twatmangle

Don't ask for much do you?

I bought my place with 'foreign money'.

Utter rubbish.

Data?

My understanding of Equity is the saleable value of the house, minus the outstanding debt i.e your walk-away profit if you were to sell. You could still owe £150K, but if it's saleable at £250k then you have equity. How can you say there is no equity?

The same people are... 'Owners' - when the going is good and the market is booming. 'Mortgage holders' - when those nasty banks think about raising interest rates.

They do own the home and this is clearly indicated on the deeds. Please also note that the deeds are not held to ransom by the bank as some people on here think. They are held electronically by the Land Registry and a copy of any deed can be taken for a fee of £3.

I live in a cul-de-sac, within a cul-de-sac, within a cul-de-sac. I could power-slide out sideways with a handbrake-turn to finish and still have no chance of hitting anyone.

They haven't been doing that for years. It's all electronic copies now.

How can you come up with this conclusion? It's about as analytical as saying: I saw 4 pigeons on my way to work yesterday, and today there were only 3, that's a 25% fall!!!! Must be because people can't afford to feed the pigeons because they can't pay their mortgage because they borrowed too much for their silly little slave box, losers. As people have said, there are a lot of reasons for putting a small amount of fuel in a car. There are no valid conclusions to draw from your observations based on the information you have given.

About children in particular: they are the consumers, workers and tax-payers of tomorrow, and we will somehow expect them to wipe our arses and pay our pensions. That is the reason why children are needed, and it's all because of the pyramid scheme that we have for society. Yes the system is broken and unfair, and Gordon Brown should be hanging from a lamppost, but discouraging people to create future consumers and tax payers won't help current generations, or bring down the deficit. So whether you like it or not, or even if you don't want to admit it, you do have a vested interest in the welfare of other people's children. Every single consumer who buys the products or services of your employer is the child of someone, and they're keeping you in a job.

OK, but you did say: Child benefit is £20 per week I think. It won't go far when you consider that nursery fees are about 800-900 per month. In my day as a child, it was proportionately a lot more and really did make a difference. I remember going down the post office with my mum to collect it. If you think 40k makes you middle class then you'll be disappointed when you get there.

I suspect that someone earning 40K a year will be a net contributor to the tax system, and the Tesco under-achiever will be a net beneficiary of the same tax system. The 40k person is subsidising the Tesco person.

You were a recipient of child benefit or family allowance - or more specifically your parents were. Yet you would deny the same to today's children?

They are the next generation of taxpayers and consumers.

Did your parents get anything for you when you were a child?I suspect they did. If you think that children put no value back into society, then you clearly haven't been listening in class.

Self-respect.

I think there's a difference between last minute-gazundering and making a revised offer based on information received, eg from a survey. I would have more self respect than to do something like this. I remember my parents being gazumped time and time again in the late 80's. It nearly destroyed their marriage. They lost three properties, all were barely a week before completion. I have bought and sold a few properties overseas, and the normal practice is to go to the EA and express your interest. You put down a few hundred to secure the property, and to get them to stop marketing it. You agree your price and have a week to come up with your deposit. If you don't proceed then you lose your initial few hundred. Not so different in Scotland.

For many, it's not the money, it's the principle, and the annoyance of people going back on their word. If the vendor and buyer have agreed a price, and the vendor has played fair the whole time, they have every right to be miffed if the buyer tried to stiff them at the last minute. It's wrong to assume that the vendors would have done the same if they were given a higher offer from a third party, not everyone is a money-grabbing twunt. Many people are at peace with the world. I am a man of my word, I wouldn't do this sort of thing either as a vendor or buyer. Money isn't everything.

Monday: Government announce that they have to reduce spending and announce the biggest cuts ever. Tuesday: Business confidence drops, house prices fall by an alarming amount, Tories decline in the polls. Wednesday: Government announces that they may not cut as much after-all. Let's see what happens.

Pretty big drop. My mate completed last week. I bet he's happy. (Chart: MOM % from Halifax)

This post has made me angry. Not angry with the landlord, angry with you. You get away with paying next to nothing and still bitch and moan about others.

Yes, as mentioned previously, salary sacrifice, benefit in kind, and various other options will suddenly be offered to those around 40K as alternatives to pay rises.