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mr_fishbulb

nollag2006 wrote: »

Seems I have upset the bears again.

But I'm not a bear. In fact, I'm hoping some more houses come on to the market soon because I'll be looking.

chucky

mr_fishbulb wrote: »

But I'm not a bear. In fact, I'm hoping some more houses come on to the market soon because I'll be looking.

that actually makes you a bull - anyone that doesn't want 50% off house prices is classes as an over-leveraged desperate bull.

fc123

Some of us aren't either bear nor bull but just come here for The Therapy.

mr_fishbulb

chucky wrote: »

that actually makes you a bull - anyone that doesn't want 50% off house prices is classes as an over-leveraged desperate bull.

Oh and I also love debt. I can't get enough of it

Thrugelmir

nollag2006 wrote: »

Most of the bears have gone into hiding - not much point in talking down the economy and the housing market when both are recovering at breathtaking speed

Surely you would know that bears hibernate in the winter. Conserving their energy for the battles ahead.

Only mad bulls stand out in the freezing cold in a desperate attempt to attract attention and get someone to feed them.

I've consistantly taken the view that we're in a marathon not a sprint. Despite all the analysis and reanalysis of housing market trends since it was recorded in the Doomsday book. Little has changed for some months now. If anything focus should be on the economy. Which is the ultimate driver of house prices.

chucky

Thrugelmir wrote: »

I've consistantly taken the view that we're in a marathon not a sprint.

that's not really true... taking one days data and calling the collapse of Shell, BP and the rest of the FTSE isn't really a marathon - it's just being premature...

you would never do that or would you

lemonjelly

fc123 wrote: »

Some of us aren't either bear nor bull but just come here for The Therapy.

Thrugelmir wrote: »

Surely you would know that bears hibernate in the winter. Conserving their energy for the battles ahead.

Only mad bulls stand out in the freezing cold in a desperate attempt to attract attention and get someone to feed them.

I've consistantly taken the view that we're in a marathon not a sprint. Despite all the analysis and reanalysis of housing market trends since it was recorded in the Doomsday book. Little has changed for some months now. If anything focus should be on the economy. Which is the ultimate driver of house prices.

Thank goodness for voices of reason!

Cleaver posted something recently about bullishness/bearishness.

I think that the bull/bear terms should only be allowed to describe a persons view/perspective on a particular subject, not them themselves.

Personally I'm a mine of contradictions, & hold views which are changeable, depending on context.

I really think some on here are too focussed on the bull/bear thing...

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

lemonjelly wrote: »

I really think some on here are too focussed on the bull/bear thing...

Probably so, and I'll stick my hand up as being guilty at times as well.

In my defence, it's difficult not to be at least defensive at times when you have a group of uber-bears rampaging around distracting good threads from the topic, ganging up on individual posters, and generally trolling.

Although it has been quieter, the signal to noise ratio over the last couple of days has improved markedly, with less flaming, baiting, trolling, etc, getting in the way of good debate.

Long may it continue.

(I've actually wondered if the abuse team has done it's job with some of the more obnoxious posters and sockies, who have nothing to contribute beyond repetitive insults, seeming to have vanished.)

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

stueyhants wrote: »

To be fair it's a long way off becoming HPC in reverse, but people need to be careful to keep their objectivity and not instantly dimiss anything that doesn't fit the postive view.

To be fair, this forum is actually very balanced.

The percentage of topics and viewpoints raised is about equal for both the bullish and bearish case for housing and the economy.

I am accused of being an uber-bull by those sympathetic to the hpc outlook, but in reality I am far from it. By comparison to the people I know in the real world, I am actually quite bearish.

I do see influences that will constrain growth, both in house prices, and the economy, for the next few years. But having looked at the evidence for both sides of the argument, on balance, I believe that growth is the most probable outcome.

And that things are nowhere near as bad as our millenarian friends would have us believe.

And in that, the more positive-minded posters have been broadly, and certainly directionally, right for the last 9 months or so.

It remains to be seen how it goes in 2010. But it will be interesting to look back in 12 months and see if that remains the case for the second year in a row.

carolt

Are you a mate of Gordon Brown then, Hamish?

Even Alistair Darling's sounding pretty gloomy at the moment...