0.25% cut in BoE base rate

izzybusy23

Stevenic wrote: »

That's what I said, all the amateurs will be waiting for the bottom of the market and by the time that happens those pros who have sold up in the past couple of years will already be in there grabbing the best plots. This is exactly what happened in the mid 90's and will happen again and then the whole cycle starts again. I know several people in this position who are currently sitting pretty, ready and waiting to pounce with straight cash once the time is right.

If of course they haven't had to use that money to service their bills through redunducy or illness... look at the bigger picture. We are talking years before this thing bottoms out and peoples perspectives and lives change.. and not always for the best unfortunately.

WTF?_2

izzybusy23 wrote: »

If of course they haven't had to use that money to service their bills through redunducy or illness... look at the bigger picture. We are talking years before this thing bottoms out and peoples perspectives and lives change.. and not always for the best unfortunately.

Indeed - we're talking a couple of (tough) years down the line here.

Speaking personally, I'm not too worried about catching the absolute trough of the market. Prices will go so low, relative to today, that I'm more than happy to wait until there are clear signs of recovery even if it means paying 2-3k more for the house.

After all, the upward cycle lasts many years so there's plenty of time to get on before prices get stupid again.

Also, it's tougher to find really desirable property in a slump as people will try harder to hold it. Will probably spend hours trying to get just the right house for my cash.

Stevenic

izzybusy23 wrote: »

If of course they haven't had to use that money to service their bills through redunducy or illness... look at the bigger picture. We are talking years before this thing bottoms out and peoples perspectives and lives change.. and not always for the best unfortunately.

Redundancy? These people don't have 'jobs', they're professional property investors/ landlords who have made a killing in the past 10 - 15 years who have sold up many of their properties (some have sold all of their portfolio) and are now lying in wait, if it's months or years is irrelevant, these people are seriously loaded. I know one guy who is currently spending his life on cruises because it's much cheaper than living here and paying tax.

izzybusy23

Stevenic wrote: »

Redundancy? These people don't have 'jobs', they're professional property investors/ landlords who have made a killing in the past 10 - 15 years who have sold up many of their properties (some have sold all of their portfolio) and are now lying in wait, if it's months or years is irrelevant, these people are seriously loaded. I know one guy who is currently spending his life on cruises because it's much cheaper than living here and paying tax.

When then, you move in very different circles to those here on this board and the people you are describing aren't your average Joe so don't really come into it.

There will always be people with money who will snap up houses when they bottom out, but there will always be losers too, who lose a lot of money on the back of the housing slump.

Stevenic

Different circles is irrelevant, no-one cares who buys their house they just want the money, property investor or family of four it doesn't matter. And they're the people who need to be watched as when they start to move back into the market, that's the time to strike.

The losers will be those who got into the BTL market late and are desperate to sell and you don't want to follow their example at all.

EdInvestor

Datasafe wrote: »

No penalty? I was offered £12000 on a endowment that was worth £21000.

You mean you were offered 12k on an endowment which would be worth 21k (unguaranteed) if you kept on paying into it until maturity, several years off, right?

However these days, if you took that cash offer and then either invested the money and the premiums into a high interest account or used them to reduce the mortgage, you would often make more than the forecast maturity value of the endowment, and the return would be guaranteed.

Plus you could also possibly save money on the mortgage as your LTV would be smaller. Anyone who is borderline on the LTV and has an endowment should certainly consider this strategy.

Gorgeous_George

Makes you wonder why there is a market in secondhand endowments. Maybe investors know something we don't?

GG

Generali

Gorgeous_George wrote: »

Makes you wonder why there is a market in secondhand endowments. Maybe investors know something we don't?

GG

There is a market for 2nd hand endowments:

Link

I maintain that they're not a liquid investment because of the hit I believe that you have to take to cash them in early. I think we agree to differ on this one EdInvestor.

Datasafe_2

EdInvestor wrote: »

You mean you were offered 12k on an endowment which would be worth 21k (unguaranteed) if you kept on paying into it until maturity, several years off, right?

No I mean as it stood the amount I paid in plus bonuses already allocated to the fund amounted to £21000. I was offered £12000 to surrender it. They never offer you anwhere near the full amount.

EdInvestor

Datasafe wrote: »

No I mean as it stood the amount I paid in plus bonuses already allocated to the fund amounted to £21000. I was offered £12000 to surrender it. They never offer you anwhere near the full amount.

That's not the correct way to price an endowment policy.How much were you expecting to get when it matured?

If you want to try to sell your endowment try this link: https://www.appm.org

Only some endowments can be sold.

I maintain that they're not a liquid investment because of the hit I believe that you have to take to cash them in early.

This is a misunderstanding of the way endowments work.If you cash them in and then reinvest the money, you are likely to get more at maturity than you would if you kept on paying into the endowment.There is no "hit".
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