uforia98

the data in that newspaper is certainly not scientific and has not stats or anything. just anecdotal evidence from some estate agents. They quote one who had to let all his staff go and another one who said the staff now only works off commission. You are right, this is not representative, however, this is a significant shift in sentiments which is evidenced on what is happening on the street. it is quite unusual for EAs to give these kind of statements when previously they said we will see the ominous 'soft landing'. We also know a couple who was able buy a house which had an asking price of 600k for 450k. Shows how ridiculous prices are and that they are crashing already. This is probably just the beginning.... Anyone else seeing this happening in Ireland ?

Finally, the crash has been widely discussed in Dublin. My local newspaper (dun laoghaire express) titles today on the front page: - 'house prices in meltdown' - values down as much as 30% - gives an example of one house being dropped from 30million to 20 million -gives another of one being dropped by 55k to 395k EUR - quotes an estate agent saying ' there is virtually no residential market at all in South Dublin' - quotes an economist saying ' this can't be described in any other way than a crash' goes on and on about how overpriced things were and how bad things continue to be throughout next year. I don't think this is bad at all, I think this was long overdue ! How has the UK been doing, is it next to crash ? uforia98

I do not agree with the previous 2 posters. While Windsor is nice of course (that's why I live here), I cannot see it being so special that prices are staying that high. Once the market goes down, surely Windsor will follow. Of course location matters, but when the overall downtrend comes, Windsor wil not be able to get away with its unrealistic prices. After all, it is about affordibility, and right now a lot of places are no longer affordable without stretching your finances like mad. That is why Windsor and other 'nice' areas will go down as well. By the way, Windsor, Ascot, Maidenhead have not so nice places too. Remember the riots in Windsor a few weeks ago ?

it seems crazy, but the market is still hot in Windsor for certain properties in good areas. the house opposite were we live just sold within days, without even a 'for sale' board coming up ! It seems buyers were lining up to get a house in this area. I am convinced though it is just a matter of time until the market will head downwards......

Exactly ! Are they serious ? And they might even find someone who buys it slightly below the 435k, what a madness ! This is an excellent example that shows how overheated this market is, with Windsor being even more extreme then other towns.... I'd rather wait and rent and save money until the market has dropped.....

Indeed, after today's rate increase prices can only go down !

Agree with you Misfit, Windsor is nice. Why not just rent in Windsor and wait until prices drop ? That is what we are doing. We live in a detached house which which we could never afford to buy in a nice street (Hatch Lane area). I am just waiting for prices to drop and then hopefully I can buy one day too..... With today's interest rate rise this might become true soon, I doubt prices can go up anymore after today, I think from now it is all downhill

agree with most of chiefduffer's comments on WIndsor. The only downside really is the noise from the planes and the high prices. Has anyone seen any price drops in the area yet ? Apart from some houses which are wrongly (over)priced, I still see lots of activity and prices just do not seem to drop... At least it seems they are not rising anymore but that simply isn't enough for me, because they are on such a high plateau...

Thanks cbs7, I am trying to find the right intl. broker too. Did you realise that Interactive actually charge a monthly fee as well if you don't pay a lot of comission ? TD Waterhouse seem to have a flat fee and no monthly charges if you do at least one trade per quarter or have some dosh in their account. So that looks attractive. On the other hand Interactive really has some very low fees for trading international, much cheaper then my german broker for when I trade in DE !! Have you looked at squaregain as well, they also seem to have just a flat fee of 12.50 (like Waterhouse), so they seem attractive too. I am confused, not sure which one is best. All I want is trade some Junior Miners in Canada !

Does anyone have any recent anecdotal evidence to share for the wider Windsor area ? I am (again) looking more in-depth into the local market and what I have seen so far is that properties are still selling well in Windsor and surrounding areas. Prices might not be going up anymore it seems, and I am sure there are quite some discounts, but a lot of them are still selling fast. The house next door for instance sold within a few weeks, no sign of a slowdown here it seems... Anyone else having an opinion ?

Hi, I heard several people here quoting this mag a few times. I have just signed up for their free trial. Those of you who read it regularly, what can you say about it ? Does it help to you to invest in the right places to actually make money or are you just reading it to be better informed in general ? Any comments are welcomed. Thanks, uforia98

congrats urban hymn, I 'only' made ~20% on my investment in the same fund earlier this year (invested in MArch 05), and I supopse too, I was there at the right time in the right investment (thanks to this forum !!!). I think I i will invest more in gold if I feel the time is right (once the price has been declined for a while) but I certainly don't think it is a safe bet. sometimes you just need to be a bit lucky too... I am in there for the long run.

gold is on its 17 year high, but I suppose I don't need to tell anyone as those who are on this thread probably know anyway. glad I found this site many months ago, since it made me aware that buying gold these days is a good investment....

how about Old Windsor ? Does anyone live there, has friends, knows something about the place ? Seems like prices are a bit more reasonable there and it looks like a nice village by the river, close to Windsor, Runnymeade and Staines.

interesting, i looked through my paperwork an the Initial charge is indeed 0.5%. So far so good. There is however an initial commission as well of 0.5% and then an 'Ongoing commision' of 0.5% per *quarter* going to smile, and that is 'paid out of the charges the Fund manager levies'... I am confused.

