Str's. How are they feeling these days.

mr.broderick

Back in January 2007 we moved into rented accommodation after selling our house to move into rented. We put 80k in the bank and i think we were earning £400 a month if i remember correctly on the savings. The rent was £600 so we were basically contributing £200 to the rent. We decided to buy again later that year and got a good price on a house. A house has just completed a few houses down from us and it has sold for £9,000 less than what we paid for this, to be honest we pinched this house so houses must have dropped a good 20k. Anyway, i currently have 26k ish in savings earning me around £60 a month. Did we do the right thing buying again? Our 2 year fixed with abbey is up septemberish, we are currently on a 5.49% deal, think we will just let it go svr, the current rate is 4.69 i think. I definitely feel for savers and str's at the moment.

chewmylegoff

you would have been earning £400 before tax, so potentially only £240 after it, depending on your tax band.

why feel for STRs? the whole point of STR is to get more for your capital anyway, so interest rates are irrelevant, especially if rent payable is less than mortgage interest payable would be if you brought.

STRs are fine as long as house prices keep falling, unless they are trying to live off the interest on their capital, which is unlikely, despite pastures new doing it.

edit: furthermore anyone with any nous will have fixed their savings rate a while back when all the banks were desperately trying to increase their capital before interest rates started falling. i've got 6.3% fixed at the moment with no withdrawal penalty, and that's got another six months to run.

daveb975

mr.broderick wrote: »

Did we do the right thing buying again?

For a purely financial standpoint, probably not, but there are other factors to consider. If you are happy in the new place and don't want to keep moving around, who cares if it goes down a bit more?

Everyone who has STR'd will be earning a tiny amount on their fund now, but those who sold and expected the interest to pay their rent whilst they waited to buy back in were always in a very fortunate position anyway.

As long as prices keep falling, the STRs position improves. Even if they start earning no interest at all, it should still be cheaper to buy in six months time rather than now.

pickles110564

Broders, still waiting for your reply. How many usernames are u up to now, I make it twelve but please could you put some of the other regulars out of their misery as they think they are having conversations with several people, little do they realise that they are just conversing with you.

mr.broderick

pickles110564 wrote: »

Broders, still waiting for your reply. How many usernames are u up to now, I make it twelve but please could you put some of the other regulars out of their misery as they think they are having conversations with several people, little do they realise that they are just conversing with you.

It is a myth pickles i only have 1. However there are a few members with similar wit, writing style who you may mistake for me. Hope this helps.

PasturesNew

When I sold and banked my cash, I didn't know when I'd buy again, I still don't, so the money can't really be put into longer-term accounts/products, it is in every day accounts.

When I banked, the interest was enough to pay a small rent, basic bills, frugal food and have a bit left over for the odd thing here or there. With that as a backdrop, it meant anything else I earnt on top was nice, but if push came to shove, the interest would sustain me.

I never needed to touch the savings or the interest. The income I have managed to generate was healthy at first and rose - to a peak last June. Then it fell away to a super-low in December. I was using this money to live on, with the interest income being Plan B if needed.

Come December, my income was just enough to pay the basic rent and basic bills, on paper that meant taking from my savings to eat. Luckily there's been a small bounce in income in Jan/Feb, but in the meantime my interest has slumped to such a low that it wouldn't even cover my tiny rent if I needed it to.

If my onilne earnings suddenly went to £0, I'd not have a Plan B and would immediately be into having to use my savings to live on.

Looking forward - and job opportunities, I am getting some random calls from agencies, all of which are telling me about clients who are THINKING of replacing sick people with a temp. Only they never actually happen. So all these smaller employers are thinking about taking people on, but don't. And people are thinking of staying on the sick and going back to work.

I am not actively seeking work since 2 weeks ago. I am hoping something "just happens", a random phone call from nowhere that will solve things by offering me a job.

I currently have three employers that might be using me at a fair rate to cover sick leave in the near future ... but they're all thinking about it. I have never had such enquiry calls from an agency before and I asked if it was normal for them - and they said no, it's not. All these people asking them to find out if anybody could do the jobs, while they think about it.

JonnyBravo

pickles110564 wrote: »

Broders, still waiting for your reply. How many usernames are u up to now, I make it twelve but please could you put some of the other regulars out of their misery as they think they are having conversations with several people, little do they realise that they are just conversing with you.

Just as we are all waiting for you to explain why you deleted so many of your posts on the Felixstowe thread.
You remember the one..... the one where you confidently exclaimed you knew what was going on and when the press releases would be out etc etc only to be shown to have got it all wrong prompting your great delete purge to eradicate all history of your errors.



