geraint pillock

Hello , With auction results like that its plain to see that sentiment has well and truly changed. £200K down to £30K and still not selling, wow, I never thought I'd hear that a year ago. I was a teenager in the last recession, didn't care much for it, but now, with a job, it scares and excites me at the same time! Is that too weird? Oh, Bridgend boy here too, .

Sorry if its been posted before. Reckless lending in the American sub-prime mortgage market has been blamed for causing today's financial meltdown. But one former mortgage broker turned whistleblower has revealed to the BBC how lenders on this side of the Atlantic were equally reckless. "I did remortgages where the customer was solely on benefits - carer's allowance, income support, or housing benefit." We'd have customers ringing us up, who we'd remortgaged 4 months ago, asking 'can we do it again', and we'd remortgage 2 months later and they'd get another 10k.". "The company was loving this, absolutely loving this. But it was wrong. They shouldn't have done it." But of the estimated £363bn tied up in UK mortgages in 2007, the Council of Mortgage Lenders considers anything between 5 and 8% is sub-prime - that's worth at least £18bn. Linky

The price of property - New Channel 4 series Britain has become a nation obsessed with the price of property: will prices spiral upwards again or is the market about to crash? In this four-part landmark series, the first Channel 4 documentary to be shot in HD, journalist Jon Henley embarks on a journey around the UK to discover how the pursuit of property ownership has changed the country. Combining archive material with aerial footage to show the impact of property on the landscape, The Price of Property reveals the social history that has shaped the housing market and explores the profound effect this has had on the face of Britain. Jon starts in London , where he finds people whose lives have been transformed by the property bubble, before continuing across the country through villages that are full of second homes, but empty of people, to the towns earmarked for extensive building as the country attempts to meet the demand for housing. Jon hears remarkable stories from everyday people, and paints a detailed portrait of life in modern Britain through the prism of property ownership. In the first programme Jon attempts to get to grips with the London property market and understand the impact of the hyper-inflation of the last decade. After 20 years living abroad he's astonished to discover that the one bedroom flat he sold for £70,000 in 1987 is now worth just under a quarter of a million pounds, taking it out of the reach of all but the luckiest first-time buyers, while houses at the very top end of the market change hands for telephone number-like figures.

Tell me about it! I was ridiculed for years over my bearish stance, probably most of the folks on this site were too. No probs though, because I think we have all been vindicated! God I love this site!

New blog entry here. Enjoy

Enjoy! VI's cause world shortage of excuses! Reporter: Jenking Shunter. A global excuse shortage has been declared as Vested Interests (VI's) for the UK property market scrabble for excuses to prop up plummeting house prices! Trevor Flange, the spokesperson for the Banking Interests, Government & Buy And Let Landlord Sector, or B.I.G.B.A.L.L.S, said today; "After five years of propping up house prices with all kinds of ******** and half-baked ideas, we have finally run out of excuses! We just cannot find any more amateur property investors to believe in our BTL get-rich-quick scheme, I mean BLT investments." Historically the B.I.G.B.A.L.L.S consortium have traditionally used statements such as, 'House prices always go up', and the classic 'There is a pent up demand for houses'. But in the face of falling house prices, the lowest mortagage approvals transactions since 1993 and a sharp increase in repossessions the excuses and blame are coming thick and fast. So does this mean there will be no more excuses from the VI's? We asked some of the local residents in Pontlottyn, Bargoed to give their views on the excuse shortage; Kenny Finger - Butcher. "Well I think its outrageous that all these big noises can just come along and take everyones excuses like? I mean, when I go out with the boys, like I do every Tuesday, for a bit of hows your father, I can't make the excuse I was down the local anymore, now I have to tell my wife I've been giving a portion to Peggy Flaps from number 22 all night!". Peggy Flaps declined to be interviewed. Exclusive breaking news! A statement has been leaked from Pontlottyn County Council, which states that 'The Pontlottyn County Borough Council will be issuing more excuses as soon as possible, although it may cause a devaluation of the worth of the existing excuses in the economy'.

