The other Property stories of the week...

All sold and a third had cash

All 45 APARTMENTS in a new development in Newbridge town were sold last weekend after the prices were reduced to between €110,000 and €125,000 per unit.

The two-bedroom homes were sold on the instructions of a receiver and were among the cheapest to have been offered for sale in recent years within commuting distance of Dublin.

Several other new developments, which have run into trouble, are also expected to be brought on to the market at more competitive prices on the instructions of funding banks. One of these is in Dublin 2 but most others are in the suburbs.

The 63 apartments at Capella Court in Newbridge were originally priced from €322,000 when they were launched in September, 2007. Only 10 of them sold at the time but, since taking responsibility for the scheme, the receiver has rented a batch of them at €800 to €900 per month, according to David Brown of selling agent HT Meagher O’Reilly.

Not surprisingly, about 15 of them were quickly snatched up by investors when they were relaunched last Thursday. Another tranche was bought by first-time buyers while several were booked by local residents planning to trade down in the next few years.

A number of the apartments were also bought by individuals living in the south and west of the country who planned to use Newbridge as a base for commuting to Dublin.

David Brown said about 30 per cent of the sales were to “cash buyers with no borrowings involved”.

Tenant tweets and rental agent goes to top of chart

TWITTER HAS become one of the media sensations of the last 12 months. From news stories to following the musings of celebrities, whole new industries have been spawned from microbloggers employed by celebrities to tweet on their behalf to legal eagles suing for libel.

And it is this latter category that renters who follow Twitter should be mindful of. Earlier this year Chicago’s Horizon Realty filed a lawsuit against Amanda Bonnen, one of its former tenants, after she allegedly posted complaints about her mouldy apartment to 22 followers.

Podcastingnews.com remarked: By suing Bonnen for $50,000 over a tweet that was probably seen by a fraction of her 22 followers, the company is bringing the complaint to tens of thousands of readers on Twitter, in blogs and in news stories that the situation will generate.”

As a result of its actions Horizon Realty is now the top search result for Twitter lawsuit in Google. You could say their problem mushroomed – just what Amanda was talking about in her apartment.

Landscaping good for growth in sales

DESPITE THE doom and gloom sales have been ticking over quietly at Adamstown, the new town in west Dublin. The main developer here is Castlethorn Construction which has taken 24 deposits on houses and apartments in the major scheme being built close by the new rail station and town centre.

Prices have dropped, of course, with three-bedroom duplex units costing from €199,950; one-bedroom apartments from €145,000 and two-beds from €185,000. Though still at the early stages of development (the overall town is not likely to be finished for over a decade) the phases that have been launched are maturing nicely thanks to a big investment in landscaping.

This was recognised this week when the Association of Landscape Contractors of Ireland gave Castle Gate at Adamstown one of its top awards. The contractor, Instant Landscapes, is responsible for the ongoing planting on site. It has also carried landscaping at Castlethorn’s other major development, Killeen Castle in Co Meath

Ballymun regeneration man retires early

DUBLIN CITY COUNCIL executive Ciaran Murray, who changed the face of Ballymun in recent years, is standing down after deciding to take the public sector early retirement package.

The Meath man joined the council in 1971 and was appointed head of the Ballymun regeneration programme in 1998 when a masterplan for the once rundown area was published.

Murray was determined from the start to attract big name traders to the area and lobbied Ikea at an early stage, eventually landing them about two years ago.

Ballymun has been one of the largest regeneration projects in Europe, with existing residents being rehoused before the notorious blocks were demolished. About 80 per cent of the new homes are built and over 1,600 families have already been relocated. There are around 600 remaining families and their new homes are either under design or construction with the plan to complete the programme by 2014.

In all, 23 of the original 36 blocks have already been demolished with just one of the original high rises, Plunkett Tower, remaining. The Government has already spent €750 million on the vast programme, but the council still needs a further €250 million to wrap it up.

James McMahon opens new agency

HAVING WORKED with his brother, Corry McMahon, at Corry McMahon Auctioneers since 1989 managing the letting department from their Leeson Street office, it’s good to see that James McMahon has finally set up on his own.

He has finally taken the plunge and formed James McMahon Residential Lettings and is a fully bonded and licensed auctioneer.

Over the years James has negotiated many of the high profile corporate and diplomatic lettings in the greater Dublin area.

With 20 years experience in the bag, he’s now going to throw himself full-time into lettings, which, right now, is one of the busiest sectors of the property market.

While lucrative corporate lets may be on the wane somewhat, the gap has been filled by would-be house-hunters who intend to rent while they wait for house prices to dip even further.

“I intend to focus and specialise in all aspects of the private residential rental market and offer a complete property management services package. In these difficult times I will be offering problem solving solutions to all landlords.”

James McMahon Residential Lettings is located at 24 Main Street, Blackrock, Co Dublin. E-mail: James@jmcm.ie.

Sherry Fitz takes a shine to young talent

IT’S HARDLY an ideal time to be planning a career in estate agency but the larger firms still have to plan for recovery and that means keeping an eye out for young talent. In recent weeks Sherry FitzGerald and its commercial arm DTZ Sherry FitzGerald held a recruitment evening to advertise a new internship programme and, while the event wasn’t exactly mobbed, around 20 young hopefuls showed up for interviews. Six were offered placements in the joint companies for a nine-month internship.

Graduates will rotate between the different businesses and, hopefully, find jobs at the end within the group.

Claire Cullinan, who is chief operating officer of the group, says that it’s important businesses do all that they can “to support a younger generation of graduates desperate for opportunities to get work experience.

“With a little imagination and some modest financial commitment, businesses can give young people a deserved chance at a formative stage of their lives.”

Several of the Sherry FitzGerald directors, including Cullinan, started with the company in the 1980s when times were just as tough. “Emigration was the chosen career path of the time and such options are not as widely available to our young people in this time of global crisis,” says Cullinan.