An added service for our home seller clients and a benefit to potential buyers.

Making is easy to receive information about a home is just as important as what is received when that information is requested. 

That’s one of the advantages of the internet: it allows us to present a lot of relevant information about a property, the location and all the relevant information.  Just check out this single property website.  

When driving by a home, many times someone wants to get just the basics: price, size etc.   without then being harassed to buy and agent or interrogated.  

We understand: Thus, we provide several ways for those who drive by a home to get information.

1. A direct phone number.

2. A dedicated property website.

3. A text for info service.  This is the one I’d like to feature in this post, and it’s this one that is shown in the photo above and below, delivered directly to a phone.

Basically you may text a simple 5 digit number to another 5 digit number and what you get back is what’s show by (no. 1), the basics, price, square feet, bedrooms and bathrooms and lot size.  That is information you don’t need a data plan for.  

There is also a link which, once clicked, displays the same information as before plus all the photos of the interior and exterior as by (no. 2).

While we still get more phone calls from drive-by persons. We don’t have to be contacted to get the same info or photos and the frequency of these text requests is increasing.  

Basically the goal is to make it easy to get valuable information, whether the person wants to call us, text us or visit the website, punch in the address into Google, or via keywords. 

To learn more about how we market home please see an overview: home marketing with measurable results. 

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  So your home is online, but are the right potential buyers even finding or looking at it. There is more to being online then just being there.

It’s time to quiz planners for their part in the crash, says ISABEL MORTON

AS THE next few rounds of the blame game get going, including the banking enquiry, one wonders when our 88 different planning authorities and more importantly, our planning appeals board (An Bord Pleanála), will get much more than a sharp slap on the wrist for their part in the property fiasco which resulted in some 300,000 homes lying empty.

No doubt individual planning authorities, much like the banks and the developers, were only interested in what was going on in their own back yard, but one would have to wonder how and why An Bord Pleanála upheld permission for so much of what was built during the Tiger days.

An Bord Pleanála’s mission statement is “to play our part as an independent body in ensuring that physical development and major infrastructure projects in Ireland respect the principles of sustainable development and are planned in an efficient, fair and open manner”.

Surely, as an independent body, An Bord Pleanála was responsible for ensuring that local planning authorities didn’t lose the run of themselves? Why did they permit so much to be built, in so many obviously unsuitable locations, over such a long period of time?

Indeed, much like the Financial Regulator, Bord Pleanála could have gone a long way towards stopping the property train from going off the rails. But it didn’t and, so far, has managed to escape the nation’s wrath.

As we recently discovered, it was not just a simple case of getting the numbers wrong and allowing too many units to be built; it permitted many developments to be built in areas which were at risk of flooding and had poor infrastructure and inadequate services and facilities.

Furthermore, there appears to have been no control or any overall planning strategy, which might have prevented many minuscule one and two-bedroom apartments, none suitable for families with children and many of inferior design and construction, being built.

Ironically, last October 2009, at the launch of Bord Pleanála’s 2008 annual report, its chairman, John O’Connor, said he was “concerned that developers may be tempted, in the present market, to return to lower density development. However, national policies on building more sustainable communities for the future do not favour a return to old-style density development due to the greater than ever need for the most efficient use of expensive infrastructure, for increased environmental sustainability and for less urban sprawl.”

Of course developers will be “tempted” by lower density developments of houses rather than apartments, as there would hardly be much point in building more apartments to add to the unsold glut.

However, Minister for the Environment John Gormley recently recommended an amendment to the Planning and Development Bill 2009, which he brought before the Dáil last December. He said: “I have also taken a strong stance with certain local authorities by issuing directions requiring them to amend their development plans where they have included excessive or inappropriate zonings,” suggesting that planning authorities should consider using existing “down-zoning” provisions.

“It is no coincidence that our commuter towns are now suffering the most from the economic downturn. These are the towns where house upon house was built, and field upon field rezoned, with little thought given to flood risk assessment, or where nothing was provided by way of community facilities or amenities. This is not my idea of sustainable communities. Scatterings of estates, poorly linked by transport, under constant threat of flooding, distant from schools and dependent on transport by car, must become a feature of our past, not our present or future.” He explained how the Bill included the introduction of “flood risk assessments” as part of proposed future planning applications and recommended that all land zonings would have to be the subject of public consultation.

An amendment to the Bill is undoubtedly necessary; however, you can’t but wonder at the point of closing and locking the stable door at this stage. Gormley’s most interesting comment, however, came following his acknowledgement of planning departments’ increased workload and his respect for locally elected councillors, when he said: “I do not want their work contaminated by that small number of people who use the planning system for their own gain.”

