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pobby

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Posts posted by pobby

  1. I am a self employed area manager for a multi line import company in the entertainment business.Many of my contempories{I am some 34 years standing in the industry} are saying that this is the worst period that can be remembered.The recession of the 90s was bad enough,but this is some thing else.I control a large area with a huge data base of customers,and,if I was any younger,would consider a change of career.

  2. Just briefly,I had a conversation with a customer,who is a builder, in Somerset today who told me an interesting story. He says that there are a

    lot of repro properties coming on the market and being handed over to EA/auction houses.Now,according to this customer,these properties,by law,have to be advertised before sale.According to him,the EAs/auction houses are advertising this, but out of their area, to keep their local market bouyant.I am sure someone will come along on this forum who will know a little more.

  3. we are now, as a nation, spending more than 20% of disposable income servicing all our various debts, including mortgages and credit cards. This proportion was exceeded only once on record and that was - you guessed it - back in 1989-1990

    I`m amazed that it is only 20%!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  4. Yes.

    We now have the Rich Class, the Welfare Class, and the Middle Class (aka 'the poor').

    So what is happening I guess ia the rich will always be rich.The welfare class,depending on how many kids or whatever do O.K,and the middle class get burned by taxes.Seems to me that some of the welfare class do better than the middle class.

  5. Something that has puzzled me for a long while is the apparent change in peoples attitudes.Up to before the great house price inflation imho folks seemed to have a different take on money.People saw money as the thing that was in your pocket/bank account.Now it`s something called equity.

    Houses went up steeply in the 80`s.I kind of remember there was something of a realease of equity then but as I recall it was used for home improvements.I witness in my own family crazy borrowings.Mum and Dad do a bit of release and buy a car,holiday and so forth.That`s then followed by the kids taking out ill afforded loans to buy cars{at a very high rate of interest.It`s like it`s not real money.

    Friends with IO mortgages,one as high as £300k,with no real means of paying off the debt.Some still thinking that their properties are still rising at an alarming rate.I`m of an age where I am almost mortgage free but I am terrified of what will happen when the crash comes.Homes are imho well overpriced.The average wage they say is £25k per annum.You won`t find many jobs here in the west country paying anywhere near that amount and yet we are the 3rd{I think} most expensive part of the country.This is indeed the economics of the mad house!

  6. It strikes me that every single action from this government and the BoE is designed for the short-term.

    The pensions' crisis speaks volumes about how much thought really goes into these policies. Tax the pension dividend today, squander the monies and ruin the lives of pensioners tomorrow.

    Immigration policy: open the floodgates today and worry about infrastructure (water supply, schooling) tomorrow. It then dawns on the government that we've run out of water, imported drug/people traffickers and introduced disease epidemics such as Hep B and TB, so retrospective action is called for!

    Protectionism: allow foreigners into Britain, train them on-site in technical jobs and let them leave with our British jobs. Government response: we don't support protectionism and it is inevitable jobs will be lost overseas.

    Mismanagement: allow corrupt and inept ministers to continue in office for the short-term benefit of Blair, even if it makes the country look foolish.

    Bank of England: pretend to be keeping an eye on the long-term but justifies keeping the interest rate on hold because of a downward stockmarket adjustment.

    Keep the interest rates artificially low enough so MEW supports the short-term economy but wrecks it long-term. Screw the savers into the dirt and then mention that nobody appears to be saving and force mean's testing on everyone.

    There are plenty of other examples of this calculated behaviour which is going to bring this country to its knees shortly; a protracted boom and bust if you like. Without long-term policies which provide proper provisions there really isn't any hope. House price crashes are the least of the problems to come.

    Thanks for the above post.My feelings nicely summed up.

  7. Yes they are. I bought a place in 2000 for 72K (wish I never moved in with the ex and sold up), now priced at 128K thats a 56K price difference or around 80K extra with interest over 25 years, or over 3K per year more.

    Now that price change is one of the lesser extreme cases. Some houses have doubled/tripled in price.

    Think about it!!

    But this is exactly what the madness is about.Purchased in 1999,decent 2 up,2in the middle ,2 down late Victorian terraced,spent a few grand painting,new windows,kitchen and stuff and now valued at £120k.Paid £34.5k for it.That`s over 300%.now where the heck has that come from.Madness!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  8. Don`t know about Barcelona but I have friends living inland near Valencia.My thoughts are that property is hugely overpriced and is likely as not to crash pretty soon.As far as the cost of living is concerned,they live on about£120 a week.Bear in mind they like a meal out and they both smoke and drink!

