Brian Potter

Yes but all I remember of the 70's was long summers, Abba, slade, the silver jubilee street party, playing footy til it went dark and me dads Watney's party seven. Can I go back, I liked it.

I totally agree. The HIPS thing will sort the sheep from the goats. One of two things could happen: 1: People will have to price realisically or risk having to get a revised HIPS pack after a period of time. or 2: Available housing will become more scarce thus driving up prices. I personally think the former because prices have nowhere left to go.

fair play!

By the way, where has this 1% rule of thumb come from - I have never heard of it. I was always led to believe the people generally regarded their car as their second biggest purchase next to their house.

Bloke near here has a new DB9 convertable in black. Schwing! How much do kidneys go for?

Quite agree about new cars - unless you keep them for a longer period. Personally I like cars. I drive a nice 05 plate Audi cabriolet which is my pride and joy and took me years to aspire to. Finance is less than 50% of vehicle. My mortgage is less than 7% of our household gross income. Frankly I could afford the vehicle if it was twice the price but as it is it is well within my budget allowing me to save plenty. Some people like smoking - I like my car. no problem.

and your car will be sh*te!

Like Max and Paddy

In 1993 we (mrs Potter and I) were in exactly the same position - only worse. Both Students (after redundancy) one child in a rented house. FA money and no immediate prospect of a job after graduation (recession still strong). Things will get better. As you get older you look back on these 'hard times' with a degree of affection. 12 years on I have a nice house two nice cars and foreign holidays but generally you are no happier. Its just stuff. Revel in your young family - you may be better off than you think.

Manchester is a particularly large bubble. With over 10000 flats coming on the market in next 2 years - massive over supply. I am predicting pain.

I think the bottom of the housing market was third quarter 95 if I am not mistaken. Precisely when I bought my first house. Fluke - not good management. precisely what I have been doing over last 5 years. Working as a freelance consultant in construction. Multiple clients. Eggs in a few baskets. Saving a lot of cash each year. Older and wiser.

I agree that a correction in house prices is inevitable. But in my opinion the reason will be either a credit crunch due to excess bad debt or higher interest rates (or a combination of the two). These will drive down prices as people take economic cover. This is already happening as it is noticable how people are tightening their belts. I suffered during last recession but did not own property - thank God

that does not, however, mean that house prices are the cause of a recession. I still think they are merely the litmus paper of public economic sentiment.

we could have set the currency at a lower level. We were forced by EU banking rules to prop up the currency. Resulting in huge losses and stupid interest rates. The exchequer had to make the pound more attractive hence the high rates. No coincidence we pulled out. The economy was run by muppets in the early nineties.

Lest we forget the pound was falling out ot the perameters set by the European bank. The idea is that all euro nations 'buy' the falling currency in order to raise its value. Except we kept buying and they kept selling. So we were trying to prop up a failing currency whilst others sold. Its funny how being made redundant at 22 focusdes the mind on the reasons for it. Builders ran out of work - not because of the lack of demand for housing, but the general downturn investment due to interest rates being sky high. People lose there jobs. other people sh*t themselves and put off the house move - market in housing drops. Thats how it works.

I think a doubling of interest rates and a loss of £20 billion proping up the pound as we struggled with the ERM may have contributed more than the fact a semi was 30% over priced

Disagree. I think Houseprice corrections are a consequence of recession. As long as people can pay, even a large mortgage they will be ok. Other factors such as unemployment and poor consumer confidence drive a recession. All this happened in early nineties. House prices came down as a result of the worst recession in living history. The price of houses was not the reason for the recession.

I am in exactly the same position in Horwich, Bolton. Where I live the house prices are comical. The sale boards are turning to a forrest with the missed-the-boat merchants clamering to get the end of the market. Too late suckers. My numpty next door neighbour had his house up for £220K in 2004 for six months - 2 viewings no offers. removed from market for a while now been for sale again for six months at £240K - 2 viewings and no offers. Is it me or what? house didn't sell for £220K so try it 12 months later in a stagnating market for £240K. Mind you they are police officers so they must be right.

Nail on head. Unrealistic vendors (such as my next door neighbour - house on market for 18 months) will need to price at realistic levels or face paying again for an up to date pack. Its a bit like trying to sell a car with a six month MOT at too high a price. Six months later you will have to MOT it again. I think it will sort out the speculative idiots .

I am becoming increasingly anxious as to the price we shall all have to pay when the payback comes. Cheaper house prices were trigged in the early nineties by a catastrophic recession. Whilst I didnt have property then, I was seriously affected by the down turn in construction industry activity (I was a trainee Engineer at the time). The industry literally shed over 400, 000 jobs in 4-5 years. This also affected other associated industries as well. What I am saying is, I can see the signs all over again. If the crash is as big as some on here predict it will be painful. This time I have a stash of cash and a smallish mortgage but if the impact is too severe I see no alternative to leaving the country. How do other people see it playing out? We need to be careful what we wish for.

Even if prices dropped 20% or more where I live I would still hardly describe anything as a 'bargain' since its 40% plus over valued in the current market anyway.

Bankruptcy is not considered as serious as it used to be. Unfortunately, we will all pick up the tab. Thats the thing - ultimately we are all in the same boat and will all face the same consequences as a society. If debt hurts the economy it ultimately hurts us all.

Is this period of validity of three months correct for the HIPS stuff correct? If it is sellers on our estate will s**t themselves. It means you cannot sit on an unrealistically priced property indefinately. If you need to move you will have to be a realist or risk further costs as the property languishes on the market. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Home owner who needs a bigger house - increasingly brassed off at the money people are expecting for crap housing. Not going anywhere until the insanty passes. If my house drops 20% it sure aint as much in pound notes as the big house down the road dropping 20%. Unfortunately, when prices drop it will probably be because we have all been made redundant - so you cant fekkin win really.

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