His statement was a clear acknowledgement that all has not been well within planning departments. No doubt, they will be the next on the long list of organisations, which will be made subject to lengthy public (yet behind closed doors) enquiries. Like a large onion, there is always another layer to be peeled. And with each layer, come more tears.

Report by ISABEL MORTON – Irish Times

Ireland Property – Daft Property – http://daftproperty.blogspot.com

Part residential and part commercial, a great space for a small professional office, restaurant, gallery.

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Over 600 ghost estates stand as haunting legacy of crash…

THE startling scale of Ireland’s property crash is laid bare today as academics reveal that more than 600 ‘ghost’ estates are scattered around the country.

For the first time, a comprehensive map charts the locations of the empty and abandoned developments that stand as haunting monuments to the Celtic Tiger splurge.

The analysis suggests pockets of the north-west and midlands will be worst hit by a housing glut that will take years to sell off.

Largely rural counties Leitrim, Longford, Roscommon and Sligo have the highest number of partially built and semi-vacant housing estates when measured against their populations.

Their relative distance from major cities is expected to compound their oversupply problem for the foreseeable future.

Although Cork has 96 so-called ‘ghost’ estates and Dublin 58 — the highest figures by county — it is believed that their urban populations can absorb the surplus much sooner.

The map was drawn up by the National Institute of Regional and Spatial Analysis (Nirsa), which last week revealed that more than 300,000 houses now lie empty around the country.

Professor Rob Kitchin, director of the NUI Maynooth-based body which advises the Government, said black-spot counties at the end of the N4 could be scarred for up to a decade.

“The population went up the M1, the N2, down the N7, down the N11 and so the N4 was the last big corridor. They started their housing boom after everybody else.”

His calculation shows that there are 621 ‘ghost’ estates. The worst-hit area is Leitrim, where 2,945 homes were built during the boom, despite population projections that showed just 588 homes were actually needed.

Longford, Roscommon and Sligo, in particular, as well as Monaghan, Cavan and Carlow also face years of oversupply.

In the months ahead, the State’s ‘bad bank’, Nama, will assess the value of the uncompleted and half-empty estates and determine their future.

Nirsa estimates around half of them will be taken over by the agency, which will then have to decide whether to sell, lease, maintain, hold, develop or demolish them.

There is speculation that some developers are keeping ‘ghost’ estates off the market or hiking their prices in the hope that Nama will value them higher and take them off their hands.

Prof Kitchen believes many estates in rural areas could be left as eerie monuments to the property crash.

“They will just be left as scars on the landscape, because nobody will be prepared to pay the cost of knocking them down and restoring the land to agricultural prices,” he said.

Report by Brian Hutton – Irish Independent

Ireland Property – Daft Property – http://daftproperty.blogspot.com

It was going to be in spring when the market warms up with a hot flash in the summer, but the activity has started early.

(illustration: PhoenixMarketTrends)

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State to rent Nama properties for social housing…

The government plans to rent thousands of vacant houses and apartments from the National Asset Management Agency (Nama) and use them for social housing.

Representatives of the new ‘bad bank’ have held meetings with officials in the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government to explore the possibility of renting out properties that would otherwise lie empty.

Housing minister Michael Finneran said his officials were seeking to ensure a ‘‘social dividend’’ from Nama by renting residential units on long-term leases for social housing purposes.

Finneran said an arrangement could help to deliver ‘‘a return in line with Nama’s mandate’’.

The government is under pressure to demonstrate to the European Commission that Nama will be capable of generating significant ongoing cash flows over its lifetime, and that the new agency will not be excessively generous to participating banks.

While a move to rent properties for social housing would generate income for Nama, it could be controversial, as it would mean that tax revenues were being used to pay rents to the agency.

Finance minister Brian Lenihan told the Dáil last year that Nama would aim to generate a profit and that such an outcome would be achievable in certain circumstances. However, critics argued that the minister’s assumptions were too optimistic and based on forecasts of ongoing income streams and a recovery in property values that were unlikely to be realised.

‘‘From a social housing perspective, I see clear potential for real and meaningful synergies between the work of Nama in ensuring the stability of the financial system, and the role of my department in responding to social housing need,” said a statement from Finneran.

He said the provision of social housing by local authorities was moving towards ‘‘more flexible delivery mechanisms’’ that included long term leases and the rental accommodation scheme.

He said the government favoured this approach over the traditional model of building or acquiring homes for social housing purposes.

Research published earlier this month by the National Institute of Regional and Spatial Analysis, which is based at NUI Maynooth, estimated the number of empty houses and apartments at more than 300,000. A large number of those are likely to transfer to Nama.

