Cars are money pits anyway mate*, don't worry about it. I've just had to shell out a total of £216 for parking permits for 6 months (outside my own house) as I own two cars. *Still fun though
Got my 308 GTB at age 17 from Saatchi and Saatchi as my fathers company used to do all their repairs in the mid and late eighty's.Still got the car-February 1981 last registered 308 gtb carb model Rosso Chiaro with black-will never part with it Got a 308 gt4 basket case in 1990 aged 23 and rebuilt it to race in the Ferrari owners club championship-took till 1992 to finish and get on to track-had a crap learning year-then finished second in 1993 and won championship in 1994-still got this car as well and cannot see myself ever selling it for any reason as too many good memories bought and sold several 328's , 348's Mondials and 355's from 1994 to date and and enjoyed them all immensely but the only one that really stuck is my 550m-IMO the best all round F-car as I do everything from commute in it to track days and general ripping around which it does with great aplomb any else on here raced any F-cars?
Sorry, my comment was WAY too general, didnt mean to offend dudes We all have a different situation, in mine it would be plain stupid to get a morgage in my area of London right now. Approx Figures: My rent: £1000 a month Flat Value: £500,000 To Buy with morgage of 450K (interest rate 6%) Interest on Morgage: £2000 pcm Maintainence/repairs: £500 pcm Depreciation of house: (-3% pa) £1500 pcm Renting is therefore 4 times cheaper at the moment where I live! With the cash I save not having a mortgage, I can put it aside earn 5% on it (at least) and use it to outright buy a house in the future. Despite how people feel about renting, it not that bad, you dont have to worry about washing machines, boilers, furniture, its all free !! and very flexible.
Ade, you must be the only person that is depreciating houses! Although asking prices are going down, houses are still an appreciating asset. The fact that most people think that houses are overvalued only adds to the risk that one may lose money but to date, houses do not depreciate. Wha you may want to factor in is upkeep costs and transaction costs for buying a house and that is a fair chunk.
Hi Philip, the data is straight from Halifax. Quoted from Halifax's 2nd quarter 2005 report: "The annual rate of house price inflation in Greater London is now 2.5% " My particular area is slightly worse than average it seems, but Im no expert. Ealing -7% and Hammersmith -8%. I just took -3% as a conservative estimate. www.hbosplc.com/economy/ includes/Greater_London_2005_Q2.doc I have to take a reasonably short term view with houses, as my life continually changes and I am not married with kids, as it were
Well explained Ade, and I agree entirely. I also move around frequently with regular stints abroad, and prices in the South East are very toppy at the moment (sadly back home has little appeal other than for a retirement place in the Dales or to help my folks/sister out). Everything depends on circumstances, but a house is potentially a risk and a liability. Philip - house prices are generally considered an appreciating asset but the view has to be long term. Particularly with prices the way they are at the moment in the South East. Many people got their fingers very badly burnt not that long ago by getting carried away with the market and being left sat in a house "worth" 60% of the purchase price. It can, and likely will, happen again.
houses in yorkshire have also dropped where i live in a small village 40 houses 2 pubs one at each end lived here for 13 years every time a house has come on the market its been sold in a month five are for sale now 3 havebeen on the market for 9 months and 2 for 3 months
I understand if the index is falling but that is different to people losing money on houses phisically. It is a bit like if you have shares in a stock market. if you buy then at 100, then they go up to 200 and you end up selling at 150, the index may have gone down before you sold by you stimm ade a profit. I don't think that at this moment in time there is a widespread number of sellers that are selling at a loss. All the index is saying is that on average if you wanted to buy a house now it may be slightly chaeper for you than last year. Only if this is sustained, and sellers start taking in losses will houses start to be a depreciating asset. Clearly time hirizon in a very key factor here. Anyway, thas my opinion based on the small sample of friends that have baught and sold houses over the last year and using the new gadget from the land registry to find out what the last seller paid for the house in the first place.
Took delivery of my first and only Ferrari (348) almost a year ago today. Turned 30 today, so managed to slip it into my 20's with a whole year to spare!!! Just looking at it in the garage still makes me feel like a 5 year old with a £100 to spend in a sweet shop.....
Sorry to contribute to rampant hijacking (but to me, and it seems others, more interesting that original thread anyway), but I have to agree with Philip on this one - even if he is a mad kebab swallower! All these houses that are so-called "going down in value" are sellers reducing from ridiculous high peak prices at the end of a government-led low interest-rate asset bubble (allegedly a 'soft landing'). I doubt individual owners are selling at a loss, so don't accept this 3% pa depreciation, as it's is a virtual loss (with most UK property having doubled in value since 1996). Secondly, let's talk about figures from Halifax and Nationwide, the UK's 2 largest lenders. Reporting, of what's happened in the market and/or Land Registry conveyancy figures is one thing, but predictions are quite another! If you could be bothered to track back through what they have both published as property market predictions over the last several years and benchmark it against actuals, I can assure you that you'd find their predictions were WAY, WAY out to what happened. These guys have teams of professional actuaries and they still don't get it right (remind you of the Met Office?) so please don't set much store by predictions. Take your own view, based on the very local area of the property in question - especially in London where 500 yards can double the value of the same sized property.... J.
Last hijack from me, I promise... Well factoring everyone's comments about depreciation, If you remove that from the equation as it is an unpredictable beast, that leaves me with buying is 2.5 times more expensive than renting for my flat just for ongoing costs (Im leaving out stamp duty and fees extra). It was the same in my last place on the other side of London. Shared rent of 1700 pcm on a 4 bed property 'supposedly' worth about 650K. So whos going to join me in a shared 10 bedroom rented bedsit..... with ten garages?
Mods come an look at this rudness.....these people dont stop hijaking threads...........they need a 1 day ban.....
Then at least buy a little one up here in Yorkshire for peanuts (compared to London) and rent it out! Or buy off plan in Spain and sell when it's built. The apartment we are about to complete on has increased 20k in 18 months. We will probably try renting and see how it goes then maybe sell it on. Either way, it might just about release enough equity to make up the difference between a 348 Spider and a 512TR
