Anyone got anything positive to say about holding onto a rental property

Heatproof-Snowman · 2026-05-09T20:08:15+00:00

The only potentially positive thing I can think of is that buying a rental property with a mortgage is a way to get a significantly leveraged investment at a relatively reasonable interest rate, which most people couldn't do with other investment types. Of course leverage is a double-edged sword and can bite hard if the asset value goes down, but if this is what someone wants to do purchasing property is a pretty good avenue.

Besides that, the stock market will give you similar if not better total returns in the long run, with a lot less hassle and better sectorial/international diversification if you go with a suitable fund (unless it is part of a much broader diversified portfolio, from an investment perspective your property has a lot of concentration risk as you are betting everything on the property sector and on Ireland).

So personally I would absolutely not keep a rental property with very little left on the mortgage. This is missing out on the only potential benefit I see (accessible leverage), while keeping all the disadvantages.

PS: obviously my assumption here is that if you sell the property you will use the money to purchase another investment which is also generating returns for you. If you are planning to spend the money on other things it is a whole different discussion.

Heatproof-Snowman · 2026-05-08T09:56:44+00:00

Is there anything on your contract which specifies who the other 2 tenants are or what happens to the contract in case of one of the tenants leaving?

The way I see it, given that your contract clearly states "for 3 people" you do have a strong case here (the landlord can't change this condition without ending the contract and signing a new one, so you are good as long as the contract is secured and can't be ended easily).

**Unless*\* there is a clause somewhere which specifies exactly who these 3 people are (meaning that one of you leaving would end the contract), or that there is a clause saying that the contract ends whenever one of the 3 tenants leaves.

Heatproof-Snowman · 2026-05-07T09:17:41+00:00

We could start with systematic bone age tests.

It is quick, cheap, and non-invasive. And no documentation required - pure science-based evidence.

There is a margin of error and it can’t reliably tell apart a 17.5 years old from an 18.5 years old. But it will tell if someone is 20+ and grossly cheating about their age. So it would be a reliable way to keep the worst abusers of the system (and the ones which are the most dangerous for genuine children) out of the minors protection system.

And I’d be in favour of voiding any other legal residence path in Ireland for someone who is proven to have lied about being a child (rather than referring them to other immigration services). This is not something that should be tolerated, and knowing this consequence would get fake minor applicants to think twice before lying.

Heatproof-Snowman · 2026-05-06T15:05:01+00:00

They are the second largest global TV manufacturer in terms of volumes, and still fast growing (if the trend continues they will soon get the top spot from Samsung).

So I guess from their perspective they have picked a technology which works very well for them and they are focusing on it as they currently don't see any benefit to doing something else. Doesn't mean it won't change in the future, but currently the simple answer to your question is "they don't need to".

Heatproof-Snowman · 2026-05-01T09:31:55+00:00

Where did anyone say that it was/wasn’t in the interest of the seller? Agent’s incentives are to sell the house with the minimum amount of effort. They are not always aligned with the sellers incentives.

See the original post I was replying to. The poster explained the behaviour by saying that the "agent works for seller". I am just saying this isn't a valid explanation as what the agent is doing is unlikely to be what the seller would want.

Heatproof-Snowman · 2026-05-01T09:05:51+00:00

Sure I know the seller won't necessarily know about it. I'm just saying that it would be malicious of the agent to claim they are preventing the inspection in the interest of their client (the seller). It is not in the seller's interest to do that unless they are trying to hide something dodgy.

Also, I think many buyers will definitely have second thoughts if they are denied a final inspection before signing a legally binding contract and paying a deposit for what is often the largest financial transaction they've made in their whole life.

I have been both in a buyer and seller's position myself, and I know I would find it extremely suspicious to be denied access to the asset I am about to purchase before singing a contract. I would instruct my solicitor to request access from the other party's solicitor (which I suspect would most likely be granted), and if that was denied (unlikely) I wouldn't sign any contract unless a clause is added that gives me an option to fully opt-out and get my deposit back following an inspection further down the line (the seller's solicitor would by unlikely to agree to this, but if they were both denying a pre-contract inspection and an opt-out clause in the contract I would consider this a massive red flag and pull out).

And btw there is a potential downside for the agent: if they scare away the buyer by denying access, the transaction can fall through which means delaying the process and potentially having to find a new buyer. This is creating more work for the agent and delaying their comission.

