Doom Lord

No worries. It's a great site and I have learnt a lot, including the urge not to panic sell because of all the stuff thats posted here . Although I am glad I don't own my BTL's now for exactly the reasons you go on about - low yields, too much hastle and thought of having negative equity on a long term investment doesn't bare thinking about. When the crash kicks in these people are going to be stuck in no mans land and thats a very dangerous place to be!!

Thanks Good to be aboard

Yes you are right the company I am in really does have a VI in all of this. However there are 23,000 people in this company and I am sure that one of them would have typed in "house price crash" into google and guess what site turns up in the list. I would like to see a crash and be on the right side of it. In fact I can't wait but what a wait it has been........2004, 2005 and now 2006

In the long run history shows that housing makes 8% a year, but that means there is a long way to fall at the moment. In your case we wont be able to answer that question until this has played out. The variables are: How long did you rent for and how big is the nominal drop. It has to be have to be a nominal drop to make STR-ing worth it.

Awooga - Is this the non charting follow up single to "Agadoo" by Black Lace? I sold my two BTL's due to reading this site, one in 2004 and the other last month. I am happy with this and have walked away with a profit. Now all I have left is my home. After doing the maths I don't really want to be renting for long so I need a good exit stratergy and this is the best one I could come up with. Got a better plan?

I don't think could be spun into a positive 65K is a lot of money. If your STRing to benifit from a HPC then the timeing has to be right otherwise you could loose as much as you could gain!!. As far as I can tell from the opinions on this site prices may take 5 years to reach bottom so it's not as quick a stock market crash. Presently I am thinking that you should be in a position to sell and if a crash hits sell at this point maybe a reduced price for a quick sale but still making a profit (This is based on selling a home not additional property). Trying to decide when that point is the tricky part. However I am hoping that this will be made easier by coming to this site and watching the stats. All I do know is that it is not yet, house prices are still up in my area and confidece if high.

Just recieved this chain email, thought it might be of interest: [YOUR NAME] [YOUR ADDRESS] [DATE] [bANK'S NAME] [bANK'S HEAD OFFICE ADDRESS] Dear Sirs Penalty & unfair charges - request for refund for [YOUR NAME, SORT CODE, and ACCOUNT NUMBER] 0n 5 April 2006 the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) announced that default charges which are set at more than £12 will be presumed to be unfair and unenforceable in terms of the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999 (SI. 1999/2083). Charges above this sum will be subject to legal action by the OFT (press release 68/06 - online here: http://www.oft.gov.uk/News/Press+releases/2006/68-06.htm). I would respectfully submit that if your organisation does not agree to immediately refund all unfair charges applied to my account, it will not meet the 'fit and proper person' test to hold a consumer credit licence under the Consumer Credit Act 1974. In that eventuality, I will submit a 1974 Act complaint to the OFT. On a separate note, I am of the view that your charges represent a penalty and are therefore irrecoverable at common law. In the Scottish case of Castaneda and Others v. Clydebank Engineering and Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. (1904) 12 SLT 498 the House of Lords held that a contractual party can only recover damages for actual or liquidated losses incurred from a breach of contract. This is also the position in English law: Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Co Ltd v New Garage and Motor Co Ltd [1915] AC 79. Your charges do not reflect any actual loss; instead they appear to represent a lucrative profit-making scheme. UK banks have recently given evidence to the House of Commons Treasury Committee on how bank charges are calculated: "The costs are going to pay for all the people we have who pursue debt, collect debt, speak to customers and chase payments. The way these charges are arrived at is by taking these total costs and making some assumptions about the volume that is going to come through to arrive at the individual charges" (2nd report, 25 January 2005, paragraph 50 - online here: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/c.../274/27402.htm). Accordingly, the charges applied to my account are not a reasonable pre-estimate of the bank's loss in relation to my account. Your charges would appear to represent a device to recover global losses (for example, loan defaulters, bad debt write-off, including commercial lending etc). Please refund these charges to my account within the next 7 days. I reserve the right to commence court proceedings without any further notice, and to seek an additional award for distress and inconvenience, together with legal expenses. Yours faithfully (signed)

Don't listen to what people say, look at what they do and then draw your own conclusions.

