Jump to content
House Price Crash Forum

culvers

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    127

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Posts posted by culvers

    Eric Sprott Is Now The Silver Bull

    in Gold and other precious metals

    Posted

    1) buy silver at GM

    2) buy non-numismatic 'scrap' silver coinage; check out ebay for .925 (pre 1920) and .500 (pre 1947) 'scrap' lots (UK) or foreign 'scrap' lots such as US pre 1965 etc. I am consistently buying lots a fraction under spot (esp. foreign mixed) and many of the coins are far better than scrap.

    3) buy scrap sterling in the form of jewelery, mirror backs, watch cases, solid spoons, knife handles, ash-trays, tea-urns etc. again with a bit of looking most of this can be bought a fraction under spot. and with this option you can opt to melt big lots and get bars cast using the Birmingham Assay Office who will give you an assay cert for the bar (reasonable cost)

    all the above do not incur VAT

    and to those who suggest that they must have their silver .99+ pure, i would say that you are a poor student of history

    thanks for the very useful info!

    Could you clarify what you mean by GM? im new to this...

    Gold strategy in the current economy

    in House prices and the economy

    Posted

    i was in town yesterday and noticed a closed down shop in the shopping centre had been partially reopened as some sort of "cash 4 gold" type set up which consisted of a cardboard cut out sign, and two blokes behind a desk. It struck me how as the price of gold has risen, gold ownership by the "general public" in the UK has probably dropped massively as everyone "cashes in"

    I genuinely believe the majority of people have no real gold or silver, the only person i know who owns any gold is my wife, and that is because she is chinese thai and they all seem to hold a significant portion of their wealth in gold.

    Mothercare

    in House prices and the economy

    Posted

    Mothercare are an atrocious shop, they have relied on a captive market for far too long but the internet must be ruining their sales.

    I went to the Kew "superstore" over Easter - I needed a new child car seat and a stairgate. The car seats were poorly presented, not much choice and approximately 50% more expensive than Halfords. The stairgates were hidden away in a corner of the store, none were on display, I had to puzzle out which one was needed. When I got it home some of the key parts were missing from the box so I had to take it home again. I had previously bought an expensive child's trike which also had bits missing.

    I went there a few years ago looking to spend several hundred pounds on a pushchair only to be told "we don't have it in stock, you need to order it on the internet". AAARGGHH but a cursory google showed me the same model much cheaper from loads of other shops than mothercare.

    They are expensive, incompetent and deserve to go bust IMHO.

    spot on, dont see why so many people view these big name closures in a negative light. It's not sad at all, they are unable to offer a service people want so they go bust, its about time we got away from malinvestment and started focusing our labour and capital on industries that can perform...

    This is capitalism in action, shit companies go bust, good ones make a profit.

    Gold strategy in the current economy

    in House prices and the economy

    Posted

    Because this is sitting in the house prices and economy subforum, not the precious metals one (to which I have never contributed to). Given I hold a bearish view on gold I feel I should rehearse those arguments. If I feel

    I am proved wrong I will change my mind as I have regarding govt debt (I used to think the UK might default or face high inflation/interest rates now I no longer do). I therefore enjoy the debate and wish to keep abreast of arguments that are contrary to my own to ensure I am not missing sthg. Thus far I find the fundamental narratives offered by the bulls to be unconvincing and I will continue to say so. I do not indulge in insults and I back my opinions with reasoned facts.

    I find the fact that bears on this thread are routinely abused rather than their arguments challenged demonstrates bull insecurities. I further feel the failure of some bulls to reveal their hand also further shows that some may not be putting their money where their mouth is. For better or worse, I am.

    I find it odd that you would find my contribution to this thread odd. By that logic you should ask people on here why contribute to a forum on houseprices if you wouldn't touch housing with a bathrooms at these prices.

    Trying answering the points raised please, rather than attacking the legitimacy of the poster.

    please keep posting, I'm reasonably confident that gold will increase in price however i like to hear all views to avoid getting emotionally attached to one position.

    Do you believe that governements (particularly the USA) can go on running these massive trillion dollar deficits indefinitely? i.e without ever paying large amounts of it back? surely it will reach a point where the interest payments alone are greater than tax receipts? Or where people just lose faith in the dollar?

    How do you see this playing out? I am struggling to see how this can be resolved without some sort of dollar collapse, or at least backing up the dollar with gold to restore confidence.

    Sometimes, the more i research this stuff, the more i wish i could go back to blissful ignorance, scary times!

    Thanks

    Gold strategy in the current economy

    in House prices and the economy

    Posted

    lets be realistic, the huge government debts are never going to be paid off "honestly" are they? populations simply wont stand for the increased taxes and decreased spending needed to pay off the debts, which in my mind leaves 2 options

    1 = default

    2 = inflating the debts away

    what do both of these options mean for the price of gold? my meagre understanding is that in both scenarios the price of gold will skyrocket

    have i missed options out?

