Pedro2706

£550 psf for an apprtment in Bristol-steep or what.

Can anyone seriously point to anything that the Bbc does better than any other of the myriad of both domestic & international broadcasters- The news is excrutiatingly bad,the best drama tends to be bought in and as for "light entertainment" don't get me started.

and Greece accounts for 1.5%(and thats an optimistic figure) of Eurozone Gdp-so even on a straight multiplier its 0.45% of our trade and I doubt its that. Tn eeconomic impact will be marginal at best-its the political impact which has then capacity to be greater-the EU is a political construct primarily with an economic dimension

I was depressed until I read the articel: "Most of the properties, while providing a good rental yield (currently due to very low interest rates) have little or no equity."-ie totally screwed if rates rise or capital values fall "The original plan when we went into buy-to-let was to release the capital from these properties in the runup to 2018, to pay off the interest-only mortgage on our home, "-so no capital being paid off main home mortgage "Due to the poor performance of the property market we will have to extend the length of our mortgage "-so what was an oriiginally risky strategy is now more risky "Our household income is around £40,000 per year"-gross income of just over £3k pm to support an interest only mortgae on the main home and any shortfall on 5 BTL properties "We have been prepared to take risks in the past in taking the propertybefore-pension route, but this has clearly not paid off in recent years "-shurely shomme mishhstake-property is a on way bet!Tyhe more you hav ethe wealthier you are! "Our intention is to sell the apartment we own outright in Bulgaria and reinvest the money in an apartment in the same complex as the other apartment we have there, as it will be more rentable due to its central location. The apartment will be sold at a significant loss. However, if reinvested it will buy something of equal value that will hopefully go up in time"..you can smell tyh edepeartion,denial & fear! "The Bulgarian apartment we want to sell is out of town and in a poorly run complex where the lift often does not work so we cannot rent it out. The house in Derbyshire attracts poor-quality tenants who move on frequently, generally leaving it in a state when they vacate. This property often needs costly maintenance."..you need to call the secret agent! What a mess-its not going to end well!

I would suggest the same in West Beks at the pricier end of the market-there seems to have been an "invent a price" mentality prevalent over the last 15 months which has now hit the buffers-the sad thing is that when you go in and suggest an offer of 25% below asking they look terribly offended as if you really don't "get it"-of course when you look at achieved prices from only a few years ago you realise that even at a 25% discount its still a bonkers price.Still,lets hope that this perpetual increase mentality will finally get killed off and the market moves to at least a more realistic basis-the problem is of course that in the absence of a major event(and that can only be significant interest rate hikes)that slow dawning of realisation and change of perception could take a long long time.

"Would the government really find it difficult to run it?" Do you really have to ask that question-they couldn't run a bath-it will be a grade 1 nightmare.

What about a house and no debt?

Wow-living space(excluding bathroom)is an expansive 398f2!!!-£700+ a foot!The second bedroom is a mighty 50f2-and as for the garden.Mind blowing-

Perfectly legal-divis are payable out of retained earnings which are not necessarily the same as cash(eg you may have a high capital expenditure programme or working capital funding if you are growing rapidly). If the recipeint of the divi is in a benign tax regime(think Mrs Philip Green in Monaco)then divi may only b etaxed at the lower rate of income tax and the loan will be deductable for corporation tax-net effect being the divi is effectively tax free.

£3.4 billion 2013-2014 & rising according to official statistics. https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/inheritance-tax-statistics-2010-to-2011

1,541 f2=£375per square foot!-implies about £425k for the plot/land-yikes! Just lookes at a house in Berkshire in a 1/2 acre plot which is less psf than that.

Bang on-there's no way the legislation will get passed before the next election so it will then become an election issue as no party has a mandate to offer the Jocks what these muppets have-result will be massive political capital for any party not committed to the bribe(UKIP Anyone)and SNP claiming betrayal and a rerun of the referendum! You couldn't make it up!