Cheers Prof! The mascot is from a field near me. Very friendly sheep up here if you know what I mean, .

In a rush and forgot the link! Doh! Sorry about that. wwww.propertyshmoo.co.uk

I can't believe the way the market has turned so suddenly so its about time I started a new site on this uber-HPC. Its basically a filtered down HPC diary of news events plus some videos and stuff. Just started it so its needs more work. enjoy. Pillock

IMO there has been so much bear news lately, that you'd now expect after years of waiting for something to finally give. Well things are, ie sub-prime collapse, inflation high, IR's up etc. But you know, these things take time. Remember the oil tanker analogy? I am starting to think that we will never know the trigger factors for a crash, because although its kind of manipulated by the powers that be, it is also organic, like a living financial entity. As for 20x mortgages, then what your saying is that, IR's have to be low, mortgages over a longer term, and multiple families per household. Would not people ask why they are able to afford lots of nice things from China but have fork out a lot on mortgages. Surely they would stop spending money on stuff first, which would effect the economy, hence lower house prices. Thats too big a change in culture for me. When you have people in debt slavery, you do not want to cripple them with debt because that makes them unproductive, like whipping the pony till it can't work no more. No, you must entice them with cheap debt till they are fully loaded then raise rates and crash the market to lock them down and extract as much value from them as possible. So I think it will crash because of this very system. Oh and don't even try to work out when it will crash, or if it will crash. And don't buy out of fear either. You'll never work it out. The powers that be are far cleverer than you think. I know I know... And you thought STF was cynical! Lastley, STF, I like your style, and your sarcasm Keep posting mate

Good to see prices doing something negative at last. In my area (Bridgend), business friends I talk to are reporting falling takings, (hence credit crunch) and prices do seem to be stagnant. Can't see prices becoming affordable for quite a while though. I'm just going to keep on saving up that deposit. Hon eiddo farchnata ydy a fecking shambles!

I don't they would be interested in broadcasting the true cause of the property boom... The central banks power to 'print money' ie debt based fiat economy, and the super rich making pots of money from forced boom-bust cycles. The Sun reader mentality of the sheeple would never understand it anyway. The only reason that the media is in the slightest bit interested in FTBers is because its the latest news fad. But if this helps put off FTBers from becoming debt slaves then all the better for propelling GC2 I say!

The Truth About Property, a new BBC2 Series More bear fodder from the BBC. About f**king time too!

Ahem... and back to the subject. Great threat, just up my street. I too think that people are becoming more insular. I don't know, and its just my opinion but I think, after the war people pulled together, and this brought people closer into a community. But since thatcherism, we have had a 'me me me' society where having better, faster, more expensive 'stuff' is the trait of the british people. This ties in nicely with consumerism and forced economic growth. You have to have the populace buying stuff and into materialism, in order for consumerism to work, and what better way to encourage that, than to introduce credit cards and MEW to help the process along. By definition, consumerism is the process of killing the notion that the best things in life are free and replacing that with 'stuff' thats supposed to make you happier but rarely does, if only temporarily. No wonder we are so insular! And because I'm feeling very philosophical right now, let me say this... Time is running out for all of us. In 100 years time (just a random figure) everyone in the world right now, will be dead, and that means YOU, replaced by their offspring. Personally, I don't give a sh*t anymore. Crash and burn. Find your happy place and don't worry about the world. Avoid the traps of consumerism and debt, and live a happy life the way you want. You may have to work hard, but that makes it worth it all the more. Health, friends, family and love. The best things in life really are free. But you knew that already didn't you?

I love fight club, it blew me away. As for another great anti-consumerism film (indirectly but in a cute funny way) try The Gods Must Be Crazy, another great film. Don't get too depressed with consumerism folks. Live in your own 'happy place' and ignore the debt loving sheeple and mega corporations advertising bo**ox. Stand back and watch the hangover of the debt fuelled party come to an end. Its going to be fun and messy. Stuff can be fun, but it never lives up to the dream the advert tries to sell you...