The grumpy thread

[Craig the Princess]

 

I think we should all scamper out and buy property financed with Kensington Mortgages at 14%. Truly the shiters financier of choice!

 

Mine is 1.49%

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

no-house without structual failing will lose money over 25 years, even if you break even you will have saved all that rent money.

That said borrowing money for depreciating assets (cars, tvs, sofas etc) is far more dangerous and doesn't have the reward.

 

How can you guarantee that "a house won't lose money over 25 years"? The economy won't be going into a post-war type of long-term boom anytime in the foreseeable future- indeed wages are falling in real terms and set to fall further, and we all know what that does to house prices...Even if you break even in the end, what's the opportunity cost of being trapped in a particular house and being unable to move even if it cripples your career prospects or is completely inappropriate for your lifestyle (e.g. children, mobility issues)? "Past performance does not guarantee future returns" and all that...

[Cheggers]

Make a claim under ESC A19 - there's advice on the HMRC website and also more useful practical info on the Martin Lewis Money Saving Expert site.

 

I had a similar letter last year advising that I owed £2,200 from the 2007/08 tax year - which just so happened to coincide with a switch of job when I gave back a company car. Thanks to Tayne, who gave me the heads-up on the above, I fought it on the basis that (a) I believed at the time my tax affairs were in order and ( they should have spotted the error within 12 months. A couple of weeks later I got a letter saying they accepted my response and the amount was written off. Worth a try.

 

Cheers Welf, I'll give it a go and let you know what happens

[Craig the Princess]

no-house without structual failing will lose money over 25 years, even if you break even you will have saved all that rent money.

That said borrowing money for depreciating assets (cars, tvs, sofas etc) is far more dangerous and doesn't have the reward.

 

How can you guarantee that "a house won't lose money over 25 years"? The economy won't be going into a post-war type of long-term boom anytime in the foreseeable future- indeed wages are falling in real terms and set to fall further, and we all know what that does to house prices...Even if you break even in the end, what's the opportunity cost of being trapped in a particular house and being unable to move even if it cripples your career prospects or is completely inappropriate for your lifestyle (e.g. children, mobility issues)? "Past performance does not guarantee future returns" and all that...

 

Wages are failling in real terms, but still rising. Inflation is at 4.8% and isn't set to drop anytime soon. While I can't guarentee it I'd be astounded if the value of houses didn't rise in 25 years.

 

You are right with "being unable to move even if it cripples your career prospects or is completely inappropriate for your lifestyle (e.g. children, mobility issues)?" but not many people need that level of flexability, if you do then rent. This thing is that rent will rise when mortgage payments are far more stable (and reduce in real terms every year) and you get nothing at all back.

[Cavcraft]

Trouble is these days getting a mortgage 1) isn't easy and 2) is crippling. Faced with a choice of owning a house because that's what people did or whatever and not having a social life I'd prefer to rent.

[trigger]

My mortgage is £769 a month but at least i only have 23 years left to pay it...

[Craig the Princess]

Trouble is these days getting a mortgage 1) isn't easy and 2) is crippling. Faced with a choice of owning a house because that's what people did or whatever and not having a social life I'd prefer to rent.

 

1) Yes, espically raising the deposit.

2) No, generally cheaper than rent and fairly stable options to fix rates.

 

That said if renting works for you fine, my previous landlords were all pretty good and getting boiler fixed for you is a massive bonus.

[wuvvum]

I sometimes think I should buy a house, but I always end up deciding I'm better off renting. If I sold some of the fleet and emptied my savings account I could come up with a 5% deposit for something reasonably decent, but the monthly payments would be WAY higher than what I'm paying in rent, and I'd have to knock shite-buying on the head completely (and probably a lot of other things too, like eating). I really don't think it's feasible at the moment for a single person on a mediocre salary to buy a decent house in this country.

[Pete-M]

This forum seems best for 'pub experts' commenting on the values of cars they know nothing about.

 

Lately, this seems to be true. It's pissing me off.

[Lankytim]

Just typed out a huge GOM post and lost internet connection. Bollocks!

 

Anyway, what I was trying to say is that our house and the house we want is being sold by the same estate agent. We know the sellers and put an offer in before it went on the market. They said they would market it for 6 weeks and probably accept our offer if it didn't sell. The estate agent know this so I suspect they are trying their best to sell this house before we sell ours so they can guarantee 2x selling fees.

