B
BobbyMc
Guest
Age: 49
Spouse’s/Partner's age: 49
Annual gross income from employment or profession: 0 per week
Annual gross income of spouse: 204 per week in benefits
Type of employment: Self employed in construction
In general are you:
Rough estimate of value of home: 250,000
Amount outstanding on your mortgage: 0
What interest rate are you paying? N/A
Other borrowings – $400,000 for business property loan
Do you pay off your full credit card balance each month? Yes
If not, what is the balance on your credit card? N/A
Savings and investments: 10,000
Do you have a pension scheme? Yes
Do you own any investment or other property? Yes - 4 houses valued at roughly €700,000 in total if am being realistic
Ages of children: 25 year old daughter
Life insurance: Yes
What specific question do you have or what issues are of concern to you? I am self employed in construction and out of work apart from the odd job here and there. I built 4 houses in a rural area with a view to sell in 2006. We had savings of almost 400,000 back then from a previous property sale which we put straight into this project. We got blinded by the celtic tiger and the houses are not moving even after dropping almost 50% off the original asking price. They are currently advertised at $200,000 each ($375,000 each in 2006) but not moving so I'd say the combined value is probably 700,000 at the moment but who knows. The rental demand is quite low in the area so our rental income just about covers our interest only repayments (bank extended us to interest only for another year recently). This may not be the case if the bank look for repayments on the capital next year.
We are lucky in that we have no mortgage on our home or personal debt and can survive on my wife's benefits plus our savings. We don't spend a lot of money in general (no holidays abroad and only a 9 year old car for both of us). My wife's brother has already offered us $40,000 should we have a cash flow problem. We refused it but it is there as a last resort if things get really bad.
My question is should we drop the price of the 4 houses even further taking a bigger hit or should we see it out in the hope that we can regain some of our losses? We are not under pressure as things stand but that could change depending on our unreliable rental income and if the banks refuse to give us interest only repayments next year.
Spouse’s/Partner's age: 49
Annual gross income from employment or profession: 0 per week
Annual gross income of spouse: 204 per week in benefits
Type of employment: Self employed in construction
In general are you:
Rough estimate of value of home: 250,000
Amount outstanding on your mortgage: 0
What interest rate are you paying? N/A
Other borrowings – $400,000 for business property loan
Do you pay off your full credit card balance each month? Yes
If not, what is the balance on your credit card? N/A
Savings and investments: 10,000
Do you have a pension scheme? Yes
Do you own any investment or other property? Yes - 4 houses valued at roughly €700,000 in total if am being realistic
Ages of children: 25 year old daughter
Life insurance: Yes
What specific question do you have or what issues are of concern to you? I am self employed in construction and out of work apart from the odd job here and there. I built 4 houses in a rural area with a view to sell in 2006. We had savings of almost 400,000 back then from a previous property sale which we put straight into this project. We got blinded by the celtic tiger and the houses are not moving even after dropping almost 50% off the original asking price. They are currently advertised at $200,000 each ($375,000 each in 2006) but not moving so I'd say the combined value is probably 700,000 at the moment but who knows. The rental demand is quite low in the area so our rental income just about covers our interest only repayments (bank extended us to interest only for another year recently). This may not be the case if the bank look for repayments on the capital next year.
We are lucky in that we have no mortgage on our home or personal debt and can survive on my wife's benefits plus our savings. We don't spend a lot of money in general (no holidays abroad and only a 9 year old car for both of us). My wife's brother has already offered us $40,000 should we have a cash flow problem. We refused it but it is there as a last resort if things get really bad.
My question is should we drop the price of the 4 houses even further taking a bigger hit or should we see it out in the hope that we can regain some of our losses? We are not under pressure as things stand but that could change depending on our unreliable rental income and if the banks refuse to give us interest only repayments next year.