Catch22

one that allows you to input the rate of interest, the term in years, the period time interest is worked out [ie; monthly to coincide with the monthly repayments] and thus gives you the capital and interest payment total on a same monthly amount sum. Hope that makes sense.

The comment of the opening piece to camera was: another new mall opened before Xmas, but the customer base is shrinking, due to the rising cost of living and the foreclosures due to sub prime.........

Sainsburys is now down to 6.00% Icesave decent at 6.30% instant access. but no good if you want to withdraw regular, its CHAPS and it will cost you £30 so be warned.

With the help of the banks, Mr Carrigan says, people in Stockton "spent their house".

Me neither, but thats coz I never read it

percentages are a mathematical equation, not a stab in the dark, not open to discussion or interpretation. The beauty about maths is you can reverse test it to check it is correct.

Simple but wrong

Thats what property does ....really Timing is every thing, you buy the market top on a 90% LTV mortgage, that means you have 9 to 1 leverage position on the housing market. Market drops 10%, means you have just lost your 10K stake, you sit tight, but buyer sentiment has turned negative, so no buyers wanting to buy a devaluing asset, nor do the banks want to loan at 90% LTV so they drop the LTV to 80%. Means less people have the deposit to buy, so demand drops along with valuations. Your house has now dropped by 20%, you owe the bank 90K but the house is only worth 80K. Meaning your 20K down, on what the tend is indicating is a devaluing asset. But your not fretting because property only ever goes up, and in any case, your in it for the long term..........Thats what property can do. Pity the Japanese who bought the top back in 1990

Seeing as its Panto season, I cannot refrain from saying OH NO IT ISN'T 100K house 500% up in value is now a 600K house. 20% down is 120K, which means the 600K house is now a 480K house. So your now 380% up on your 100K investment, not 480% up. If you insist on talking percentages, it's best that you try and understand them first Edit :typo

Could it happen here? Shanghai China Real Estate market bubble has burst, prices down by 50%, 3000 offices close And here is an update of the Shanghai Market dated December 20, 2007 Credit Controls Hit Shanghai Real Estate Any News blogger out there feel free to add these articles to the News Blog, BUT no ramping it up in an intro PLEASE, let the articles speak for themselves

and the tongue sticking out one, means your comment was made "tongue in cheek" I think. Mind you it could mean your up for a bit of "rimming" or possibly a bit of [edited by a moderator]

Hang on, maybe just maybe highlighting important parts of the article would do the job even better and be easier on the eye

And here are this months tractor production figures I've being following a series of programs on BBC 2 this week [shown after Newsnight ] its on about writers like HG Wells, Orwell and the like, and I remember one contributer commenting that the BBC has long been recognized by the writing classes, as the spin masters of government propaganda

FFS! Whoops, whats come over you of late? Your beginning to sound like one of those born again religious zealots who have found the one and only true god. At this rate you'll be putting to the sword all those who refuse to follow the one true path to redemption that you have just uncovered.......Open your eyes all ye delusional fools, lest I be forced to gouge them out to save thee

Anybody got a link or can name the program ? EDIT: FOUND IT 1 hour 40 minutes in. Good Morning are we heading into a recession? Welcome to Kevin Hawkins of the retail consortium, and Jonathan Davis, a Financial Planner in the City. These will be the men in the know if ever there were two Ah FP is now accepted as an expert ......First they ignore you, then they ridicule at you..........

Totally agree, after the event journalism of the lowest order, and there is a lot of it about these days.

Spot on..............Welcome to the future, welcome to BRAZIL...this is your receipt for your husband, and this bottom copy is my receipt for your receipt. Watch the Trailer As it said in the trailer "it's only a STATE of MIND"

the agent selling our rental gaff was ecstatic when I said it looks like this couple [who viewed yesterday and again to day] are really interested in the house. He gleefully said, it will be nice to wrap up a sale before Christmas. Yep agents getting a firm sale in the bag is becoming rare event theses days in our neck of the woods. September sales at LR for our town and its surrounding environs = 16, now given that there are seven estate agents in the town !!! Now remind me again when did the NR sh@t hit the fan, because those sales were already in the bag. Even then sales figures for Sept 07 are down 61% on Sept 06 sales. It ain't a shortage of property that is the problem, its a shortage of buyers willing and or able to do a deal at present market prices.

yes I thought that would maker a few folk have a "Carry On" moment. Used to have a neigbour, who would be out there with his hedge trimmer...what you up to today Jim, sez I? just nipping round to Tracy's to trim her bush, while Rob's at work... [the names have been changed to protect the innocent]

a couple of months back I was trimming my neighbours "bush" when she said, hey handsome why don't you buy a house down here, your such a handy person to have as a neigbour, see I take her bin out and stuff. So I sez' well although I have been saying it for 2.5 years, I'm still of the opinion house prices will fall, besides her indoors wants another house with a garden. She replies, no house prices wont fall but they may slow down a bit. I spoke to her today,she knows the house has been discounted by 20+%, and I told her about our son thinking of buying it. She said great you can rent it off him. But I told her I talked him out of it, because I reckon the prices will fall more over the next couple of years, and that the agent was of the same opinion. And she agreed, and I don't mean in a grudging way, just a matter of fact way.

Yes the 5% deposit deal offered by builders is another way of false reporting of actual price paid. Plus Gordo gets at least 1% of that amount in extra Stamp Duty, assuming the price of the house is above the SD threshold. So he profits from the false recording of property prices, should we impeach him I think I might visit a builder offering said discount, and say considering the real state of the market, I will not accept a deal of less than a 10% deposit paid, and see what they say. No hang on, I'll start at 15% ....then possibly weaken to 12.5% if needs must. Builder 5 miles down the road is offering 5%, carpets and legal expenses. Of course 5% off means bugger all, as it is only a figure that they preloaded on top of their margin price in the first place.

Jeez I bet you kick yourself, but hindsight is a wonderful thing ain't it. 1994/96 depending where you lived was the bottom of the last decline. Incidentally around the time our LL bought this house, so he obviously has an understanding of market cycles, maybe not when he bought, but obviously he does now. I was to busy earning a living to understand economic cycles back then. It's only as you get older and wiser do you wise up to how economies are inflated and deflated intentionally, thus enabling the "clever money" to buy low sell high

no no no the rising cost of putting a roof over your families head is good . Driving the population into more debt is good...you obviously have not been listening. Anyhow it turns out the man representing RICS says every things fine [ keep buying houses, as our members need the valuation fees] And it turns out we had two experts for the price of one, as the newscaster stated that its all about supply and demand hence property prices will always go up...........................and there was me worrying about affordability being the issue. Like somebody posted on the News Blog, 25K deposit on a 95% LTV mortgage gives you a possible house price of 500k 25k deposit on an 80% LTV mortgage means your now looking at a possible house purchase of 125k. The more afforability is constrained, the more that market is threatened by a correction. Banks reeling from huge mortgage valuation related securities will demand a bigger deposit to loan ratio.