukers were going to make a few quid on this one so this fuker might as well be one of them.

ilovesleep · 31-08-2011 12:34AM

I remember a petition was signed in my locality against a housing development. It was more to do with environmental reasons and the fact that we knew that there wasn't a demand for such a thing especially at the expense of ruinning scenery.

Anyways petition was ignored. Development of 16 houses went ahead. Finished about 2/3 years now and all but 4/5 empty/not sold. Trying to get my hands on that petition now.

CL32 · 31-08-2011 01:37AM

previous user wrote: »

mikemac wrote: »

Sure who couldn't resist these by Darndale, near the halting site ,Northern Cross

Sex Sells

Future ghetto land out there

I remember seeing these ads in the paper for the firs time,
Insane, would people actually look at that and think I can have that lifestyle too, idiots!

What you didn't see at the time was that those stupid adds were thrown up after the estate was already filling up with residents. They were the ultimate ego stroke of the prick developer Caulfield. The residents didn't think they could have that lifestyle - they lobbied to have the things taken down.

discus · 31-08-2011 08:28AM

My parents had spoken out against buying up extra properties. My parents are routinely sought for advice, and they had warned people around 2005-2007 that buying up extra property would ruin them, that prices can't go up forever.

Of course they bought the properties, threw the dinner parties and found renters to pay their mortgages... For about 2 years. Now they have empty apartments and houses and a rack of debt. My parents have paid off their mortgage.

I expect that it'll be Irish people like my parents who end up bailing out the mortgage defaulters.

chin_grin · 31-08-2011 09:17AM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4CtWb4tJBg

wild_cat · 31-08-2011 09:31AM

discus wrote: »

My parents had spoken out against buying up extra properties. My parents are routinely sought for advice, and they had warned people around 2005-2007 that buying up extra property would ruin them, that prices can't go up forever.

Of course they bought the properties, threw the dinner parties and found renters to pay their mortgages... For about 2 years. Now they have empty apartments and houses and a rack of debt. My parents have paid off their mortgage.

I expect that it'll be Irish people like my parents who end up bailing out the mortgage defaulters.

Don't talk to me about that...

My rents' are farmers. Most of the land had excellent road frontage and people were basically taking the piss out of them for doing nothing with it.....

mikemac · 31-08-2011 09:38AM

Depends on the county for road frontage

In Clare it was easy to get permission for sites, bungalow blitz everywhere

Cross the Shannon to Tipp and it was very difficult.
A son or daughter would even struggle to get permission for a farmers site.
Council wanted people in towns and villages

And then the busybodies that are An Taisce would get involved, don't even live in the area and want to dictate planning policy. Might spoil their view on their weekend drives from the city I suppose

Of course the same council who thought they were sensible approved Section Twenty Three all over the place. Cheaply built estates in villages which nobody will move into and nobody wanted. What a disaster

mathie · 31-08-2011 09:49AM

A couple of memories from the peak ...

I remember viewing showhouses in Holywell, Swords in 2007.
There was massive interest the houses and apartments we wedged full of people.
We asked the EA if there was a pricelist.
She says "This is the old pricelist. There will be a new one on Monday"

This was the launch weekend and they'd already decided to put up the prices!
We saw the new price list.
Everything had gone up close to 10%.
Insanity.

We also rented in an estate in Malahide.
It was built around the peak and they had a 'sealed bid' the most disgusting property tactic. You put in one bid and one bid only and the highest ones win.

The house we rented in was 2 bed and shockingly small. We couldn't eat at the table in the kitchen as there wasn't enough space. You couldn't bring the wheelie bin through the house without knocking off things.

It turned out the owner had paid half a million. We were renting for 900 euro a month last year which wouldn't have come near the mortgage.

Our neighbour told us she paid half that. This was three years later and the property had dropped 50%.

coup1917 · 31-08-2011 12:36PM

Its all or nothing with this country..

From the days of pure greed when all walks of life were out to fleece you to the current climate where everyone is calling for mortgages to be paid off because ' the banks offered us too much money so it's their fault '

Thick Paddy Irish Mentality at its finest...

foxyboxer · 31-08-2011 01:46PM

The one for the Elysian in Cork was my favourite...
Here are some samples.