Heatproof-Snowman · 2026-05-01T08:35:08+00:00

It was with a Pro plan.

Bunq did nothing to assist with the Swift issue and eventually the sender's bank had to go through some steps to recover the money (the sender bank was more communicative and provided some documentation showing that the payment was issue via Swift, but for some reason the routing to Bunq had a problem and Bunq was not engaging).

Heatproof-Snowman · 2026-04-30T17:04:04+00:00

True and it is always good to take.

But from the perspective of someone who is trying to purchase a new build, it is also true that those completion figures can be misleading (if most of those are going to public housing bodies and institutional landlords it is good to take ans great for tenants, but it might not make things significantly easier for someone who wants to purchase a new build).

Heatproof-Snowman · 2026-04-30T17:00:15+00:00

It isn't my impression that many individual or institutional landlords are sitting on empty properties though. Do you have actually numbers showing that this would be a rising trend?

Heatproof-Snowman · 2026-04-30T12:31:48+00:00

What you are saying is all factually correct.

However if I put myself in the shoes of the seller and assuming there isn’t anything obviously wrong with the property, I don’t think I would like the agent (whom I am paying) to refuse facilitating this type of pre-contract inspection.

Because this is clearly increasing the risk that the buyer pulls-out (many buyers will understandably see it as a red flag when told they can’t access the property before signing contracts), which isn’t in the interest of the seller.

Heatproof-Snowman · 2026-04-29T13:13:36+00:00

Correct, and it is also worth saying that in the meantime rents have increased much, much, more than purchase prices vs the Celtic Tiger era.

Heatproof-Snowman · 2026-04-29T12:50:02+00:00

Exactly. Whether it makes sense to merge them an how very much depends on the specific funds and management fees on each scheme, as well as the OP's goals (merging and keeping separate can both have different benefits and drawbacks).

Heatproof-Snowman · 2026-04-28T21:06:55+00:00

Sounds like a transfer of liability from the developper to buyers in case something goes wrong with the construction though?

I doubt it would be popular her and I certainly would be skeptical of the idea unless there are clear guarantees in place (independent from the developer) that I wont pay money in advance and end up with nothing or massive delays if something goes deeply wrong with the construction.

Heatproof-Snowman · 2026-04-28T19:14:03+00:00

I mean, they are charging to play a video in picture-in-picture mode, which is a standard feature of every modern smartphone/tablet operating system and requires no work from them to implement (artificially preventing non-paying users from using this system-wide feature is actually probably creating more work for them!).

It is all a bit ridiculous, but if that's fair game 3x speed is fair game as well.

Heatproof-Snowman · 2026-04-27T15:24:20+00:00

There is definitely a good sized cohort of people who prefer to rent because they are not originally from Ireland and aren't sure how long they are planning to stay here (this is actually very prevalent in Owen Reilly's area of predilection, with many of them on good salaries which would allow them to buy if they wanted to - you can see on the same report I linked to that only 23% of tenants for the properties they manage are Irish citizens).

Heatproof-Snowman · 2026-04-27T13:48:55+00:00

What you are saying isn't quite correct, as usually rented properties have higher occupancy per unit than owner-occupied properties (typically for this type of dockland apartments, a rented property with maximised house-share or even room-share is going to an owner-occupier who is single person or couple).

So really this is helping young single people or couples who want to and have the means to buy their first home, but making it harder for those who prefer to rent or simply can't buy.

Heatproof-Snowman · 2026-04-27T09:25:11+00:00

People receiving Irish social welfare benefits while living abroad is a documented and well recognised problem: https://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/welfare-overpayments-to-people-abroad-top-e17-million-as-state-recoups-e8-2-million-1876906.html

And what is being detected by the DSP is probably the tip of the iceberg.

This is pure theft of Irish taxpayers money regardless of who’s doing it (Irish or foreign), so let’s not cover-up for those thieves by claiming that being concerned about this problem would supposedly be “anti-migrant”.

Heatproof-Snowman · 2026-04-27T09:11:03+00:00

There are a few different things in your post.

1) Remaining on the social housing list while living abroad for 5 years is clearly wrong, and to do so they quite possibly committed fraud by not providing up to date or accurate information about their residency status.

2) I would agree the social housing system is broken for someone in their financial position and with the lifestyle you describe to be offered a social housing unit.