    Their council tax is ,I think,around 250 euro a year on a three bed villa.Alao my experience of public transport there is good and not expensive.I would imagine that the cost of living in Barcelona is going to have something of a premium.Per haps you may find this link useful

    http://spain.othercountries.com/forums/forums.asp

  9. This morning I was talking to a Dublin guy.My,the Irish are borrowing like mad.If it isn`t for a btl portfolio it`s for the latest 5 series.Madness abounds.Ex-council houses in an OK part of Dublin going for half a million euro!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Now it seems to be spreading north of the border.I get the impression that N.I has had a fair bit of hpi since I was last there a couple of months ago.

    My bet is that Eire and Spain are right on the edge.Won`t take much for the whole thing to fall on it`s back.

  10. It's not simplistic, it's buffoonery.

    The current generation of pensioners have to a certain extent had their pensions subsidised by those that paid into the pension pot but never collected due to early demise.

    The majority of this generation left full time education for work at aged 15 & retired at 65 at average working week of 48 hours giving 50 years of PAYE.

    A huge chunk of the present youth are in full time education till age 23 or above depending on how many 'gap years' they have taken.

    Obviously they are all prepared to retire after 50 years working a poncey 36 hours per week of paying taxes as have the current pensioners.

    Yeah right!!!

    Why not give a level playing field & disallow retirement till a life time quota of working hours have been achieved.

    Typical youth, want all of the benefits afforded them by previous generation with none of the drawbacks.

    You probably do not realise that benefits such as holidays, maternity leave, paternity leave, bereavement leave, sickness benefit were non existent for most of the current generation of pensioners & were only won at their expense.

    As for saving for retirement, 'hard up' today means not having the latest phone or having no foreign holiday this year, for a lot of the pensioners in their day 'hard up' meant not being able to eat & freezing in winter.

    Such a shame that history is no longer taught at schools nowadays.

    Thanks warwickbloke.Wished I said it myself.

  11. Freedom is taken not given. They may not have 'conspired' actively but they passively grab the benefits and keep quiet about it. There are only about twenty REAL pensioners left (the ones who fought in the war) - the others (grew up in the fifties) are basking in their reflected glory and are hollow, selfish gets.

    What a dumb statement.

  12. These anti-old sentiments are some of the daftest I've seen here - these people you're so keen to vilify didn't create the housing situation in which they find themselves, they're mostly trying to do their best for themselves, same as anyone else; if you MUST find someone to blame, try the legislators/money men who've made credit so cheaply & freely available that it's fuelled this house-price bubble - many of the comments here are both absurd & shameful

    Fullyagree.Not met a pensioner yet who ``conspired`` in hpc.In fact there are many poor pensioners in the U.K.I think the figures show that the average works/private pension pot is around £30k.Although I have not yet retired,I am a lot older than most of the posters here and I hate hpc.Some of the comments on this thread are downright insulting to many older folk who are very concerned about younger folks.As Clouseau says,use your intelligence,blame the money men who are behind this ridiculous state of affairs!

  13. Just a thought.With Spanish properties in general heading south I wonder,with probable IR`s on the way up here,what would happen in the following example.Mr Englishman mewed his house on a property in Spain worth say £200,000 in 2004.S--t hits the fan here,IR`s goes up and Englishman cannot afford the mortgage on Spanish property.The Spanish bank with whom the mortgage is with comes along and repros the premises.Auctions off for say £120,000.What recourse would they have persuing Mr.English to make up the difference?

  14. More clutching at straws by the doom-mongers. What happens on the stock market has absolutely no relevance whatsoever to the property market.

    It just goes to show the levels of frustration and desperation of the doom-mongers that they have to latch onto any bit of bad news, regardless of how trivial it appears, to justify a property crash.

    The doom-mongers are desperately looking around for any trigger that might bring about a property crash. The reality is that whatever happens to the stock market or oil prices or inflation or interest rates, it won't make a blind bit of difference to house prices because the public's perception is that house prices always go up in the long term and that property remains and will always remain the best performing asset.

    The doom-mongers can put away their sandwich boards and just sit on the sidelines whilst they watch homeowners get richer and richer.

    Come on.Are you really Bruno?

  15. I foresee a massive crash in Spain particularly in the Holiday homes sector, the amount of Brits that have been lured into this is truly amazing, I can not believe how gullible some people have been, it's bad enough over here, but what kind of fool believed the VI spin about Spain, the problem is that many have used the capitol from their own over valued homes in order to get into the Spanish market, so it will be inter continental reposestions all around :huh:

    The average wage in Spain is very much lower than here so the chance of moving on your investment property{koff koff} to a local is pretty much non existent.Very little is selling in the Valentia,Alicante area and I very much expect to see some of these new build sites come to a grating halt by the end of the year.

    The chances of renting to cover the mortgage in Spain is imho impossible and clearly the bail out is starting.Inter continental repros,scary thought!

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