Greenstuff

Do you know anyone who has tried to get a mortgage recently? My Husband shares an office with a mortgage guy, the reality is more like 7.5%! Unless you have a hefty deposit, I mean 30% plus....

Exactly, well said, not enough room for essential items such as microwaves & toasters? And a huge fridge to store a third more food than needed ready to be thrown away once it hits its sell by date? They should be renamed pig sty's for the greedy over indulged squeelers who complain they never have enough, it was plenty big enough when you bought it in 2003-2006 when you thought you were going to make a fortune on it, or can you only see the true size now the £ signs have stopped rolling in front of your eyes?

I know your post is tongue in cheek but this sort of thing does give you a pang of sadness, you can buy WTP stickarounds trust me s/he will soon be into princesses or Thomas and you can just peel em off and change 'em. I moved into rented when my 3.9yo was a baby, we sold to move to a lovely little village - (it is a really expensive place to buy so we pay a fraction in rent) and he goes to the little village school where he is thriving. Trust me, the financial freedom we have is amazing, we have no debt and money in the bank, a large disposable income and a quality of life I could never have dreamed of. I had a birthday last week and threw a huge party, didnt think of the cost, my Daughter is doing a project in school and it has to be about a place or country, we sat and discussed where we'd all like to go and decided on Hawaii, my Husband and I work for ourselves and dictate our hours so we actually spend time with our kids who we are bringing up with our ideas and values not paying someone else to do it. No we dont own our house but do you think our kids care? And think on this, the houses we were looking at in the village were selling at 400k at peak, they are now going under offer (but none actually sold in over 2 years) at 340k So we have had all of the above and we have also paid 60k off a mortgage in 3 years... Congrats on your impending arrival, you are going to make a smart and caring parent. Good luck xxx

I'm a Bear and will always remain a bear. By definition, a bear is an animal who lives alone, bulls* run in a herd. I sold my house at the very end of 2006 when the bulls were all buying and calling me nuts, I have gotten more interested as the markets have fallen and the herd have started to sell. We are seeing more of the herd buying now but its a bull trap so as tempted as I am I'm not buying now, when the bulls turn and all start selling I shall wake up from my sleepy and start looking to buy. * AKA (rather cruelly) Sheeple.

21,619 And is my facebook and Twitter status... http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/please-go/#detail Edited to say by the time it took me to post it's gone up to 21,877! That'll be my friends ;-p

Posted By Harriet Harman on Friday 10th April 2009 20:54:07 I'm looking for House porn, isthis the right site ? My favourite! Genius. x

Actually Hamish your post made a lot of good points. We are looking to buy at some point hopefully soon, and so have been saving and not buying too many luxury items and its sometimes hard, I think if a lot of people had to live within their means they would find it a very scary prospect. They can see a world of lovely rewards for working hard, holidays and experiences and if simply taking out a mortgage makes all that possible then fair play, you have for the first time made me see things from their point of view, I could never understand it before, why someone would want to live in mountains of debt but I guess if it gives you a key to paradise then I can see how many would be tempted. I guess if the worse came to the worse and you lost your job say, you could always declare yourself bankrupt and walk away. Maybe the sheeple aint so daft after all...

