johnny5thumbs

""House price booms are caused by an imbalance between supply and demand and the long term solution to escalating prices is to ensure there are enough homes to meet demand" - Today's Nat.Fed.Housebuilders reaction to Turner report So, according to the NFH, the boom was nothing to do with runaway earnings multipes - it's all because nimbies wouldn't let them concrete over every last ****ing square foot of greenfield England. "For the grossly impudent lie always leaves traces behind it, even after it has been nailed down, a fact which is known to all expert liars in this world and to all who conspire together in the art of lying." Guess who said it ... (No - not an EA)

BTL's just replaced FTB's - more than replaced if you look at the charts here on HPC, so the analogy still stands. The post you were challenging which states that every chain starts with a FTB (or BTL) at its foundation is a given. I personally don't think you're a 'plant' or closert EA, but I do think that a Q4 2009 recovery is a 'little' premature. Have you had a really good look at any of the graphs? eg:- http://www.housepricecrash.co.uk/graphs-av...house-price.php Look at the length of time the undershoot lasts before starting to climb What makes you think that an early recovery will be staged before the graph runs its normal cycle ?

Cashinmattress, that's disgusting ! Can you not keep still for one moment?

Fancy a guess on the Nationwide figures due out in 2 weeks? Below 1% ?

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/TenancyDeposit/DG_066373 "* landlords and letting agents who do not protect tenancy deposits will have to pay their tenant back three times the deposit" Good luck. This law has teeth (for once)

"Sold" is always a great EA word. Ask him how many COMPLETIONS they achieved last month. Sales are fallng through at a faster rate now - a local EA told me 'off the record' that 1 in 3 sales doesn't make it through to completion, and that was 6 months ago - hardly likely to be any better now.

... love Krusty's quote ...“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"

... or even better, cross your fingers and hope it DOESN'T get put in the Tenancy Deposit Prtection Scheme. Landlords who don't, get fined a figure equivalent to 3 months rent, which goes to the tenant. I'm 99.9% sure on this - any challengers? btw, I was a landlord until last year (and got burnt fingers once too often through being too relaxed) - I agree with the other HPC posters who say that any tenant who can't get 6 weeks rent deposit together has a much higher risk of defaulting. I've been burnt 3 times in 15 yars, and each time, because I relaxed my position and exercised trust which turned out to be misplaced. It's not that the tenants intended to default - it's just that a decent deposit concetrates the tenant's mind wonderfully.

If he can still afford a flight to Conneticut (and I suspect he probably can) , there is still a golf club that might accept him ... http://goodwin.americangolf.com/

My granddad - he died in 1967.

I'm quite interested in one of Tata's new budget cars - the Nano, costing around £1250, I believe. So let's get this straight. If I drive one back from Bombay, the government will pay me £750 (£2000 - £750) for the privilege. Should cover most of the cost of a fairly interesting roadtrip and a new car to boot. I suppose there's a snag somewhere ...

To buy or not to buy - that is the question ...

Yes - and anyone who shorted JP Morgan on IG index the next morning would have taken a huge haircut. Price at time of gloomy posting $17. Price today $22. Could all change again next week, but margin calls wait for no man. I almost took a punt myself - I remain eternally grateful that the baby started crying for a nappy change first. Must be a metaphor for something?

Except for the people of Exmouth who are usually too drunk or comatose to do any of the above.

Exmouth on a Saturday night makes Newcastle's Bigg Market look like a vicarage tea party. The language, the violence, the vomit, the black-jacketed heavies on every pub door. And that's just the women. I don't venture out there after 4.30 pm. And as for Scunthorpe - you can take the ...

Have they? Not here in the West Country. But I agree your point about EA commssions being cheaper in UK than most other countries. In many countries, buyer pays the EA commission, not seller. So shopping around fror the best EA deal no longer applies. France - anything from 4% - 15% on a real rundown cheapie longere.

Tell me more !

Er ... what 'international standards' might that be - a basket of countries rather heavily-weighted towards Argentina, Iceland and Zimbabwe ?

I agree. Anecdotal evidence from friends suggests that if you make potential offers on a number of properties at 25% below asking price, 20% - 25% of them will accept your asking price within a fortnight (usually after attempting to get you to raise your price first). Don't be put off by E.A. eyeball-rolling, severe frowning or sharp sucking of air through clenched teeth and other spurious body language. It's all part of the game. By the same token, then 30% or better should be theoretically be possible, but there may be a waiting period while the vendors 'peruse' your offer. If, of course, you've fallen in love with one particular property, then it all becomes a little more difficult to remain relaxed about the process.

But interest rate increases ... phooooaaaaar !

There's lots of houses up for sale in Detroit for $6000 or less = 100 hours wages. I'll have a hunt around for yesterday's HPC post & link.

I take it you also owned / built on "Go to Jail", and controlled the supply of "get out of Jail Fred" cards. Oops - a typo !

No - I don't get aroused by interest rate cuts either.

My local E.A. chain who also does quarterly auctions, charges 2% plus a few hundred quid for preparing particulars, share of auction costs etc. Frankly even that seems a bit steep to me, since the same EA usually charges 1.5% with no additional charges, and without a guarantee of a sale (more likely not to sell these days). 11.5% seems breathtakingtly cheeky, and they probably reckon to get away with it since the fees are loaded onto the buyer rather than the vendor - maybe the buyer is more likely to get carried away in the heat of the moment. I can't agree with A.Steve's comparison with furniture auctions, where the average lot is anything from £30 to a few hundred quid, even in some of the posher auctions. With REDC, you're talking about a cool £10k commission at the drop of each £100k hammer. Most suburban auction houses don't see that sort of money in an entire 2 week auction cycle, and with several staff to pay too. I wonder what on earth possesses Halifax and other banks to place their stock with REDC - do they really believe that 11.5% is going to just be absorbed without detriment to the final NET price for the bank, or are REDC just exceptionally persuasive with their clients? Trebles all round?