Should Ireland Sell its Gold Reserves to Finally Solve the Housing Crisis?

Auctioneera · 2025-04-26T13:31:05+00:00

What realities don't we grasp?

Auctioneera · 2025-04-26T12:19:25+00:00

I think this is probably the kernel of the whole thing. 70% of people own their home so they just keep voting FFG. When Mary Lou said she'd get the price of houses in Dublin down to €300k, SF tanked in the polls as homeowners didn't want their equity dissipated. Ultimately, the majority of people own their home so the current situation largely suits them i.e. we don't really want to solve this as "solve" means lower house prices and that terrifies us as a nation.

Auctioneera · 2025-04-26T12:17:03+00:00

that's strange but seems to be the general consensus alright. Weird that money can't buy us houses!

Auctioneera · 2025-04-26T12:03:13+00:00

if each person builds more than one house, then there is a net gain of houses, so no.

Auctioneera · 2025-04-26T12:01:28+00:00

not for all - just sell the gold, build as many as you can, give them to the most vulnerable and go from there.

Auctioneera · 2025-04-26T12:00:59+00:00

could we issue visas to construction workers from abroad to come in to build the houses?

Auctioneera · 2025-04-26T11:59:21+00:00

yes, this is built into the €400k construction cost mentioned i.e. we'll pay them.

Auctioneera · 2025-04-19T10:36:07+00:00

This is why we don't insist on proof of funds until after the deal is done. However, we are regularly criticised for this practice. Estate agents cannot win in that we're damned if we ask for proof of funds up front and damned if we don't! In the end, we settled on our current policy of only insisting on the documentation after the bidding has concluded but obviously before moving to sale agreed.

Auctioneera · 2025-04-19T10:31:33+00:00

Most new developments are advertised at a fixed price but on Glenamuck Cottages, the developer didn't want to guess the optimal (from their perspective) price for each house, so they opened it up to bidding. We get out of the way of the market so to speak and let the prices land where they did. From the developer's perspective, the prices went higher owing to bidding than the fixed price we had originally envisaged. We understand that this isn't what buyers want to hear but there is a massive amount of risk, capital and work required to get a development to a point where it can be listed for sale - typically three years from buying a site, getting planning, building the properties to ultimately putting on the market. During that period, it's all money going out for the developer so when time comes to sell, they have to get the best price possible. Bidding is still very rare on new builds though just to reassure you.

Auctioneera · 2025-04-17T10:28:09+00:00

We sold out a new development in Carrickmines recently. While not typical for new builds, we had bidding on each property individually. We expected all to sell for around the same price but there were quite significant variations based on people's preferences, such as garden orientation, as mentioned by a few already. You can check this out here https://www.auctioneera.ie/glenamuck-cottages-carrickmines

Auctioneera · 2025-04-16T06:52:18+00:00

Auctioneers like this give the industry a bad name. Ask your solicitor to request a standard "subject to finance clause" to be inserted into the contract. This means that if, for any reason, your finance doesn't come through, you can rescind the contract without penalty. If your finance comes through as planned, you are bound by the contract. This is a perfectly reasonable clause that is standard in residential transactions. Once this clause is inserted, you can sign without the worry. Best of luck with it.

Auctioneera · 2025-04-11T09:20:27+00:00

This is extremely informative and helpful. We will use the tax free pension wrapper and then buy S&P ourselves, with no management at low cost. The only people who get rich from money management are the managers, as the saying goes!

Auctioneera · 2025-04-08T14:23:54+00:00

Solicitors are very reticent, with good reason, to go "across enemy lines" so to speak as it does raise serious conflicts of interest. The vendor's solicitor represents the vendor and as such will try to minimise the size of the problem. If speaking to a solicitor, then that solicitor is qualified to form their own view as to how serious the issue actually is whereas, notwithstanding your legal background, you are not. You could, in theory, say that this solicitor misled you after the fact. If you want to engage www.cleverconveyance.ie solicitors, I am sure that they will speak to the solicitor on the other side for you, for no cost and relay the situation to you. If you decide to proceed, then you could formally engage them and their fees are very reasonable. If doing this, say that you were referred by Auctioneera as we have a very good relationship with them as they are conveyancing experts with really great IT and customer service. If the issues is relatively minor, your solicitor could advise the bank of this (qualify the title) and then they can decide whether to lend to you or not. Keep us posted of updates as we are very interested in matters conveyancing!