Report by David Clerkin and Ian Kehoe – Sunday Business Post

Ireland Property – Daft Property – http://daftproperty.blogspot.com

State to rent Nama properties for social housing…

The government plans to rent thousands of vacant houses and apartments from the National Asset Management Agency (Nama) and use them for social housing.

Representatives of the new ‘bad bank’ have held meetings with officials in the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government to explore the possibility of renting out properties that would otherwise lie empty.

Housing minister Michael Finneran said his officials were seeking to ensure a ‘‘social dividend’’ from Nama by renting residential units on long-term leases for social housing purposes.

Finneran said an arrangement could help to deliver ‘‘a return in line with Nama’s mandate’’.

The government is under pressure to demonstrate to the European Commission that Nama will be capable of generating significant ongoing cash flows over its lifetime, and that the new agency will not be excessively generous to participating banks.

While a move to rent properties for social housing would generate income for Nama, it could be controversial, as it would mean that tax revenues were being used to pay rents to the agency.

Finance minister Brian Lenihan told the Dáil last year that Nama would aim to generate a profit and that such an outcome would be achievable in certain circumstances. However, critics argued that the minister’s assumptions were too optimistic and based on forecasts of ongoing income streams and a recovery in property values that were unlikely to be realised.

‘‘From a social housing perspective, I see clear potential for real and meaningful synergies between the work of Nama in ensuring the stability of the financial system, and the role of my department in responding to social housing need,” said a statement from Finneran.

He said the provision of social housing by local authorities was moving towards ‘‘more flexible delivery mechanisms’’ that included long term leases and the rental accommodation scheme.

He said the government favoured this approach over the traditional model of building or acquiring homes for social housing purposes.

Research published earlier this month by the National Institute of Regional and Spatial Analysis, which is based at NUI Maynooth, estimated the number of empty houses and apartments at more than 300,000. A large number of those are likely to transfer to Nama.

Report by David Clerkin and Ian Kehoe – Sunday Business Post

Ireland Property – Daft Property – http://daftproperty.blogspot.com

THE head of Ireland’s auctioneers and the former Finance Minister Ray MacSharry have clashed over the future of the so-called ‘ghost estates’ left over from the property boom.

President of the IAVI (Irish Auctioneers and Valuers Institute) Aine Myler has suggested that some new estates may have to be demolished altogether as part of an ongoing effort to restore stability to the property market.

Speaking to the Sunday Independent at the IAVI’s annual conference in Dublin on Friday, Ms Myler said that as a result of poor planning and a lack of infrastructure, some of the country’s newer housing stock may never be required.

Asked what could be done with these developments, Ms Myler said: “It’s really difficult to know. It shows up a number of issues that emerged during the boom, where there was poor planning, the building of large estates where there was no infrastructure, no transport links and other links which have probably diminished in the meantime as a result of the retraction of services.”

And while she readily conceded that there was a “huge national demand” for social housing, she went on to say that it would be unfair to place anyone in an estate if they did not want to live there.

She said: “We have a huge national demand of people who need housing from a social perspective, and yet that housing might be in locations where it’s not required. Is it fair to ship people out to that location just because there happens to be an empty house there?

“I haven’t heard any viable proposals about what to do other than to potentially knock down some of these developments.”

Ms Myler’s belief that demolition might be the only alternative for certain developments was met with total disagreement from Mr MacSharry.

“It shouldn’t be the case under any circumstances that any construction should have to be knocked down,” said the former finance minister credited with pulling Ireland out of the last recession.

“The country will survive. Why knock down structures that you know you are going to need in two, five or seven years? It’s a ridiculous suggestion as far as I’d be concerned.”

Offering his own view on the matter of the oversupply of housing across the country — estimated last week to be as high as 300,000 units — he said: “My own view has always been that the overhang should be purchased by local authorities to get rid of housing lists and the waiting lists. That would do a number of things. It would get rid of the housing list and it would generate activity in the housing sector.”

But while the IAVI president drew the ire of Mr MacSharry for her views, she did receive some support from a more unlikely quarter.

Commenting on the matter, director of Social Justice Ireland (SJI), Fr Sean Healy, said: “People build estates in the wrong places where people don’t live and consequently it’s not possible for those estates to be viable. It makes no sense to ship people into communities that would be non-viable where some of these housing estates actually exist.”

Citing examples in the counties of Roscommon and Leitrim as just two cases in point, he added: “One new estate in Roscommon that was built during the boom years, as far as I know there’s nobody occupying any of the houses. It is a very small place. There is no way you can put 50 new households in there and have it viable.

