Repossession of homes: what's the big deal?

Dostoevsky wrote: »

First, this is not "all" the banks' fault - conscious, intelligent people bought houses at inflated prices. They share at least a lot of that responsibility for their own predicament. As if to highlight their responsibility, many people chose not buy. They are not in this trouble, banks or no banks.

I do blame the banks most of all, people didn't know they were buying houses at inflated prices, the majority view was that it would continue and there was very, very little opposition to that viewpoint. The bankers were the experts, they either knew what they were doing and are criminals or were inept and should be removed from their jobs.


I'll put it this way, the majority of people that use computers haven't the first clue how they work, they don't know any programming language and they couldn't name the parts inside their PCs. If I'm repairing someones PC I can't expect them to know what went wrong or how I'll fix it, they just have to trust I'm the expert and I know what I'm doing. If I mess up their PC it's my fault, it doesn't matter that they let me do it. I came with good recommendations from everybody, even the Taoiseach said that if you don't use me you should just kill yourself for being so stupid. I gave you my guarantee I was going to make everything better.

Now that you're PC is fecked you have to pay me because my reputation got ruined and no one wants to hire me anymore and I get to keep your PC.

And what of those of us who pay for our own homes? Should we be punished for being responsible, because giving free accommodation to people who bought during the bubble does precisely that.

I'm not talking about taxpayers paying anything extra, we're already paying out money to the banks, stop that craic, make banks give extended payment options to customers or simply put a halt on the payments until the people get jobs.

daveyeh wrote: »

Buyer beware. Just because someone wears a suit and an easy smile, doesn't mean you should trust them. In fact the opposite is true.

Well we know that now.

.....Once a decent start is made on the repossessions, house prices will fall to a realistic level and people who have been waiting to buy can do so, nice and cheaply, maybe even mortgage free!

I never understood this "must buy my own big house or i am a lower class person" mentality. I know of families with 1 child buying a 4 bedroomed house as their first home just because they could. Well i'm sorry but in my opinion thats just as stupid as the bankers who told you it couldn't go wrong. Surely a bit of common sense from both sides was all it took.

If you can't afford the mortgage then the bank has no option but to repossess because according to the arguments about the ordinary public bailing them out the bank doesn't own your house the rest of us do and why should you live in a house i partly own mortgage free if i have to pay to live in my own house.

I remember one of the pat Kenny TV debates last year or the year before even ,
A lady in the audience complaining about the banks getting bailed out yet herself who gave up a very well paid job and became an amateur property developer bought some land and built somes houses after the collapse her land is worth next to nothing and she can't sell the houses " why am I not being bailed out " questioned did you have any experiance in property development before you gave up the well paid job "No" expecting sympathy

As much as the banks are to blame to a limited degree personal greed and keeping up with the Jones is more to blame ,nobody is willing to accept personal responsibility for there own situations

Wouldnt be a big deal if the state hadnt bailed these banks out for billions of euro. So now that we've kept them afloat, we must help them to return to "profitability" aka "the old days of champagne and caviar" by swallowing their increasing charges and smiling as they seek to turf people out of their homes who are already under huge pressure due to circumstances that are directly related to the stupidity of these same banks. Fúck that!
The people of this country were shafted by their own government who themselves were shafted by the EU back in 2008. We did them and their precious euro a favour. Now they can return that favour by actually trying to resolve the mortgage crisis with debt write offs.

Dostoevsky wrote: »

That bailout money is mostly spent. Even if it weren't, morally and rationally why should taxes from the rest of us be used to bail out people who followed the crowd during the bubble and gambled on the house of cards not collapsing?

It shouldn't, but if we're paying for multi millionaires who gambled and lost and NOT paying for ordinary people who got f*cked over, we're living in a very sick society. It has to be either none or both - I'm not ok with seeing the golden circle get a bailout but not a struggling family who've lost their jobs and are being hit with higher fees from the banks. "All men are created equal" as the US declaration of independence goes - either both should get help or neither. Otherwise we're accepting that some people's welfare is more important than others, and I simply refuse to accept that and will fight it tooth and nail.

Dostoevsky wrote: »

But why should I, as a taxpayer who didn't try to keep up with the Joneses by buying a house during the "boom", pay for losses which other people made by buying a house during that time?

It's bad enough that my taxes are funding the idiocy of banks. Adding the idiocy of house purchasers to that burden exacerbates that injustice for those of us who lived within our means during the bubble.

The bolded part truly saddens me, as its such a common train of ignorant thought. Usually its made by people who during the boom weren't in positions where thinking about a secure home needed to be considered. All of a sudden, they look back in hindsight and think its because they were simply foresightful that they didn't buy homes.

Consider this. Ireland has no secure tennancy for people who earn average wages. SO, when it comes to being married and looking to start a family, but earning what the government believe to be too much for any social housing, then there are 2 options. Private Rent, where you are at the behest of your landlord in terms of them deciding to sell the house or move themselves or a relative etc in (Somthing that happened A LOT during the boom. I had friends with kids having to move numerous times within a 4 year period due to the Landlords selling etc), or Mortgage.

So by all means have the attitude of 'Im alright jack', it is afterall very much the capitalist mentality, but could you at least have the good taste to realise that it wasn't just about keeping up with the Jones'. Believe me, I HATED the thought of a mortgage, but we made the decision that we thought was the best one available for our family by getting one, as it was the most secure option available for our children as we saw it at the time. THEN, the credit crunch happened at the same time the bubble burst etc, and all went pear shaped. When we see the absolute criminal behaviour of the banks, and the absolute ineptitude of our government and regulator, then I think any intelligent person can see the injustice.

hatrickpatrick wrote: »

Firstly I didn't, I didn't have the vote as I was too young. Secondly not everyone took out mortgages they couldn't afford, some of them have seen persistent interest rises while incomes have been depleting.