    Interested to hear opinion from both gold bulls and bears

    Thanks

    National Planning Policy Framework

    in House prices and the economy

    Posted

    Critics are claiming it will lead to a free for all. That would maybe mean more housing and thus lower prices.

    But personally I think in practice it will just mean those with any powers will find it even easier to do what they want whilst no change / benefit for average joe.

    agree - no change for the individual, just will make it easier for the big builders to source new land

    Game in Trouble

    in House prices and the economy

    Posted

    Could this be part of another video game bubble burst? Like with Atari roughly three decades ago?

    If anything, the video game industry will keep growing, all thats happened is that distribution has changed from bricks and mortar to online downloads as increased broadband speeds mean you can buy and download games without leaving your den... You can also find much better deals online than in stores.

    Kudos To Osborne!

    in House prices and the economy

    Posted · Edited by culvers

    Seeing as most politicians are mainly concerned with getting re-elected, I am quite surprised that they dont buy votes in a more direct, popular manner. For example, imagine a party that promised to slash fuel tax by 50% (or more?) and make up the tax shortfall with some sort of combination of 50p rate for high earners/mansion tax/higher inheritence tax/wealth tax and so on - surely they would win a sh*tload of votes?

    Maybe I am just being naive :)

    Families 1 - Planners 0

    in House prices and the economy

    Posted

    I'm just amazed that they managed to get the utility companies to connect them.

    hard enough to get them to turn up to houses that are MEANT to be there - let alone ones that are not !

    And Building Regs are a joke - around 1/4 of all homes in the UK do not have current building regs signoff.

    They worried about door closers but forgot to check if the roof insulation had been fitted - pratts

    is it connected to utilities? im guessing they use propane gas/water tanks/solar power?

    Families 1 - Planners 0

    in House prices and the economy

    Posted

    Well, the whole point of planning is so that when you pay big wonga for a house you can be reasonably certain that a sewage works (or bling mansion) won't be built next door or in your view (and if a sewage works is permitted then you'll pay a lot less loot).

    While the current house may be OK - after all, no one noticed, he (or a buyer) may well be able to put the bling mansion there. Bit of a pi55er if you'd been expecting your AONB home to be adjacent to fields and woods.

    you really believe thats the whole point of planning? :unsure:

    Families 1 - Planners 0

    in House prices and the economy

    Posted

    love it, good on them! People should be able to build whatever the hell they like on land they own...

    This is actually quite popular over in the USA as there is much more remote land available so chances of getting caught are slim. Search youtube for homesteading and be prepared to feel envy at all those people living without rent, mortgages, and utility bills..

    Banks To Raise Svr Mortgage Rate

    in All about buying, selling and mortgages

    Posted · Edited by culvers

    dah dah dah dah dahhh... I'm lovin' it...

    Im no financial genius - house prices were too expensive, i didn't want to get myself in a sh*tload of debt, so i didnt buy - simples.

    No sympathy for these people claiming they had no choice, of course they did. If something seems to expensive, exit the market until its affordable again.

    Nice.

    Newsnight The Housing Market

    in House prices and the economy

    Posted · Edited by culvers

    Yeah, it's a fine line, and I certainly don't support the current "bail them all out" policy. I'm also certainly all-for personal responsibility.

    However, as housing is such a basic human requirement, I'd say it isn't entirely unreasonable to expect a wealthy modern Western economy such as the UK to, you know, kind of take care of that part for it's citizens without them having to worry too much about it. Not in nanny-nanny way but, you know, just something which takes care of itself (*cough* like Germany) while one gets on with raising a family and working productively producing wealth.

    So I'm just saying, for me, there's a difference between taking personal responsibility for something like having breast implants that end up rupturing, and putting a roof over one's head. For that reason, I sympathise with those who are going to take the hit for no other reason than just getting on with their lives (BMW X5 MEW'ing excepted). That's my simple thought on the matter.

    It's a good point, and I do remember seeing a stat knocking about hinting at a sizeable portion of households who are actually completely mortgage free. i.e. boomers / older folk. There's an old thread here that asks that question, although I note it never got a definite answer. Sounds like it could be around the 40% mark. Anyone care to confirm this?

    In which case, yes I guess it is going to mainly be the folk who bought/overstretched between approx. 2005 and 2008 and those older buyers who MEW'd excessively who will be hit the hardest. Everyone else will just have to come to terms that they won't be able to downsize and retire quite so early.

    sorry, i am happy to let them all burn. Every single person i know who purchased a house in the last decade endlessly went on about how much it was rising in value, and berated me for not joining in. They all thought they were better than renters, so now the tables are turning, they will find no sympathy from me whatsoever.

    Most of us on this site arent financial experts, we just realised that house prices were too high, and we weren't going to commit to buying an overpriced asset with borrowed money...

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

  I accept