I have an increasing annoyance that is the phrase equity release, or equity withdrawal. I have stopped saying anything as it is losing me friends, but an example. I had a baby 3 years ago and being new to the area joined lots of clubs, I made a great group of friends and one has a lovely big house and also a flat 'as an investment' thats rented out. A few weeks back she said 'I hope prices dont drop any more or the flat will be in neg eq'. I kepy my gob shut but someone said, but you've had it years, it shouldnt be. She replied yeah but we've taken equity out of it. In short, she's a teacher and on maternity leave since having her second, but when she returns it'll be part time, Hubby is self employed. They have a house and flat, when times are tough they 'take equity' out of one or the other properties. I couldnt keep my mouth shut and said but surely you knew if you borrowed money at some point you'll have to pay it back? She looked at me as if I had 2 heads and almost spat NO, we took equity out of them. You mean you took out a secured loan on the flat? NO, its called E Q U I T Y release you take it out. someone else piped in yeah we withdrew equity a while back, we got a cheaper rate at the time so it was free money. Bearing in mind I'm the only one of the group who doesnt own a house so of course I dont have a clue about such things, but she - a teacher - genuinely thought her house was generating cash somehow, the conversation moved on and I do think the penny dropped ( ) but seriously up till that point she really didnt realise she was simply borrowing money, everytine they wanted a big purchase or was short of cash they went and got free money from the bank. It's astonishing but there is a huge amount of people that really do not realise they are simply borrowing money and if you borrow money you will need to pay it back, it shouldnt matter at all what happens to house prices, the amount you have borrowed stays the same. My house for instance, I rent from someone who has several properties, this was his family home he bought at peak, he cant afford to live here, he has an IO mortgage that our rent just covers now the IR's are low, he is renting it for a year 'till the market picks up'. He cant afford to live in it, cant afford to sell it for what its worth now so unless the market does pick up he's snookered. From a FTB point of view, if they were to buy now and prices go down they are paying more than they would had they waited, if they go up they have the security of being able to sell if things get tough, so I would guess they would rather scrimp a bit and have prices rise than have them fall. I am seeing more and more though that sentiment is changing, even 6 months ago people were congratulated for buying, now someone mentions buying and its a different story, we are coming out of the denial stage and it wont be long now before buying is no longer celebrated. If I had a say I'd abolish that phrase tomorrow, ensure it was called something like taking-out-a-loan-against-your-property.

Agreed, when I buy I will be a 'FTB' simply as I have nothing to sell and have a cash deposit but we will be buying a 4 bed family home. A lot of families have been priced out and IMO these are the most likely to buy soonest as they want the security and stability of owning a fair priced home. A buyer is a buyer is a buyer. Suggestion re pricing, my plan is to buy when its cheaper to buy than rent, have a look at rental prices on rightmove in your area ticking the 'let agreed' box to see what has been let, then work out what a mortgage would have to be to get roughly those monthly payments. The auction idea is a cracking one, people are more likely to buy at auction now than anywhere else, you would also get the full payment in 28 days. The market is probably going to continue to drop at an alarming rate so every month you don't sell you could be losing thousands. I'm very sorry to hear of your bereavment, you probably just want to get this sorted ASAP. Good luck

Personaly I'm delighted. I have the lifecycle of a bubble graph http://www.housepricecrash.co.uk/graphs-bubble-lifecycle.php on my wall and I'm charting the phases, I have been waiting for this. I think I can safely say we have passed the bull trap and are almost at the 'return to normal' phase. Just need to look forward to the big drops now.

An EA told me sometime last year 'we quickly figure out what people want to hear and tell 'em just that' Could be a simple as that, she knew what to say to you to make you listen? Personally, I am still waiting for this type of phone call, as our lease was up end of last year we were looking in the summer, we made a couple of offers that were around 20% off peak and EA's wouldnt even entertain us, they sounded bored and ended the conversation quickly with a 'whatever' air. All the properties we offered on are still up far sale, not because there is anything wrong with them but because they were very nice but very overpriced, so nice they were of course exempt from the crash. If I get a call of this type inviting me in to make offers I shall say no, I find the whole business very uncomfortable and am not prepared to go there again, if you have a nice property fitting my needs at a fair price I will look at it, until then I like the rest of the waiting buyers will wait till asking prices come down at least to current market levels, which I believe is about 21% off peak. Given the data lags somewhat and it is after all a falling market I recon about 25% off peak should do it. In a rising market you valued at just above market value, in a falling market you will have to price at just below, if you want some guides I can provide you with some sold prices, we can work it out from there. Have a nice day!

