Yankee

And now, let's look at what Americans are doing: http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A...anguage=printer <{POST_SNAPBACK}> As an American who has owned four homes during my lifetime, I'm really surprised (and worried) about the percentage of mortgages that are ARMs in the U.S. ARMs used to be very rare over here. This development and the even more disturbing emergence of interest-only mortgages in the U.S. may mean a harder and wider housing market crash for us.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/27/realesta...f201514&ei=5070 Pertinent quote from article: "It's as if people think that an electromagnetic field of protection will shield a particular series of brownstones or cul-de-sacs from whatever might befall the market at large because of higher mortgage rates, mortgage defaults or an oversupply wrought by downsizing baby boomers....One has to look back only to the last time the real estate market's cabin pressure changed for the worse to see that every place loses value." The "Dodging a Downturn" audio slide show that accompanies the article is also fun. Here's a challenge for you creative types: Can you put together a similar show for us about your area? Spoofs welcome.

This is the kind of language on this site that's making me, as a woman, very uncomfortable. I don't intend to become the language police on this site, but, please, can we avoid this extremely aggressive language? You can be angry at the woman without using those words--and without implying a physical threat to her.

Hey. That's uncalled for. I have to say, I don't like a lot of the women-bashing that goes on here. Good-natured jokes are one thing. Nasty comments are something else.

Hmmm. This presents a dilemma. I don't want to vote "Yes" because I don't like censorship. Putting him on "Ignore" seems to be the answer. But if everybody ignores him and doesn't respond to his posts, won't newcomers think no one has good answers to his points (which, I agree, are nonsense)? I, personally, think PG is very young. He reminds me of some teenagers I know. They're disruptive simply for the attention. Still, he's wasting my time. Can someone tell me how to put somebody on "Ignore"? I'm new to this stuff.

And here's a NY Times article about the coming hedge fund crash. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/27/business...7a54ec2&ei=5070

I apologize if someone has already posted this. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/25/business...QOEUqL3hMFya3OQ As of this morning, this is the Times' most e-mailed article. Must be lots of worried property speculators out there.

I scored 100, and I'm an American!!!

I apologize if someone has already posted this link from today's Guardian. (I'm in the States, so I'm hours behind all of you in reading the British press.) http://money.guardian.co.uk/houseprices/st...1430432,00.html As someone who works with words as a living, I thought the way the negative February figures were spun in this article (a "stabilization" from the higher prices of January) was hilarious (and quite creative).

Sense of responsibility to the wider community??? You've got to be kidding. The politicians currently running this country (U.S.) have successfully persuaded most Americans (note the recent election results) that we *don't* have a responsibility to our neighbors. Important programs for the poor, the ill, the disabled, children, students, veterans (yes, even with a war going on), etc., etc., are being slashed. Funding for projects that benefit the greater community (mass transport, libraries, schools, the arts) is also plummeting. People would rather have a few hundred dollars back a year (average) in tax cuts than pool that money to help their communities. Selfishness reigns! End of rant.

Thanks, Mrs. Rainbow. So that means the house had been legally sold for more than two months at the time I saw it and when the EA was still listing it as SSTC. Amazing. If I had been the new owner, I would have been annoyed by that. Naive potential buyers like me were still coming around, peeking in the windows.

Thanks, zzg113. I guess what I'm asking is: When is a house sale final in Britain? Is "completion date" something different than sale date? We do things differently over here.

What, then, does "completion date" mean on wwww.nethouseprices? Doesn't that refer to the "final sale" day--the day money is exchanged and ownership transferred? The completion date on this house was more than two months prior to my asking about it (although I didn't know that at the time). In other words, more than two months after the completion date the house was still listed as SSTC. I remain confused.

I'm also confused by the EAs' practice of listing houses "Under Offer" and "SSTC," but I thought my confusion stemmed from the fact that I'm a Yank. When I was in England looking at homes last fall, I asked to be shown an SSTC. I told the EA that if I saw the house, I might put in a "backup" offer should the original sale fall through. I was told I couldn't see the house. That confused me at the time. What confuses me now, however, is to learn through www.nethouseprices that the sale actually had been completed (closed, as we say on this side of the Atlantic) two months earlier. That was why I wasn't shown the house. So here's my question: Why would the new buyer permit the EA to list the house as SSTC several months later? Also, I was amazed to learn that the house sold for 250,000 pounds, which was 75,000 pounds less than the listed asking price. And that was last summer, right before prices started falling. As I said, I'm confused.

Thanks, CP.

I checked St. Ives (Cornwall) on Rightmove and noticed a host of properties for sale. Is there always a big turnover in these kinds of coastal villages, or are holiday BTLers panicking and selling their properties? Also, how do you think holiday homes will be impacted by the coming HPC? What happened to them during the last crash? Thanks in advance for your comments.

Thanks. These were the charts I was looking for. And, yes, I know that the falling dollar makes this an especially terrible time for an American to buy in England. I wish I had deposited my cash in a British bank last year. I don't think the dollar is going to strengthen soon, however. Our current administration seems to want it to plummet. So I'm in a particularly difficult quandary. If I wait for house prices to fall in England (which I believe they will as all the houses I looked at seemed incredibly overvalued), I may not see any real gain as the dollar will probably have fallen as well.

I'm especially looking for that great chart someone posted showing the history of house price crashes in Britain over the past four decades. I need it to persuade my sister that now is not the time for us to buy a home in England. A house we saw and liked has come onto the market, and she's eager to buy now. I'd rather wait at least another year. Of course, we also have to worry about the falling dollar. By the way, none of the houses we looked at during our October visit has sold.

This is probably a dumb question, but, remember, I'm a Yank. Why do so many houses seem to hang in sold-subject-to-contract limbo for months and months? I've seen SSTC attached to some houses for almost a year. I know you have long chains in Britain, but some of these houses never seem to move on to "sold." Do the EAs just never get around to updating their Web sites? I wanted to view an SSTC house early last October, but the EA said, no, the house was sold. I told her that if I liked the house, I might make a back-up offer. I was still told I couldn't view the house. Two months later, the house is still SSTC. And, as I said, several other houses in the same area have been SSTC for six months or longer! Does anyone have statistics on how long houses were listed SSTC last year compared to how long they're being listed that way this year?

Hello from the States. I've been lurking around this site for several months because I intend to buy a house in England. My mother was English and I still have family there. (Don't worry, I'm not going to become a BTLer, although the fact that I'm an American buying a second home over there is probably enough, based on some of the postings here, to make a few of you angry.) Of course, as you all know only too well, I couldn't have picked a worse time to buy, with the dollar falling and British house prices peaking. I was over in October to look and felt everything I saw was extraordinarily overpriced. Came back home and put my cash back into another short-term CD to see how things look in the spring. I doubt if I'll buy then, either. Like those of you who are renting year-round, it makes much more financial sense for me to do short-term lets right now when I come over to England (which is two or three times a year). Anyway, I thought you'd get a kick out of the "invitation" I received from one of the estate agents I met with last October. I've never heard of anything like this! (Couldn't figure out how to attach a J-peg, so I'll type in the text from the EA's invitation: Your personal invitation! Our records show that you are still looking for a property and are ready to proceed. Therefore Kingstons Estate Agents have selected you personally to join us for our one day only sale featuring over 70 properities that will have massive reductions! The sale will be held from 11.00 am until 3.00 pm on 21st November 2004 at our Trowbridge office and will consist of properties in all price ranges throughout Melksham, Bradford-On-Avon, Trowbridge and surrounding villages. Any unsold participating property will return straight back to its original price the next day--this really is for ONE DAY ONLY!