Look Out Below For UK House Prices

[haha]

FSA to cap mortgage borrowing - Telegraph

[ziggy29]

Speaking of international real estate -- to think I owned this fund until mid-2007:

Alpine International Real Estate Report (EGLRX) | Snapshot

$10000 invested in this fund at the close on 12/31/2007 is $2,325 today.

[haha]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ziggy29 Speaking of international real estate -- to think I owned this fund until mid-2007: Alpine International Real Estate Report (EGLRX) | Snapshot $10000 invested in this fund at the close on 12/31/2007 is $2,325 today.

Yes, I bought a CEF of international REITs when it was off 2/3 from its peak, and a 30% discount from NAV. Now off a bit more than 3/4.

This could be the time for some of these things however. Wouldn't take much risked to really pay off if the credit situation lightens up, and that may be happening.

Ha

[freebird5825]

And here I was thinking sub prime mortgages were an example of strictly American banks' stup...um...oops...lack of good business sense.

[F4mandolin]

AAARRRGGG. Probably need to start drinking more....... Luckily I live in a town where the house prices in certain areas haven't dropped much, but I am still hoping to sell my house and move back to the US in 2 more years. If I had known I might be retiring early, I wouldn't have bought.....but.... bad timing again on my part. Jeez, you would think I would get an award or something for bad timing over the years.....eh?

[haha]

If something like this 3x mortgage cap were instated in my city it wohld creat a total let's get to the bottom now housing crash.

I think the median Seattle household income is $65-$70,000 and the median house price is still up around $435,000. Median condo is at $322,000. These may be a month of so out of date.

But anyway you can see what this kind of lending discipline would do to the market.

It will be interesting to see if the Brits have the courage to see it thorough over there.

Ha

[F4mandolin]

All this is why I bought a house outside Spokane last summer....fairly cheap area to live in. Grew up on the west side of the mountains and I would rather retire to some dryer weather. After the last couple of crummy summers here in the UK......I would retire here if I could afford it.

[haha]

Friends of mine just retired from a state job down around Longview. They headed straight for Spokane, to lose the rain and find a city with better prices than Seattle. (Though Longview is a nice small city with OK prices and near enough to Portland, OR.)

I lived in Spokane years ago. I liked it very much and still do. It is beautiful, near good hunting and fishing, not very crowded, and the people are first rate. You should have a great time over there.

Ha

[F4mandolin]

I grew up in Castle Rock just north of Longview. Nice place to grow up, couldn't move back there. 2 brothers still in that area. I still have an aunt/uncle out in W Seattle...I like the ocean a lot and used to have a little place out in Long Beach, but I also promised my UK wife that she would get some gorgeous summers in Spokane. I went to college in Eburg.....the cold doesn't bother me....we will see what it does to my wife. She was complaining last summer when were in Spokane about how dry her skin was.....I told her to get buckets of lotion ready for the winter.

[Tadpole]

F4, Castle Rock - know any McCully's?

[calmloki]

So a friend mentioned Maricopa Arizona - holy cow - 3-4 bedroom 2 bath homes 4-5 years old, 1500 sq. feet in the $65-80k range?!? Yeah, they're cheek by jowl with the neighbor houses, yeah Phoenix is a griddle in the summer, yeah the topography is featureless tabletop. But a 4 year old home for that kind of money?!

Floated the idea by the gal and was informed that while there was a great airport hub nearby and the buying was cheap she needed a view. Sigh. maybe a couple big flatscreens and we pick our view - didn't Billy Gates do that at his digs? What's wrong with AZ? Taxes? utility cost?

[F4mandolin]

Tadpole, I have been out of HS since 75 and basically haven't lived in the US since 1980 so except for summer visits....don't remember McCully's in CR. Seemed like there were some up in Toutle. Seems like there was a decent distance runner they had about the time I was running named McCully.....Hughie? I think.

[Tadpole]

F4,
Yep that's them. Always thought they were in Castle Rock because thats where we headed on the map when we went to visit.

[F4mandolin]

Isn't the world small. Here I am living in N Yorkshire....talking to somebody who actually knows where CR is.....let alone Toutle Lake. Bunch of my relatives live/lived up there (Tippery/Hicks)...my uncle/aunt live up the Toutle river (Hicks-which I am). Still a place where my uncle only recently stopped shooting (I think, although I am a better shot...no I haven't shot anything living recently) a dog (even a cat) that gets into his yard.