pobby

Another down turn example!In my job I have to have a few nights away.Now,I really enjoy staying @ a very small pub/hotel in Wales.In fact it is such a great place I am tempted to give it a plug on here but think I may well get into trouble with the moderators! Over the years I have become friends with the owners{the property is lease hold}.Three weeks ago when I was staying there they told me that 2005s turnover was £750,000 but so far this financial year they were on target for £500,000 only.They were pegging the beer prices to keep the locals coming in but the food side was down as was the accomodation.At £30 a night b and b it offers a good deal.I think this indicates that people are getting scared of what may be around the corner.

Yes this is total madness.A customer of mine in Cardiff took a lease on in 2000.Annual rent set @ £7000.in my opinion a fare rent.2005 and the landlord says-----'wow!look how much my property has gone up' and asks for increase of a further£8000.In the end he says 'OK i will let you have one over on me.I will let you get away with a further £7000 increase'!

In the words of Arthur Daley--------walk away my son!

Can I be cheeky and ask what kind of investments are giving such a good rate of return please?

Maybe they are just as bad as each other.One thing is for sure,in my book they have one maim interest at heart------their own. By the way-----I am in the middle of seting up a fairly large deal on CCTV!

I have in my sales portfolio-CCTV,a lot of musical/d.j equipment,toys,lots of small things like electrical cabling,connection leads-really quite a varied collection.

In a previous post I explained that I am a free lance sales agent with over 6000 product lines which are many and various.Most of my retail customers are independent dealers.Bar a very few,all are reporting a downward trend which is really coming into play this year. Even when I had a sales trip to Ireland last week ,most were saying tjhat trade is poor.Some dealers are saying this is worse than the 90s recession and I have one dealer who says in over 40 years of trading this is the worse he has seen it. These problems will and are being compounded by rent reviews based on landlords re-valuing there properties and trying,in some cases,to double rents.I am sure that this is the reason that some HPCs who have already mentioned that they are seeing a number of closed shops As a newbie I should really introduce myself.I am a baby boomer,I have next to no mortgage{I have other problems like crappy investment returnsto which to retireon}BUT I certainly am a bear.I saw the crash which affected me during the 90s.I see the this crazy,out of kilter housing boom and I am very,very angry that this has been allowed to happen.I am sorry for voting this lousy lot to power in 1997 but could not bring myself to vote Tory ! I have teen family members who have no chance of affording to rent, let alone by and I think it unfair that they should have to live at home for goodness knows how long. Sorry for the length of this --------long live HPC!

Strange thing is,with all this HPI,that I still know people who are being chased by lenders for the properties that they lost during the last crash.Anyone thinking that the keys were being handed in was restricted to the very early nineties are wrong.Hey just think about it,mortgage companies repros this time round getting caught up in still trying to get back compensation from the last crash. Think I will just have another beer and lay in a darkened room!

Just back from Ireland this weekend.you would not believe house prices around Dublin.Ex-council house for sale approx.460,000 euro!It would also appear that wages are on the whole rather less than here. Go to Belfast however,or indeed Ulster in general and house prices are far cheaper.A semi in belfast around £110,000.

A friend told me that a house by me that has a for sold sign up is not sold!Its an error?!?!Strange that the error has not been corrected some 3 weeks later----still got that sold sign up-----whats that all about?

I live in S.Devon.Not in the prettiest of areas,in fact Plymouth.It certainly aint going up here.Wages are pretty low but it is the only place for miles that you are likely to get work.Maybe in the prettier areas stuff is going up but that would be second homes and retired folks buying in.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/main.j...25/ixpmain.html Cant wait to move in-------NOT!

Frankly I am sick and ashamed that in the 21st centuary people are being forced to live like this.I was a proud member of the OLD Labour party.Both my grand father and father were party members and in the 80s I was active within the party.I was appalled by some of Thatches excesses but this crowd of sh--sters who dare to keep the word Labour in the name of their party need kicking out a.s.a.p! It was in part that the labour party stopped this exploitation of the lower paid worker,that stopped slum housing, that offered a degree of protection to the working guy.We are going backward!My real concern is where all this c-ap is going to end.Shattered are the dreams of a fairer and equitable society.Now it seems the venerated are the talentless celebs,rip off merchants and this chav invested,couldnt give a flying b-llock to anyone,attitude.

