Property Investment Website

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Irldigi

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Hi,

Any good Irish property investment forums or websites ?

Thanks,

Digi
 
property investment forum

Check out www.theicesgroup.com - there's an investment meeting coming up in Dublin on 11th Jan 05. I went to one in November and found it interesting, but am by nature a skeptical person and thought 'if it's that easy, everyone should be doing it'. Didn't get much of a response to my thread 'tax deductions on 2 or more properties' referring to information received at the discussion - I'd be interested to know if anyone else has been to their meetings and what their opinion is.
 
Re: property investment forum

Hi delgirl,

I went to one of these meetings back in November and I too found it all too cosy. It seem to be the arena where people who think they know it all, can demonstrate their "knowledge" to people who are curious about property investment. The core of the discussion seems to be around just buy property, rent it and you're loaded. Nothing about the risk, what if scenarios, etc. Also didn't cover the legal aspects such as fire certs, etc, etc, etc. The presenters of the info do acknowledge that they are not professionals in the area but the problem is that most people there feel they trust the concept and don't take there own info/slant on the discussion

To be fair the concept is good but unfortunately it leaves many people without a real understanding about what's involved. Personally I would never go again and wouldn't really recommend it if you want to learn about true property investment. There's no malice intended but simply the people I know would learn more elsewhere and from their own research.

The highlight of the night was a guest presenter who has turned his life around by analysing his outgoing costs and reducing unnecessary expenses (by selling his 4 x 4 Jeepy car thingy and buying an equally reliable 8yr old mazda). Everyboy applauded him and to be honest it felt like a AA meeting would or one of those Religous Programmes on late night telly. I left after this. :)

Jason.
 
Property Investment Forum

Hi Jason

Glad to hear someone else was there and felt as uneasy as I did!

On the evening I was there, we also had various members of the audience coming up with stories of great achievement in the property market. One of the presenters, Ian, recounted a story of a guy who went to his local Mercedes Garage to trade in his Merc for an '04 model. They offered him 40,000 Euro in trade-in value. He went home, thought about it and decided to buy 2 appartments, let them, lease an '04 Merc and "offset the cost fully against the rental income on the 2 appartments" (which I understand is not possible), leaving him a winner with 2 properties, a new Merc to drive and surplus rental income to boot!

I know someone who is seriously thinking of using the equity in their PPS to purchase up to 4 properties in Dublin and find this more than scary!

There were not enought 'caveats' on the potential pitfalls of the rental market and, having been badly burned myself in London, I was amazed! When my companion raised a 'negative' question, she was quickly brushed aside and the discussion moved on.

Anyone who wants to go to their meetings should go with an open mind and take independent financial advice before making any financial commitments.
 
Re: Property Investment Forum

"lease an '04 Merc and " 'offset the cost fully against the rental income on the 2 appartments' "

This is a prime example of the type of horror stories that I saw. I'm still trying to place the type of situation. I suppose it is similar to a TV ad for some new diets - "Just after 8 weeks I was down from a size 16 to a size 8" or something. Personally I would like to see the figures on this process, my gut tells me that the guy simply got into more and more debt. Instead of having an 03 Merc (or whatever), he has an 04 Merc two houses and is probably €0.75M+ in debt with a huge risk if he cannot fill one of the houses for six months.

Interesting how you felt about the "negative" aspects being brushed on. I thought it was just me.

So to echo delgirl's comments... be warned!
 
Finally, here's one for you.....the owner of askaboutmoney was a regular attendee at ICES.

I don't know about the rest of your post, but just to set the record straight, I attended one meeting of ICES out of curiosity.

I was astonished at the complete lack of any informed analysis. They quoted "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" in the same way that fundamentalist Christians quote the bible. They suggested investment strategies based on American tax law, rather than Irish tax law. I spent some time explaining to the meeting the basics of Irish taxation. ICES wasn't going long at the time, so I presume that they have improved since then.

The main speaker on the night spoke about investing in shares and really had very little understanding of the subject. He was a guy who had been investing for about 4 years and had made money. He believed in fundamental analysis and had very little understanding of risk, diversification and the nature of stock markets.


Brendan
 
I now buy cheap property instead of expensive cars.

Can you elaborate what you mean by cheap property? Where? I assume you are referring to self financing rather than prospective capital appreciation. Out of curiousity could you illustrate? Interested to know your thoughts...
 
Cashflowing property, reduced prices in the current market. Get yourself onto an ICES course if you want to learn more!! That's what I did.:)

Ah come on?? Surely you can give us a few more nuggets than this? Are you sworn to secrecy or something? Do you have to be a paid up member of ICES to learn the ICES secrets to success?
 
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