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I've never been impressed with snow foamers. A quick blast to knock of any gritty dust then good soft sponging does the best job.
What's made you smile today?
- Thread starter angel
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What's made you smile today?
Very amusing clip on the news this morning. American young lass trying to get a squirrel out of a wee blow up paddling pool. Anyone else see this? 
I reckon it'll take me until next November before I've a 10 or 15% deposit and then some saved up... they'll probably be prospering again then .. *sigh* lol
They actually told me if I was buying today, 15% would be required due to covid... sort of thought in my head... "hmm, pretty rich for you to be saying that. I think you should be taking any business you can get right now......." ;-) lol
With covid potentially affecting jobs into the future, mortgage lenders need enough equity in the property to get their money back if the borrower defaults. It wasn't that long ago that the whole world fell apart due to 'sub-prime' lending all going pear-shaped. Currently still in memory, so lenders are cautious.
It's a shame that house prices do not properly reflect their build costs, rather than an infalted value based on location, desirability, etc. My house is potentially worth 4 times what I paid for it in 1995, which is silly. If its value reflected the quality of build a large new shed would cost more.
Houses..
When you insure it.. they give you a 'rebuild value'
2 bed flat : £140k
2 bed house : £115k
Confusing...?
Selling for :
Flat £200k
House £55k
AND YOU OWN THE LAND..!!
So land value + £110k : £55k.. be wary
7% mortgage rates will be familiar to MANY on here..
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What I'm looking at is apartments built onto an office development right along the quay in Londonderry. There is a large multi-storey for workers and apartment owners and each corner of it has 'coverup' buildings which represent 6/7 floors, 3 properties on each.
Some face the water and have 2/3 bedrooms (£150k), others face a busy inner city road (£100-£120k) and some are on the roof / top levels with much larger balconies 'penthouses' for anything from (£120k-£220k-£370k for the most valuable one on one of the corners which are unique one-offs). They are probably the 'highest class' apartments in this city.
I'd be happy to get any, as next year the ones for sale will be different to what they are now... I think they were worth more when they opened in 2003/6 and are actually just about bouncing back to what they originally were.... But in the long run I suspect this city will be somewhat of a Liverpool... with big investments to come making it a lot better than it was. I think in 20-30 years given the prime location and the proximity next-door to the very fancy council offices they won't be allowed to 'go to sh*t' as I suppose one would fear with investing in such a development... (I hope!)
Some face the water and have 2/3 bedrooms (£150k), others face a busy inner city road (£100-£120k) and some are on the roof / top levels with much larger balconies 'penthouses' for anything from (£120k-£220k-£370k for the most valuable one on one of the corners which are unique one-offs). They are probably the 'highest class' apartments in this city.
I'd be happy to get any, as next year the ones for sale will be different to what they are now... I think they were worth more when they opened in 2003/6 and are actually just about bouncing back to what they originally were.... But in the long run I suspect this city will be somewhat of a Liverpool... with big investments to come making it a lot better than it was. I think in 20-30 years given the prime location and the proximity next-door to the very fancy council offices they won't be allowed to 'go to sh*t' as I suppose one would fear with investing in such a development... (I hope!)
Bit of a pain carrying the trolley jack up the stairs after a service.
It's certainly not going to tick all the boxes of a nice house.... see my plan is live there for 10 years until 30 / mid 30s and potentially get married and go half on a house with someone in the future, whilst keeping the apartment and making it into a Booking.com or AirBnB 'weekend break' or 'business trip' sort of place for visitors to the city.. A few owners of them already do this so it seems viable.
Should also give me a bit of personal security should I get screwed over by marriage like a lot of people say they have been... PS... if I set up a rentable property as a limited company... is your other half still entitled to half?!
Wow, that sounds kind of selfish in writing.... Perhaps I am destined to live alone!! hahahaha
For a few minutes it all went silent outside. No dogs barking, no doors slamming, no people talking loudly and no traffic, even on the main road.
Breaking this was a lone thrush, singing his four songs very loudly. Hopefully a happy creature. It is amazing just how much volume these little critters can achieve.
Forget the world and its troubles (mostly man-made) and just listen to the wildlife.
Broken by a cat squeaking at me as its nearly her tea time. Stroppy little creature.
Breaking this was a lone thrush, singing his four songs very loudly. Hopefully a happy creature. It is amazing just how much volume these little critters can achieve.
Forget the world and its troubles (mostly man-made) and just listen to the wildlife.
Broken by a cat squeaking at me as its nearly her tea time. Stroppy little creature.
