I was interested to read the thrilling news published by the Building Societies Association (BSA) that 42% of Britons see mortgage finance as a barrier to buying a house. Anothe case of G.O.B.O. - Glimpse of the Blindingly Obvious. Some of my friends who didn't attend an approved school with me often say G.O.F.O. - I wil let you work that one out. What always intrigues me about these surveys is the...
March 2013
Chancellor George Osborne yesterday announced 2 schemes that will hopefully boost the housing market and therefore the economy. The first is the Help-To-Buy scheme whereby the Governement will actually add 20% to the original 5% of the buyer's deposit. The buyer will then have a 25% deposit and a 75% mortgage (subject to the usual underwriting criteria). That bit is simple. What has yet to be clearly...
On the back of last week's slightly disappointing news that HMRC see buy-to let landlords as the soft underbelly of their quest to gather in more tax, I read with interest the Mail on Sunday (March 10) which screams off the pages that the buy-to-let boom is back. Let me declare at the start that I have always said that if all the expert financial journalists pontificating in the paper were so clever,...
So said Winston Churchill; and this week he may well be joined in his sentiment by many others following the announcement by HMRC that they are launching the 'property sales campaign', targeting those who have sold a property that is not their main home, and who have not told HMRC about any profits that they have made as a result. It is aimed at those selling homes where capital gains tax (CGT) should...
When shopping in a supermarket the price of a tin of beans is clearly displayed. This is based on what the national average has been calculated as being for a tin of beans of that quantity and quality. Have you ever tried going to the checkout lady and offering thirty pence lower than the marked price? One would have ample time to contemplate the error of our ways whilst being frog-marched out of...
