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montesquieu

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Everything posted by montesquieu

  1. Like I said it's a conversion in substantial shared grounds so there's an additional service charge of £270 a month for insurances and upkeep. Forever. This is the equivalent of another £50k mortgage, every month forever. I'm figuring that into the offer price. Consequently I can't see the value at £360. Anyway it seems her bottom line is £10k off her asking so even 360 wouldn't be acceptable it seems, even if I thought it was worth it. £385k or bust, after 18 months on the market. Well eat my shorts.
  2. Milk is bad for you anyway and its persistence in the western diet is a conspiracy led by the beef and dairy industry. It's intended for baby cows, not humans, and a great many chronic complaints have their roots in milk ingestion.
  3. ********. Housing benefit totally dwarfs the entire higher education budget. That could be cut in half with minimal repercussions.
  4. This is true and has been the case for me since STR in 2006. (In terms of the place I currently rent it was bought by the LL in 2005 at about 50% more than I would sensibly buy now, STR fund plus mortgage - and still leaves me a good whack every month to add to the house fund). However in that time I've been kicked out of home twice so that previous landords could sell up. There was some joy to see that neither LL fared very well, the first taking two years (long after we were gone) and dropping by £160k to rougly his 2004 purchase price. And the other dropped £100k over six months before getting what I thought was still an absurdly high price for it. Either way, there was no stabilty for us. Unlike you I don't have enough in the bank to buy the sort of place I want in the SE location I want outright. I need to take a 15 year mortgage for the rest, and I need to do that fairly soon if I want to be able to retire a few years early. This is called 'getting on with my life'.
  5. Main driver for me is having a decent place to live in retirement, in a community broadly of my choosing, rent free because it's paid for, and without being at the mercy of the pathetic tenant-unfriendly rental system we have here. This is one of the things that's driving me to look at the moment and even to make the occasional offer, but if I was 10 or 20 years younger I would be sitting it out, no question. Of course buying is it's far from fool-proof as a 'getting on with life' strategy' as millions of people in negative equity or with little equity and stuck on interest only loan have found - ranging from the most recent generation of FTBs through to people with growing families - there is no 'ladder', at the moment at least.
  6. Don't know about your target price range but in my bracket in the area you mention there's precious little decent stock at sensible prices which is definitely keeping asking prices high as there is competition between agents for new stock. (Some hoary old stuff has been around for years, having said that). In my experience, the place is packed with fantasists, I just had an offer (West Berks) refused at 18% below asking, despite being on the market for 18 months. Our previous landlady who kicked us out to sell in 2010 was properly motivated to sell up but still took six months and a £100k drop (20%) to sell, so it's not as if the market is as hot as London. But forced sales are few and far between - Reading is one of the best places in the country for employment and I don't see much suffering round here from cuts etc as there was precious little public spending going on anyway. My advice - which is roughly what I'm doing - if you must buy for personal reasons and really like a place - go in at 20% below and be prepared to go up to 15% if you really want it. I'm personally not going higher even if the wife wants me to. I'm figuring just under double the 2000 price (= 2004 prices roughly) is what I'm mentally comfortable paying as a maximum. No science to it and I'm aware I could well be deluding myself (see previous paragraph). Certainly I don't feel close to concluding a deal on anything I've seen (dozens of viewings and only one place I felt willing to offer on). Bear in mind you might be: * laughed at and regarded as a dickhead by estate agents but so what? * Still paying too much if prices fall in the next few years - but offering 15% below you lessen your chances of that I'm avoiding even looking at places where people bought post 2006 as chances are they will want what they paid plus a premium and having stayed out the market so long, I'm not getting myself into debt to pay that to them as a matter of principle. Do the usual checks on the property sale history (and relevant neighbours/similar properties), preferably BEFORE you view (I've called off a few viewings when I found out the street number and checked the history, as I knew in advance any offer I would be prepared to make would be rejected, based on what it was bought for in the recent past - so why waste everybody's time including mine?). 20% deposit will get you a respectable mortgage deal so long as your overall credit score is decent. Bu (obviously) the more you put in the better interest rate, plus lower repayments or a shorter term.
  7. Well at least they did something with that £50k rather than buy an X5 and a fortnight in Barbados ... If it is a BBC move then it was surely on the cards in 2009?
  8. £275k for a caravan in Bracknell takes it for me. Makes the half mil ex council 3bed in Marlow look reasonable.
  9. Looks pretty cynical and deliberate to me as if it had gone statutory she would have been able to leave at one month's notice.
