thepropertypin.com

BoI the one to monitor

ray — Wed Aug 20, 2008 7:56 am

Author: ray

Posted: Wed Aug 20, 2008 7:56 am

Quote:

The cost-cuts at Bank of Ireland emerge three weeks after rival AIB said it had taken 300 external consultants off its payroll and replaced them with internal staff.

I presume that this is a mix of independent consultants and people from some of the bigger firms, anyway, this is quite a big number and it is hard to see where there is work for this amount of people in Ireland at the moment. A large part of the independent consultants are probably on their tod at the moment and the people who work for big firms might be redeployed on current projects just to keep them busy in the interim but without any financial gain.

Danske Bank the one to monitor?

verbatim — Wed Aug 20, 2008 7:54 am

Author: verbatim

Posted: Wed Aug 20, 2008 7:54 am

Quote:

Danske Bank Sees Losses at Its Irish Business, TV2 News Says

By Tasneem Brogger
Aug. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Danske Bank A/S expects to book
losses on its Irish activities over the next 12 to 18 months,
TV2 News said, citing Danske Bank Chief Financial Officer Tonny
T. Andersen.
The National Irish Bank, which Danske Bank owns, has lent
6.5 billion kroner ($1.29 billion) to property developers in
Ireland and some of these loans may be difficult to retrieve
given the decline in the property market, TV2 News said.

It might be harder for the Central Bank to lean on NIB to go easy on developers since they are foreign owned.

New builds - Cnoc Dubh, Ballyboughal (-17.5%)

spqr64 — Wed Aug 20, 2008 7:51 am

Author: spqr64

Posted: Wed Aug 20, 2008 7:51 am

Is it me or do these look like legoland with the bright colours?

Government must let property bubble burst: Times

dowtchaboy — Wed Aug 20, 2008 7:50 am

Author: dowtchaboy

Posted: Wed Aug 20, 2008 7:50 am

daltonr wrote:

Quote:

The sooner we except that the Irish economy has been over-cooked and needs to adjust, the better, not least because mapping out the future requires an understanding of what has happened.

-Rd

yes - that's another area that nobody wants to tackle - the dumbing down of our education system. I have been appalled at the lack of knowledge and lack of interest in any kind of accuracy or precision in language by my children's teachers over the years. I have seen my kids grammer (which was correct) "corrected" (incorrectly) by teachers who did not know about apostrophe rules, singular versus plural words, what subjunctive clauses were, - and that's just teachers of English.
The history teacher who worried that the Israeli astronaut in the Space Shuttle might be a security threat because he might blow himself up 'cos "these Israelis are all Arabs, surely you know that?" - words fails me.....
Intel Ireland recruitment ads that talked about "it's achievements....it's facilities.....", there = their, ... aagh the Red Mist, it's coming down, I feel a rant coming on, give me a well-filled blouse to bite on Matron..........

The Grange, Stillorgan/Leopardstown

daltonr — Wed Aug 20, 2008 7:50 am

Author: daltonr

Posted: Wed Aug 20, 2008 7:50 am

Quote:

This scheme is not a free lunch. It is a tax on develoment(paid in kind or cash) used to fund a subsidy for certain people - it is definitely not a safety net for the truly vulnerable. The cost is borne by the less fortunate buyers

So...should we all be trying to get in on it. The alternative is we get taxed/punished. "Better to be pissed off than pissed on" kind of thing.

Nah! screw it. Let them tax me.

Just another scheme that makes Ireland's work force even less mobile.

-Rd

Why (US) Banks Fail on Fridays - (Slate magazine)

dowtchaboy — Wed Aug 20, 2008 7:28 am

Author: dowtchaboy

Posted: Wed Aug 20, 2008 7:28 am

Apologies if this has been posted before - I've seen references to Bank Failure Friday on the 'Pin but can't find anything in search.

Quote:

Why Do Banks Fail on Fridays?
So the government can fix them up over the weekend.
By Nina Shen Rastogi
Posted Thursday, Aug. 7, 2008, at 12:35 PM ET
Why do banks fail on Fridays?

Last week, First Priority Bank in Bradenton, Fla., became the eighth American bank to fail this year. Every single one of these institutions went under on a Friday. Why do banks always go bust on Fridays?

So the government has a full weekend to reopen them under new management. If the banking business didn't return to normal at the earliest opportunity, the specter of agitated customers might erode public confidence in the banking system, triggering a wider panic. So regulators close banks at the end of the day on Friday to take advantage of the regularly scheduled days off. In that time, officials from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.�the agency in charge of supervising the actual takeover�can settle a failed bank's accounts and carve out assets to liquidate later, thereby easing the transition to a new owner. And if there is no new owner�i.e., if no healthy bank has stepped up to purchase the failed one�then the FDIC can use the weekend to write checks to customers for the total amount of their insured deposits. (The FDIC can also create a temporary bridge bank, as it did last month with IndyMac, to take over the failed bank's operations.)