Yes Jeff,good point.I have one shop/internet based company that does far more trade with me than any other outlet.In the pub last night,someone said to me that he goes into his local music shop to try out equipment then goes home to order on the internet! I believe that more and more bricks and mortar retailers will become showrooms for on line traders.

I have to laugh about the so called down turn on the high street.For many years I have been a self employed sales agent and believe me, I sell everything from dvd players to toys. It really is getting bad out there.Im not going to bore you with percentage drops but my sales figures are going down at an alarming rate since 2004.I have customers that are small retailers through to main high street shops and most are struggling badly across all sectors. As well as the U.k, i have contacts in Southern Ireland where property prices would blow any bodies socks off and it is the same story there. I think for many retailers this year will be very difficult.Shoppers seem to be drying up!Guess folks are getting the message that at some point debt has to be paid back. Thinking about good old GB and his economic miracle--------didnt old Thatch say the same-------and I remember where that ended up.Mind you----its different this time!Or as someone told me--they{Blair and crew I presume}wont let it happen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Im laughing me ---- off!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Shaker why do you say neither?

Glad you have said ,People now talk about a quarter of a million quid in the context of houses as if it were nothing, it's very debased,because this is the feeling I have.When i go to my home town of Reading and talk to folks they seem to have no concept of money.Someone said to me that his mother had a house worth 300k and ONLY had a mortgage of 150k.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nice one Frank.Is Reading getting a bit inbreed.From what you say,the attitude is a bit like here in Plymouth.The world ends @ the A38! Well I for one have done a fair bit of moving around----even my family say that Reading is not the greatest place to live.Sometimes it takes about an hour to get from Early{where I last lived}to Tilehurst and that isnt even in the rush hour. Ahhhhh,and the joys of Oxford Road,what a loverly place that has become------not!Any way,as an old Ashmead boy I sure dont find Whitley my first choice of destination!

Thinking of moving back to near my home town of Reading.Reading is sooooooooooooo pricey not to mention pretty grotty.Just down the motorway lies Swindon which I can afford more readily.Now it was always said that Reading is closer to london hence higher prices.However the sharp price difference is quite marked so I wondered if any HPCers had any thoughts?

Plymouth,Devon.If you want to see inflation at a crazy percentage look here!Purchased a house in 1999 for £34.5k.Spent around £5k,new kitchen{although the old one wasnt too bad but Mrs.P fancied one},new windows, tarting up and redecorating and its now worth around £115k to £120k.Its a two bed,3 story terraced with court yard. Jobs here are very low paid £15 to£17k seems the norm but loads are paying a lot less.I am a self employed technical sales agent so the wages do not apply to me. But heres the rub,I am from originally the south east and have little hope of moving back unless property falls in a massive way{and I do think this is only a matter of when not if}. Heres a little question .Reading, my place of birth,sadly a very unloverly place now is ultra expensive whilst just down the road in Swindon house prices seem to be the same as here in Plymouth.Any ideas?Think I might try a seperate post for that.

Me and Mrs.Pobby lived by the Cornish coast for over 9 years.Very mixed feelings about it but had the added pressure of running a business in nearby Plymouth and hitting negative equity in the 90s. Had some nice times there but know,as us,a number of people who have now moved out.It is cut off,what work is poorly paid and it is very reliant on the summer months tourism. Do your research and unless you have a government job dont be overly optermistic as to what you may earn.

I have a sales agency where my task is to find outlets for various products.Many of my customers are retailers.The down turn for some started in 2004 and now the majority are complainimg that things are starting to look quite sticky. The products I represent are very varied and take in a lot of different markets but not one market is looking very strong.To add to the problem,many products are half the price they were some few years ago due to the fact they are sourced from either India or China. In my opinion, this just the start!

Trying to get my head around more madness !I was staying away with a friend at an hotel last week and I asked how his 21 year old daughter was.About to give birth in a few months,she and her boyfriend,who I understand,is a low paid worker at a supermarket have just moved into a shared equity home.The cost being £125,000 on mortgage and a further £125,000 being serviced by rent.So how much in total would these youngsters be paying out a month I wonder. By the way ,my friends daughter works for an estate agent!