tenroom

Tell the Unix Support Engineer to get a job in the City. He'll hit 40 large all day long.

Nope. Bought on my own in 1997 cos I couldn't be dealing with renting.

Nothing wrong with shared ownership. i used to arrange those mortgages for buyers back in 1996 and - believe me - far from feeling like idiots, they're laughing now.

Have a quick read over the post from the beginning of August . . . you'd have thought prices were going to plummet 25% overnight. Obviously, the increase won't filter down into any meaningful statistics until November but I don't hink it'll make any significant difference. There WILL be another increase this year though and at that point, SENTIMENT could begin to change.

Sorry but you're not being totally honest . . . with us or yourself. What the hell do YOU care if someone you've never met spends his/her money subsidising their BTL tenants ? I think you're just pissed off cos they've taken a risk and may be profiting from it expecially if they've bought more than 3 years ago whereas you feel you missed the boat. That in itself isn't a bad thing, but you should be straight and say it. If I hadn't bought a place and saw lots of people making capital gains on property, I'd be pissed off too . . .

Sure they have, sure !! MEDIC

Desperation is not attractive. Most of the bears on here have two+years of egg on their collective faces. The Correction come but regurgitating the same old stories just to reinforce the consensus is a tad boring.

I'm thinking of doing the STR thing too. My reasons are pretty sound I think. Ex LA gaff in North Kensington which BTLers are particularly interested in at the moment (I'm told) because of the much higher yields. I think the marketability of these types of property will only last as long as there are only meagre yields to be made on the far more expensive equivalent 3 bed period conversions which cost nearly 40% more. Just don't wanna watch the pot of dosh - nigh on £120Ks worth - rapidly disappear when the "correction" comes and the market's flooded with well refurbished period conversions which'll make my dive seem far less attractive. In answer to your question though, if your place is in a good location, you like living there, aren't DYING to move and it ain't ex LA you should stay put. £40K isn't much if costs and so on have yet to be deducted.

Hmm . . . I can see why you might think that pent up demand from FTBs might limit any dramtic falls but I think most FTBs would baulk at the idea of getting what would still be a fairly large mortgage when the underlying security is still falling in value especially when very few will be able to accurately call the bottom of the market. Despite proclamations to the contrary, most of the priced out and "frustrated" FTBs are more pissed off at the thought of missing out on the great HPI and the illusory feeling of wealth it creates than the mere fact they don't own their own property. i know that's cynical but I think there's truth in it. The BTL brigade don't let things like CGT bother them cos they're figurign that the capital appreciation they hope to realise in 15-25 years' time will make their tax liability quite insignificant.

I'm beginning to think that even if rates increase to 7%, many of the marginal yield BTLers may be ok. I don't think they're all sheep and I'd imagine that many of them would've had the foresight to fix their interest rates if only for a few years. Frankly even if the capital appreciation they're expecting starts to go into reverse in the next few years, I can't see many of them offloading their properties just because the paper value of their assets are temporarily reduced in any correction. I believe the motivation for BTL - the current motivation at any rate - is medium to long term capital appreciation rather than rental yields hene the willingness to subsidise tenants. Ultimately they think it's a better bet than entrusting your money to a pension provider who'll more than likely screw you. Marina's assertion that a change in tax legislation would correct the HPI is spot on. Can't see it happening though. I don't agree that young people don't have a future because of BTL. If someone's future depends on whether they own a pile of bricks and mortar then that person needs to get some kind of life infusion. Nothing wrong with renting . . . .

I remember seeing two bed flats in Notting Hill going for £95K and North Kensington at £75K in '95 That wouldn't buy you a matchbox now.

Nice penthouse in Holland Park/Ladbroke Grove would do me . . . .

Whatever ! They have been. Deal with it !

