General Chat

Just sitting here, bit of toast, ITV on the telly and looking through the local paper. Then I wondered, am I the only one likes to keep an eye on the current state of the housing market?

Dan you are priceless. you make an old woman feel even older, lol.

Is that a yes Bendy? I would imagine a few people would do the same on a calm summers evening in July.

Daniel I had the impression you were a young man, am I wrong? Lynne

17 going on 67 I think.

Daniel LOL!! I thought so. Lynne

What kind of houses are your favourites?

I don't do it for the fun of it, although I know why alot of people would think that. No, I just like to know how my area is doing and how much the neighbours are worth. Our own house is only worth about £100 grand, but in the more affluent areas of Wirral you'd be amazed at how much they go for. Interesting to know I think you will agree!

Very!! Joking apart, yes I also like to know what houses around my area are worth. Lynne

I have been known to look at the odd house on local estate agents web sites. You get to see so much more than in the paper. When we first moved here (16 years ago) we mortgaged ourselves to the limit to raise the 85k we needed for our small 3 bed semi. There was a house down the road on the market for £250k. (Big rambling Victorian pile) About 6 months ago it went on the market again at somewhere in the vacinity of a million. I looked at the details on the web and was so disappointed. Every bit of character had been ripped out to be replaced with magnolia walls and laminate flooring.

Daniel - yes I am always looking in estate agents' windows especially when I am somewhere new or in my favourite coastal areas. I even go and view some occasionally too. I read the property ads when they come in the local paper and wish I could win the lottery so I could have homes all over the place and flit between them according to my mood, or the weather. Even when I was a little girl I always liked going to my aunties houses as they were older terraced type ones with nook and crannies, whereas we lived in a very new council house. Of course I bought a terraced house myself, and am now in my second terraced one, both of which I have had modernised myself, rather than buying one already done up. I have only ever spent time in one modern house that I liked and could have lived in but I will always prefer older houses with character. You will soon need to think about buying somewhere or moving somewhere with room for your 'menagerie'.

By the way, Daniel, have you ever gone on one of those sites where you can see how much everyone else in your street paid for their house. It is very interesting.

Hi Daniel, husband and I always peruse the local paper to keep up with property prices, mind you don't think the wirral paper is going to do me much good in Melbourne! I even get on channel 4, and the real estate site on the net, and keep up with UK prices, in case I win lotto, and can afford a place over there and a place here. I can but dream judy

Daniel here in Oz on some real estate agents web site you can go on a virtual tour of some houses inside etc its really good love it and like you always look up weekends auctions results to see what the market is doing although we live in the country and cant get the results there for our town but gossip tells you any way as its a small town and local sticky noses usually know everthing faster than anybody so then I become one of them and check out the prices etc, good on you way to go, to encourage yourself to get into the property market while you are young and have good savings or investments to retire on Lara

Daniel - In my humble opinion the best way to make money is in real estate. If you can scrounge together enough for a down payment for a property, GO FOR IT. Rent it out, and let someone else pay the mortgage. You wont regret it. Deb -(Financial Advisor)

The thing is Deb, with the price of houses in the UK, average about £176000 now I believe, then it isnt easy to make a buy to let pay its own way. A few years back if you could have bought a place for say £50k and let it out you would have had the rent pay your mortgage on it but now - well if you go for a little terraced house, say £150,000 you have to lay out at least 20% deposit - £30k meaning you would have a £120k mortgage - at 6% (if you are lucky) £7200 pay back, so you would have to get a rent of about £600 per month just to cover the mortage plus 30% extra rules of the mortgage companies = £780 per month and this sort of property rents for about £450 per month. Sure, the house price will probably increase so that your investment grows but you need a lot more to make the initial payment now. On top of that you have all the extra payouts re maintenance, insurance etc and of course, its taxable. I think 10 years ago would have been the time - pity I missed it!

Heather - as most maintenance costs, repairs, insurance etc (plus the interest on your mortgage) can be offset against the rents received, the taxable net profit can be brought down considerably. Cost of Capital improvements can be added to the original cost of the property, for capital gains tax purposes, when the owner comes to sell. Overall, I think money still can be made but you have to be careful which tenants you get landed with! Can be a nightmare... Lily (retired tax adviser)

The big problem Lily is the cost of property in the UK now, particularly in areas like ours. 10 years ago you could have picked up a terraced cottage for about £35k - they now go for £160-180k. So you need an enormous amount of money to put down to get the mortage payments manageable. Wish I had bought a couple back then!

Purple Petunia Can you tell me the addy for the site that shows prices of properties that you mentioned please. Lynne

try - www.nethpuseprices(.)com