  10. Extra £20k for the shed get at least 3 illegals in there paying £100 a week each.
  11. My contribution ... posted previously but it always brings a tear (of laughter) to the eye http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-33326785.html
  12. The thought of a Japanese trade deficit doesn't compute when you think of where they were say in the mid-80s. Astonishing.
  13. Sorry read this wrong. (EDIT) Very low on healthcare, huge on sky subscriptions.
  14. If nothing is heating up in the oven any current draw should be minimal - shocks like this are NOT generally related to issues of big current flowing (to cost you money, current has to flow - the meter measures consumption in volt-ampere reactive hours), it's a straightforward issue of differences in voltages, of different bits of the house being at different potential to ground. Most likely an earth has been disrupted or left off during work like a kitchen replacement or plumbing repair (eg a bit of plastic pipe being used to replace a copper section resulting in an earth discontinuity, leading to part of the house being effectively live in some fashion compared to other bits of the house. This can be 110v or even 240v sometimes - mains voltages!. Shocks are usually felt at appliances, though radiators or water pipes can be affected too). Don't take my word for it though talk to the sparky when he comes he should reassure you that it hasn't been costing you anything. Often there are small draws you don't think about like the freezer or the central heating system control unit, which keep the big wheel turning even though all the lights and main appliances are off. Don't go switching things back on just to check the meter turning wait till the sparky comes in case there is a real bodge behind the scenes here. Electricity can kill that's more important right now than worrying about a few quid on the meter.
  15. Interesting thing is she's selling to rent ... wants to buy near daughter in Dorset down the line without a chain to limit her options. Wouldn't be surprised of course if it's mortgaged to the hilt .... paid £180k in 2000, wants £400k now ... probably owes at least £180k
  16. Just had an offer rejected of about 18% off asking. :angry: Wrinkly boomer has told estate agent that she is holding firm for her asking price after a year and a half on the market (apparently she got an offer at asking near the start from a coupe who hadn't sold, which of course went pear shaped when they in turn couldn't sell). Place is rather nice but - patently - not worth asking if it hasn't sold in 18 months. It's a nice place but is in shared grounds, and comes with a really steep monthly service charge. I think my offer price is fair. Dipshit estate agent arguing the toss got my goat as well. Why should he be pissed off at me when it's the boomer that's wasting his time and advertising budget? What is it with these people and their sense of entitlement? Asking is more than double what she paid in 2000, so she gets it for free plus a chunk of additional free money, assuming she's also been paying down a mortgage what's the ******ing problem?
  17. Just yesterday I made an offer exactly the same as yours, on exactly the same asking price. Waiting by the phone now to hear what the vendor things, but spookily I'm also not prepared to increase by more than 5k. Like you I have also decided life's too short and am going to use the leverage that renting with a deposit and mortgage offer in hand gives us over people who have to sell up first to drive a hard bargain. I've only been looking at properties where the seller has been living for a long time, ruling out places bought in the final stages of the boom as they won't be in a position to be motivated to accept my offer. Good luck with the move, I hope I can achieve similar.
  18. After renting since 2007 the wife wants to put down some roots and I cant contain her much longer. We found a place in West Berkshire, on market for 18mo with no price reduction (was sold apparently in first weeks at asking, but the 'buyers' hadn't sold and it all fell apart in a few months. - EA says sellers ready now to contemplate an offer). It has the size location and character we are looking for. Last sale was 2000 and asking is about 2.5 times what it went for then. sellers are boomers downsizing/relocating to dorset. Dunno yet if greedy or just idiots. Or greedy idiots. Anyway I'm looking to pitch a take it or leave it of -20% of asking which is a touch under x2 the 2000 price. Am hoping their bad experience with the previous 'buyers' will work in our favour as we are renting with all funds and as loan offer letter. Few useful tips in this post about how to play things ... Will report in! Worth as flyer anyway.
  19. With any luck the papers should turn up a few members of the Government who have been using these dodges....
  20. Egham is becoming a warren of shitty HMOs supporting RHUL, that will eventually hit general house prices there. Who wants students throwing up in your front garden at 4am? Having said that it's not a huge institution and a lot of students commute in from London as - let's face it - Egham isn't exactly the most happening place in the world (hence the 4am throw-ups after house parties). My suspicion is that the BTL gravy train there might hit the buffers soon.
  21. Same area, same valuer it would appear. Now where can I get some of the same hallucinogenics? http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-33288553.html
  22. Not sure if this is in the right forum. But we all deserve a laugh now and again. http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-33326785.html
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