Bemused Badger

Spot the oxymoron.

Sheesh, Blankster, unless 'Blankster' is your surname, I can't see how your cover stands any chance of being blown. There's another poster on here who lives less than a mile from me, but I wouldn't know him if we passed in the street. Come on, let's have some more info...

...and make sure you don't laugh out loud with a sleeping cat on your lap. Took me ages to find the plasters.

I'd normally agree with that, but a few "Under Offer" and "STC" signs have appeared in RM for my area (South Coast) in the last couple of weeks. Admittedly, they might well join the others that have been STC for the last 18 months or whatever. At what point do EAs show properties as being under offer? When an offer is accepted or when they've checked the buyer actually has the means to proceed? (I'm guessing it's the former.)

http://boards.fool.co.uk/Message.asp?mid=1...&sort=whole Classic example of stupidity and greed.

There are a lot of ostriches out there - heads in sand, bums in the air waiting to be kicked... One property in my area has been on RM for the last three years; the price hasn't changed, but the number of agents has - five at the moment.

Exactly the same mindset of the credit card brigade (can't wait, must have it now) only the numbers are a lot bigger - and when it all goes pear-shaped the result isn't bankruptcy, it's homelessness. I also know older buyers/would be sellers who've also fallen into this trap. The problem is they're old enough to have bought and sold before using bridging finance and it's all worked out in the end - classic 'past performance' thinking. Interesting is the change of sentiment amongst friends who initially (three months ago) came out with comments along the lines of "It'll be fine, they've bought in the village which is what they wanted" to "Haven't seen much of R and S recently. Their old place is still on the market; they might be a bit strapped at the moment. Fingers crossed it sells soon..."

...and judging by the way the BTL fiasco market has fallen off a cliff, they're not alone. Most of those gnashing their teeth and bemoaning their fate wouldn't have had the nous to check out the market - even if they knew how. If only I had a fiver for every time I've overheard some pretentious twit waffling on about their BTL "investments".

The BTL bandwagon derailment in a nutshell:- "Hi I am new to the site and not sure if I am on the correct discussion board. I have two buy to let properties with Northern Rock that came to the end of the fix rate deal in June. I was given warning that they would not be offering me any other rate but the svr and I should look at possible remortgaging. I tried to do this but due to the climate we are in the valuations all came back showing that I have no equity. Needless to say noone will remortgage the properties. Tried to put them on the market earlier but after 6 mths no potential buyers. This is after dropping the price from what the estate agent recommended by £30000 to just cover the mortgage. Had to re rent as the tenants moveed out and I couldn't afford to keep up the payments without it being occupied. Spoke with Northern Rock and told them my predicament and also that the steep increase in mortgage payments could not be passed on to the tenants. They were very unhelpful and said nothing they could do. Sorry if I am long winded here but I am just frustrated. Can I hand the key to NR and see what happens? I am uptodate with the payments so far as I have been using my little savings to subsidise it but I can't maintain this as we are talking £550 for 1 ppty and £280 for the other. Any suggestions would be helpful. Thanks" Having read through the thread, I'm not entirely sure about the veracity of the statements made by the OP, who first at states (she?) works in the financial industry (but doesn't know what a PPR is ) and then goes on to say she operates a clening (sic) business.

Let's face it, if they were good-looking and financially savvy no-one would be interested. Similar to bad news being good for newspapers sales I suppose. I'm not a smoker and I don't understand the addiction, but anyone spending £40 on cigarettes really shouldn't be allowed to bleat about rising prices - he even goes on to complain about his blessed ciggies going up in price. I wonder if he'd set fire to four crisp tenners quite so easily?

Only two? Down here three's not unusual (four on one property!).

That's good - if the percentage drop on the new place is 19 or preferably more.

