FaTB

Can't argue with any of that !! Anyway its friday night & im off to the 'zoo'

How dare you !! :angry: Ok your probably right it's not as nice as it used to be, but where is !

Sounds to me like you're in a very nice position, I'd swap with you. NSI & Gold bought in '04, you ain't gonna get much safer than that for your cash, & youve got a nice hedge against inflation. Sit back, crack open a tin of tuna and enjoy the ride.

Hi 'notquitesure' I'm have the same dilemma as you, been seriously thinking of getting my savings out of the £ for sometime & should have done something sooner & not been so lazy. But I think i'd be looking at one of the eastern currencies, & not the dollar, as that IMHO it has the same problems as the £. What I mean is while the pound may not lose much against the dollar & may not go to 1.50, it may in the meantime be getting hammered compared to many other currencies with economies much stronger than ours or the U.S. As for Gold, I just can't make my mind up, there are many reasons to buy it at the moment, but also I can't help feeling we are getting into 'shoe shine boy' territory because every Tom Dick & Harry is now talking about it !! Believe me i'm no expert these are just a few of my thoughts.

Oh yeh baby this has been a mad week !! Iv'e never wacthed so much news or smoked as many fags !! All I wanted was a correction in house prices, but this is getting out of hand, I just don't know where this is gonna end. This really could be the end of the western economies. You really don't wanna be in debt at the moment, but you also seem to be vunerable if you've got alot of savings. I'm thinking now the best position to be in is to have enjoyed the money you've earned but not to be in debt, kind of a neutral position. But i am quite pissed !!

Check this out. I don't think it gives anything usefull either way on prices because of the low numbers of properties being sold, but look at how those volumes have DIVED !! I would say the market round here is well & truly at stalemate !! Buyers are obviously on strike, now its just a matter of the sellers getting real. http://www.home.co.uk/guides/house_prices_...mp;endyear=2008

Just to clarify my position, I'm a potential FTB, do not own a house, and never have. But i'm still of the view, that if as has been argued so much on here that there is no housing shortage and that it was just a speculative bubble. Why do we need thousands more of these shit boxes built on the green belt ?? As much as I want a cheap house, I don't want to see the country concreted over, and i'm hoping that market forces will allow me to buy a reasonably priced house in the next couple of years.

Just happened to be passing today, and I noticed one of the local independant EA's in Marshalswick Francis Rose seems to have shut up shop. Wonder if they've moved or gone bust ? Think its more likely its gone bust, as I don't think they'd find a smaller premises if they tried !!

I' m amazed nobody has mention housing, either buying at the last peak in 89 / 90, or not buying in 95 /96. Mine, is definately not buying in '96. It still would have been a struggle back then as I had little savings and a lower income. But seriously I could probably be mortgage free by now, and I have freinds of a similar age (35) that are !!

Well there's certainly no shortage of those crappy new build flats !! I'm guessing a 3 bed terraced house would rent out for between £900 & £1100 per month depending on the area.

Can't really suggest a particular road but you should have a good choice for £400k even round here !! I'll warn you though the parking near the centre if you haven't got your own drive, is a NIGHTMARE !! The nazi like traffic wardens walk round together in 3's until 8pm, not to keep the flow of traffic moving but purely as a revenue earner. :angry: :angry:

Try this. Just input the postcode, and time scale your interested in. Eg. http://www.home.co.uk/guides/house_prices_...mp;endyear=2008

http://www.home.co.uk/guides/house_prices_...mp;endyear=2008

That is still some pretty mental money, especially as some of those are just old terraced houses with no parking !!

BTW - FP glad to see you are taking an interest in this thread !! Another friend of mine was saying last night he's looking to buy in the Ware / Chesunt area. I couldn't be bothered to try and talk him out of it, i'm not as articulate as yourself. I just explained why there was no way I would buy now and left it at that, hopefully he'll have a think about it and work it out for himself.

Thats good to know, as I really don't remember what happened round here last time other than a couple of anecdotal stories. But most people I know still seem to think that we'll be somehow immune round here.....Hope not !! There does seem to be a bit of a stand off at the moment, asking prices still very high, but very little seems to be moving. I know one couple had thier place on the market now for about 7months, they've dropped the price 75k odd but still no interest, it was from a ridiculous starting point mind you. Another freind was told he'd have to move out of his rental property as it was being sold, I asked him the other day when he was moving on, and he said they can't sell the place so he's staying put for the moment. Somethings got to give soon !!

That MEW'ing ex-estate agent is like an HPC.co.uk created character, he can't be for real !! ....and the d*ckhead deserves everything he's got coming !! I do feel sorry for the couple with the little boy though. They are at least trying to help themselves.

For such a fat girl, she really is a lightweight !! I can't believe anybody would pay good money for advice from her.

I'm feeling a bit silly now When I read the original post I thought "Where has this idiot been, asleep for the last 9 months ??" Then I looked at the date at the top Apologies "Flat Bear" & well done on your prediction !!

BUMP http://www.propertysnake.co.uk/site/postcode/al1 http://www.propertysnake.co.uk/site/postcode/al3

I've got no idea, but will have a look next time i'm over that way.

[quote name='VillageIdiot' date='Mar 23 2008, 10:14 PM' post='1029014' I am really suprised by some of those figures. Any ideas why terraced properties are averaging significantly higher than semi detached properties? I think that figure is probably just an anomaly, because the sample size is so small. But the number of houses sold in the area, I think tells a clearer story, significantly down almost across the board. In my area (St. Albans) sales are down around 50% for every type of house, that must mean that prices will follow eventually.

When you say 3 rivers I assume you mean the Rickmansworth, Maple Cross kind of area, near Watford ?? http://www.home.co.uk/guides/house_prices_...mp;endyear=2008

Don't worry matey I won't be buying anything for a good while yet. I'm just saving, saving, saving !! If this thing gets really bad, and alot of jobs go, I may need the money just to live, let alone buying a house. BTW- Welcome to the forum 'Pytyr' and anything you can add to this thead would be much appreciated.

Check this out Number of sales are down heavily since last August, so i'm guessing prices will have to follow eventually. ...and these figures are only up to January !! It can only have got worse in the last couple of months. http://www.home.co.uk/guides/house_prices_...mp;endyear=2008