Or surprise surprise a prelude to the Government announcing it will buy up unsold and repo'd properties to give to the 'poor'

Didn't the great Financial Planner say in one of his interviews in response to someone referring to the governments plans to build x social houses by y 'then Gordon Brown will need to get his trowel out' The Government were never building these houses, they were simply forcing builders to hand over 30% of properties they built at cost in exchange for planning permission. Also, my neighbour went to look at a newbuild, these were upwards of 600k houses on an 'exclusive' development, she asked about social housing and was told there wasnt any as they paid a 'substantial sum' to the local authority so they could build some elswhere....

Doh!

Thats brilliant, Just to add, we went shopping last week and couldnt find a parking space it was so busy - this was in the car park that serves Matalan, ASDA and TKMaxx - the cheap shops, just bought a new sofa for half of what we paid for our last one over 10 years ago, and today bought a simpsons DVD for £1.50 reduced from £15. The recession would be nowhere near as bad if business simply charged a fair price, those car parks of thousands of cars would soon empty if they slashed the prices. In contrast I went into M&S this evening to buy some food, it was OK but overpriced, carpark empty, the voucherI had I couldnt use as it had small print get out, the promotions they had for the £10 deal I couldnt get as for the third time of trying they didnt have everything in stock. Best of British to you, it seems like you and your boss deserve it.

But there you have it exactly, yes sh it does happen which is exactly why you cant lend on someones projected income, nobody can know exactly what someones earnings will be in 3, 4 years time. And my argument is the same as yours on the wine front,* why indeed should we pay extra on the strength that someone might abuse alcohol in the future, should we pay a computer tax because someone might use it for criminal activities? Why should my family home cost more because some t*sser wanted 8 BTL flats that he'd never seen with less than 1% down? No I still see no valid reason at all why mortgages should be 3.5% max with min 10% deposit, oh and a decent return on my savings too. *Tax my vino away and I'm on the next plane outa here.

Well yes because he may not qualify at all, I knew of a top heart surgeon who cut his hand on a broken window it was in such a place that he couldnt do the intricate surgery needed and his salary was slashed (no pun intended). Not only that in 4 years when they qualify they dont have to spend it all on a house, if they do they move up as in the olden days. There's nothing to say you have to buy a house at the absolute maximum you can afford, I dont think I ever have. There by is still this thinking that we have to buy buy buy, borrowing as much as we possibly can. Chill, spend some money on some other fun stuff.

To buy a house of the same price. One can afford it, the other can't. He'll have to buy something cheaper or save a bigger deposit.

But the average first time buyer will not be buying the average house. I for instance will be a 'first time buyer' in loose terms as I have nothing to sell, but will be buying a 4 bed detached, which will be more than the average. You also have to take into account deposits, plenty will have held off due to sky high prices but be on good salaries. How can these people not see that a % of a 3x salary in comission from an actual sale be you an EA or mortgage broker is lots more than a 6x % of nothing?

According to the CML, the average mortgage taken out by a first time buyer is already at just three times their income, as banks restrict their lending. Melanie Bien, at mortgage broker Savills, said: "If you insist on putting a limit of three times salary, you will end up with as a subdued market as you have now. Prices will have to come down even further for first time buyers to afford a property." HUH?? Besides, I thought this had already happened, isn't that what they called the Credit Crunch?

Yes the market has picket up, you are right and EA is probably telling the truth (ish), my local EA who we know quite well told Mr. G last week they had sold 8 properties in that week, but no the market hasnt bottomed out - far from it. The very best explanation is to go to the 'graphs' section of this site and click on the 'lifecycle of a bubble' graph http://www.housepricecrash.co.uk/graphs-bubble-lifecycle.php It mirrors the real house price graph we all know and love almost perfectly. The text next to it says at feb 2008 we are in the denial phase, we are now in the 'Bull Trap' and are heading for the 'return to normal' before the real party begins... I have the graph on my wall next to my desk!

PMSL!

There's nothing to get away with, that's the sickening part, it's all legal and above board. That is running up debt and then writing it off as a bankrupt, yes it's illegal to lie about it in order to do it again, but hey £75k just the once should be enough...

No not as yet but I love the phrase! Can't wait to use it

Nothing, nothing at all apart from your own morals/concience.