lulu

So no one here thinks that the Muppets might have been taken in by Kirsty and Phil?

Nah, dont do it - remember that about 2 miles North of Watford the land is full of Northern types and even worse, if you go far enough its full of Scots! I think all you lovely Southern types should stay put - we dont what you spoiling the North for the rest of us.... the longer we can keep up the pretence that "its grim up North" the better

I could easily afford a sh*t flat in a particularly scummy part of the city that I live in but as I value my wallet and the wheels on my car I choose not to live there no matter how "up and coming" the area is. At the moment, reasonable one bedroom flats in my part of the city would be a bit of a stretch. Unfortunalty as it was one of the areas on Krusty and Phils top ten then that is probably me totally scuppered for the time being. So I am saving like a whatsit and currently lodging in a family home which whilst not ideal, is far cheaper that it would ever cost me to buy somewhere - long term I will probably try to move somewhere a bit cheaper.

So long as we ban them at the same time as banning "inferior" imports from abroad - otherwise there is little point. - there is little point banning a particular method of production in this country then still importing from abroad product that would be illegal here..... look at veal for example.

My family must be an exeption then - possibly the source of most of my scepticism about the housing market. When I told them last year that one of my housemates at the time was about to spend £130,000 on a one bedroom flat (mortgage of ~£800 and he claims that he will always be able to convert the living room into a 2nd bedroom and let the flat out as a 2 bedroom place. A 2 bedroom flat in that part of the city rents for £600/£650 max just now....) they said that they thought he would regret it soon enough and hoped that I was not going to do anything similar. They are fairly sure that Labour are going to f8*k this country good and proper and thought it best to not be tied up to anything when it all goes wrong.

Oh come on be fair - the barnet only cost £7,700

I think there is a mix in what a FTB might want. I personally would be happy with a one bedroom flat that was in a reasonable part of the city I live in (when I say reasonable I dont mean luxury Penthouse neither a hovel in a crime infested "up and coming" area - just somewhere middle of the road where i am not going to mugged on my way home and not need to step over drugged up teenages on my way up the stairs). at the moment the only way I could afford such a flat would be with a 5/6 times my salary (at least) worth of a mortgage - I am not prepared to take the risk of IR's going up so I personally would just like to see prices to go down a bit - whether that would be interpreted as a crash I dont know and dont care. Other FTB's who god forbid might want to start a family may well want a small house though.

Well I was watching it between bits of the Arsenal game last night - I was thrilled to see them tell me how great a place Edinburgh is to buy - I was hoping they were going to try to inflate some of the really crappy bits (Pilton etc.) but instead they stuck to a 2 bedroom flat (round the corner from me I can only presume) just add a wall and put in a third bedroom and you will be sorted aparently.... gits, another FTB totally priced out here once all the Muppets arrive.... My favourite section of the show was the brief spell they mentioned the top 10 "worst" places in Britain - god forbid aparently property can go down in value! - too many new builds and FTB's priced out of the market (how thoughtless of them to allow themselves to be priced out) have lead to falls in some areas. oh yes and the bit where Krusty was saying that she didnt think her children would be able to ever afford a place (and of course neither will your own children) the implication being that any responsible parent (or even if you might think about having kids in a few years time) had to buy BTL properties or what hope will their/your chilldren have - that is what she was doing. in fact they set the whole thing up to make people think that they were fools if they didnt have 20 BTL properties - what about the poor sods (like myself) who havn't a hope in hell of buying one place let alone 20 others to make me a millionaire - sorry starting to rant. A letter to Channel 4 and OFCOM may be required.

But this dead cat seems to have been bouncing for years.... is it going to stop?

Well a friend of a friend was involved in doing the kitchens in this development - they certainly don't come from Comet/MFI - definatly high end stuff for somebody with too much money - there are a number of financial companies very close so I bet someone will take them. I drove past them the other week - they are pretty nasty from the outside. There are tonnes of similar places in Edinburgh - I can only assume that someone is buying them. Here is another similar development in Edinburgh just down ther road from a large number of Victorian townhouses: http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-547...pa_n=1&tr_t=buy http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-547...pa_n=1&tr_t=buy JK Rowling allegedly lives in the area (but not in a grotty new build flat I presume) so that may be helping the prices

Well I doubt it will ever get that bad (dont believe everything you hear) - the farms will be put out of busisness by Tonyb and his mates first (more stuff we will have to import). But the principle is the same - the less we all pay for our milk the more pressure goes on our farms (most of which are running at a loss just now anyway) it leaves the farmer with no option but to cut costs to the absolute minimum and this puts more and more pressure on the animals and concequently their welfare - think of that next time you hear your supermarket saying how great it is their milk is 1p a pint cheaper than the next shop down - and tesco et. al. all make profit on the milk they sell - unlike the farmers - sorry these rants should probably be targeted to another board.....

