Member Info for torquay

If DCB has upset the Lloyds forum it is up to them to apply a filter - it does not in my view entitle anyone to "CENSOR HIM" on here.

He is quite entitled to express his views on Brexit - they may not like them - how many views or opinions have been expressed by other people that did not stir up someone !!

Every shade of opinion has been expressed and a lot of them published - including the lies...

Good luck all.

This is a sad state of affairs - the system dropped for a while which may have something to do with it - I am not aware that "free speech" has been either suspended or suppressed, after all this isn't Russia is it ?

Let us see what tomorrow brings.

Good luck all...

When Peter Robinson emerged from his purdah and mentioned the border when he spoke recently in Rossnowlagh, he did not do anyone a favour.

The question of a United Ireland is on the agenda but not until the dismay following Brexit - if it happens sets in - and the General Election follows as the politicians "wash their hands" of any responsibility. The result in the six counties, when judged by the comments here from all but the truly afflicted, will certainly soften Arlene's cough. The Unionist community (well the ones with some intelligence) will not be long recognising the advantages of a United Ireland - "there's money in the South" - and could be surprisingly receptive to the suggestion.

My view would be to gain consent for the establishment of four assembly's in the four provinces much like the UK - this would make the Dail a little more distant from the Unionists with their siege mentality. Cannot see why there should be any significant resistance from Westminster - once the Conservatives are out of power along with Arlene.

The Unionists would have lost their majority but management of the economy would still reside in Belfast and the Minister of Finance could fly up once a month "to make sure that they were spending money wisely." Chuck a few bob across the border for a year or two - support the National Health System - things would not be that long settling down but a 2/300 Garda could be stationed in the north to make sure in places like Belfast and Larne.

Good luck all.

Have just read my last post again - No I haven't taken a drink today.

Good luck all....

Yippee - this issuing to make me dizzy again

So sorry to have bored you - but in case any more of our gang want to take refuge over here, I thought that I would paint them a picture. As London and its surrounds "change" - it is not a surprise to us that there are so many people from England appearing over here with cash.
We are just sorry that it took us so long to sell - we could have saved 80/100K.
A hot day here is 23 degrees but at least the gardens don't fry.

Now back to the future and glad to see that our share is still alive...

Good luck all..

But am sure that it was understood what I was saying - the people are great here - today I wanted to open a bottle of wine to have with dinner. Could not find the corkscrew - when I went to the Off Licence to buy one the lady only had her own - even though I had bought the bottle elsewhere she invited me to bring the bottle up and she would open it for me, which she did. So glad that we will be unpacked in a few more weeks.

You do need a fairly good ear for accents particularly the Mourne dialect which is hard to follow sometimes.

Good luck - a new homeowner - who is going on the electoral register soon.

I read the link on Newcastle from MickB with interest but do not know where The Guardian got its property prices from - the publicity however has certainly stirred things up here OR something has. When the article was written you could buy an excellent 2000 foot four bedroom bungalow with two bathrooms and an en suite for around 160K - at this time last year prices prices were much the same until this spring.

We visited our new house today, when we showed it to our daughter and the grandsons who loved it, they are city kids who go to the park for fresh air and to play. We then took them to the show house, where the youngest raced through the downstairs lobby across the kitchen diner and out onto the patio through the double doors to throw himself on the lawn in excitement - so I guess we will be seeing them fairly often.

The agent on duty in the show house is one of the locals who during our visit stated that he cannot believe the current market activity or the prices being achieved for the properties on offer. We are happy with our choice even if it is not a bungalow - as long as it does not catch fire, when it would burn like a potters kiln, we will be warm and comfortable for the winter. ALL the landscaping will be done in time for our takeover in October with good quality turf laid on the lawn - all I have to do is buy the bulbs and set them along with the border plants.

What has annoyed me however is the valuation process which bears no relation to the selling price, except where Wilsons are concerned and even there prices have been exceeded. It is sometimes the case that an attractive price is published that bears no relation to the property being advertised - but it does generate viewings. Two properties that we have viewed were described as five bedroom three reception room properties at a very attractive price £235K. We recently viewed a property where the entrance hall was described as one of the reception rooms - in another a through lounge with an arch was offered as a lounge on one side of the arch and a dining room on the other side of. The same house was advertised as five bedrooms - we could only find four.

To my mind a valuation takes three things into account when a property is placed on the market - Location - Amenity - Condition, if all three are satisfactory and the condition is confirmed by a surveyor then offering the asking price, or close to it, should secure the purchase. The other bugbear are sales which collapse because the vendors are not really moving - "they were sure that it would be easy to move."

We are told that there have been a lot of people "FROM ENGLAND" buying property here since the spring and that there are not enough houses coming onto the market or being built to satisfy the demand. I would definitely advise anyone coming over here to make sure that that is what they really want to do - they should then spend time getting to know the market and view houses especially show houses before de

NO - I think that he would have got longer than that - still - with remission of sentence who knows....

but myself - goodness how long has it been and where have you been for the last five years ?

All of the properties that we viewed were at least fifty years old - all required work doing,some needed half re-building because of the "Newcastle Disease" in the copper pipes, which requires it ALL to be replaced when it breaks or starts to leak.

Buying property here seems to either serious or a recreational activity - the trick is to discover which because the Estate Agents don't help - apart from Wilsons who are the leading agents in the town. Every property that they bring to the market sells, not always for the asking price, usually it is higher.

My comments earlier to Martin are certainly borne out by our experience - over here there is a LOT MORE money in circulation - this is borne out by the way that property is bought here and the quality of the cars that they drive even after buying a house they can spend 30/40K on it - and still go on holiday!!!!

