Millard v Ashworth - Who's the biggest hag?

Turnbull2000

Are these two really "professional" journalists? I stopped buying The Times last year as the quality of writing went down the pan. These two though (both of whom are protective of their property portfolios) are on another level.

Should I add that despite buying the the bottom of a price cycle, Millard came close to bankruptcy in 2005 through being over-leveraged.

Millard - No pity for first-time-buyers

First-time buyers must - and I stress must - be treated with as much care and solace as ickle baby bluetits that have just fallen out of the nest. They have to face off not only the big bad birds that are already on the housing ladder, but the horrid estate-agent squirrels and the nasty tomcats of buy-to-let land, always ready to crush their hopes and feathery ambitions in their rapacious jaws. God forbid that we should look at first-time buyers as lucky so-and-sos who have probably been living off the Bank of Mum and Dad while working in the City, and thus have a nice little deposit ready to slam down at the appropriate juncture. Or those who, up until about eight weeks ago, at least, could qualify for a 100% mortgage. Nor should we see them as liberated souls, sans housing chain, who don’t have to worry about moving near a decent secondary school, or free spirits for whom a house-price wobble is only ever going to be good, since they will never be in negative equity. We must always see them as people who must be pitied.

Oh, and the other tragic thing about FTBs is that they can never be expected to move into an area they don’t know. Why not? Perhaps because the purchase and subsequent use of an A-Z is beyond them. But that’s how cities expand. That’s how gentrification happens, loves. When I was a 29-year-old first-time buyer, in 1994, did I cavil and wail about not being able to move in next door to my parents in leafy (and far too expensive) Wimbledon, southwest London? Certainly not. Newly married, I charged off to Hackney, in the east, a district so far from the orbit of my family, it took 10 months before any relation plucked up the courage to visit me. It was rather fun.

Ashworth - Can the bank of Mum and Dad rescue first-time buyers

After the collapse of Bear Stearns, a previously obscure institution that became a household name over a weekend, much has been written about how the CDO barged its way into your living room, an unwelcome guest likely to stick around for a while. But all that homeowners need to know is this: the toxic pile of CDOs held by the big banks has caused much of the deep suspicion in which they currently hold each other. They are not at all keen to lend to one another - and may be even less eager to give you a mortgage.

But one of the most popular sources of funds this year will be the Bank of Mum and Dad; parents who have made a wise investment in property will be using their equity to turn their children from tenants into owner-occupiers. This will be an example of mature behaviour, based on the view that the monetary value of a home is only one of its attractions.

ffacoffipawb

Millard

Also from Millard's article ....

There may have been less moaning and whining in years gone by, when it was possible to get tax relief on the first £30,000 of interest payments on your mortgage – which was a great help to first-time buyers, in particular. That ended in 1990, however – and the market crashed shortly afterwards.

Multiple MIRAS may have been abolished then, but MIRAS itself lasted a good ten extra years to April 2000.

That woman doesn't have a clue what she's writing about and the sooner the Times stop paying her for errors the better.

No wonder she nearly went bankrupt, ah well, maybe this time ....

clutton_2

""That woman doesn't have a clue what she's writing about "2

hear hear

Addy1

Throw both into a pond, see who sinks

God forbid that we should look at first-time buyers as lucky so-and-sos who have probably been living off the Bank of Mum and Dad while working in the City, and thus have a nice little deposit ready to slam down at the appropriate juncture. Or those who, up until about eight weeks ago, at least, could qualify for a 100% mortgage

OMG! What a horrible patronising little person.

Oh, and the other tragic thing about FTBs is that they can never be expected to move into an area they don’t know. Why not? Perhaps because the purchase and subsequent use of an A-Z is beyond them

Grrrrrr why do so many people think that anyone under the age of 25 has an IQ of under 100?

I have never read any of this journalist's articles before. I doubt I want to read any ever again!

m00m00

Throw both into a pond, see who sinks

you won't be surprised to learn then Addy1 that she's a BTL investor with a portfolio of properties, which she takes every opportunity to ramp up

oh and they she almost went bankrupt in 2005 and was only saved by rampant HPI


'it's different this time'

Jorgan_2

m00m00 wrote: »

you won't be surprised to learn then Addy1 that she's a BTL investor with a portfolio of properties, which she takes every opportunity to ramp up

oh and they she almost went bankrupt in 2005 and was only saved by rampant HPI


'it's different this time'

I don't know if she was saved by rampant HPI or the fact that she almost seemed proud of the fact she was way over her head in debt & wrote a load of articles on the matter, for which she was no doubt paid very well. Either way, I can't stand her or the dross that she writes.