How Bad the Credit Crunch is...

[Walesy 0]

I'm sure we could all think of 10 good reasons to get outta here.

 

I cant even think of one personally, let alone ten! I absolutely love where I live and genuinely wouldn't prefer to be anywhere else in the world - and if that wasn't the case i'd do something about it, life's too short to spend living somewhere that you hate!

 

There are a lot of things that we take for granted in the UK IMO, its not perfect but I don't think that anywhere in the world is.

[mrbeige 0]

those that have taken 125% mortgages to buy their £180k piddly little starter homes, or those who've gone and bought 20 new builds with buy-to-let mortgages should really have been able to see this coming. I think it's a case of buckling down, living within your means and seeing the next couple of years through, things had to reach this point so that the economy could correct itself.

I have to agree with you there. Why the public seem to think that you *MUST* get on the housing ladder as soon as you can blah blah blah. Yeah it's great to have your own house, but unfortunately it isn't YOUR house until the mortgage is paid off. Taking anything above 100% mortgage is ridiculously daft at any point. The fact that the banks were allowed to offer that in the first place is beyond me. I think the main problem is people have been living beyond there means for the last 10-15 years and all of a sudden, now the banks are in the poop, they've stopped and suddenly people can't afford there credit card enriched lifestyles, when there is a general increase in cost of living. I talk from bitter experience, having got myself into financial schitt, that took 10 years to create. Luckily I am 1/3 of the way through an IVA to correct my previous uselessness, and in 3.5 years all will be well in the Beige-household. Now everyone is being forced to do what we're already doing and it isn't that hard to do, it just means you can't have the luxuries that your 'credit' used to support.

 

To answer the question, 'How bad is the Credit Crunch' - it's as bad as you want to make it :roll:

 

Just my 2p's worth, of course....

[Walesy 0]

 

To answer the question, 'How bad is the Credit Crunch' - it's as bad as you want to make it :roll:

 

Or as bad as you already have made it!

[mrbeige 0]

 

To answer the question, 'How bad is the Credit Crunch' - it's as bad as you want to make it :roll:

 

Or as bad as you already have made it!

Indeed

[Kevin Bacon 5]

The grass isn't always greener though! I've lost count of the amount of people that i've heard saying that they're just going to move abroad to a utopia type place where wages are sky high and the cost of living is low, no crime exists and the weather is perfect all year round, in reality it's not quite as simple as that.

 

Yeah well said Walsey. There are a few people in my team threatening to clear off to spain or where ever (one of them actually is as soon as he's flogged his house) but wait until he finds out about Land grabbing, the [worse than ours] spanish red tape, the extremely sluggish and corrupt legal system and other negatives people don't see when they holiday there for 2 weeks. He'll be on the first plane back to blighty :D

 

What I find amusing is we whinge about Polish immigrants invading us, but it's OK for us to emigrate to someone's country?

 

Obviously the big players have had a lot to do with the mess we're in, but you can't just blame the government or the banks if you're in the sch1tt - those that have taken 125% mortgages to buy their £180k piddly little starter homes, or those who've gone and bought 20 new builds with buy-to-let mortgages should really have been able to see this coming. I think it's a case of buckling down, living within your means and seeing the next couple of years through, things had to reach this point so that the economy could correct itself. I think the media are doing their usual thing of making things seem worse than they are.

 

Well said again Mr Wales :D

[vwdeviant 0]

What I find amusing is we whinge about Polish immigrants invading us, but it's OK for us to emigrate to someone's country?

 

:D

 

Probably won't have to some of the neighbours (LIthu and Bulgarians) are looking for the next Economy to be strong with weak immigration so they can go there!

 

The Poles are all heading home as their economy's in a better state than here apparently!

 

Europe is turning into a romany State I tell ya! Go where the work is...