Preparations for a bank failure can begin long before that final weekend, however. A troubled institution is usually put on notice months earlier by the agency that chartered it. (In the case of First Priority, that's the Florida Office of Financial Regulation.) If it can't manage to turn itself around in a timely fashion, the chartering agency may decide to close it. Regulators wait until the last minute to make the formal announcement, though, to keep the failed bank's employees and customers as calm as possible for as long as possible. (Sometimes the FDIC doesn't get much advance warning at all, particularly when fraud is involved and the chartering agency must take swift action. When the First National Bank of Keystone closed in 1999, the FDIC got wind of it only the day before.)

If the FDIC has enough lead time, it can obtain the bank's financial records in advance and start looking for a potential buyer. Regulators select candidates and quietly notify them, in very general terms, that a bank matching their criteria is about to go on sale. Interested parties sign confidentiality agreements and then gain access to a secure FDIC Web site with more specific information. Bids are usually due by noon on the Tuesday prior to a planned Friday closing, and the winning bidder is notified by the end of the day. The acquiring bank must then quickly assemble its own team to help with the weekend merger.

On the Friday of a typical takeover, the FDIC arrives on-site with a large team to manage the transition. (When a large bank fails, this might include upward of 100 people.) The team has two main priorities. First, it must figure out which customers' deposits are insured and which are not. This can be a tangle, since customers can sock away money in a variety of accounts to ensure that their deposits fall under FDIC-insured limits. The second priority is getting the bank ready to open under new ownership by Monday. That involves discarding any material with the old bank's name on it�like posters, cashiers' checks, and marquee signs�and putting the new bank's paperwork, advertisements, and employees in place. Specialists from other departments, such as facilities, human resources, IT, public relations, and accounting, round out the FDIC's team. Officials once even hired a hypnotist to help a bank employee remember a vault code.

Got a question about today's news? Ask the Explainer.

Explainer thanks David Barr and Robert Schoppe of the FDIC.

http://www.slate.com/id/2196615/

db.

House price 'rip-offs' probed by watchdog - Indo

daltonr — Wed Aug 20, 2008 7:23 am

Author: daltonr

Posted: Wed Aug 20, 2008 7:23 am

A year late and a couple of hundred thousand dollars short.

How long has it been since Primetime exposed this?

Quote:

Frank Conway, of Irish Mortgage Brokers, said most brokerages have links with estate agents, and his firm had links with Hooke & MacDonald. But procedures have been put in place to ensure their is no sharing of personal data without the permission of customers.

I wonder what constitutes permission.

"Now Mr. Jones, could you just sign here...
No, there's no need to read it, just the normal legal mumbo jumbo"

-Rd

Dramatic drop in demand for construction courses

bedsit — Wed Aug 20, 2008 6:51 am

Author: bedsit

Posted: Wed Aug 20, 2008 6:51 am

I thought this was very funny first thing in the morning

Quote:

How to keep universities free: take the budget airline approach - Irish Times

NEWTON'S OPTIC : IN AN exclusive interview with the Irish Times , Michael Ryan of budget airline Leeryjet explains how he would tackle the issue of third-level fees.

"What I'd do, right, is reintroduce the fees but not tell the students until they arrived. 'Welcome to Snooty University,' I'd say. 'Tuition is free but there's a �5,000 surcharge for your rucksack.'

"You could also charge them extra for being fat or needing a wheelchair, whatever. The main point is that you don't ask for the money until they're stuck at registration, with no choice but to pay up or lose their three-year holiday. They'll learn that fast enough.

"Something also needs to be done about the Central Applications Office. It charges �45 a pop and another �10 for applying online. Why should universities accept bookings through a third party that adds its own fees? Adding on fees is the university's job. I'd turn away every student who hasn't booked their course directly and I'd sack every minister, civil servant and ex-taoiseach's ex-girlfriend who got in the way.

"If you don't have enough students to make a particular course profitable, just cancel it. You don't have to pay any compensation if you can claim 'extraordinary circumstances', like all the lecturers coming down with bird flu or unusually severe weather in the library.

"Offer the students another course, or a later course, or just leave them stranded in the snack bar for three days to see how many give up and go home. If anyone complains, tell them to phone a number that doesn't exist. They'll probably think it has something to do with rag week.

"Once you've got the punters settled in, there are plenty of other ways to extract the cash.

"Many students like to look 'cool' by carrying sports equipment or musical instruments. Charge them an extra �40. Swotty students like to sit at the front of the class. Charge them an extra �5.

"All students like to drink. Wheel a small trolley around campus full of watery beer in little cans at made-up exchange rates.

"The list just goes on and on. Seriously, only those eejits in Fianna F�il could run this service at a loss.

"The Government really needs to take a look at third-level costs. Sack all the academics and hire them back through sub-contractors. They'll be a lot less bolshie once they're working for Egg-Head Temps Ltd.

"Students could be turned around a lot faster between terms. Get them all out of halls by setting off the fire alarm then get them all straight back in again by not reserving their rooms.

