MrFlibble

Browns world of fantasy fairness only applies when you buy yourself a house. If you don't buy a house then you can f*ck right off.

Economic recovery my @rse - we are attempting to move from one state of fantasy to another. In Browns brave new world everything is a zombie - kept alive with bailouts and stimulus.

Too true. They have bet the whole farm on this housing market and now the banks are starting to look healthier there is even more pressure to keep the whole rotten game going.

Wooden floors - I hate wooden floors. I'd consider it if it was 250 miles further South and didn't have some other house glued on the side.

It's a wrap then, mass slavery it is...

Quite...

Sadly it is this sort of behaviour that has been handsomely rewarded so far. Houses only ever go up* Guv. *Measured in Knockout, aka Sterling.

Unearned riches. A lot of people believe they have somehow 'earned' these riches through screwing a conservatory on the back wall and polishing the lav seat.

Does the world really believe Greece is ever going to pay this money back? Sometimes I wonder why Gold is the price it is, then a new day arrives and I wonder no more...

And it's eejits like this outbidding me for a house... How long can this sticking plaster society hold together I wonder?

My prognosis is pain - whatever the outcome

Why on earth would you want to move your money out of Sterling? Citibank do a large number of Foreign Currency accounts, free to operate and no charges for incoming funds. They charge £25 for outgoing SWIFT. Physical cash transactions over the counter are free in or out. Halifax International do USD and EUR accounts. Straight-through payments in cost £3, and non-STP cost £6. Outgoing charges are dependant on amount and range from £14-£30 for USD. Barclays do USD and EUR accounts, but the USD one isn't as low cost as the EUR account, for example they charge 2% on physical USD in and out over the counter but with EUR it is free. Whatever you go for transfer the funds via Oanda using their Global FX Transfer service - $25 flat fee. Banks such as the ones above charge a spread on currency transfers, typically 2.5c on GBP->USD, but Oanda has a much lower spread, so much so that you will struggle to detect it. If you intended to shuffle money frequently, in effect trade the markets, then you can have a selection of accounts with Oanda and move money from one currency to the other for free. You can also trade with up to 50 times leverage with Oanda but I would not recommend it unless you want to loose your shirt The only downside of holding USD will be the interest rate paid. If you are seeking interest then I think the best one is with Anglo Irish Bank. I'm sure their USD account pays in the region of 1.5%. Halifax International is 0.9%, Citibank is around 0.5%. Oanda will pay interest on your holdings but it is very low at round 0.25%. Sorry I do not have accurate figures for these rates. I believe you can do better if you open an account in the USA but you need to do it in person when you are over there.

People keep telling us that you cannot go wrong with bricks and mortar, houses prices only ever go up, renting is dead money, blah, blah, blah... Headlines like this confirm to the Sheeple that all this bullsh1t is true, until it all goes wrong of course.

The recovery is now locked in £200bn in freshly printed notes and we achieve 0.2% - marvellous.

I'll believe rising interest rates when I see them and not a moment before. Savers will be tapped for a good while longer imho :angry:

I know the feeling and I wonder just how many others have had the same feeling and gone one step further and jumped in. One thing is for sure, this current charade cannot continue for much longer. The money markets are holding fire until they see how the election and emergency budget pan out. If they don't like what they see from either then we'll be following the likes of Iceland, Ireland and Greece (by force). People on Treasure Ireland see this stuff on TV and think it cannot happen here, it can and it will, especially if we carry on with the current economic stupidity.

+1 I'm not sure what the point of working is any more as all the wage seems to be is base capital to be massively leveraged against in a rigged game. Starting to wish I'd just p1ssed the last 12 years up the wall since leaving University as that way I too could enjoy a free house. Instead I'm left dabbling in markets I'd prefer not to dabble in simple to try and preserve the money I went out and worked hard to accumulate.

Interesting post and it does fit with what we are seeing, which isn't good news for any of us. Having been the victim of one of these BTL'ers filling the 2-bed semi next to mine with 7 Eastern Europeans I know all too well how frustrating it can be. Even more so when you write to the council and receive letters back saying they cannot do anything about the multiple occupancy because the house is a 2-story dwelling, and according to them, 7 people packed into a 2-bed starter home isn't overcrowding either. I refuse to get involved in a bidding war to get a decent detached though, and if like you suggest, the lower end detached are now getting infested with BTL'ers then my aspirations of actually owning a half decent place for a reasonable amount and having a peaceful life are looking somewhat hopeless. The rewards vs. effort in the UK are simply not there any more and if the current trend continues the country will be another two professionals down as me and the misses have had enough of the whole lousy set-up.

The UK housing market follows only two trends:- 1. Lack of supply - prices go up. 2. Lack of demand - prices go up. Someone told me it is something to do with the number of imbeciles infesting the island

Supply outstrips demand - bring it on... There's nothing I like to see more than spooked Sheeple

And so the Sheeple stampede begins...

Wise words my friend You cannot go wrong with bricks and mortar

+1 Oanda are very good and I've used them myself many times. The easiest and quickest way is a couple of accounts at the same bank, say Citibank, one Sterling, one Euro, then you just transfer from one account to the other. The trouble with banks is they have a lousy spread, can be anywhere up to 300pips, i.e. around 3% worse than Oanda would offer you, which is way too much on a large wedge.

£20 chicken, that sounds exactly like where the UK is heading... Once the Fools Paradise is exposed for what it is then I expect Mr Reality will come a knocking...

I know exactly where you are coming from with the gap. When I bought my first place I didn't stretch for the detached even though I could have, but then, after experiencing endless neighbour problems, I found the price of detached were somewhat unappealing. My solution was simple, get shot of the whole deal and rent a detached whilst roasting marshmallows on the flames that are licking from the burning down housing market. Sadly the last part hasn't come true yet but I am hopeful You highlight the real problem with your example - prices have tripled in 8 years, during which time wages have not.