Comments for NAMA Wine Lake

Comment on Eddie Hobbs’s US “partner” firm in court accused of Ponzi scheme of mini-Madoff proportions by Wisemama

Wisemama — Sun, 19 May 2013 10:13:33 +0000

Archived Blog found today…see below. Wonder how this person was persuaded to remove it?

THURSDAY, 29 MARCH 2012
Metro Property Management Detroit have ripped me off – beware
If there are any UK property investors with properties in Detroit or are thinking about doing so…..do not use Metro Property Management- Due to there incompetence in handling the rental of my property to HUD Section 8 of Detroit City Council I ended up with a non authorised occupier that stayed in my house for over 4 months rent free….Metro did not adhere to procedures , allowed the tenant to sign a lease without getting the property inspected and authorised by Section 8 housing and guess what….HUD did not recognise the lease and refused to pay the occupies rent…..I had to get legal support to evict the occupier which cost me $300 and once they had left the property which I had paid to be refurbished in the first place ….approx$1200 …..I then had to spend a further $800 to get the mess the unauthorised tenant had left my unmanaged property in….thanks Ali and Samir Bayoun…..oh and by the way as token or gesture of compensation Metro offered tp pay me $300 to cover the eviction costs….which I accepted….and guess what…they have not paid me….Avoid this company like the plague…they are sharks and do not work by the rules and they have cost me a fortune…..

Comment on Of the Week… by Dorothy Jones

Dorothy Jones — Sun, 19 May 2013 09:27:49 +0000

Pity the Of the Week was before the Eurovision: Ireland comes Paddy Last, Greece sings ‘Alcohol for Free’ or something like that…which merits 12 points!! from Cyprus while male Rod Stewart Bonnie Tyler is wheeled out to ‘sing’ for the UK:)
Unintentionally hilarious article from Spiegel licking its readers wounds on behalf of Cascada: http://www.spiegel.de/kultur/musik/deutsche-esc-blamage-europa-wuergt-cascada-ab-a-900718.html

Comment on Eddie Hobbs’s US “partner” firm in court accused of Ponzi scheme of mini-Madoff proportions by Sean Bean

Sean Bean — Sun, 19 May 2013 07:47:38 +0000

It’s an interesting conundrum. AFAIK in these situations the property is bought for small change. It awaits full refurb pending its vacancy usually when the tenancy is up or forced eviction in some harder cases. The balance of cash is held in escrow and released to do the refurbishment. Once complete the property has a normal market value. As for Detriot itself it ranks with Arizona and Atlanta as the fastest bouncing property market but parts of it are no go areas. Ditto Chicago. It depends as ever on location. The Detroit region is vast, about half the size of Ireland, far as I know.

Comment on Of the Week… by John Foody

John Foody — Sat, 18 May 2013 23:03:25 +0000

I doubt there is a ‘large supply’ of Irish citizens willing to do these jobs, never mind a supply willing do them for less.

If your thesis was correct why are there so many foreign nationals currently employed in these jobs?

I work in Dublin, I visited a coffee shop, Aldi, Tesco and a Spar today. I was not served by nor did I observe any Irish nationals in any of them.

Besides a reduction in minimum-wage won’t necessarily lead to increases in employment. See link below for example.

http://davidcard.berkeley.edu/papers/njmin-aer.pdf
‘None of the alternatives shows a negative employment effect.’

Comment on Eddie Hobbs’s US “partner” firm in court accused of Ponzi scheme of mini-Madoff proportions by Wisemama

Wisemama — Sat, 18 May 2013 18:44:17 +0000

Actually having had another quick scan through it I think (again only my opinion) that the guy who repeatedly (allegedly) signed two leases – one for the investor and one for the actual tenant – has got some explaining to do. Aren’t leases legal documents? Pretty sure they are. Then there is the lawyer who is allegedly evicting people that don’t exist. Then there is some other lawyer who is threatening to send them all (the complainants) to jail for 25 years (allegedly).

The whole thing begs the question………what person in their right mind would invest any money in this place to begin with! And what were Brendan Investments thinking of when they decided to invest their clients money in a place so notorious for property scams. Still, according to Brendan Investments statement, Metro have been totally transparent with them so there can’t be any surprises here and so it follows they must have all the answers to the above.

Comment on Of the Week… by otto

otto — Sat, 18 May 2013 17:02:44 +0000

I might well feel that! But Dunnes Store workers are overpaid given the skills involved and the large supply of unemployed people in Ireland who would be willing to do the job for less.

It is unfortunately at the low-skills, low-education part where the Irish labour market in many ways works least well. That’s where unemployment is concentrated, and where there are all sorts of rigidities overpaying insiders and increasing unemployment.

Comment on Of the Week… by Frank Street

Frank Street — Sat, 18 May 2013 16:42:33 +0000

@ Otto. In regard to your “overpaid Dunnes Store workers” comment: trust me, if you had ever worked for Dunnes Stores, you would feel remarkably underpaid. Trust me on this.

Comment on Eddie Hobbs’s US “partner” firm in court accused of Ponzi scheme of mini-Madoff proportions by Wisemama

Wisemama — Sat, 18 May 2013 16:24:55 +0000

My understanding is that it is not ‘Metro’ who need to respond to the accusations but the defendants – lots of them, not sure exactly how many. So unless I am wrong each one will have to deal fully with each accusation, as Sean Bean has pointed out. The one with the biggest problem I think (just my opinion) is the accountant. How is he going to explain why he was paying out rent on properties that were either empty and not fit to live in, or had tenants who were not paying any rent because the conditions were so bad, or tenants who were paying hundreds of dollars below the rent he was paying out. The obvious answer is it was coming out of the investors own investment money (that is how Ponzi schemes work) but of course he may have a perfectly simple explanation. Looking forward to seeing it.

Comment on Of the Week… by John Gallaher

John Gallaher — Sat, 18 May 2013 15:12:01 +0000

With this pedigree and resume,one wonders did he ever pull the trigger himself…and buy a few bricks and sticks……tut tut :)
But fair play after a lifetime in the game a fresh start is eh….a fresh start.Still,made me laugh this week Sherry Fitz like really ???
http://www.costellocommercial.com/aboutus.htm
http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=mQZmCJUSC6g&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DmQZmCJUSC6g

Comment on Of the Week… by John Gallaher

John Gallaher — Sat, 18 May 2013 14:36:10 +0000

And the biggest L off the week has to be…..
Speaking about his appointment, Mark FitzGerald, Executive Chairman of the Sherry FitzGerald Group said, “there are a significant number of companies and organisations in Ireland whose core business isn’t property but who nonetheless have a significant involvement in property. Given our nationwide offering and our wide sectoral expertise, John will focus on broadening our client base working with many leading Irish and International companies along with the state and semi-state sector. John is one of the most respected practitioners in the country and we are delighted he is joining forces with us”.
http://propertypad.ie/2013/05/08/john-costello-joins-dtz-sherry-fitzgerald/
http://vimeo.com/17098703