Country solicitor

So we can presumably safely assume that the offer is well under £675k

The what?

So 1 in 6. I'm not surprised people are panicking!

Do I hear any increase on 40,000? What are we talking about here?-1 in 10 City jobs and rising.

Very prescient-he beat you to it by 1 minute. Down goes the pound, up go import prices, more pain for the consumer, less cash available to met those growing mortgage payments, and so the spiral continues.

Indeed, that sums up the situation to a tee. There is nothing that comes close to oil in terms of energy density and scalability. If anyone wants to read further on this I can recommend "The last oil shock" by David Strahan. http://www.davidstrahan.com/index.html

Ah yes, I remember. This is the one approached up a narrow, shabby stairwell that Sarah told him gave absolutely the wrong first impression. She was evidently right, dread to imagine what the interest bill is now. Nil profit one suspects.

If the £1.3 million was a genuine offer, and I really do wonder whether we ever get the true picture with this programme, whoever it was needs their head examining. This was September last year so hopefully they are already facing a sizeable loss.

Where do these find these people! Patsy needs a big profit to pay for the cosmetic surgery.

Brilliant-well done FP. A tour de force to end a very good day.

Whether or not heating and council tax are factors that will bear on those able to afford these properties, what will I believe have a major impact in a falling market is stamp duty at 3 or 4%. Forking out tens of thousands to our beloved government is one thing when that amount will be "recouped" within months in a rapidly rising market, quite another when its goodbye to it for good for the pleasure of buying a depreciating asset.

Good point. Anyone offering such a mortgage has just seen half their security vanish. The rest of the week should see more carnage in the mortgage market.

Yep, a new benchmark every few days-do I hear any increase on 35% deposit required?

Big names such as the Nationwide have put up their rates so much they have effectively priced themselves out of the market and on Friday Halifax restructured its loans so that anyone with less than a 25 per cent deposit to put down will have to pay a higher rate. The number of lenders who are genuinely active in the market has fallen from around 100 this time last year to 30 now. http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2008/apr/0...rs.houseprices1 A choice of 30 SVR mortgages anyone?

I thought things must be difficult for the IFAs at the moment. I have had far more than usual in touch over the last few weeks looking for referrals. It has always amazed me that there has been enough work around to keep them all in business-perhaps now there isn't!

Yes, should be a laugh contrasting events in Beenyville with what's happening around us. A hint of reality did invade the very end of the last series however when for the first time ever I heard the increase in value being referred to a a "pre-tax profit" as opposed simply to "a profit", thereby hinting, albeit very subtly, at the existence of a little inconvenience called Capital Gains Tax.

Yes, up from 15% a few days ago, 10% last week and 5% the week before. Extrapolate from there.

Excellent-at this rate it will take only 5 and a half days before no mortgages are available at all.

An arrangement fee to go on the Standard Variable Rate-another significant milestone I would have thought. At 7.5% on a £150,000 mortgage, which is about what anyone with even a sizeable deposit is going to require to buy anything half decent, we are now looking at close to an eye watering £1,000 per month in interest alone.

Probably all stuck in T5

Very quick auction if they were selling 78 lots?

Correction: Edward Gilbert of Moreland said: "It's gone from being ridiculously overpriced to simply being ludicrously overpriced. We expect to sell it within days as it is now cheaper than any comparable local property, which remains ridiculously overpriced ."

Ho hum..perhaps time to fill up again! http://empireburlesquenow.blogspot.com/200...for-sudden.html

This humour is Bordering on the ridiculous. It speaks volumes about this site.

According to the Web Saver T & Cs I've just been looking at you can close a fixed rate version of the account early but only as long as it has been open for a minimum of 3 months. I shall be shifting some cash out asap, whether the rumours turn out to be correct or not.