First signs of the Celtic tiger

iguana

In 2000, driving out the country with my then boyfriend getting more and more frustrated as we failed to find a quiet road to "park" as there were new houses and developments everywhere.:mad::o:D

fontanalis

iguana wrote: »

In 2000, driving out the country with my then boyfriend getting more and more frustrated as we failed to find a quiet road to "park" as there were new houses and developments everywhere.:mad::o:D

it's a pity you weren't into dogging, that went up in popularity.

Rockery Woman

Remember those???

GE Money used to send me pre-approved loans for E35,000!!!!

Just call them, give them a few little details and the money was yours!

Like a new car, dream holiday - just call us and arrange your finance!

No I didn't

Thank God!!!!:D

Celly Smunt

got to go to New York for free!!!,or so i thought before i paid back an extra 25% or so on top of the loan

iguana

Rockery Woman wrote: »

GE Money used to send me pre-approved loans for E35,000!!!!

Just call them, give them a few little details and the money was yours!

Like a new car, dream holiday - just call us and arrange your finance!

Back in '03 I went into the bank (of Ireland) to put some money into my account. The teller told me I had approval for a €10k loan and he just needed my signature and it would be in my account by midnight. He just didn't get it when I didn't want it. He just kept telling me I didn't need to do anything, just sign and it wouldn't take up any of my time. He looked so confused that I didn't want it.

And in the whole time he tried to force this money on me, not once did he mention the repayment terms, the length of the loan or the interest rate. It was all just; "but, but you could buy a car or go on holiday!"

gbee

When doing some recent book keeping and realising I earned €57K in one year, whilst on reflection, that year was a bad year and I was constantly broke.

Looking at what I was paying out gives the answer. For instance a hotel room for a festival night stopover; €260 PP. Recently €35 PP. Garage service €2,700 {now I know it depends but} recent one €350 [but basic service €90].

AnonoBoy

Man I wish I'd had some of that Celtic Tiger when it was around.

Sounds like it was great craic.

professore

A friend of mine who is 55 with 4 kids got approval for a 35-year mortgage. Luckily for him he didn't take it. He's now working short contracts, maybe 2/3 weeks every 6 months. And he still has 4 kids. And they say the banks knew what they were doing.

Hells Belle

We went for a topup in 2002, 2 years after original mortgage was taken out to get doors and windows replaced and the roof fixed. We wanted around €10K - our broker told us we were eligible for at least a €100K loan which we could have within a month. The house cost us €98k.

I remember coming out of his office and bursting my ass laughing thinking how in the name of god could people be so naive to get talked into taking on this kind of debt.....turns out lots did.

happypants

Having a choice between two decent jobs straight out of college! Friends who graduated a year or two later have emigrated.

senordingdong

When the Defences Forces used the slogan 'The Celtic Tiger needs more claws!' on their recruitment posters.

maninasia

I missed it most of it leaving Ireland early into it. But looking back I remember working a part-time job at a bank (1999 or so), the admin assistant was constantly going on about her house in Florida and her swimming pool etc. That was probably the start of it for me, that and when they gave a scrappage scheme and nobody seemed to drive 5 year plus old cars anymore. A fews later on a quick trip back all the brunettes had turned blonde, I mean almost every girl! Designer gear that I had only seen in Asia suddenly appeared all over Dublin, bizarre.

Shiny apartments everywhere and only property talk on everybody's lips. Going back every few years gave me a timewarp insight into it all but I still didn't understand how pervasive it actually was, if I had known how much easy money was being made I probably would have moved back that time to be honest.

But I didn't think Ireland was as great as people were making out to me , suddenly all my friends were asking me 'why don't you move back', you are mad to stay over ther etc. All I knew was that industry jobs seemed to be getting scarcer not more common.

Because I missed most of the excess and went to school/college when times were still fairly tough (only last year of college got easy to get decent part-time job), Ireland hasn't actually changed a great deal to me. I think people got very money oriented for a while though, that shone through in the conversations I had.

Duckjob

Large swathes of lucky dopes who struck lucky in the property lottery swaggering around the place in a cloud of self importance thinking they were hot shot investors.

Also, "financial advisors" trying to flog you I/O mortgages.