Oh you ******* PEASANT, shut the **** up . . . . How do YOU know if they're spongers. Are you saying everyone who's lived in a council flat is a good-for-nothing parasite ? Lots of people bought their council homes and have worked bloody hard to do it often doing jobs that *****s like you wouldn't dream of. I can understand folks being pissed off about the HPI and the fact they've been priced out but most of these RTBs are buying schit pits which will be very difficult to flog on later so have no fear . . . they're not gonna be spending money that the poor, hapless priced-out wannabe FTBs could've had anyime soon.

Yes we did ! Mortgage Corporation, Household Mortgage Corporation and First Mortgage Securities to name but a few . . .

Oh fer cryin' out loud ! The picture's just been taken with a crappy mobile phone camera . . . probably 0.3 megapixels.

er . . . not quite ! Depends what you buy.

That's the midlands for you. My ex-council 3 bedder's just been valued at £280K.

Hate to say it but I've got a feeling the Fed's gonna hold on a bit longer. The EU just left their rates on hold and I think the BTLs are still bowling along just fine - rate increase or not. Spending on the high street's gone down a touch, people are paying off expensive debt on store and credit cards maybe indicating that even the "sheeple" are cottoning on to the fact that the party can't go on forever. 2007 may very well be the last year of the HPI but I think it'll take rates over 5.25% to push us over the edge.

er . . . ok Mr Missing the Point which was that some of these bears are so desperate to have their theories proven correct they're willing to wheel out ANY old mickey mouse set of figures that appear to lend weight to their argument . . . . even if they've been banging on about it for YEARS. It's not clever or astute to trot out someone else's wack statistics and to do so whilst ignoring perfectly plausible explanations for them - ie lack of suitable property on the market to purchase - just proves that you've more time to sit at your screen researching useless information than everyone else. Yes the HPC will come . . . eventually . . . but so will death. Either way, prizes won't be handed out particularly when the persons making said predictions are a couple of years out. I choose not to guess when it'll happen but take stock of the MEANINGFUL indicators and plan my strategy accordingly. I was fully aware of the waffle spouted two years ago and took no action cos I had a feeling it wouldn't go tits up. This time, things appear to be a little more dire but mortgage approvals don't mean squat . . .

*Yawn* Yadda yadda. . . . more "damning evidence" eh ? There IS another reason why there were fewer completions . . . and this may come as some surprise to all the jokers who CONTINUALLY spout conflicting claptrap and - obviously - scour the web looking for more and more obscure evidence of the impending HPC that they've been banging on about for nigh on 3 years . . . . er . . . there isn't enough supply of property to meet demand Jesus H Christ !! Yes the HPC will come but holding every f***ing piece of bo*lox out as "proof" so you can say "I was right" is pretty sad. Remember you've been saying it for an awfully long time now . . .

If this country were to limit immigration in any serious way it would be all the confirmation anyone could possibly need that Britain, the US and its allies are simply meddling opportunists who care about nothing more than maintaining their respective economic and geo-political status quo. The levels of immigration in this country are directly proportionate to the levels of intervention and meddling in the affairs of other nations around the world. Our leaders have made the causes and now we must deal with the effects. It's a lll very well bemoaning the arrival of the immigrants that people on here clearly DON'T want ie the Somalians, Iraqis etc but the facts are that Britain and America have forced various situations in order to preserve the flow of the black gold upon which so much of our economy depends by ensuring sovereign governments remain or are installed to fit in with our agenda. I for one will not vote for a party that promises to limit immigration as part of a cynical ploy to gain votes. I will, however, vote for a party that addresses the need for a comprehensive foreign policy that eventually negates the need for people to emigrate from their homelands in the first place.

To be honest, this forum is no better. Twice now I've tried to start a topic which concerns the BTL market and twice it's not been put on the board. It concerned the areas of the BTL market in which a LOT of LLs are making those legendary yields so often alluded to in yeasteryear. Guess the mods wanna keep the number of bulls down relative to the bears.

Maybe their resident report gimp has better things to do today than tout yet another utterance from some "repsected" commentator as proof of an impending HPC