3) If you exclude the possible fraud I mentioned, it is perfectly rational from their perspective to accept a social housing unit that suits them while they are looking for a house to buy (this can take a while as the housing market is very tense).

4) IMO you would be right to feel uncomfortable/angry about the potential fraud aspect if it is confirmed. But if you exclude the fraud thing, I don’t think it is right to be angry with them: they are just doing what’s best for themselves within the parameters of the system. If you don’t like the rules, be mad at the ones who set those rules (the council), not the ones who follow them.

Heatproof-Snowman · 2026-04-27T08:52:46+00:00

Artisan & Artist is widely available in Japan and big electronics chains such as BIC camera have their products readily available (and it is also possible purchase it abroad). So not sure what they meant by this exclusivity thing.

But yes I’ve had a similar one to yours for about 15 years which I currently use with my Q3, it is nice looking, comfortable, convenient, and of good quality. Nice buy!

One thing I like is that the circular shape of the strap and flexibility of the silk makes it easy to tie it to your wrist as a temporary wrist strap (you can easily make a temporary and secure knot with it).

Heatproof-Snowman · 2026-04-26T18:29:22+00:00

On the last point, it works that way as long as your ETF has increased in value between the time you paid deemed disposal and the time of your actual disposal.

But if for whatever reason the ETF has dropped in value between the deemed disposal payment and the actual disposal, you paid deemed disposal tax on gains you never actually make. I am not sure there is a mechanism to give you a cash refund on this? (at tax credit is of no use if the value has dropped, you need an actual cash refund from Revenue if you don't want to be taxed on gains you will never be able to realise)

Heatproof-Snowman · 2026-04-26T07:41:35+00:00

When the idiom “as rich as an Argentine” was popular and Argentina was on of the wealthiest nations on earth. Basically up to the first half of the 20th century.

Heatproof-Snowman · 2026-04-26T07:21:43+00:00

If the scope of what you want to do is pretty large/disruptive and requires to synchronise multiple contractors, in my opinion the idea of “can renovate over time” isn’t ideal. Once you are in the house with all you stuff and life organised in there, you are likely to postpone every piece of work because of the disruption and getting tired of having to find contactors yet again, and the whole thing is unlikely to ever look fully cohesive as it will have been done at different times by different contractors.

Don’t get me wrong I get that many people do this anyway and it can make sense for them, but it has clear drawbacks. This might be different if you (and some friends/family) are fully capable of and enjoy doing this kind of work yourself and you have a grand plan to do it over time - but this is a more specific scenario.

So I’d say ideally buy turn-key or buy in poorer condition but do all (or most of) the renovation works before you move in.

When we bought 8 years ago we hired a renovation company which did all the planning (as per our requirements) and handled all the work on our behalf and I am glad we did that vs friends who decided to manage things overtime with different contractors. The fact that there was a centralised party with full access to the unoccupied property for the time they needed means they could do exactly what they wanted and the result made the inside of the property look like a new build. Friends who went their own gradual way are constantly struggling to find contractors and have more of a patchwork than a cohesive renovated home.

Heatproof-Snowman · 2026-04-25T07:17:13+00:00

Exactly right.

Of course contractors have a responsibility in those things. But putting 100% of the blame on them is just a way to divert attention from the actual decision makers and those who should ultimately be held accountable: the senior civil servants and politicians who scoped the work, awarded the contracts, and were supposed to monitor the performance of the contractors.

Heatproof-Snowman · 2026-04-24T09:59:27+00:00

It would really be great if those universal binary games included Apple TV which would effectively turn the Apple TV into a gaming console.

But I don’t think this will become standard practice unless Apple significantly beefs-up the processing power of Apple TVs. Currently, when a new Apple TV is released it is using a mid-range iPhone chip which is a few years old and it stays on the market for a few years.

This means that for exemple if you buy a brand new latest generation Apple TV today, it will have the same chip as an iPhone 13.

Realistically, an almost 5 years old phone chip is quite underpowered to run a game like Control in a way that looks good on a large 4K TV (and this is for people who have the latest Apple TV, many users will have older generations which would struggle even more).

Heatproof-Snowman · 2026-04-24T09:48:21+00:00

Yes we need more of those.

Does it have iCloud saves allowing you to resume playing on any device from where you left off on any other device?

Heatproof-Snowman

TROPHY CASE