I'm sure this property was on Rightmove last year at over £400,000, but can't track it because I've never got round to installing Property Bee. Anyone, please? http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-225...=1&tr_t=buy

I know a couple in that position - the new place is financed 100% through a mixture of two loans and a mortgage. They've found a temporary solution, though: Her elderly parents have moved into the unsold place and given them 50% of the equity, with the remainder to be paid when the parents' house has sold. Anyone spot the fatal flaw? Just after they exchanged the wife said "All this doom and gloom is getting out of proportion because the Press keep exaggerating it!".

By "gone", do you mean exchanged/completed?

Looks too supercilious for my liking (a bit like his writing style, in fact) - and is that a wig he's wearing? As for the 'Home Staging Consultant'...

What this illustrates is conveyancing solicitors have a lot less work and far more time. The few involved in the house-buying process at the moment are probably quite stunned by relatively speedy responses from their solicitors.

Apologies, Tatty, I've onl just seen this. We're actually in Sarisbury Green in a quiet backwater to the north of the A27 behind the Bold Forester - and not a million miles from ATCC as the crow flies, as it happens. Locks Heath is fine, the problem is that with all the new estates down there and in Warsash, trying to access the A27/M27 in rush hour traffic can be a nightmare. We'd like to move to Warsash, but TBH the traffic really does put us off (and the current housing market, of course ). Sorry to be so disparaging about Whiteley and I really hope you get some serious viewers this weekend.

Forcing credit card borrowers to repay their debt faster is no bad thing (although there's always the risk of forcing them into bankruptcy by so doing). Debt's a fact of life, but the advent of the credit card turned it into a way of life. Substituting plastic for real money was always a bad idea and now the chickens are really coming home to roost.

SO31 + 1/4 mile - 1635, but you need to consider that some houses are being marketed by multiple EAs - five is the record in this search. There're a lot of property-owning ostriches in this area.

Sorry, guys, O/T, for Steve - there's a request from one of the posters on The Motley Fool for you to post on their Property Markets and Trends board about your experiences. ( www.fool.co.uk )

Just don't get me started. :angry: I go all glassy-eyed when people start talking about their offspring going to "Uni". Almost getting back on topic, the biggest problem for today's kids (and probably a lot of their parents) is they've never known a life without credit cards - and the inception of the credit card, in my opinion, is historically probably the major contributing factor to the existence of HPC. The whole damn economy is blighted by plastic.

Whiteley - oh dear... I live on the other side of the M27 and know Whiteley very well. The place is a nightmare - a large mixed development of offices, mixed housing and an outlet shopping mall which is as dead as a dodo - so dead they're thinking of closing it and allowing the on site Tesco store to expand. The other downside is there's only one road in and out of the place. Okay, having slated it, I reckon you'll be lucky to get any interest. EAs round here are full of Whiteley properties and there's plenty to choose from. My guess is £175k if you're very, very lucky - think Lottery winners' luck.

It's a convoluted story, but I'll try to keep it brief: Older friends have just (moved in yesterday) paid £280k for 3-bed detached house - 'liveable', but needs updating throughout - bathroom, ensuite and cloakroom all in 1970s colours, basic kitchen, needs double-glazing. For comparison, similar (but immaculate house) was on the market last year for £299k, but didn't sell. The house in question came on the market in March this year at £325k, friends offered £260k initially and eventually agreed at £280k. We all know what happened to the market between March and June this year - so, knowing the house they were buying was an executors' sale with the proceeds going to various charities, we suggested they 'chip' before exchange. They were horrified, "We couldn't possibly do that. We have an agreement." Admirable morals, but... It gets worse, the newbuild flat they bought for £210k in May 2005 hasn't sold or let. There's a mortgage on it - don't know how much, but it shouldn't be large given their circumstances. The new house is financed 100% by two loans and a mortgage (good ol' Lloyds TSB). They've found a temporary solution - aged parents (in their 80s) are going to move into the flat and pay half the equity (how the heck do they quantify that?!). For the parents this means a move of over 200 miles, but at least they'll be near their daughter. The idea is that when the parents' house is sold they'll buy the flat. The only saving grace is he has a reasonable Forces pension and is currently working, but he'd been looking forward to retiring for good in the next couple of years and realises that may now be just a dream.