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Getting married these days is a lottery to financial ruin.
Personally I'd avoid buying flats in complexes like the plague.
The £200k Price tag is fine till you factor in ground rent and other services and suddenly you can be paying a couple of hundred quid a month out extra on top of a mortgage for someone to hoover the stair well and someone else to weed the carpark.
New developments are the worst and every year they like to push prices up and up.
Sometimes if a development is slightly older they may decide to resurface a car park or change all the windows in the development, or install all new TV aerial or communal satellite dish. Next thing you know you have a bill for £2 - 4k and you HAVE to pay.
Realistically if you get married and you have any assets including a business, you may be liable to shell out half of that to your future ex-wife.
I got divorced in 2008 just as the economic crash was kicking in. Sold the flat just in time meaning It still gained about £30k in the short time i'd owned it, meaning once all the bills were paid off and the money split, I got a nice tidy sum out of it, actually made a profit if you count mortgage payments and deposit.
My ex sadly had a lot (A F**K Lot) of personal credit card debt and so would have likely just about broke even/had enough to pay off her debts, so was left pretty much with nothing to show.
Though this seems to be a repeating pattern for her. She has now been married 3 times, and I think is now living back with her parents or at least was, She may now be working on husband #4 and has two kids (neither mine) that she dragging about with her.
If I hadn't have divorced her I would have almost certainly ended up bankrupt, within another year, As it happened I ended up meeting Mrs K Number 2, and we both have very well paying jobs, mainly though her pushing me to better myself and having some belief in me, and also both of us coming out of university at about the same time into degree level professions.
Oh and I should point out instead of blowing my payout I used it to fund a degree course going back to uni in my late 20s.
Not all divorces lead to ruin
Personally I'd avoid buying flats in complexes like the plague.
The £200k Price tag is fine till you factor in ground rent and other services and suddenly you can be paying a couple of hundred quid a month out extra on top of a mortgage for someone to hoover the stair well and someone else to weed the carpark.
New developments are the worst and every year they like to push prices up and up.
Sometimes if a development is slightly older they may decide to resurface a car park or change all the windows in the development, or install all new TV aerial or communal satellite dish. Next thing you know you have a bill for £2 - 4k and you HAVE to pay.
Realistically if you get married and you have any assets including a business, you may be liable to shell out half of that to your future ex-wife.
I got divorced in 2008 just as the economic crash was kicking in. Sold the flat just in time meaning It still gained about £30k in the short time i'd owned it, meaning once all the bills were paid off and the money split, I got a nice tidy sum out of it, actually made a profit if you count mortgage payments and deposit.
My ex sadly had a lot (A F**K Lot) of personal credit card debt and so would have likely just about broke even/had enough to pay off her debts, so was left pretty much with nothing to show.
Though this seems to be a repeating pattern for her. She has now been married 3 times, and I think is now living back with her parents or at least was, She may now be working on husband #4 and has two kids (neither mine) that she dragging about with her.
If I hadn't have divorced her I would have almost certainly ended up bankrupt, within another year, As it happened I ended up meeting Mrs K Number 2, and we both have very well paying jobs, mainly though her pushing me to better myself and having some belief in me, and also both of us coming out of university at about the same time into degree level professions.
Oh and I should point out instead of blowing my payout I used it to fund a degree course going back to uni in my late 20s.
Not all divorces lead to ruin
I was told there was a £1,000 annual fee for maintenance, and strangely, that later the owner had allowed people to fit their own replacement windows which I thought could look very badly should they end up getting dodgy looking PVC white frames in and then others with varying colours .... I’m going to reach out to some of the owners on AirBnB and Booking.com and try to get a few conversations in - maybe book a night in some of those ones - and get a real grasp for the problems and potential benefits of owning them. That’s when Covid fades away, maybe early next year if we’re lucky ...
Sorry to hear about all the divorce stuff. But sounds like you did well and beat the odds compared to some people’s stories!!! I reckon you’d be a hard guy to argue with in the courtroom ;-) Glad to hear it was all worth it thought and you’ve met someone much better and on your level by the sounds of it
Reminds me of someone who said he always introduces his wife as his first wife just to keep her on her toes
Terry Wogan always referred to his wife as "the present Mrs Wogan".
