From Boom to bust,a story of absolute lunacy!

sillyoulfool · 10-03-2014 10:01AM #1

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 · 10-03-2014 10:03AM

Fair City was to blame?

FFS.

Keyzer · 10-03-2014 10:06AM

"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 · 10-03-2014 10:08AM

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

mad muffin · 10-03-2014 10:11AM

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 · 10-03-2014 10:18AM

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 · 10-03-2014 10:18AM

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 · 10-03-2014 10:21AM

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 · 10-03-2014 10:23AM

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

lazza14 · 10-03-2014 10:30AM

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 · 10-03-2014 10:31AM

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 · 10-03-2014 10:34AM

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 · 10-03-2014 10:36AM

It sounds like a piece from the onion.

Sleepy · 10-03-2014 10:52AM

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 · 10-03-2014 10:55AM

jank wrote: »

It sounds like a piece from the onion.

clearly hes a bit of a vegetable alright

darkpagandeath · 10-03-2014 10:57AM

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 · 10-03-2014 10:59AM

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 · 10-03-2014 10:59AM

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

Satriale · 10-03-2014 11:02AM

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

SpaceTime · 10-03-2014 11:03AM

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 · 10-03-2014 11:09AM

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

COMMON FCUKING SENSE!

darkpagandeath · 10-03-2014 11:11AM

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 · 10-03-2014 11:11AM

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 · 10-03-2014 11:12AM

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

geckovision · 10-03-2014 11:12AM

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 · 10-03-2014 11:12AM

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 · 10-03-2014 11:13AM

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 · 10-03-2014 11:16AM

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 · 10-03-2014 11:16AM

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 · 10-03-2014 11:17AM

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 · 10-03-2014 11:21AM

Bambi wrote: »

is taxi driver a qualification?

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

From Boom to bust,a story of absolute lunacy!

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