profitofdoom

There may be trouble ahead,but while there's moonlight etc...

i was addressing the situation as it is.Not as we might like it to be,because we know it won't ever be that way.

As a country we need to get our priorities right.Do we (A) preserve the countryside as it is for those who already have nice homes and lots of dosh to admire,or B. Provide land for houses so that everyone can have a decent home at an affordable price?

I'm not sure that I qualify as a Labour supporter.I have voted Labour but also for other parties,Labour more often though.My reaction is this : The Tories are all hot air.They talk a good game but their policies have only succeeded in deepening the crisis.When people are in need of money their main priority has been bombing Gaddafi with one hand and showering other third world dictators with cash with the other.. Cameron is a useless tosspot.Ditto Clegg Ditto Miliband.I have never known such a lightweight array of party leaders.

And that's the relevant figure,house prices are 30% lower in real terms from the peak.I have just agreed on a four bed detached with three quarters of an acre and a separate annex that yields £10k a year as a holiday let.The previous figure it was sold for was £575k and I have paid £425k.The previous buyer also built a 4 car detached garage.Personally I think that is a cheap house when the letting pays the interest on £250k of it.

You are being naughty.It was ten times that.

This thread could be subtitled "Or an annual salary equivalent to one and a half day's pay for W.Rooney".

I recall a (very) long dinner with a french family that ran to about seven courses over as many hours.my understanding about doubled in that time.i think that being thrown in the deep end like that is an excellent way to learn.

She tried to play the game complicated and came unstuck.An innocent abroad,don't they have anybody better than that?

I have just bought two semis because I was uneasy with the cash sitting in the bank.Had £111 k offer accepted onone that had just been reduced from £139,950 to £129,950.The second was on at £149,995 and reduced to £144,995 they took £125k.I don't see them getting any cheaper with inflation at 5%.

I sold a 5bed farmhouse in July 2010 and have just bought modestly.A semi detached on the market for £129,995.I got it at £111k .Just had a 125k bid accepted on another on at £149,950.I dare not leave the money in the bank how thiongs are looking.

And that is quite likely just as common as the rich boomer/poor kid example.

He has bravely decided that some kids who stole such items as bottled water should be sent down to learn how to steal properly. A Tory councillor in my town who put the boot in on a police inspector after being stopped for drunk driving was fined £800.You couldn't make it up.

A flurry of sold boards around here.Of course I don't know what the figures are but it looks like the busiest yet in 2011.

As he is only 8 miles down the road it would be churlish to disagree,such a lovely avatar too.I can personally vouch for the fact that she is just as attractive in real life,saw her in The Priory.

None of those things really apply to a non franchised dealer as we don't do finance deals or get involved in scrappage,which I agree was a disaster for the main dealerships.No,my point was rather the opposite,that I have found a satisfactory way of dealing with the crisis as a (now) very small business.The big boys can't do that so it's time to watch them crash and burn along the lines of Osborne's Master Plan.

The problem I have re:advertising is that 50% of sales come from within 3 miles and 90% within 10.I have been in business for 34 years and have built a good reputation in a difficult trade by giving excellent after sales service.Consequently a very large proportion of my business comes from word of mouth recommendation and repeat business.The possible areas for advertising are few and relatively expensive compared to the local free paper. Wider coverage works for unusual cars but mine are typically four grand get you to work diesels.

Yes.

I took a decision to scale down drastically in January.With 55-60 stock units I was turning over about 5 cars a month for the first half of the year.So I let the stock dwindle to the point where I now have 15.Reduced staff from 2 full time to 1 part time.Cut advertising in half and renegotiated my rent from £500 per month to £50 per unit. It seems to have worked.With my monthly overheads reduced from £4500 to around £1000 I still did 5 units for July and August and have just done 5 for the first few days of September. The downsides seem to have been for the staff (1 redundant,1 to part time) but mostly the VAT man whose monthly take has fallen from over £1000 last year to around £200 this,despite a hike in the rate.Maybe small is beautiful! I understand from talking to bigger franchised dealers that things are desperate.Carrying expensive staff and premises they are doing money hand over fist.Looks like 2012 might be the time to pick up the pieces.

No it didn't.It just didn't increase as fast.Going down is deflation,not lower inflation.

The first elections were run on the basis of stones being thrown into a circle.The word base Pseph is from stones.Now the study of elections and voting patterns (my hobby)

Last July I sold my house and took a considerably cheaper one in p/ex.At the time it was on at £155k and I just left it on the market at that price.I had several viewing and then an offer of £140k this June.I turned it down but sold it to a friend at that price instead.I loked round last month and saw a 3 bed semi on at £129,950 and ended up paying £111k.So people are obviously prepred to take a hit in some cases.

For Christ's sake man,which Psephology books have you read? Dave couldn't even KO the most disastrous Labour PM ever to hold office without the help of Cleggy.If Blair had remained in office they would have had a 50 seat majority.

Now there you go Injin haters. That post is Spot On.