wild card

The very nature of the business indicates that this must of happened at some stage but I have no specific knowledge of it. I never worked out of an estate agents office nor did I build up strong relationships with any EA's. Some EA's made a point of telling buyers that they had to do their mortgages with their in house or preferred broker. Customers were told that this would increase their chances of the purchase completing. This is against the FSA's guidelines and often put pressure on customers to use tied agents when a whole of market broker would have provided a better suited mortgage and independant advice. Lenders & solicitors are worth relationship building with as they can actually help speed up the process but EA's in general are a necessary burden. Usually the surveyor is instructed through the lender and brokers have little contact with them. The exception would be for adverse mortgages where you often choose the surveyor yourself and obviously have contact then. I understand completely that people are suspicious of the entire system and am very aware that there are several ways to work the system. It needs simplified with more transparency but more education is desperately needed by vendors & buyers. Banks no longer have a fiduciary duty to us, they are simply there to sell. The FSA has given quite a lot of fines out recently and closed down several offices. This will continue.

Ride on Thank you for being concerned about me. You are too knid. I am returning to university in September 09 as a very mature student and no I am not going to be a teacher. I do however hope that I have choosen a career that will feed me until retirement. At the minute I do vol work for an advice centre, mainly dealing with repossession & debt cases. I would agree that FTB mortgages have been on the decline for several years now. My experiences are only from my wee office so may not be exactly the same as other brokers experiences but my customers/ clients (80%) spend all their money on paying debts and fun stuff. Very few could last more than a month if made redundant. Saving is not a priority.

Insider trading? Don’t see how. Very hard to break rules where none exist. Early information on new build sites, & developers plans are passed regularly to estate agents and brokers. There is no law against that, as the developers need the agents to sell their properties and the brokers to get finance for purchasers. At some stage this info ends up on a brochure or online for buyers anyway. If you mean buying off plan - then it makes sense for the developer/ builder to have sales early and discounts would be given to anybody who bought a substantial amount of property. They are not fussy who buys as long as they buy. The mortgages used for this would normally be BTL mortgages and therefore unregulated. There are no regulations governing the developers, the estate agents or the BTL mortgages. There are no rules. Mr Slump, Moral skulduggery may have been going on but the reality is that it is not unlawful or illegal. I suppose there may be cause for concern if for example a client arrived in a brokers office, heavily in debt, missed mortgage payments and the broker decided to take advantage of the situation - buying the property from them in a private sale for a discounted price rather than give full advice or the correct help. Having the full knowledge of the client’s mental state (stress levels) and the debt outstanding could allow for this. I don’t know any specific instances of this happening. My thoughts would be that this practise would be seen as questionable and immoral but again not necessarily unlawful or illegal. I wish I could find a shorter way to say stuff!

I have heard on the grapevine that one of the big players is just about to be declared bankrupt owing the banks a very, very large sum of money - allegedly in the region of £600 - £800 million - quite a staggering amount of money - what will that do to the already battered Irish Banking sector Tease . ... Begins with? K?

It would. Yes

statinstoinker- the desire may be there but most people didnt bother saving a deposit as they thought that house prices were going to go up forever and that they would never be able to afford a home so they gave up. I would think that a lot of these previously priced out would be buyers would only have started to save late 2008 when the general public realised that the prices were dropping. As deposits required by the lenders are larger and unemployment is a realistic concern for many, it may be years before employment,price of property and deposit fit the current criteria for a purchase and mortgage. I see some pent up demand but not the ability to achieve it. Just my thoughts.

You shouldn't be surprised Mr Slump, in some cases 2006 & 2007 houses were sold with £50,000 & of equity and by the time that the secured loan and personal debts were cleared the clients couldn’t afford to pay more than a 5% deposit on the next house. Mortgage lenders ask which debts are being cleared but take no action to ensure that the existing debts are actually paid off. So when you saw clients two or three years after their purchase many still had the same debts as before the purchase. Now plus a larger mortgage than before. I am no longer in the business (there isn't any worth talking about) but do worry about a lot of people, some clients and some not, but people who are in so much debt that BR may be their only way out. I do not however, worry about the BTL brigade as never once did a person come to me and say that they wanted to become a landlord with all the responsibilities that it entails. All anybody ever wanted was easy money. I am one of the exceptions as I know very few brokers who do not have portfolios of properties. Some are even responsible for the sell and rent back schemes which were popular in NI in 2007 and first half of 2008. Fingers, hands and arms have been burned. I now have no business & no employment but neither do I have any debt. BTL was very tempting and whilst in the industry it was hard to ignore the euphoria that existed. Every body talked about how much money they had made on property and you often saw it 1st hand and it was real. We all got carried away, the estate agents, the brokers and the public - but the lenders went mental. The criteria for lending was almost non existent in some cases. I think I just got lucky as I had a queasy gut feeling that things were going to get real mucky. By 2006 I was scared about the amount of personal debt that people had. I had also found this site by 2006 and gained a new perspective on the entire monetary system.

