Credit Crunch

[Nottingham Fox]

Zavvi shutting 22 stores:

Ashford (Designer Outlet) (8 staff)
Ayr (5)
Bideford (Atlantic Village) (7)
Braintree (7)
Braintree (Freeport Village) (7)
Bridgend (Welsh Designer Outlet Village) (8)
Castleford Outlet (8)
Chatham (13)
Edinburgh (Cameron Toll) (4)
Hempstead Valley (9)
High Wycombe (Octagon) (8)
Huddersfield (7)
Liverpool (Clayton Square) (28)
Livingston (McArthur Glen Outlet) (5)
Manchester (Salford Quays) (5)
Mansfield (McArthur Glen Outlet) (6)
Newcastle (Royal Quays) (6)
Sterling Mills (10)
Street (Clarks Village) (7)
Swindon (Great Western Designer Outlet) (8)
Torquay (5)
York (McArthur Glen Outlet) (7)

 

[bocadillo]

Zavvi shutting 22 stores

Big sale starts in its other branches tomorrow - 50% discounts.

 

[Yorkshire Vixen]

interest rate cut down to 1.5%

 

[WALSHIESTACKLE]

interest rate cut down to 1.5%

I am sure that the bankers on here will be able to put me right but logic suggests with the rate so low coupled with falling house prices, how will first time buyers get a mortgage on this basis? Surely the banks will see it as too much of a risk at the moment, consequently stagnating the housing market further.

Also if I was interested in getting a mortgage would I be better to wait till the start of next year when the prices have hopefully bottomed out and start to rise again?

 

[Dickovforengland!]

Also if I was interested in getting a mortgage would I be better to wait till the start of next year when the prices have hopefully bottomed out and start to rise again?

Depends what you want your house for. If you want to live in it for the next 5 years and have the deposit required buy it while you can. In the next few months fixed rate mortgages will probably come out at historically all time low rates. The problem is scraping together the deposit that most banks will require.

Ideally you would buy at the lowest point, but if you could predict that you could make a mint.

If you want to make money off it you need to make a judgement call on when the housing market will flatten out or rise. However if/when house prices start to rise so will the cost of borrowing, probably.

 

[Darth Vodka]

I am sure that the bankers on here will be able to put me right but logic suggests with the rate so low coupled with falling house prices, how will first time buyers get a mortgage on this basis?

that's a non sequitur

banks don't issue mortgages based on house prices or interest rates...

they don't care what the value of the house *will* be, they care if you can pay back the loan at the strike value

and if they are concerned by low rates at the time of sale, they can add a large margin (say... base rate plus five) or go for a high fixed rate

 

[Dickovforengland!]

I am sure that the bankers on here will be able to put me right but logic suggests with the rate so low coupled with falling house prices, how will first time buyers get a mortgage on this basis?

Low rates are good for first time buyers normally. However the banks are being asked to lower the ratio of lending to assets. So they need to make more money which they can do by not passing on all the rate cuts in lending to build up cash. We have swung from too much credit availability to not enough.

First time buyers need now to have large deposits to benefit from the low rates. Thats unlikely to happen so until the banks loosen the lending criteria (but not to previous levels) you are unlikely to see much positive movement in house prices as first time buyers are needed to feed the market.

Thats my two penneth anyway.

 

[WALSHIESTACKLE]

Cheers for the info Darh & Dickov.

 

[Darth Vodka]

watched a Repossessions programme on BBC1 the other night

one of the quotes "who really reads all that fine print in a mortgage?"

you mean the piece of paper that ties you to a lifetime debt? nah...don't bother pal

 

[FIF]

watched a Repossessions programme on BBC1 the other night

one of the quotes "who really reads all that fine print in a mortgage?"

you mean the piece of paper that ties you to a lifetime debt? nah...don't bother pal

But who reads it? Even those that do don't really read it and if they disagree they're ****ed.

It's all a waste of time.

 

[Darth Vodka]

But who reads it? Even those that do don't really read it and if they disagree they're ****ed.

It's all a waste of time.

i would and if i disagreed, i'd ask them for another mortgage instead of signing it

 

[FIF]

i would and if i disagreed, i'd ask them for another mortgage instead of signing it

And would you class yourself as a fair representation of the mortgage buying public?

If they said it's this or nothing (or this is the best they can offer) then you'd not buy the house I presume

 

[RHYDAL]

But who reads it? Even those that do don't really read it and if they disagree they're ****ed.

It's all a waste of time.

I did. Which is why I'll be paying 2.2% from next month i.e. no collar.

 

[Darth Vodka]

And would you class yourself as a fair representation of the mortgage buying public?

what's not what you asked, you asked who would read it and i said i would

If they said it's this or nothing (or this is the best they can offer) then you'd not buy the house I presume

if they say "it's this or nothing" what they mean is "this is what this bank can offer"

you then have a choice of other banks and the choice of not buying a house

nobody is holding a gun to people's heads and making them sign mortgages

 

[Darth Vodka]

I did. Which is why I'll be paying 2.2% from next month i.e. no collar.

bravo...you have gained from all the mungos who didn't read theirs

 

[From Gradel to Grave]

that's a non sequitur

banks don't issue mortgages based on house prices or interest rates...

they don't care what the value of the house *will* be, they care if you can pay back the loan at the strike value

and if they are concerned by low rates at the time of sale, they can add a large margin (say... base rate plus five) or go for a high fixed rate

:icon_lol: You did say you'd try and fit it in somewhere! :icon_wink

 

[FIF]

what's not what you asked, you asked who would read it and i said i would

True, my apologies. Personally I always buy my houses in cash - hate to give all that money to greedy wasteful banks.

 

[Darth Vodka]

:icon_lol: You did say you'd try and fit it in somewhere! :icon_wink

no, i knew that phrase for years and regularly use it in the debating society


:icon_redf

 

[Dickovforengland!]

watched a Repossessions programme on BBC1 the other night

one of the quotes "who really reads all that fine print in a mortgage?"

you mean the piece of paper that ties you to a lifetime debt? nah...don't bother pal

I couldn't believe that either.

And to Rhydal's point I did the same. I got lucky with my mortgage because it was portability and higher arrangement fee that I went for over the better rate but I was aware of the difference in collar. Though at the time I had no idea that interest rates would drop so low. Not to understand how your biggest monthly expenditure will behave seems ridiculous.

 

[Darth Vodka]

I couldn't believe that either.

And to Rhydal's point I did the same. I got lucky with my mortgage because it was portability and higher arrangement fee that I went for over the better rate but I was aware of the difference in collar. Though at the time I had no idea that interest rates would drop so low. Not to understand how your biggest monthly expenditure will behave seems ridiculous.

and also...these people getting repossessed... one of them had bought a £40k house and owed £120K on just cos he was hen-pecked into remortgaging to redecorate all the time cos she loved the house

and i was surprised by how many people missing mortgage repayments have cars and smoke! er...priorities