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[Bigsby]

Originally Posted by daveofficer

yep.

Not sure why you're smiling, surely you won't be able to get anything like as good a deal in the current financial climate?

[Chris]

Originally Posted by Bigsby

Not sure why you're smiling, surely you won't be able to get anything like as good a deal in the current financial climate?

We're both with Northern Rock. The initial mortgage deal they offer doesn't have very good rates but is great if you don't have enough for a deposit.

Being able to now shop around means we can get a better rate and get away from the disaster of a mortgage lender that NR has become this year.

I've already been quoted a much better deal from my bank without doing any serious digging yet. So you can definitely get as good a deal in the current climate.

[daveofficer]

Originally Posted by Bigsby

Not sure why you're smiling, surely you won't be able to get anything like as good a deal in the current financial climate?

yea the locked fixed rate that we're on just now is far higher than many of the deals out there just now as i couldn't afford a deposit so got a 100% mortgage. it won't save me a helluva lot to be honest but remortgaging will save a few pennies at least.

it's like everything else you got to play the system as best you can for yourself and shop around. no point sticking with northern rock just for the sake of it.

[Bigsby]

Originally Posted by daveofficer

it's like everything else you got to play the system as best you can for yourself and shop around. no point sticking with northern rock just for the sake of it.

Yeah, I'll be able to get out of my Northern Rock deal in June, it's not fixed rate but I reckon I'll still be able to get better elsewhere.

[Diesel]

Originally Posted by Chris

I guess if some big financial disaster happens (recession, another northern rock or the tories got into power in a snap election) then prices might fall but I don't think they'd fall by much and not for long. Not here anyway.

I'll be remortgaging this year so I'm keeping a close eye on things as well but I don't think there's much to worry about, especially with regards to flats.

Very true - my nephew just bought a 1 bedroom flat near Union Terrace for the "bargain" price of £132,000 - and there's not enough room to change your mind in it.

My lovely detached house didn't cost all that much more, has a integral garage and garden the size of a football pitch.

I'm only a few miles out of Aberdeen - I just refused to pay those crazy toon prices!

Like Chris says, I wouldn't worry too much about house prices up here.

Ps - We just changed our mortgage a month before Northern Rock went tits up!

[Cloud]

The Pound is still weakening against the Euro, which is a scary sign. It's never been this weak in the 9 years that the Euro's existed - and this is bearing in mind that we have higher interest rates than the Eurozone and should (in theory) be more attractive to investors. For that reason, it would take a foolish person to make bets on the housing market.

[Tam o' Shantie]

Our Property gives free house prices from Land Registry data - OurProperty.co.uk - good site for seeing recent sale prices

[stuartmaxwell]

our property is a good site

im lucky in that dundee is still quite cheap and have just completed a deal on a good two bedroom property, after losing out on 3

dundee is one of the few places where the market is gathering momentum, as a result of regeneration, an excellent reputation as a city of research & development, a central airport (of questionable standard) and a lack of affordable houses being built

[Lucky Rathen]

Originally Posted by stuartmaxwell

our property is a good site

im lucky in that dundee is still quite cheap and have just completed a deal on a good two bedroom property, after losing out on 3

dundee is one of the few places where the market is gathering momentum, as a result of regeneration, an excellent reputation as a city of research & development, a central airport (of questionable standard) and a lack of affordable houses being built

All good, but on the flipside, you have to live in Dundee.

[Ollie]

I have been researching this issue at University. My lectuer had predicted this crash for a while. When it happened dispatches contacted him - he was on that documentary on channel 4 about a month or so back.

Basically we are seeing a constant cycle of lending based on future earnings. It's a societal wide problem. What happens if you keep living beyond your means? What happens to society? Well economic growth is merely credit growth. That's why northern rock crashed. Banks and financial institutions discovered that people couldn't actually afford to pay their mortgages anymore. Everythings being bought on credit and people just cannot afford to do that anymore. Similarly the price of rent is ridiculous. Buy to letters are buying properties with a view to making a huge profit off of the rent or selling up and moving up the ladder. However we are now in a position where there are too many by to let mortgages out there and not enough people to fill the homes. Everyone who wants to rent/can afford to rent are renting. Key workers were being priced out of the game because of buy to letters. Obviously this is complicated system but unless the governement steps we are to see a cyclical process (which is primarily spurred by the rapid growth of finance/speculative capital) of lending based on future earnings