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I live in a flat, and my annual service charge is £1000, and my ground rent is £80 a year. If you're looking for your 1st home, and are able to get a mortgage, then I completely recommend getting a flat: as long as you're careful, there's absolutely nothing wrong with flats; a good flat can be a really, really nice home, plus buying a flat is far, far better than renting a house and giving your money to some greedy landlord.I was told there was a £1,000 annual fee for maintenance, and strangely, that later the owner had allowed people to fit their own replacement windows which I thought could look very badly should they end up getting dodgy looking PVC white frames in and then others with varying colours .... I’m going to reach out to some of the owners on AirBnB and Booking.com and try to get a few conversations in - maybe book a night in some of those ones - and get a real grasp for the problems and potential benefits of owning them. That’s when Covid fades away, maybe early next year if we’re lucky ...
Sorry to hear about all the divorce stuff. But sounds like you did well and beat the odds compared to some people’s stories!!! I reckon you’d be a hard guy to argue with in the courtroom ;-) Glad to hear it was all worth it thought and you’ve met someone much better and on your level by the sounds of it
buying is far, far better than renting a house and giving your money to some greedy landlord.[/QUOTE]
Indeed..and you actually have a say in things
Only + for renting.. commitment
If you move a distance and new job..location.. or whatever dont work out
Only the rent to factor in..
No greedy estate agents.. and months of waiting for a selling chain.
Indeed..and you actually have a say in things
Only + for renting.. commitment
If you move a distance and new job..location.. or whatever dont work out
Only the rent to factor in..
No greedy estate agents.. and months of waiting for a selling chain.
Why prefix landlord and estate agent with 'greedy'. Surely only applicable if they are charging significantly more than the market rate, or not providing the expected service.
Business is about investing money, and gaining a return, greater than basic interest rates. I can put £200,000 into the bank, and see a pitiful return. I can put the same amount into a house, rent it out, and gain an income. But the rent amount is not my income. There are costs. Rented properties seem to need more maintenance, as tenants take less care. When tenants change, there are cleaning and refurbishment costs. I can handle all enquiries myself, or sub-contract that to a letting agent, so they need paying, usually a percentage of the rental income. Often the capital is financed, rather than just rich people buying houses. A risk taken on, like any business venture.
(This is hypothetical, I do not have £200k to spend on a house)
My sister and brother-in-law have a small house in South Wales, bought before they went to live in Portugal. Its main purpose is to provide a bolthole should they ever need/want to return, meanwhile providing an income. Being distant, they cannot manage the property themselves. They are now on their third letting agent in ten years, as the previous ones did little for the money, not carrying out regular inspections, so allowing tenants to inflict undue wear and damage to the property. The agents arre supposed to handle maintenance, but failed there too. Over 10 years they have had only a little income compared to the rental amount paid, as lots have been spent on greater maintenance than if they lived there. They do still have it as a bolthole though.
On the upside, my house was rented out before I bought it. As a result it was cheaper to buy due to being scruffy. (It still is) We got a semi-detached for the price at the lower end of the terraced in the street. Most important was the flat drive, not many on the slight hill. Priorities were flat drive, garage. Some sort of dwelling was also nice to have.
Business is about investing money, and gaining a return, greater than basic interest rates. I can put £200,000 into the bank, and see a pitiful return. I can put the same amount into a house, rent it out, and gain an income. But the rent amount is not my income. There are costs. Rented properties seem to need more maintenance, as tenants take less care. When tenants change, there are cleaning and refurbishment costs. I can handle all enquiries myself, or sub-contract that to a letting agent, so they need paying, usually a percentage of the rental income. Often the capital is financed, rather than just rich people buying houses. A risk taken on, like any business venture.
(This is hypothetical, I do not have £200k to spend on a house)
My sister and brother-in-law have a small house in South Wales, bought before they went to live in Portugal. Its main purpose is to provide a bolthole should they ever need/want to return, meanwhile providing an income. Being distant, they cannot manage the property themselves. They are now on their third letting agent in ten years, as the previous ones did little for the money, not carrying out regular inspections, so allowing tenants to inflict undue wear and damage to the property. The agents arre supposed to handle maintenance, but failed there too. Over 10 years they have had only a little income compared to the rental amount paid, as lots have been spent on greater maintenance than if they lived there. They do still have it as a bolthole though.
On the upside, my house was rented out before I bought it. As a result it was cheaper to buy due to being scruffy. (It still is) We got a semi-detached for the price at the lower end of the terraced in the street. Most important was the flat drive, not many on the slight hill. Priorities were flat drive, garage. Some sort of dwelling was also nice to have.
when we sold my dad house most wanted 3% until i got them battling it between them for a better rate, ended up at 0.75%