Thanks for the info mongoose, I wasn't even aware of all these charges when I signed up for my Merrill Lynch Gold fund. Call me naive but I look at it long term and I like smile as one of the more honest banks with good value for money, but it seems the deal I got nevertheless is much better than yours. I am not sure what standard means (see below) but the initial charge seems 0.5 % and the annual charge is the same as yours 1.5% (but got bumped recently slightly to 1.75%), so I suppose I still had a good deal ? Again, I am with smile who then uses fidelity: fund name / standard / discount / IC / AMC Merrill Lynch Gold & General Acc / 3.00% / 2.50%/ 0.50% / 1.50% http://www.smile.co.uk/servlet/Satellite?p...p=Merrill+Lynch

yep, thanks. I already invested in the Merill Lynch Gold fund, that's why I am curious about ruffer. does anyone know more about them and if you can invest in them through a share isa ?

ruffer looks interesting. i like their website. FP, do you know how one can invest into the gold fund from ruffer ? Is it only through them directly ? I consider to invest 3k into them through a share isa. do you know if this is possible and if so where ? Couldn't find a way to invest into them other then through them directly... Thx.

sure, that's what I did, you can just order from the UK and ship to your UK address. As a first time customer you then just have to transfer the money into their account.

Thanks BB, they indeed look very attractive, I had a thorough look through their site. It seems though in order for this to work for me, I would need a US bank account first, right ? My broker could probably not snend money to them directly unless I ask them. but I doubt they would do it. Do you think in my situation (want to transfer money from a US broker to UK bank account) moneybookers would work even if I would not have a US bank accounts ? Many thanks.

it's been a while since anyone posted something about the Windor area, is it because nothing is happening ? here is some anecdotal first hand info about windsor: our landlord wants to support his son who just moved to Oxford and wants to buy a house (?!) . So the father wants to take out a mortgage for the son and as a security for the deposit a surveyor from the bank came to estimate the value of his house (which we rent). I had my wife ask him all sorts of questions since I was at work (he would not reveal the value of the house though) but I had her ask him about what he thinks the market is doing in Windsor. He basically said, there were *very* few sales in Windsor in the last few month but nevertheless he thinks that Windsor is different to the rest of the market and therefore prices will not go down here. I hear a lot of people say that 'Windsor is different', why should it be ? What is the rest of you thinking, where is the market in this region moving ? Some houses are still selling I think (the house opposite ours has just put the sold sign up) but only very few as far as I can see which seems confirmed by the surveyor, but sellers are still not reducing there prices....

hi delboypass, check my previous posts on this thread for some more information, the link is there (all in german though) : http://www.muenzhandlung-pickel.de/

Thanks BB, I am in the same situation. Want to transfer US $ from my US broker to my UK bank account and don't want to loose out on a poor exchange rate or high fees. Moneybookers looks interesting. They say on their page though that you are only allowed to open 1 account, but you suggest to have 2 ? Also, where do you see their exchange rates, how do you know they are the best (I assume you tried them before and have a comparison ?) Has anyone else experience with this ? How are travelex, moneyram and the likes ? Thanks!

Got my 3 gold coins this week and am very pleased ! They are right here in front of my monitor and a pleasure to look at. It took them about a week until they were here, I also had to pay 16,50 EUR for shipping but overall I think I would have paid more if I had bought them in the UK. I paid 1102 EUR = 762 GBP, which makes one coin cost around 254 quid. At Goldline they would have cost me (at todays prices) Nugget 274 + Maple Leaf 261 + Krugerrand 258 = 793 w/o shipping, so at least 30 quid more.... Can definitely recommend the German shop. Prices have increase in the meantime though, gold price is rising

BB and Susanne, I do agree totally with you. Jean-Michel, I do not agree with you at all. I do not know what this Jean-Michel is on about but what he is saying does not reflect the german market. Susanne has described the market much more accurately: like everywhere else, location is the key. Those properties no one wants to buy are in areas where there are no jobs whatsoever, and they need a lot of money to be made livable. Also, JM predictions of the market in Germany going down by 75% and more, are just ridiculous. I think these kind of generalised statements are as bad as the ones we hear from the VI's in this country whenever the monthly HPIs come out which say again, that the prices have been rising year over year, when in fact they have been falling for over 11 months now. One more point, JM, are you trying to advertise your site or what ? Only because your use a large font wdoes not make your statements any more true.... JM, I think your intentions are genuine, warning buyers of going into the overpriced market in UK and FR, but you should stay with the facts for countries like DE. To be hinest, I think in Germany there might be soon a good time to enter the market again. Just like many on this site keep saying, the time when everyone tells you to stay out of the market, might be a good time to get into it....