 

And Walsey, you really like Newquay even though it gets invaded by the "dregs" every summer? I'd end up a tall tower with a large 'Scope'! :snipersmile:

[Walesy 0]

I dont live actually in Newquay, I live a few miles away so I get the best of both worlds :grin: Plus the 'dregs' all congregate at the same places, you avoid going to those places like the plague for 6-7 weeks through the season and they're all quiet and yours to enjoy through the other 45 weeks of the year - plus there's loads of nice spots that most people dont know about, there's quite a few beaches/woodlands/moors etc that have no signposting for tourists so they stay peaceful even in the summer 8)

 

Where I live wouldn't suit everyone, i've got mates that love coming to stay with me but would never want to live here - it's horses for courses but my point isn't that 'where I live is great,' its that if you're not happy where you're living then move but don't just assume that moving somewhere different will answer all your prayers and be perfect in every way because 9/10 it isn't the case :confused4:

[Walesy 0]

P.S - Does anyone know why it is that EVERYBODY spells my username Walsey instead of Walesy? :confused4:

[vwdeviant 0]

P.S - Does anyone know why it is that EVERYBODY spells my username Walsey instead of Walesy? :confused4:

 

:brickwall:

Cause I'm keyboard Dyslexic... have a look at how I spell anything with a TH in it (teh esp.)

 

Will edit my post!

[Walesy 0]

:lol: - it doesn't bother me, it just confuses me how many people do it - there must be some sort of sub-concious reason :shrug:

[Kevin Bacon 5]

We could just call you [sperm]Whaley instead? Drop the S seeing as we all get it wrong :D

[Andi 2,147,483,647]

I could always just change your username so we're all right and you're wrong..? ;)

 

As for where we live, etc.

I used to live down south, and thought I was happy. Moved up to a nice village just across the Mersey from Liverpool last November and life is so much better. Yes, I have to put up with scousers, but I didn't realise just how depressing and isolating (i.e. no-one talks to you) it is down there....

I live in a massive 2-bedroom flat, with 20ft ceilings, in a picturesque village, pay £400pm rent, and walk to work.

Down south I paid £800pm for a flat half the size, and had to drive 5-6 miles to work, taking anything from 20-30minutes.

Even traffic is nearly non-existent up here. Let alone the fact I think there's only about 2 speed cameras... ;)

 

Life's what you make of it. If you're really not happy, sometimes a little change will make a big difference.

Take care of yourselves, and each other.... (hehe)

[davidwort 0]

England is now the most heavily populated per sq km in Europe, apart from Malta apparently (pop. only 400K), we've just exceeded the Netherlands too.

At last I saw an article yesterday suggesting that population density in England is affecting quality of life and we should control the population to prevent matters getting worse. Don't get me wrong, there's a lot I like about this country and always enjoying coming home from abroad (apart from the summer weather), but you can't just keep adding a million or so to the head count every year on a small island and not have some related social problems.

[craigowl 0]

You don't have to emigrate to improve your quality of life as Wailsey (tee hee!) and Andi have pointed out. I am with them.

 

Credit - When I were a lad, people of our parents generation frowned on those who bought stuff "on the H.P." (hire purchase - monthly payments). Their philosophy for personal and financial success - having grown up in the "hungry thirties" - and passed on to us, was that you gained a good education, worked hard and saved up for things you wanted.

 

By 1970 when we bought our first house with a mortgage, everything escalated thereafter as far as everyone buying things like cars on credit was concerned - get a bank loan - was the answer, but you were well vetted before you got it. Crucial?

 

IMO greed and complacency "in the city" took over from the 80s onwards and caution in investment went out of the window. Understandable when you saw how the price of property soared 30-40 years ago. Our first house, a new semi-detached 3-bedroom villa in Ayr cost us £4750 and three years later when I had to move we got double for it with no modifications whatsoever.

 

Should we have trusted an ambitious grocer's daughter to help set a blueprint for world economy? Easy to say "no way" now. With hindsight we can see that you cannot get a quart out of a pint pot for ever. Common sense, really, but the euphoria and success brought by risk-taking and aggressive wheeling and dealing over the short term became second nature in the city.

 

A hard lesson is being learned, let us hope things before long become less volatile and more comfortable. Many older citizens will have probably been suspicious of the maxim "Greed is good".