“In another estate in Co Leitrim there were hundreds of houses built. Many of them are now not occupied. There is no viable support system for people on social housing in that context, so it makes no sense to move people into housing estates that have been built with no potential to be economically viable. They are (only) economically viable for people who have been living there all their lives.”

The SJI director concluded by saying: “People who took the risks and put them there, maybe they see a possible future if they hold on to them long enough that they could be used as holiday homes in the summer, or for people who want a second home or something, I don’t know.

“My reaction to it, in part at least, is that these were built on the basis of economic incentives and forecasts that were simply nonsensical and as a result people who built them are now left holding them and they have to find solutions.”

Commenting on the overall prospects for Irish residential property, meanwhile, the IAVI president said she believed a three-tier market was now emerging.

“It will be a three-tier market, and we’ve seen already how that’s started to divide up around the country where you have some activity at affordable levels in Dublin, a level of activity in other places, and then places where there is no activity,” she said.

Report by RONALD QUINLAN – Sunday Independent

Ireland Property – Daft Property – http://daftproperty.blogspot.com

THE head of Ireland’s auctioneers and the former Finance Minister Ray MacSharry have clashed over the future of the so-called ‘ghost estates’ left over from the property boom.

President of the IAVI (Irish Auctioneers and Valuers Institute) Aine Myler has suggested that some new estates may have to be demolished altogether as part of an ongoing effort to restore stability to the property market.

Speaking to the Sunday Independent at the IAVI’s annual conference in Dublin on Friday, Ms Myler said that as a result of poor planning and a lack of infrastructure, some of the country’s newer housing stock may never be required.

Asked what could be done with these developments, Ms Myler said: “It’s really difficult to know. It shows up a number of issues that emerged during the boom, where there was poor planning, the building of large estates where there was no infrastructure, no transport links and other links which have probably diminished in the meantime as a result of the retraction of services.”

And while she readily conceded that there was a “huge national demand” for social housing, she went on to say that it would be unfair to place anyone in an estate if they did not want to live there.

She said: “We have a huge national demand of people who need housing from a social perspective, and yet that housing might be in locations where it’s not required. Is it fair to ship people out to that location just because there happens to be an empty house there?

“I haven’t heard any viable proposals about what to do other than to potentially knock down some of these developments.”

Ms Myler’s belief that demolition might be the only alternative for certain developments was met with total disagreement from Mr MacSharry.

“It shouldn’t be the case under any circumstances that any construction should have to be knocked down,” said the former finance minister credited with pulling Ireland out of the last recession.

“The country will survive. Why knock down structures that you know you are going to need in two, five or seven years? It’s a ridiculous suggestion as far as I’d be concerned.”

Offering his own view on the matter of the oversupply of housing across the country — estimated last week to be as high as 300,000 units — he said: “My own view has always been that the overhang should be purchased by local authorities to get rid of housing lists and the waiting lists. That would do a number of things. It would get rid of the housing list and it would generate activity in the housing sector.”

But while the IAVI president drew the ire of Mr MacSharry for her views, she did receive some support from a more unlikely quarter.

Commenting on the matter, director of Social Justice Ireland (SJI), Fr Sean Healy, said: “People build estates in the wrong places where people don’t live and consequently it’s not possible for those estates to be viable. It makes no sense to ship people into communities that would be non-viable where some of these housing estates actually exist.”

Citing examples in the counties of Roscommon and Leitrim as just two cases in point, he added: “One new estate in Roscommon that was built during the boom years, as far as I know there’s nobody occupying any of the houses. It is a very small place. There is no way you can put 50 new households in there and have it viable.

“In another estate in Co Leitrim there were hundreds of houses built. Many of them are now not occupied. There is no viable support system for people on social housing in that context, so it makes no sense to move people into housing estates that have been built with no potential to be economically viable. They are (only) economically viable for people who have been living there all their lives.”

The SJI director concluded by saying: “People who took the risks and put them there, maybe they see a possible future if they hold on to them long enough that they could be used as holiday homes in the summer, or for people who want a second home or something, I don’t know.

“My reaction to it, in part at least, is that these were built on the basis of economic incentives and forecasts that were simply nonsensical and as a result people who built them are now left holding them and they have to find solutions.”

Commenting on the overall prospects for Irish residential property, meanwhile, the IAVI president said she believed a three-tier market was now emerging.

“It will be a three-tier market, and we’ve seen already how that’s started to divide up around the country where you have some activity at affordable levels in Dublin, a level of activity in other places, and then places where there is no activity,” she said.

Report by RONALD QUINLAN – Sunday Independent

Ireland Property – Daft Property – http://daftproperty.blogspot.com

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