Very true, say I waited three years, at £1300 minimum for a family home thats at least £46,800 in rent!! If you STRing to be a home owner not for business reasons then you will need a nominal price drop to make it worthwhile otherwise you are risking a lot. With a £350,000 house at a 4% rise a year + rent no nominal falls you would be about £100,000 out of pocket just because you had been waiting for prices to drop. I think this give credablity to the "If you are buying a home for a home" argument.

"he described the real estate cool-down as "orderly."" = "Hell Raising Cataclysmic Plunge is presently happening - Get out!!!! GET OUT!!!! GET OUT NOW OR WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!!!"

Nope, but I rekon that all the people that are priced out of the market will buy all the now repossed property at huge discount from all the ex BTL'r and Home owners that forced house prices up through irresponsible borrowing . Uniquely it will be exactly a one to one swap and the rents will stay exactly the same thus returning the Universe to it's natural state of being though a process called ironic karma

Perfectly, With lease-hold you don't own the property you just rent it for a long time at a discounted rate!!. However if he is not happy that this amount is market value and fails to negotiate a better price then there is a third party organisation that will decided the amount for them. Also he has the right to buy the freehold after he has been there for two years so.

Er....£110000 / 12 months * 0.60 tax - Mortgage £2202.23 25years fixed at 5.75=3297.77. A rough guide.

After Mortgage Payments I rekon there is about £3500 a month left. Thats more than alot of people earn before everything else is deducted. If they plan carfully I'm sure they can take time to have a baby. Alot of families have both parents working and that is something that is true for both the poor and the wealthy. I Don't think they are overstreched 'payment wise'. Not say they wont loose out equity wise in a crash. However I don't think he appreciates that they are in a priviled position salary wise and this does not reflect your regular Joe Bloggs in any way what so ever. This is why something will happen eventually whether its a crash in real or nominal terms is yet to be seen.

Obviously some Polish labour he got in to do the work......

Whatever the system, how can they Increase the tax someone pays bu over £2000 a year and expect to get away with it?

About a month ago I phone up the agent letting a flat for me and said that I was worried about a crash and was thinking about selling. His responce was that it looked like there would definately be a down turn next year and that now was a great time to sell as prices were the highest they have been since 2004 and there is lots of demand. I agreed to put it on the market and it sold in 1 day for full asking price. It was a two bedroom freehold flat in Harringay N2.

You we lucky to survive, I've found that the phrase "House price Crash" is akin to Blasphemy and only use it when talking with close friends and immediate family. Even then I get this feeling they want to renounce me as a heratic and burn me at the stake. No one wants to hear it.

I guess you could stick your extra savings into you mortage leaving the - 16k and 39 weeks payments.

Maybe, but take a %25 discount at today's prices re-invest the saving with a modest anual return of %10 and that is a still a huge profit for a me and my family!!

Most investments carry risks as we all know so I have used this website as a guide to the riskyness: http://www.morningstar.co.uk/ My stratagy is simple, as I am no expert - Look at funds that have been around for a minimum of five years, Prefrably 10 and pick the best performing ones. I try to spread the money around four or five funds in different areas, for me this is geographic at the moment I.e China, India and some in Latin America. Look to invest for about 3 to five years on a fund, however always keep an eye on whats going on. I am hoping that this has reduced my risk by as much as possible whilst trying to get the best return. So far it's worked OK. I have now sold all my properties and plan to wait for the HPC if it's not here in three years time then I am jumping back in. This has left me with a large sum of CASH that needs to be invested somewhere to a least offset the rent I will be paying for a family home (£46800 over 3 years) + and HPI if there is not a HPC!!