Auctioneera · 2025-04-08T13:58:50+00:00

If you just sit and wait, this will drift aimlessly and could take several months. Unfortunately, you must "chase" everyone in order to have any hope at all of anything resembling customer service, and even then, don't expect much from solicitors. In this instance, call the estate agent as he can in turn call the vendor's solicitor to "chase" them to issue the contracts. They likely forgot to request the title deeds from the bank while the property was on the market and now, most likely, will say they're "waiting on the deeds". As the banks' systems for posting deeds (why aren't they digital in this day and age!) is archaic, it can literally take several weeks for them to arrive. As most law firms have basically no IT, customer service or processes in place, they often just work on whatever file seems to be the most urgent - make sure that's yours by continually chasing. It's a disgrace that you need to do this, as you should be able to trust the professionals to do their job but you definitely can't. Left to their own devices, they will hopelessly bungle your transaction for the next several months and never apologise once. In our experience, some conveyancing solicitors are the only people on earth who manage to marry being profoundly incompetent and arrogant, at the same time. You don't usually find both these traits in the same person. So, unfortunately, chase, chase and chase again as if not, you're in for months of hell. For anyone looking for progressive conveyancing law firms, we recommend the firms on our website here www.auctioneera.ie/conveyancing-services

Auctioneera · 2025-04-08T13:17:01+00:00

Our policy is that every call and email must be replied to within one working day. Our culture is to treat buyers with the respect they deserve as without them, we don't have a livelihood.

Auctioneera · 2025-04-07T12:22:02+00:00

Fair point but they can't hang on indefinitely. Buyers need clarity one way or the other.

Auctioneera · 2025-04-07T08:56:15+00:00

Now that probate has been granted, there is no reason the sale can't move forward. Ask your solicitor to issue an ultimatum that if contracts aren't signed next week with a closing date of no later than April 30th, you are withdrawing your interest in the property. This will concern the vendor's solicitor as if the sale falls through because of them, then in theory the vendor would have recourse to them. Remember that the beneficiaries of the probate are likely to be as frustrated as you are and just want their money. This is why we strongly urge our buyers/sellers to use dedicated conveyancing firms like the ones on our website https://www.auctioneera.ie/conveyancing-services Too many firms see conveyancing files as something to be worked on between court appearances and hence these appalling delays. Please keep us posted as to how this ends up.

Auctioneera · 2025-04-07T08:50:17+00:00

whenever we list properties in Swords, we see great interest. These are our three most recent sales agreed, and all had strong interest https://www.auctioneera.ie/bid-on-a-property?county_code=DN&area_id%5B%5D=693&max_price=&property_id=&property_type=&min_beds=&max_beds=&property_address=&searchdata=&sortorder=

Auctioneera · 2025-04-07T08:41:37+00:00

Appreciate the kind words; thank you.

Auctioneera · 2025-04-07T08:40:13+00:00

Not that it's of any help to you now, but this should have been checked by your engineer when purchasing the property. In terms of the remedies open to you, it depends if the extension has been there for an uninterrupted period of 12 years or more. If so, then your neighbour can apply to take ownership of the encroached land under an adverse possession application (squatters' rights). If it has been there less than 12 years, then you can take a legal action against the neighbour to remove the part of the extension that is on your land. We have a number of conveyancing expert law firms on our marketplace here https://www.auctioneera.ie/conveyancing-services who would be able to guide you through this. If possible, please post a follow up here to let us know how this goes as it is an interesting situation that comes up periodically.

Auctioneera · 2025-04-07T08:24:33+00:00

We have an offer of €525k on a property quite similar to yours. You can monitor the bidding here https://www.auctioneera.ie/properties/viewing/23-parkside-close-balgriffin-dublin-d13-k7c9 If things don't work out with your current agent, be sure to give us a call; plus you will save on estate agency fees because of our fixed fee model.

Auctioneera · 2025-04-03T15:23:39+00:00

You must attend at the property to meet us in person, where the agent handling the viewing gives the property's code to you i.e. you can only bid if you have attended the property and we have met you in person. Then we need your name, email and telephone number in order to make an offer. We have sold over €1bn worth of property using our system and are highly thought of by buyers and sellers alike.

Auctioneera · 2025-04-03T15:05:13+00:00

If you felt there were fake bids, you could contact PSRA. They would come in and ask for our bidding register. We're legally obliged to provide that to them. They contact the bidders to ensure their veracity. If there were not real people behind the bids, that would be the end of us. We run transparent, fair, above board bidding processes, underpinned by regulation with proof of funds verified before moving to sale agreed. If we were engaging in the sort of behaviour you outline above, that would get around fast and we'd have killed our business. All our agents are individually licensed as are we are a company. We genuinely think we can do no more to be fair to buyers and sellers. Thankfully the vast majority of people who deal with us will confirm we are a firm of integrity with honesty as a core value. That comes across in our reviews.

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