I worked as a mortgage broker in NI for 10+ years until 2008. During this time I never once had a first time buyer with anything more than 15% deposit. Any deposit over 5% was unusual. In general FTB'ers would visit a broker first to find out what they needed before even starting to save. From summer 2006 I did very few FTB mortgages as nobody could afford the houses. I did very little BTL but they were the ones who had the large deposits. Even movers who had huge wads of cash equity did not use the full amount as a deposit on the next home. The cash was used to consol debts, buy cars & holidays and an average deposit was no more than 20 - 25% My experience would show that the large deposits held by HPC FTB's are far from being the norm. I am hearing that BTL speculators are in the market looking at both houses & mortgages but not much mortgage business is completing. A solicitor friend tells me that there are some cash buyers completing but not a lot. FTB's are looking at houses. I worry slightly that the BTL brigade may take the edge off the HPC but not enough to stop it. There are a lot of properties to let on the market already and many are empty. The prices of houses may be down but where are they going to get tenants from? I doubt the start of a recovery.

Has been very slow since last night. Not expecting to see more than two pages tonight either.

If they`re on a prepaid electric meter then they are pikeys Not familiar with this description but I take it that it is a derogatory expression. I don't know the family well but as far as I do know, they are regular folk. I know he worked for over 10 years with the same company and is looking for more work. The kids are well mannered, confident, happy wee souls and do well at school. The parents are regularly seen parent teacher evenings and assist at school fêtes etc. This, in my humble opinion indicates that the family background is solid. No obvious sign of wild spending. Terrace house, no extensions or landscaped gardens, car which is about 6 years old. Maybe a bit of empathy is needed on this site.

I am directly authorised by the FSA and would take the remark made by Tuffers as a real threat. Everybody knows that the banks can do no wrong in the eyes of the FSA but they will use all their powers, sharpen the teeth and go for any individual within the industry who is complained about. As to whether or not FP has any cause to be worried, I haven't read enough to say with any certainty. First impressions suggest not. However,as a spokesperson for this site FP may be seen as good catch for the FSA

http://www1.landregistry.gov.uk/assets/lib...c_guide_015.pdf LR have 20 working days to forward requested info. I will call them now to see if they charge for this service. Although there are allowed exemptions to this info I seriously doubt that house prices - repossessed, commercial or residential could fall under a risk to national security. Or could they? If the repo figures are as bad as in Erics brill find http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00fl..._on_4_25112008/ maybe the government will state national security as a reason to exempt this data?

All the information held by Land Registry is available within the guidelines of The Freedom of Information Act. http://www1.landregistry.gov.uk/access/freedom/ I will pop back later with the relevant fees and timescales concerned - it may take a while to receive the requested data but it should fall quite nicely within their duties.

36 Dunvegan Street - In December 2007 I saw a valuation of an identical house on the same side of the road as this one. The value was £115000. The owners were unhappy with the val as it was £135000 earlier in the year. I can only imagine how unhappy and stressed the owners are now.

The house was empty. What is wrong with this country is that people with your attitude designed its economy exactly that

I know a family in NI doing exactly this. Repo'd in February. Struggled to get rental as credit was bad and they didn't have 6 months rent upfront. After kipping on friends sofas with 3 kids they went back into their own house in May. The locks had not been changed and the house has not been seen for sale on line or in the local auctions. Water was on and electric was on a prepaid meter so they just topped it up and moved their furniture back in. They are currently signing on as squatters. The repo happened as a direct result of redundancy.

Bad luck - hope you get more work soon. If you have savings use them and clear the debt. Credit card companies normally the most aggressive, followed by loan and then the HP. If your credit is good change your card to a 0% if you can. Phone loan company and ask for a break - will prob say no - maybe an extension of the term to reduce the monthly payments. (will cost more in the long run) Check with www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk before handing back HP car as these companies have very strict guidelines concerning this. If you have kids check out whether you are entitled to any tax credits now. Go & sign on. If your stamp has been paid you will get £60.54 a week contribution based Job Seekers Allowance Good luck.