 

Our offer was pretty fair, but if the seller want to take £1500 odd and spunk it over an estate agents tits then thats up to them.

 

It's not the end of the world if we donlt buy this house. Looking around there are loads of bargains out there to be had, its definately a buyers market.

[Autoplas]

Apologies for bringing something over here from the blue forum but I just stumbled on this, It's one of the reasons i don't bother going on the general forum on RR anymore, It's almost like it's ran by Nazi's.

 

 

The poster isnt wrong is he ?

 

Bizarre ice cream flavours, middle aged men going out with schoolgirls,invading China, torturing and murdering prisoners of war........

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

Excellent! Looks like I'm going to spend the NYE on my own. The friends I was planning to stay with (rather far away from here) have dodgy heating and a lack of duvets, and the back-up plan, a Pakistani mate who works for a bank in the smoke, will be going to a club in Mayfair that charges SEVENTY QUID for entrance, without drinks. I guess that's a fitting end to a rather crap year!

[Cavcraft]

Tell you what Luxo, you come to mine and take my bird out for the night and I'll go to London, pay £70 to get into a club, thirty sheets for a pint of lager and then sleep under a railway bridge. Deal?

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

bloody hell, that sounds scary!

[trigger]

I made a offer on a car last night and they still haven't accepted or rejected it! ARGH!

[sporty-shite]

I made a offer on a car last night and they still haven't accepted or rejected it! ARGH!

 

SPILL THE BEENZ, Trig. Making a statement like that is just like Jim Bowen showing the losers what Bully's Star Prize was.

 

"Oooh, I'll show you what you could've won."

[trigger]

SPILL THE BEENZ

 

 

 

My cryptic clues are rubbish.

[outlaw118]

Especially rubbish when the only one of the links work.....but I've got it.....

[Cavcraft]

SPILL THE BEENZ

 

 

 

My cryptic clues are rubbish.

 

 

Ooh, is the Congleton* one?

 

 

*Or that sort of area.

[trigger]

That's the one, i just wish that they'd get back to me!

[Cavcraft]

Have you called or sent him a text mate? I've pm'd you by the way.

[retrogeezer]

if you get it Trigster let me know...train to Crewe and I could pick you up and take you over to Congleton.

[trigger]

Thanks Si, I think the plan will be to drive up Tuesday, It's only a 8 hour round trip...

 

The train is £108 for a single!

[eddyramrod]

Looking forward to the pics, Trig! Train fares are way out of order. When we left the country, I looked at the various options to get us from Inverness, where we were staying, to Manchester airport. Turned out the cheapest option was a one-way car rental, so I booked a basic car, Fiesta or the like, there being only two of us with holiday cases. When I got to Inverness airport to collect it, they gave me an upgrade because they had a car that needed taking down to Manchester... Land Rover Defender 110 Station Wagon! Still cheaper than the train...

[trigger]

I hadn't thought of rental, Well I'm not getting to excited yet, the vendor still hasn't got back to me, I'm emailed them now as well.

[Negative Creep]

You can save a shitload on train fares by booking ahead

[Guest]

Just handed my notice in at work. Boss became unbearable after a prolonged period of enmity so I wrote a resignation letter on a scrap piece of A4 as he was outside kicking the crap out of a shoplifter. He told me I wouldn't have a job in the New Year, so I gave my holiday as notice. Bloke wouldn't look me in the eye or even shake my hand. A truly horrible man.

 

After everything that has gone wrong with my job I'm either doing something very wrong or I am the unluckiest person in the world.

 

See you round 2011. You will not be remembered as a good year. Job resignation and notices given, crap marks at Uni, very close relatives being diagnosed with cancer.

 

May 2012 be far better, to everyone I care about.

[Minimad5]

All the best Jon,

 

Lets hope we both (and everyone else) have a better year in 2012

[eddyramrod]

2011... will not be remembered as a good year.

May 2012 be far better, to everyone I care about.

 

Likewise, Jon. Hope things in general "turn" for us all.

[Negative Creep]

Don't think I'll even bother staying awake until midnight. This year has been, to be frank, shit. Stuck home by myself, same as Christmas and Boxing day and pretty much every day in 2012. Ho hum.