"..a landmark building for Cork which shows the positive energy of it's inhabitants.."

"..draws it's influences from the prosperous look of London's docklands..."

"..not simply and apartment block, it is a much more organic thing.."

"the elysian stands like a beacon above the city, by day it reflects the sun and sky, at night it twinkles with a myriad of lights"

Ehhhh, no lads, it's a bloody eyesore in Cork FFS!

(hmmm, maybe there's a book in this, taking all the Property Porn Purple Prose)

discus · 31-08-2011 01:56PM

wild_cat wrote: »

Don't talk to me about that...

My rents' are farmers. Most of the land had excellent road frontage and people were basically taking the piss out of them for doing nothing with it.....

Happy days. It's great to hear/read about people who didn't give in to the Sunday Independent yahoos who talked about coverting every inch of land into "elegant, compact living" or "urban contemporary living space". In your case, you're parents didn't sell out to some developer who would have no doubt labelled it as "spacious, modern and adjacent to dublin".

Fair play your parents. I hope they're doing well

Cee-Jay-Cee · 31-08-2011 02:37PM

I was looking to buy a house in 2005/2006 and was looking at one development nearing completion. There were queues to sign up and pay a deposit, however i figured there would be some remaining and waited a week or so. When i did call to the site office i was told all the houses in phase1 had sold and phase 2 would be released within a few weeks, however i didnt like the layout of phase 2 and so looked elsewhere. I am so glad that it worked out that way as it is now a concrete ****hole with absolutely no character and looks so neglected and run down and 95% of the houses are rented out by rent supplemented tennants that i would prefer not to have as neighbours.

humanji · 31-08-2011 02:59PM

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/property/2010/1014/1224281058402.html

That is all.

criticalcritic · 31-08-2011 03:08PM

'You rent haha your throwing money away,get a mortgage ya fool ya'

Anyone remember this

coup1917 · 31-08-2011 04:05PM

humanji wrote: »

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/property/2010/1014/1224281058402.html

That is all.

When was €525,000 ever a reasonable price to pay for an appartment...??

Its a bit rich complaining about a property tax of what €200, after splurging an obscene figure on a property of that type....

I can't condone mortgage forgiveness for this recklessness..

MagicSean · 31-08-2011 04:17PM

What I remember was that at the height of the boom people couldn't be arsed to even clean their homes before you went to see it because they were that confident they'd sell it.

Acoshla · 31-08-2011 04:20PM

My *favourite* sentence from the entire housing boom came from the wonder that is Showhouse, where Interior Designers (all 5 million we had on the island, I was one of them ha) did up showhouses in the new and fabulous developments. I knew it was Game Over for Ireland when the host described one of the kitchens in an apartment as "bringing a touch of the Left Bank in Paris to Athlone". Ba ha ha.

fontanalis · 31-08-2011 04:50PM

Acoshla wrote: »

My *favourite* sentence from the entire housing boom came from the wonder that is Showhouse, where Interior Designers (all 5 million we had on the island, I was one of them ha) did up showhouses in the new and fabulous developments. I knew it was Game Over for Ireland when the host described one of the kitchens in an apartment as "bringing a touch of the Left Bank in Paris to Athlone". Ba ha ha.

Left over maybe.

7sr2z3fely84g5 · 31-08-2011 04:59PM

Seanbeag1 wrote: »

What I remember was that at the height of the boom people couldn't be arsed to even clean their homes before you went to see it because they were that confident they'd sell it.

i also remember big fitted kitchens in the houses,never used of course,the yummy mummy wife of the builder was buying takeaways for the kids.

Mickey H · 31-08-2011 05:26PM

criticalcritic wrote: »

'You rent haha your throwing money away,get a mortgage ya fool ya'

Anyone remember this

Same people who said this are now saying things like:

"We need renters to pay our mortgages",
"It's unreasonable to expect me to pay X mortgages from 1 income",

etc., etc.

Queueing up to buy houses and house expos during the boom

Comments