Its a mathematical certainty not a political strategy-the Bullingdon Boys have maintained and increased the spend on the NHS and tried to improve productivity but the fact is that with a zero price point demand is infinite and combine that with an increasing population,an ageing population,an increasing proportion of overweight/unhealthy people(check out the stats for weight related diabetes-truly scary) ,improved but more costly drugs and treatments for previously terminal illnesses,etc etc then its going to break unless you come clean and depoliticise it and agree that everybody is going to have the treatment they need(defined by ?)for free and the basic rate of tax (or even higher rate if it suits your political persuasion)will be adjsusted annually to ensure the HHS is fully funded. Then step back and watch the fun.! and I haven't mentioned PFI (thanks Gordon)or the endless IT write offs or unecessary managerial costs-unfortunately its extremely complicated (not least because of its sheer scale)and politicos of all shades do not have the ability or inclination to address the problems in any meaningful way-but hey-lets reduce it to soundbites such as "hands off our NHS" or "no privatisation of the NHS"-that should sort it out !

Please no-have you ever dealt with Liverpool City Council-morechips on their shoulders than McCains and totally without any vision,strategy or ability-a total bunch of self serving,self pitying muppets-irrespective of whether its the comrades in the Labour Party(up de Werkers!)or the Illiberals who are beyond a joke.

Berkshire-I would say asking prices have lost touch with any form of reality and there seemed to be a sudden 20% uplift at the beginning of the year & stock moving-seems to have ground to a halt in the last 6 weeks with anything that isn't totally prime and/or priced "reasonably" (ie not completely off the scale-just extortionate!) not moving -some stuff been on the agents books since the beginning of the year and will probably stay there as the vendors won't drop. the price. My gut feel is that this was/is "the last hurrah" but then again I called the top of the market back in 2005 based on any sensible fundamentals!

Avoid if at all possible as they are generally very expensive on all fronts. See if you can locate a localbusiness with spare offices they will licence to you-I've done both & its much more effecient.

£5k per square foot-about the going rate for super prime London-whats the surprise?

Is this nominal or inflation adjusted?-presumably the former in which case real incomes falling which should support continued high house prices...wait..might be a flaw in that arguement!

Way to go man-you' ve proved it can be done but it takes real committment & effort-and that I suspect is the problem!

Its worse than that-met with our Bank(Lloyds) yesterday who are offering "cheap " finance due to the FFL scheme -we need it to exand our business-plant & machinery/extra staff/working capital etc.Asked who was taking up the money-you guessed-investots with BTL portfolios wo want to buy more!-just exactly how is tis going to generate economic growth!!!

Which is probably a higher percentage than those of the political "class" who understand what is going on,

The fundamentals have not changed-just the timescales involved.The UK has massive structural problems not only in its economic activity base-main drivers of growth during the" boom " years(construction/finance/govt spending)have all gone "ex growth"and are unlikely to be replaced by compensating activity in the short/medium term-but also in its financial structure which will ultimately limit what the authorities can do. There is no doubt that its going to be painfull-there is no alternative-but I suspect in the absence of a "black swan"it could be death by a thousand cuts over decades. I also have a strong feeling(some observational/anecdotal and some analytical)that the effects are going to be felt differently depending on the geographic region with London/SE benefiting from decline elsewhere. In the meantim what do you do faced with this scenario and the prospect of the new BOE Governor letting rip with unlimited QE and indefinite Zirp.. Personally I'm thinking of seeling up and going long on an international basketutility/commodity stocks on the basis that they have more chance of retaining value and less chance of misappropriation. Whatever,for a large chunk of the UK's population,its not going to be pleasant.

My Business FP just came up " payment will reach recipients account within the next 4 business days"....I could hand deliver a cheque quicker than that. Phoned the help desk at HBOS to be told nobody was there due to the weather-ah well, never mind,I'm only trying to runva business and keep people employed! No doubt someone will get a bonus for fixing the problem.