Interest rates are at an all-time low

DebDynamite wrote: »

Interest rates are at an all-time low

Central banks interest rates are. Those without tracker mortgages are seeing rate rises, and on top of this banks are also increasing their fees consistently. After we saved their corrupt asses with money out of our own pockets I don't feel I'm exaggerating by saying that this is pure backstabbing.

Gongoozler wrote: »

not once in my 11 years of renting and all the people I've known have I heard of anyone being thrown out of their house because the landlord was selling. .

Heres one then.

Myself, my wife, and my 7 month old baby have had our notice of termination of tenancy, AS THE RECIEVER OF THE LANDLORD IS SELLING.

We have no protection as a tenant. Read the termination of part 4 tenancy legislation.

Its ridiculous.

Thats why renting in Ireland is a joke. No security for tennants. Only damp flats and bargaintown mattresses.

stevedublin wrote: »

FAMILIES with CHILDREN will be thrown out onto the STREET !!!!

daveyeh wrote: »

And why can't they then RENT?

Because they will STILL have to pay their MORTGAGE after theyve been kicked out!!!
They cant pay rent on top of mortgage if they couldn't pay the mortgage in the first place. I know, what ever the bank sells it for id deducted from the overall repayment. But if youve payed 50 thousand off of your 300 thousand mortgage and the bank, because they just want to get rid of something they may not sell, decides to sell it for 100 thousand (and thats bloody generous. They don't care what they get for it.), you still owe them 150 thousand euros. And your not allowed in your house anymore.
Welcome to homelessness. We'll see quite a lote of it in about a year.

Gongoozler wrote: »

A lot? not once in my 11 years of renting and all the people I've known have I heard of anyone being thrown out of their house because the landlord was selling. I really don't think it happened a lot. It seems that you want to make it out like it was your only option to buy. When it wasn't. You chose to get a presumably large mortgage for a house, instead of risking renting.

It was the only option for a secure home. That is simply a fact! You mention risk, which at least acknowledges the issue. Your anecdote did not apply to us, as our experience was very different from your own. A mortgage of course has its own risks, but in the environment and system we were in, the mortgage looked like the much less risky option. The corruption, ineptitude, propaganda and criminal activity going on created a system, and people fell foul of this system, simply for wanting to have a place their children could call home. I know Myself, and countless numbers of my friends never had profit in mind. They had 'Home' in mind, and in the absence of governmental assistance to assist with secure tennancy, a mortgage was the only game in town, if you didn't want the whim of a landlord over your head.

To add to 'My name is Muds' situation, I have a good friend who has a son with special needs. In the space of 4 years, they had to move 3 times. They finally decided they'd have to buy a home (Like myself, there was much reluctance in getting a mortgage, but they felt it was the best option for their circumstance) Both lost jobs (Wife is working again now, but for much less), rates have gone up, and they are in negative equity.
That is a systemic failure, and a great injustice in the face of the banks being bailed out, the criminal goings on, and the absolute ineptitude of government.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing. I'd love to go back and rent rather than buy, but alas, we didn't all have the crystal ball that so many these days claim they had. Again though, the 'Im alright Jack' attitude, while IMO its shameful, is fine to hold. At least hold it based on the reality though, rather than believing all the nonsense about getting a mortgage being about keeping up with the Jones'. Your experience in renting was different to mine. Grand. I hope it led to you making decisions that have turned out well. My experience was very different, and was part of the process that led us to a decision that we have unfortunately come to regret. At least we can still pay though, and our kids are happy, but my goodness, do I empathise with those who have found themselves looking into a future of uncertainty. I've witnessed the stress etc. It is so frustrating to see people then go on like its their own fault etc. The whole 'No one held a gun to your head', 'I was smart enough' etc brigade. It flabbergasts me that in the face of all the facts about the banks and the regulator etc, that people would still turn on those caught up in the system. I can only hope they reconsider their position at some point.

My name is Mud wrote: »

Thats why renting in Ireland is a joke. No security for tennants. Only damp flats and bargaintown mattresses.

I live in a rented house with my wife and 14 month old child in the UK. I checked the place for dampness before I moved in. I furnished the house, i.e., no Bargaintown style mattress. IKEA won't break the bank FFS.

I'm 35, finishing off a PhD on a studentship that equates to well below minimum wage. I mind the little fella while my wife works part-time as a teacher and when she's off she looks after him. No childcare costs. Life's busy, but we make our choices and regret NOTHING.

We're both primary school teachers and resisted the Septic Tiger pressure that was relentless from all the sheeple who told us our rent was dead money and that we should buy.

At the height of the boom, we gave up (....no career breaks, resigned) our permanent jobs and fecked off to travel, sick of the scene in Dublin with all the flash harry bollox that was going on back then. We wanted to move on with our lives but didn't want to live in some souless awful estate in Ongar or Lucan, Swords etc saddled with a huge mortgage. Living in an apartment in town was grand, but paying half a million squids to own one. Ha ha!! Plenty of people decided, of their own free will, to jump on the property bandwagon.

I'm SICK to death of the béal bocht whingers who got burned by the property bubble.

Tough sh!te.

Stress test yourselves before you go getting yourself into a mountain of debt.

So many clowns in this country, it really is beyond f*cked for so many lifetimes..

Repossessions HAVE to happen. That's the reality. Ring Liveline with the feckin' sob stories if you want to get them off your chest.