The road less travelled and life in the new world

I wrote Monday night/Tuesday morning about buying distressed stocks. So yesterday morning I bought Anglo Irish at €2.94 and today they are sold for €4.55 meaning that the idea brought in a 55% in just over 24 hours, it was risky, yes, but it also brought a return that would take about 7 years in a deposit account. Taking into account capital gains tax it is still 45% clean and clear (although I won’t have any as this is the first stock I sold and it the profit didn’t exceed the €1,270).

However, the point being made by the post yesterday was that it is a time of volatility, it is a time of risk and there are problems in the world, but there is also still PROFIT! The type of trading I did is also not advisable for the average person due to the risk attached, as stated in the first post I was willing to lose, to realise a total loss, if you don’t have the stomach …

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The Vultures are here….

When the government raised the bar for stamp duty to €317,500 house prices took a jump and suddenly every house was valued at €317,500. This meant that a huge amount of stamp never entered government coffers and many people blamed estate agents. Rightly so, it was a disgrace but it happened and now we can’t reverse time.

Once bitten, twice shy. Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice….. (in the words of GW Bush) well…. you’re not gonna fool me twice. Alas, yes, we have been fooled twice, for no sooner had the government introduced extensive increases in mortgage interest relief than they were swooped upon and devoured.

How? By the likes of Ulsterbank who increased their rates (especially the ones available to first time buyers) only the day before. So all of the money that the tax payer spends to suppliment the mortgage interest relief and all of the governments best efforts are once again halted by greed.

Estate agents took a beating over the house price increases when stamp duty was reformed, and developers too as …

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Budget 2008, Stamp duty reform & Mortgage Interest relief:

The budget was released yesterday and the two things of particular note to any of us with an interest in property are changes in Stamp Duty and also Mortgage Interest Relief.

First we’ll look at Stamp Duty. Reform and simplification was long overdue! What a pity a more generous reduction was not on the cards! Stamp duty is just too easy to get away with I suppose. After all, it is a tax that is ensured to be collected by solicitors who would face the gallows should they fail to collect it on behalf of the government. The U.K. rates are so much better it makes our system look draconian. We copy their laws and rules on almost everything, why can’t we do it on the stamp rates!

Rant complete.

Stamp duty is now on a simplified three tier system.

1. Exempt: if the property is valued at less than €125,000. Maybe we should really call it a two tier system, a quick search of the property sites has shown that there are virtually no inhabitable buildings available in the …

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Budget 2008, Stamp duty reform & Mortgage Interest relief:

The budget was released yesterday and the two things of particular note to any of us with an interest in property are changes in Stamp Duty and also Mortgage Interest Relief.

First we’ll look at Stamp Duty. Reform and simplification was long overdue! What a pity a more generous reduction was not on the cards! Stamp duty is just too easy to get away with I suppose. After all, it is a tax that is ensured to be collected by solicitors who would face the gallows should they fail to collect it on behalf of the government. The U.K. rates are so much better it makes our system look draconian. We copy their laws and rules on almost everything, why can’t we do it on the stamp rates!

Rant complete.

Stamp duty is now on a simplified three tier system.

1. Exempt: if the property is valued at less than €125,000. Maybe we should really call it a two tier system, a quick search of the property sites has shown that there are virtually no inhabitable buildings available in the …

Read More →