"The first rule of running a budget airline is 'only fly one type of plane'. Maybe universities should only offer one type of course? It would have to be something general, like sociology with dance and business studies. No science though. All those broken test tubes soon add up.

"Colleges need to sort out their marketing as well. For example, why not call Limerick University 'Dublin West University'? After all, there is a connecting bus, although obviously you'd want the students to use your own connecting bus at ten times the standard fare.

"In fact, why not just call all the universities in Ireland 'Dublin University'? Isn't everywhere much the same when you're drunk?"

Rental property glut benefits students

dowtchaboy — Wed Aug 20, 2008 6:36 am

Author: dowtchaboy

Posted: Wed Aug 20, 2008 6:36 am

from RTE website:

Quote:

Extra supply dragging rents down
Wednesday, 20 August 2008 07:06

A report from property website Daft.ie says the supply of available rental accommodation has more than doubled over the last 12 months to an all-time high.

It says the increase in supply has pushed rents downwards - with a fall of 2.2% in the past three months.

The report, which is based on an analysis of rental properties advertised on the site, says the increase in supply is having its biggest impact on rents outside the big cities. Rents in Munster, Connacht and Ulster are between 3% and 6% below their 2007 levels. Daft.ie says rents in the bigger cities are largely at the same level as this time last year, having risen in the second half of 2007 and fallen over the past number of months.
Advertisement

Daft.ie economist Ronan Lyons says that although demand is holding up well. rents look set to fall for the rest of the year and possibly into 2009 as the number of rental properties coming on to the market is increasing every month.

In the student market, the Daft.ie report says that while overall the cost of accommodation for students is falling this year, there are significant differences in rents across the country.

It finds that a student at DCU staying near the college will pay an average of �525 per month for a double room, while UCC students in Cork will pay less than �400. In Limerick UL students will pay on average �309 for a double room while students at Trinity College will pay �649 for a double room in Dublin city centre.

Polish friend says 3 bed semis in Carrigaline estates are now renting for �900 unfurnished per month, or �1000 furnished, and that there is a huge choice.

Next up : Anglo

johnboy — Wed Aug 20, 2008 6:12 am

Author: johnboy

Posted: Wed Aug 20, 2008 6:12 am

CelloPoint wrote:

I forecast Anglo will be dead by the end of the 2008.

Why Anglo and not one of the others? What do you think will happen? I am no fan of the Irish banks but Anglo is still funding itself and its impairment charge is still very low (but rising).

Q2 Daft Rental Report: Supply up, prices down

fable — Wed Aug 20, 2008 6:11 am

Author: fable

Posted: Wed Aug 20, 2008 6:11 am

The Daft rental report for Q2 2008 is available.

Quote:

Rents fall again in second quarter of 2008
Having been at or close to an average of �1,400 in late 2007, the national average rent average was just over �1,350 in the second quarter of this year.

Stock continues to increase in the rental market
The number of new properties coming on to the market in recent months has topped 10,000. As a result, the total stock of rental properties is now above 15,000 - more than twice the level of a year ago.

Rents fall most in Dublin in the last three months
Rents in Ireland�s five main cities fell 3.5% in the last three months, and are now about 2% lower than this time last year.
The fall in rents in the last quarter in areas outside the major cities was smaller at 1.9% - however rents are 4% below where they were a year ago.

http://www.daft.ie/report/
http://www.daft.ie/report/Daft-Rental-Report-Q2-2008.pdf

How thick is the average sindo reader..??

jamesblonde — Wed Aug 20, 2008 6:11 am

Author: jamesblonde

Posted: Wed Aug 20, 2008 6:11 am

jess wrote:

I don't think tenancy legislation is that bad here in Ireland.
There are very few rights, but a tenant also has very few responsibilities.
That has advantages too. Getting out of a lease, for instance, can be as easy for the tenant as for the landlord.

Quick translation:
it's not so bad for tenants in Ireland as if the Landlord decides to treat you like shit, you can always walk away.
Ireland is beyond a joke for tenant rights, it's as if the Land League never happened. It really is the pigs taking over from the humans in Animal Farm...

Fast and Easy Fannie

Green Bear — Wed Aug 20, 2008 5:21 am

Author: Green Bear

Posted: Wed Aug 20, 2008 5:21 am

Quote:

A US government takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac may be inevitable, writes Proinsias O'Mahony

A plethora of negative news stories saw continued selling of global financial stocks yesterday, with embattled US mortgage lender Fannie Mae falling in European trading to its lowest level in 19 years.
That extended Monday's 22 per cent slide on Wall Street, with investors running for the exits after US magazine Barron's reported that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac shareholders were facing nationalisation and a likely wipe-out of their investments.
Freddie Mac's 25 per cent haircut on Monday meant its share price has fallen by almost 90 per cent this year, even worse than Fannie's 85 per cent fall.
>>>

Fannie and Freddie shareholders facing wipe-out of their investments
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/finance/2008/0820/1219158421203.html