“I understand the sensitivity of sales under NAMA but I am concerned that in giving misleading addresses or limited information on properties for sale NAMA is constraining ordinary people from knowing what is for sale and bidding on these properties” Deputy Mary Mitchell O’Connor speaking in the Dail on 15th November, 2011
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Dail-plinth joyrider and Miss Piggy-dubbed TD, Mary Mitchell O’Connor posed an important question on the probity and transparency of NAMA’s operations last week in the Dail when she asked about the sale of a property which is understood to have been foreclosed by NAMA. The property is correctly known as “Ashcastle” or “Ash Castle” and is located in Booterstown in south county Dublin. However on the NAMA foreclosure list, it is referred to as Booterstown Marsh which is a nature reserve and certainly not foreclosed. So NAMA gets its property descriptions wrong but apparently it also gets the status of the property’s availability for sale wrong. NAMA says in its latest foreclosure list – the one produced on 29th October, 2011 – that the property is “Not for Sale at Present”.
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Which is a pity because there appear to be potential purchasers interested in acquiring “Ashcastle”, the correct name for the property and their expressions of interest were not being entertained by the receiver, apparently. So what is happening?
According to Sarah McInerney writing in the Irish Sunday Times on Sunday last 20th November, 2011 (not available online without a subscription), NAMA is saying that the property is in fact now available for sale. NAMA told the newspaper that the “likely reason for the inaccurate listing was that a sale had been agreed but had fallen through at the last minute”; NAMA goes on to say that the list is updated only once per month and it might be that a sale status changes during the month. Strangely the NAMA spokesman wasn’t able to be more specific than that. The property at Ashcastle is probably worth around the €0.5m mark.
So we have NAMA putting inaccurate descriptions on property which are for sale and, apparently, expressions of interest being rejected because a sale might be agreed but falls through at the last minute. We should perhaps be impressed that NAMA produces the list at all, remember it was only 28th July 2011 that NAMA produced the first version of the list and NAMA has previously been accused of not selling property under its control below value, though those accusations were never shown to be founded.
We are still waiting for NAMA to produce its monthly Foreclosure List in a manipulable format like Excel, making it very difficult to see what property has been removed from the list each month. NAMA says that property may be removed from the list if it is sold or in a few incidences, for legal reasons or the description was amended by the receiver (e.g. a single retail unit and a single residential unit in the same development which are amended to multiple unit – mixed use). It seems that the Agency which has annual internal operating costs of €40m is having some difficulty ensuring property under management is presented accurately and attractively so as to maximise buyer interest. And if these problems persist, what hope has NAMA of maximising its profit, which the Agency reminds us, is its primary objective.
NAMA Wine Lake 
just another way of ensuring they all continue to get their fat salaries…and huge bonus if they are good boys!!!..surely under european law..and the freedom of information act..we the ordinary tax paying irish citizen we should be informed on daily activities within NAMA….the letters should stand for NewAssholesMayApply!!!….now…as a first time buyer…we can offer you a pyrite house?…or would you prefer something rural?….45 miles from your job…with no infrastructer?..our list is very attractive
Worked for a receiver in the past. They made no effort whatsoever and had absolutely no interest whatsoever in entertaining any interested parties or facilitating any sales at any price, even where the offers were 30% above the market valuations we had to hand. Criminal. I often thought of going public with the story but I know where I would end up!!! Maybe we’ll all end up in a tribunal someday!
go public!!..there wont be anymore tribunals!!…they need the money for their pensions!!…what have you got to loose!!..more people speaking out..is what we all need
Oh dear! It just confirms what some frustrated insiders have been telling me. The execs in NAMA know nothing about selling property. They have already managed to put off several bidders for One Warrington Place by “spoofing” the price at too high a level. Talk about amateurs. They need a few lessons in property disposal and how to maximise the price – and the need them quickly.
not a CLUE!!…why lessons on maximising the prices?…..most of them are worth nothing!!..in the long term!…some poor young couple….will buy a pile of s..te?….and pay for it for 30 years ..or more??….wrong…very wrong…has to be stopped!!…NOW
@marty, I don’t think a young couple will be buying One Warrington Place, but NAMA need to maximise the price for the taxpayer. The way NAMA is going about selling the properties under its control, the young couple don’t have too much to worry about.
BTW… a forecast. One Warrington Place will sell well, but not at NAMA’s price.
@ NWL,
Re NAMA lists: Are these lists restricted to NAMA managed developers? or do they include ‘NAMA’ developers managed by banks?
@Ahura M; There’s no distinction. The lists are inclusive.
To the uninitiated, why would a receiver choose to retain a property rather than sell the property he’s administrating in this current market?
Surely it’s in the receivers interest to get paid – and paid quickly – for services rendered?
@gerhard dengler; It’s a pension. Collect an annual fee for “managing” the asset. It covers the overheads until we get through this “temporary” downturn.
@namawinelake, I object to MMO’C being referred to as “Miss Piggy-dubbed TD” it was a slight and shouldn’t be perpetuated. I should add that I am no fan of MMO’C but there is no need for this.
@Juggernaut, like or not, Deputy Mitchell O’Connor will always be remembered for driving her sporty red Hyundai over the plinth in front of Leinster House; and slight or not, for being referred to as Miss Piggy by Deputy Mick “in 1997 I left a red sock in the washing machine with the whites and I’m not a man to waste good clothes” Wallace.
No slight is intended on here, and the best way to show that, is to refer to the Deputy’s question as “important” and to quote from it.
If Ireland some how manages to stay in the Euro, deflation will literally crush the local property market. I would suggest NAMA think about this outcome. What they can do, other than deep discounts, is very limited. The only way out of this vice grip is to do an Iceland, as many astute observers have backed from the beginning. Today’s market reaction to Belgium is just the beginning of the epidemic.
It’s the unfortunate kind of moniker that tends to stick in the public consciousness. Mary Mitchell O’Connor is best known for her drive down the Dail steps and a predilection for wearing brighter apparel in the Dail chamber.
However, she has earned her keep with this particular question. She has done a service for the country by bringing such dubious Nama practices to light in the Dail, and should be applauded for doing so, not least from behind the Government benches.
I have no objection to MMOC being linked with driving off the plith (bought and paid for as they say), but when an opponent uses a slur and it’s repeated (even with the qualfier ‘dubbed’) we continue to do the work of the slurer. And we degenerate public discourse – something you namawinelake has done much to improve.
“Ashcastle” refers to Ashcastle Developments Ltd (no 272742), A B McNamara vehicle. There were previous planning applications on this land for apartments and then for a helipad for Mr McNamara to visit his Elmpark site.
It’s no secret that the lands and neighbouring buildings are for sale given that there is a huge FOR SALE banner, specifying the site area, hanging from the front of one of the structures facing the Rock road.
MMOC (ex Labour and ex PD) is a lightweight who is unlikely to last more than one term. Here she is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TOntC4QQww