johnny5thumbs

Freudian slip ?

I kep stumbling across references to the 1869 Gould/Fisk Black Friday, when apparently bankers were dragged out of their offices and hung from lampposts. Wikipedia mentions the Gould/Fisk scandal which forcibly reminds us that lobbyists nearly always escape scot-free, but not a whisper of ropes or necks. It all sounds really juicy, but is tantalisingly difficult to trace to source. It it all just urban myth, or do any HPC posters have any verifiable facts on it ?

May I add a category for prestige and larger houses. This fine 5 bed residence probably used to be a 1 bed, but as the family grew, so did the house ... http://www.findaproperty.com/displayprop.a...amp;pid=2854920

Not as big a 'cn ut' as someone who gets paid three months housing alowance and knowingly diverts it to his own personal spending. It might not actually be legal theft, but IMO it's not far from it. I've had the odd tenant who's done this (quite rare. thank God), and they are usually fairly unpleasant people with a rather dubious set of moral values. What's wrong with their official record truthfuly displaying their dodginess for future potential landlords / lenders to be alerted ?

I've never seen a troll wearing a Burberry scarf ! Any chance of a photo, Mr. Sibley ?

Absolutely no idea - except Badfold & Bungley's bust now - so there's a shortage of greedy corporate mugs to whom to sell tied 3 year dice 'n slice packages of toxic loans. If that Rod Kent ever comes into my shop ... or Christopher Rodriguez ...

"OUTSIDE: To the front of the property there is a small area laid to gravel behind low brick wall." Is that what a brick wall looks like? My dad used to make these with a plastic mould from B & Q with scavenged cement and the ocasional snail for extra texture (we couldn't afford scallop shells).

Thanks deeplyblue. I've now seen your OFT link detailing allowable circumstances of pre-agreed exceptiona as you correctly stated. Here's a another link to the Shelter info anyway, for what it's worth ... http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/c...t_estate_agents

That's a bit harsh, elsa. Sibley is a much needed presence on this website, and if he didn't exist, we would have to invent Him. I do have my own theory that he's not really a lorry driver at all - he is actually Kirsty Allsopp under a nom-de-plume. http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/busi...icle5375501.ece We know that Kirsty visits the site regularly - you can't whip up enough emotion to hate something unless you're fairly familiar with it, so I'm sure she visits regularly. But does she post, and does she have an avatar? Well - my guess is Yes - SIBLEY ! (“There is a website called Housepricecrash and I am their deadliest enemy,” she said earlier this year. “They all rent and have a vested interest and enjoyment in watching others suffer. K. Allsopp")

Steamerpoint, When I had my flat on the market last year, I had a couple of really really stupid offers from people who scented blood - 40% below asking price. Not an urban newbuild, by the way - a small historic market town late 17th century listed period oozing-with-character-from-evey-pore flat that in nornmal market conditions walks out as soon as listed. The agents harrumphed, blinked sheepishly, and phoned me apologetically with the stupid offers, and then followed up in writing 2 days later, even though I told them to save their notepaper and postage stamp - "not allowed" I was told. http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/c...t_estate_agents Are you saying Shelter's website is incorrect ? (Edited for 3.00am typos)

I apologise and stand corrected - can't find any updated case law on HMRC website. Maybe it was just a discussion paper that never entered the staute books. Anyway, here is the link to HMRC guidance for claiming expenses against property let at an uncommercial rent which your partner's parents might find useful ... http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/PIMMANUAL/PIM2220.htm

Prescient, cashinmattress. Funnily enough, another HPC poster suggested this as a possible outcome just a few days ago, but, if I remember, met with a certain amount of opposition. Now who was it again .... ?

I'm talking about offspring who live, like yourselves, in a separate house or flat owned by the parents - not together in the family home - tax law hasn't got THAT bad yet !

There could be income tax implications for your partner's parents - HM Revenue & Customs now penalise owners who let their sons / daughters live rent-free or reduced rent. They (if they find out) could assess the market rent, and tax the your partner's parents on the difference. Maybe best to check with an accountant on the exact position in your case.

http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/c...t_estate_agents If he didn't forward your offer, EA is breaking the law, and can be reported to Trading Standards for "failing to forward all offers promptly and in writing to the seller". Good luck

I agree. I import musical instruments from China, all priced USD. I'm fixing all my purchases into dollars immediately on placing orders where prepayment not required. The situation according to all FX forward charts is looking poor at the moment for Sterling. Just go into your bank - they'll sort you out (if they still have a branch manager...).

"We have cereal for breakfast, bacon butties for lunch and microwave pies with mashed potato or chips for dinner," Mrs Chawner told Closer magazine. Nice link, sillybear2

Lived-in properites can sell more easily than vacated ones which have an unloved feel about them after a while. I used to offer my tenants the last 2 months rent refunded if they co-operated and the place sold. It worked really well on 2 occasions - the tenants kept the place tidy & acted positively towards the prospective buyers, and got a nice lump sum at the end for their trouble. Unconventional, but maybe worth suggesting.

But earnings multipliers always drop way below the average with the undershoot every crash - the earnings multiplier hung around 2.1 - 2.2 for 18 months last time (1995 Q1 - 1996 Q2 incl.) - a full 6 years after the crash began. http://www.housepricecrash.co.uk/graphs-ft...nings-ratio.php We are most definitely NOT 'almost there', and your figures really do not add up !

When faced with Xtreme credit-squeezing A one-eyed Scot, Brown, began 'queasing' The HPC nation Cried "Foul !" and "Inflation !" And house prices rose the next season. (hope not !)

I wouldn't bank on the average wage necessarily staying at or increasing from that level in the next year or two as the recession bites. Pay freezes and reductions are starting to appear, and increased unemployment is going to somewhat blacken the rosy picture you're painting here. Where's the data ? Your own personal experience of 90% of couples both earning £25k each may be the norm in your, circle of friends, but isn't realistic overall.

SAFE affordability is maybe better linked to gross income rather than net. B.O.E. Interest rates ain't going to stay at 0.5% forever. Gross earnings multipliers are a safer way of dealing with the peaks of the interest rate cycles. Borrow hugely now at low rates because you can (temporarily) afford it, and you'll definitely start sweating when inflation and 8% - 10% rates (and worse) start arrriving. Banks used to work on that principle when I bought my first flat 30 years ago, and booms/ensuing crashes were never so severe then.

Don't bears sh!t in the woods, then? And the Pope - is he Buddhist now ?

Funny - I could have sworn that I keep hearing that we were in the middle of a spring bounce. Gotta go - off to study once again the finer differences between a 'dead cat bounce' and a 'bull trap'

Couldn't agree more. And "spectacularly overblown, swivel-eyed insanity" (comments below article).