Anyone who is looking at selling at a loss must have bought in the last 3 years approximately. So the question I would be asking is not
“Why don’t you want to sell at a loss” but “If you’re that bright, why did you buy at the top of the market?”
A long way to go yet
This is what a bottom might look like, or maybe it has further to go.
Half off in a decent neighborhood is close to the bottom,'' said Bill Gross, co-chief investment officer of Newport Beach, California-based Pacific Investment Management Co., manager of the world's biggest bond fund. Property markdowns of 30 percent to 40 percent give the marketprice illumination if not sunshine,’’ he said.
“Bank-owned properties attract investors who can rent out the homes for 10 percent of the purchase price annually”
I think we are past denial moving into fear.
Predictions of 40% are now becoming accepted. Jim Power 40%, AIB yesterday 30-40%. The hope that it would be ok in a few months no longer works.
Of course, to look at it another way, I think I am past optimism about the bubble bursting and getting positively excited. I think I will be thrilled in 9-12 months.
Where do you want to buy? I’m going to go and look at where I’d be really interested in and see what 40% off looks like.
The absurdity of this country really hit me when we went to view an apartment (to rent) last night. It one of the brand new developments down at Spensor Dock, advertised as a “spacious” 1 (bedroom) double apartment.
When we arrived, we found it was actually a studio apartment. Look, I don’t care if the bedroom is on a seperate floor - if that floor is just a mezzanine and open to the livingroom, it’s a studio in my book. If you can’t fart in your bedroom without someone in the livingroom hearing, it’s a studio.
Also there was no kitchen - the kitchen units were simply at one end of the livingroom. No counter or anything between them - the reason probably being that the room was small enough as it is.
The bedroom mezzanine was also tiny - and had a single bed. Even with that, there was only about 2 feet of room on one side and 1 foot on another.
The absolutely bizarre bit? The apartment had 2 bathrooms! One off the hall as you come in, and one en-suite Actually fairly nice, big bathrooms. I estimate they took up about a third of the apartment space altogether. If the downstairs one wasn’t there and the space left by it and the hallway was added to the livingroom, then it might actually approach being a decent size.
The cost? A mere €1,300 a month. And there’s load of these yokes built down there.
Mental.
P.
They were built by people thanking their lucky stars they would never have to live in them.
I lived in a studio in Brussels. It cost 400E a month and had a separate kitchen.
I don’t understand the way some things were designed here.
I would really love to meet the architect and ask him about the two bathrooms. That bit just flummoxes me. Is it for when the couple invariably stop talking to each other and need seperate spaces (because of course one can’t go sulk in the bedroom since it’s a studio).
P.
North County Dublin has more than a few two bedroomed apartments with three bathrooms. I don’t get it either.
Jackie Mason has a joke about people with too many bathrooms, goes along the lines of “anybody who needs to use that many bathrooms doesn’t need a house, they need a hospital”.
(He tells it better - obviously)
Unfortunately the Architect probably wanted to build something different, but the developer told them they had to. Do you think any architect spend 7 years in college and training just to design shoebox apartments?
Building Regs perhaps - there would need to be a wheelchair accessible toilet (i.e. the one on the lower level), and maybe it was too far away from the mezzanine to be the only toilet.
I think we’re in the 'Boredom from listening to all this" phase.
But why do the developers want to outnumber bedrooms with bathrooms?
Apart from the buidling regulations suggestion, it does “sound” more impressive to have a one bedroom apartment with 2 bathrooms, than one with only the solitary bathroom.
When the purchaser was looking at this off plans I’m sure it looked impressive. N that was the thing… a lot of apartments were built and sold off plans so what the things looked like never mattered, it’s how you could appeal to the purchaser. Being told there are two bathrooms gives a perception of size.
Spot on.
But unfortunately I gotta listen to the same sh*t day after day !
But by far the most annoying thing I have to listen to is this :
Picture the scene - row after row of identical 3 bed semi-Ds.
Last house went for €350,000.
I value a neighbours’ and they are always convinced theirs is worth more.
Honestly, I have NEVER met a neighbour who thinks their house is worth less !
Heres a genuine conversation I had with a prospective seller :
Lady : I know my neighbour got €350,000 but mine is definately worth a lot more.
Me: What makes you say that ?
Lady: Well I just spent €3,000 on new silk curtains
Me: So you are leaving them behind with the house ?
Lady : Oh no, we are taking them with us.
Did the curtains look nice?
Seriously, who buys 3k silk curtains when they live in an average house?
Lunacy… sheer lunacy!
Not only that, but spent €3K on new silk curtains for a house they were planning on leaving.
Daily, I lose faith in humanity.
takin the piss ? surely ?
Impressive - you’ve actually made me feel a twinge of sympathy for EAs 
Everyone want En Suite in the “main bedroom” but they also don’t want guests walking through bedroom to get to said bathroom. Hence you need the EN Suite Bathroom and the Visitors bathroom.
This is how the twisted developer mind works.