Just think of the poor s*dding farmers who keep getting paid less and less for the milk they produce - their costs are not going down - we live in a country where people are happy pay more for a bottle of tap water than a pint of milk..... - just think about it - its as daft up as the current property market - people making a tonne of money by doing very little (bottling some water - some of it fizzy) where the farmer has to produce milk at a loss to help subsidise Tesco's profits (and the rest) :angry:

Superb!! I am thinking of going along - who knows within weeks I will be in a position when I have £800,000 of "Good Debt" My favourite quote: "Yes, people do struggle, and yes it does stretch you, but you know what, once you get it, you’ve got it.... and you’ve got it for good." I can't think why everyone is not doing this sounds like free money.....

This is a quality article from today's Edinburgh Evening News - aparently 20 football players signed from around Europe to play for Hearts are managing - by themselves - to cause proprty prices in the Scottish Capital to soar..... Plush home draw for Hearts aces fuels property price rise MICHAEL BLACKLEY THE highly-paid footballers lured to Hearts by Vladimir Romanov's millions are fuelling a surge in demand for top-of-the-range luxury apartments in the Capital. The wave of big-name players who recently arrived at Tynecastle are said by property agents to be a new breed as far as Edinburgh is concerned - with both the money and taste for high-class living. Many of the club's new signings have moved to Edinburgh from the Continent and are looking for accommodation on a par with what they were used to abroad. They are prepared to pay premium rents for £500,000 flats kitted out with the latest technology. The Edinburgh Quay development at Fountainbridge and The Park next to the Scottish Parliament are among the most sought-after locations. Striker Roman Bednar from the Czech Republic and Lithuanian Edgaras Jankauskas are among those believed to be renting city centre properties. Scotland international Neil McCann is believed to have spent £1.4 million on a new house in an exclusive new development. One of his team-mates from abroad is said to be shopping for a home with a budget of £2.5m. But most of the new signings - many of whom are earning £10,000 to £15,000 a week - are on high-wage short-term contracts and therefore looking for luxury rented property. In the last 12 months Hearts have splashed out on more than 20 high-profile signings, including players from Portugal, Lithuania, Greece and France. With the club now competing with the Old Firm in wages and on the pitch, the spending power of their players has also grown. One letting agent said the influx of players to Hearts has been so significant that they now see the football close season as a significant opportunity for business. Steven Currie, head of property management at city letting agent DJ Alexander, said the influx of players had kick-started the top end of the letting market. "The expectations of the players that have joined Hearts this year are far exceeding expectations of the players in the past. "A lot of these players are used to living in places like Portugal in modern apartments with all the best quality technology, appliances and TVs. When they've come to Edinburgh they have struggled to find that. "When they came into the office we got excited about showing them expensive Georgian and Victorian houses, but they were saying they were looking for something with a bit more pizzazz." Mr Currie said the standard "footballer's property" would be somewhere with a "wow factor". The property would have to be bright, spacious and modern, and certainly with its own private parking space. The average rents for such apartments are usually around £900 per month for two bedrooms or £1500 for three-bedrooms. Blair Stewart, head of Edinburgh residential properties at Strutt & Parker, said there were also a growing number of footballers with big budgets for buying property. He said: "There's definitely been a difference since last year. They are now looking at the upper end of the housing market."

I think this is very indicative behaviour for majority of sellers and goes some way to explain why prices will move down slowly over many years, housing is afterall very illiquid and whilst many here would like to see a quick crash IMO it just isn't going to happen. The bottom of this market is 10 years away. All your parents need is one muppet and they will get the price that they are wanting - people on here may not like this theory but until we run out of muppets paying a fortune for houses in this country (of which there is an aparently endless supply - of muppets that is) then prices are going to continue to go up....

This arguably good news - a number of wallies who have spent either too much to buy their flats to rent or too much doing them up.... As noted further down this thread, to rent in Edinburgh one does have to pay too much you should easily get a 2 bedroom for ~£600 (I am currently paying £300/month all included - bargain) I hope no one is daft enough to rent any of them and there are plenty of void periods for the landlords (as of course they will all have taken these into account when deciding on going into buy to let!!!!).

Yep there is definatly something wrong with the system - I have given up asking the bank to lend me enough money for a single one bedroom flat where I live - but some t***er is allowed to get hold of 8 of them despite the fact he earns just a few grand more than I do - its just wrong

Time Out did a similar thing in Edinburgh a couple of weeks ago. They were naming all these "up and coming areas" giving guides to prices etc. certain areas they claimed (most of which are actually ok Gorgie/Dalry/Easter Road for those in the know) had an average price of a one bedroom flat as being £70,000 if that was true I would have bought one months ago - it was as if the article was written about 2 years ago and they have just recycled it. The £70,000 average is obviously b*****ks as there are only about 2 flats in any of these areas marketed so low and with the offers over system the average must be alot higher than they claim ~£90,000/£100,000 now for one bedroom?

Why, that is a tiny rise - surely not enough to make any difference?

That is assuming of course that all the BTL properties that are currently being let have been bought with a BTL mortgage..... which I am sure they are

< There's no mortgage tax relief so who is your "mate" cheating > Surely his mate is cheating every one of us! With every one of the 20 flats they have bought it is increasing demand for buying and thus pushing up the prices for the poor innocent fools out there who are mortgaging themselves up to the hilt to afford a similar property. If this was lejit that would be bad enough, but if it is all done on dodgy loans then someone will be paying at the end of the day and it wont be them.....