[Walesy 0]

Yeah, the 80's was a strange era and Maggie still has a lot to answer for! As someone else has said, the 'right to buy' was very short sighted and has a lot to do with the mess we're in now as well as credit becoming the norm - people's expectations are far higher and the desire to keep up with the Jones' and have the latest fad has steered thousands of people into debt. My dad was very much of the school of thought that if you haven't got the cash in your pocket to buy something then you can't afford it, he'd save for years to buy the stuff he wanted but would never use credit to be able to have things sooner.

 

It always makes me laugh when I see those adverts on the TV for sofas or widescreen tellys etc 'BUY NOW BUT PAY NOTHING UNTILL 2010!' It's unbelievable that it convinces people to go out and buy something that they cant afford with a 'ah well, we'll worry about how we're going to pay for it when the time comes' attitude. By the time they have to start paying for it it'll be knackered and they'll not want it any more, plus they could well be in a worse financial situation than they are now :lol: :cuckoo:

 

Like I said, I think on the whole we all have our part to play in how we've ended up in a mess, there are exceptions to that but far too many people just blame the banks/government when it's their own greed and short sightedness that's got them into difficulties :gag:

 

Regards

 

Wayalzee :|

[AlgarveVR6 0]

Greetings from Portugal

Until 2 years ago. my wife, myself and my 2 young sons were happily living in South Wales. We are all British by birth, but my Mrs was raised for 10 years near Lisbon. She always had a hankering to come back.

Well 2 years ago we did. We still think it was the right decision, but bugger me if it hasn't been twice as hard as we thought.

We have a huge bonus over most expats that Heidee (My Mrs) speaks the language fluently. She actually teaches other expats the lingo. I cannot imagine how much more difficult this would have been with the language as a barrier too.

Setting up work for myself has been hard, had no issues in UK but even with the expats here needing work, the language always hinders everything. The country is fab, the people are fab. I would not want to be anywhere else, but anyone considering moving cannot be under any illusions, its hard.

Everything is different. No going to B and Q and knowing what you want............and thats the easy part. try phoning someone about a price for something when you don't speak the lingo. The way they do things is all different. Our usual one is

not to phone but "pass by". Fine if you live close, but when you have to drive 40kms to get the price for some timber to do a job, cos they want you to "pass by" instead of telling you on the phone.

I love it here, and I don't want to be anywhere else, but even without the lingo problems it would still be hard.

If your considering it, think long and hard about it. Then think long and hard about it a few more times, think of wll the annoying things that could happen, multiply it by 10 and then think again.

 

Oh and don't for a second think that the credit crunch is not biting here as well. It is. Our water bills have just gone up 140% in one month, without being told before hand it was happening. Welcome to Portugal.

 

PS The weather is great tho, the surf is fantastic, my Corrado seems to prefer the climate here, and an ice cold bottle of beer on my way home costs me 55p

 

Enjoy

Dic :D

[craigowl 0]

Much of Spain has had chronic, worsening water shortages for years. Portugal and NW Spain can be quite wet at times, but looks like they dont want you to throw the stuff around according to AlgarveVR6 and his interesting post.

Climate change scenario paints a picture of it getting worse.

 

The Mediterranean climate may be moving north towards southern England, but the North African desert climate is expected to affect Spain and others.

 

Surely no one on here believes other countries will be immune from a global financial collapse?

[Kevin Bacon 5]

It always makes me laugh when I see those adverts on the TV for sofas or widescreen tellys etc 'BUY NOW BUT PAY NOTHING UNTILL 2010!

 

Does this mean we won't see DFS sofa adverts every 10 minutes now that the credit brokers / banks have learned their lesson?

 

It's amazing people fell for those prices anyway. "Look at this Rhino leather sofa, reduced from [insert arbitary number here] to JUST £399, payable over 400 years, starting in 2089 + a year's payment holiday"

 

I really do hope we see an end to that.

 

As said already, if the money's not in the bank or you can't comfortably afford the credit repayments, don't buy it!