Its my opinion that the majority of "sock puppet" identities mostly come from some of the very people moaning about them.

mr.broderick

PasturesNew wrote: »

When I sold and banked my cash, I didn't know when I'd buy again, I still don't, so the money can't really be put into longer-term accounts/products, it is in every day accounts.

When I banked, the interest was enough to pay a small rent, basic bills, frugal food and have a bit left over for the odd thing here or there. With that as a backdrop, it meant anything else I earnt on top was nice, but if push came to shove, the interest would sustain me.

I never needed to touch the savings or the interest. The income I have managed to generate was healthy at first and rose - to a peak last June. Then it fell away to a super-low in December. I was using this money to live on, with the interest income being Plan B if needed.

Come December, my income was just enough to pay the basic rent and basic bills, on paper that meant taking from my savings to eat. Luckily there's been a small bounce in income in Jan/Feb, but in the meantime my interest has slumped to such a low that it wouldn't even cover my tiny rent if I needed it to.

If my onilne earnings suddenly went to £0, I'd not have a Plan B and would immediately be into having to use my savings to live on.

Looking forward - and job opportunities, I am getting some random calls from agencies, all of which are telling me about clients who are THINKING of replacing sick people with a temp. Only they never actually happen. So all these smaller employers are thinking about taking people on, but don't. And people are thinking of staying on the sick and going back to work.

I am not actively seeking work since 2 weeks ago. I am hoping something "just happens", a random phone call from nowhere that will solve things by offering me a job.

I currently have three employers that might be using me at a fair rate to cover sick leave in the near future ... but they're all thinking about it. I have never had such enquiry calls from an agency before and I asked if it was normal for them - and they said no, it's not. All these people asking them to find out if anybody could do the jobs, while they think about it.

What is it you do?
I hear kfc will be taking on shortly, finger licking good and all that.

Davesnave

daveb975 wrote: »

Everyone who has STR'd will be earning a tiny amount on their fund now, but those who sold and expected the interest to pay their rent whilst they waited to buy back in were always in a very fortunate position anyway.

As long as prices keep falling, the STRs position improves. Even if they start earning no interest at all, it should still be cheaper to buy in six months time rather than now.

Perhaps some rather broad assumptions here that can't remain unchallenged.
Last year, we had to listen to people telling us we'd 'missed the boat.' Now, we are earning a pittance and are very lucky!

We can earn 6.25%+ interest until the end of November 2009. Savers could fix rates at that level with quick access until about 14th November 2008, so we did.

We are not in a 'fortunate position' in the sense of being lucky to STR. Having lived within our means, worked a lifetime and paid-off our mortgages, we've just been careful & responsible. We're 'fortunate' that in the meantime, we didn't fall under a bus, contract a terminal illness, or something like that.

Yes, with every few weeks that pass, our position improves, but to get into this position we took a chance and a financial hit. There are people who did this better than us, but we think there'll be a lot more who, by being timid, will do much worse. Today I saw a property we're mildly interested in drop a further £50k, having dropped £35k before Christmas. Drops like that are still exceptional rather than commonplace, but so many people sat on their hands last year that they're bound to keep happening.

TBH living in this rental is much like being in our old house, but without all the worries which that gave us when we tried to sell. The hardest thing is not reacting to the improving situation for STRs, because we feel it is still too early to get the best deal on the type of property we want. It is, however, a huge novelty to see a few nice ones at prices we can afford, and the temptation to rush out and grab one is hard to resist after years of 'conditioning!'

PasturesNew

JonnyBravo wrote: »

...You remember the one..... the one where you confidently exclaimed you knew what was going on and when the press releases would be out etc etc only to be shown to have got it all wrong prompting your great delete purge to eradicate all history of your errors.

Unsolicited, at the time, I was sent a detailed PM over what was happening... or, to be more accurate, what failed to then happen at the appointed hour.

I was supposed to appear as "evidence" that pickles had known all along what was going on as I'd been PMd... well, what was in that PM didn't happen.

PasturesNew

mr.broderick wrote: »

What is it you do?
I hear kfc will be taking on shortly, finger licking good and all that.

I don't speak foreign languages :P
I have no fast food experience.
They'd deem me over-qualified.
I'd be a right mess because of my speshulness; I have limited skills in performing verbal instructions it seems.... I've always said I could never work in a bar because I couldn't hear the people over the din, I'd never know who was next, I'd not be able to remember what they'd asked for, I'd have lots of little accidents knocking drinks over and drowning the customers. Now I know these limitations are due to Aspergers.