# Show me the Downstairs Toilet!



## Brendan Burgess (26 Feb 2006)

What an entertaining program, watching a family committing financial suicide!
Eddie did his very best to help them, but if they had taken his advice, there would have been less entertainment value. 

In fact, I don't know what the point about the program was? Why did they appear? They didn't seem to ask for Eddie's advice. And they were always going to do their own thing anyway. 

It's a bit of a waste of a programme, because the overall question of keeping investment properties while trading up is very useful.

Brendan


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## killeoin (26 Feb 2006)

I want to know how he managed to nab that investment property for 181,000!!


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## colc1 (27 Feb 2006)

Brendan said:
			
		

> What an entertaining program, watching a family committing financial suicide!
> And they were always going to do their own thing anyway.
> 
> It's a bit of a waste of a programme, because the overall question of keeping investment properties while trading up is very useful.
> ...


 
What were they at?  They ended up with more debt and less assets, they must never have done maths in school.  181,000 is that what the Athy property cost?  How did they get that so cheap?  I cant imagine theres a huge rental market for Athy though even though its just about commuter distance from Dublin its far enough away maybe theres a lot of employment opportunities in Athy I dont know, I admit I dont know the town well or anything like that


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## Winnie (27 Feb 2006)

omg....they just were so stupid.  just shows how people who dont have a clue what they are doing think that they do when it comes to investing in property.....
What was the point in selling the Cork investment property for one in Athy..........I would have thought that in terms of managing the property surely it makes sense for it to be closer to you for sorting out problems?


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## Carpenter (27 Feb 2006)

Winnie said:
			
		

> What was the point in selling the Cork investment property for one in Athy..........I would have thought that in terms of managing the property surely it makes sense for it to be closer to you for sorting out problems?


 
Exactly my thoughts, whatever about knowing the rental market in your own patch and managing a property that's just down the road- I magine Athy must be about a good 4 hour drive from Carrigaline.  I suppose I was a little surprised at how they could manage all that plus pay an au pair on  salaries of €47k and €20k.  All I took from the programme was that the couple have the most expensive d/s toilet in the country.


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## fobs (27 Feb 2006)

I thought this could have been an interesting program as a lot of people would aspire to trading up and deciding if the figures stand up etc... but the couple just seemd to be on completely different wavelengths and they had no real goals set out (bar the downstairs loo). If they kept the original investment property and just bought the house for 450k they would probably not have wated so much on fees and would have more in assets? 
THeir original PPR mortgage was finishing in 8 years and theeir second in 23 years and now they have much more debt over a longer period and less assets and a house that still needs to be improved to give them what they want?!


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## Carpenter (27 Feb 2006)

fobs said:
			
		

> THeir original PPR mortgage was finishing in 8 years and theeir second in 23 years and now they have much more debt over a longer period and less assets and a house that still needs to be improved to give them what they want?!


 
I wonder do they feel foolish now that the programme has aired?


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## huskerdu (27 Feb 2006)

Someone should tell them that once you have a second child, you give up  on worrying about leaving the baby downstairs while you run upstairs for a slash.


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## tiger (27 Feb 2006)

Did anyone else feel from the wife's reaction, that she hadn't quite realised how much their change had cost them, until Eddie sat down with them at the end to do the final sums?


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## fobs (27 Feb 2006)

> Did anyone else feel from the wife's reaction, that she hadn't quite realised how much their change had cost them, until Eddie sat down with them at the end to do the final sums?


 
Yes felt that they didn't take the costs of buying/selling into account as it was all the fees/stamp duty etc.. that had cost them the most money. Feel a follow-up show is needed for this series in particular as all the stories seem to finish before we know the impact of the decisions (or indecision in most cases) are. For example what is the fish famer of last week going to do,will this couple get tenants for the hous in Athy and do the improvemnts to their PPR,what will the entrepreneur do etc...Think the follow up is an important element of this show that is missing as we want to learn the consequnces of the actions people take


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## Carpenter (27 Feb 2006)

fobs said:
			
		

> Think the follow up is an important element of this show that is missing as we want to learn the consequnces of the actions people take


 
Not sure I want or need to know the consequences of the actions of the people in the last two episodes- no entertainment value in that for me.


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## cosy (27 Feb 2006)

Did they keep the Au-pair or was she shipped off to Athy?


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## Carpenter (27 Feb 2006)

cosy said:
			
		

> Did they keep the Au-pair or was she shipped off to Athy?


 
Well, maybe au pairs are cheaper in Athy too?


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## Thrifty (27 Feb 2006)

i know the couple went a bit mad and had done things before they apparently told Eddie. But surely when the first investment propoerty fell through he should have sat down with them and broken down the figures - esp in relation to the investment property - the costs of selling and buying, stampduty and surely capital gains tax. etc. Can't believe they bother to tell them the round total at the end (real sickener) but don't even break it down into the various costs and show them or the viewer why it cost so much. I know ...its entertainment not educational. But if its just entertainment then i think then i think its the cringeworth and sorry entertainment on the tv at the moment and the most humiliating for the poor sods who think it might help or be interesting to go on the show.


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## sully (27 Feb 2006)

I imagine she wanted a nicer house as she clearly plans on being a fulltime stay at home mum and knows that this was the time to do it. it seems that  he wanted something to reire on and i would reckon by their opinions that he bought the original house on his own and then they bought the investment property together and that he wanted to hold onto as much equity in his own name and hence buying the new investment property in his own name as she seemingly had little input tinto this. If it was me i would have sold their PPR and traded up and even then if he wanted he could have released the equity in the investment property to buy the house in Athy.


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## Audrey (27 Feb 2006)

Darn it - I missed it!!   Someone please tell me, briefly, what happened (apart from the fact that they sold one investment property to buy another one even further away and didn't seem to listen to advice).


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## Grizzly (28 Feb 2006)

I think they were both just bored to death and wanted to do something for the sake of doing something. The interior designer, the au pair.....the


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## Janet (28 Feb 2006)

Andrewa said:
			
		

> Darn it - I missed it!!   Someone please tell me, briefly, what happened (apart from the fact that they sold one investment property to buy another one even further away and didn't seem to listen to advice).



That was pretty much it.  

They had one PPR and one investment property in Carragline (sp?) - wanted to trade up to bigger PPR (hoping to adopt a second child and really, really wanted a utility room and a downstairs toilet) so decided to sell investment property.  Put it on market but before it sold hubby had seen another investment property in Athy and put offer in.  They'd also seen a new development to buy PPR in but no prices available.  Put PPR no. 1 on market.  Then found out prices in new development were too high (hubby stopped bidding without consulting wife, she looked mighty peeved at that!).  So, investment no.1 and PPR no. 1 both on market but not selling.  Offer on investment no. 2 turned down but he saw another one down the road and bought that instead.  So now three mortgages being paid.  Eventually sold investment no. 1 and PPR no. 1 and bought a new PPR which was smaller than they wanted but can be extended.


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## extopia (28 Feb 2006)

Good luck to 'em. It's their money.


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## Moose (28 Feb 2006)

I think in this type of programme Eddie Hobbs is constrained from giving too much advice one way or another.  If the subject of a programme is in serious debt and is being threatened with jail, then advising the person to address the problem is the only way to go; but if people have plenty of assets, suggest one course of action over another and he and RTÉ will probably be bearing the brunt of the wrath and the bad publicity if the result isn't what the subjects wanted.  All he can really do is outline the basics, give some reassurances (for example, the fact that contributing €250 per month to cover the mortgage on the initial investment property wasn't excessive), and after that it's up to the couple to decide what to do with what's been highlighted.  I got the impression that all the selling and buying decisions were made before he had a chance to advise them of taxes, anyway.  The husband said that he'd lost his chance with one investment property but had immediately then bought another the next day, no?


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