I just hope that it keeps fine for them after the next election - the Colleen and I will be alright, but interest rates are going to play there part in peoples lives now that the banks have hooked so many fish.

Good luck all.

Good luck all.

For those enduring blast furnace conditions and summer in England - that is the one thing that we miss about Torquay and England - the warmth. We are not complaining about the conditions here, because the winter was tough everywhere this year but it is true that we do get more rain here.

The link extolling Newcastle was mostly accurate, the beaches are wonderful and the town has a buzz about it almost all the time. The variety of businesses and promenade would remind you of Torquay, except that we do not have as many "Chippers". The atmosphere in the local pubs is excellent, especially Quinns, which is cavernous and serves good Guinness and quite good food. Hotels are fairly plentiful and there are two The Burrendale and Golf Links House, which is very homely. There is also another that we have to investigate on the edge of the Mournes and Tollymore Park which is apparently aimed at "Active Ramblers" - whatever that means, most probably rushing up and down mountains. We have had fella's who have ridden up them and then there was the crowd "THAT RAN UP THE MOUNTAIN AND BACK - IN AN HOUR.

Which brings me to property - there are five agents in Newcastle and I am now personally acquainted with all of them and their fathers, if they are still living. William Wilson Snr is almost venerated in Newcastle by "both communities" because of his unfailing courtesy and integrity a reputation that he has gained over many of his 92 years - yes I said 92.

For the rest I don't know how to describe them because this is a public forum - what I will say is that none of them can value a property satisfactorily and are the main cause for our search taking so long.

They are all able to "put a price" on a property, which you assume is the Selling Price, offer it and the property is yours
because this is the figure agreed with the agent by the Vendor. NOT HERE, if a property is worth buying in the current market that is where the bidding starts, whether it needs repairs, improvements or just embellishing. A recent property that we were interested in exceeded the exalted asking price by 35K - when we viewed it there were no offers on it after six weeks on the market - then the bidding started.

The other complication is provided by vendors who place their properties on the market and then decide not to sell them, even when the asking price has been exceeded - "because they can't find a house that they like." This was our experience with a widow in Tullybrannigan who wanted to move and then panicked when we made our offer. After seven months of this it should not be a surprise to anyone that we compromised and visited a building site where to our surprise they impressed with the quality of their offering and the benefit of high spec insulation and gas central heating together with very impressive double glazing.
there's more....

for all your good wishes - we should be elated and I'm sure that we will be - once we recover from our surprise.

Our share has risen as well, along with my spirits - played in Belfast today and thoroughly enjoyed myself. Now all I've got to do is sort out where I am going to play regularly.

Good luck all.

Interest rate increased today, not by very much but at least it is a step in the right direction - such a paltry increase clearly demonstrates the overall level of debt in the economy - making it almost impossible to put them up any further in the short term. Never the less it will not be without an effect on the economy - a poor girl in Hemel, working for herself, already has become vegetarian reluctantly because of the price of meat and her inability to afford meat when she has met her £800 a month mortgage repayment plus her other bills.
This is a precarious state of affairs indeed, demonstrating the discipline which debt imposes on the economy, when the country is living beyond its means already. What it also demonstrates and explains is peoples reluctance to take on more debt - slowly they are beginning to understand the evils of usery and the effect that it has on your health and well being.
Having said all that the Colleen and I are in the process of purchasing a new home here in Newcastle - where everybody seems to want to live. We were shocked to learn yesterday that the brand new house that we viewed last Sunday - our 44th Anniversary - would be ours on the12th of October. We viewed on Sunday, (the show house which was sold) - on Monday we viewed the house that we decided to buy and put down our deposit, went straight to a solicitor and engaged him, on the advice of a parishioner and were told the next day that our purchase would proceed.
My brother-in-law tells me that we must thank St John Paul for our success, because he had prayed to everyone else without any success. Whilst visiting his son in Poland he visited a church dedicated to his memory and offers a special prayer that was written by John Paul himself.
Not quite the outcome that we had planned - we were looking for a bungalow and have made offers four or five times on properties that needed money spent on them. We have been outbid three times by reckless people and twice have failed to complete because the vendors could not find a property that they wanted to buy in one case, in the other his wife moved out and bought her own house - he is still getting over the shock.
After this catalogue of events and viewing more than twenty houses, you can imagine our surprise when events have suddenly resolved themselves and we are shocked but pleased too with our purchase even though its not a bungalow.
We've got a brand new house with Gas Central Heating, built to a very high spec with regard to heating and three bathrooms on a good sized plot for 60K less than we were proposing to spend.
Might just buy a few more shares - when I have lit a candle to Saint John Paul.
Playing Golf tomorrow hoping that I am not too rusty.
Good luck all.

So glad I misunderstood and that BOI did not put their foot in it after all.

What just happened - I was about to start researching my next motor - and our share got a puncture, The "M Word" must be a jinx. We will have to develop a code name for it......

The begrudgers want their post office back do they - not enough being invested in it - well it was always open to UK politicians to ensure that the post offices were secured.

Instead it was asset stripped and reduced to a service run my appointee's and agency staff - I wonder why BOI bought it in the first place, but I am sure that they will eventually make a better job of running it because at least they will TRY.

Too much has just been written off in the UK, assets have been systematically stripped by people with no understanding of their value so far as maintaining employment is concerned within an economy. This never could apply to some industries where it brought the UK into competition with the Germans and French in Europe making cars for instance - they take it much more seriously, investing in research and development and new models. Altogether brighter and more enlightened, but then their's is a social economy where capitalism is applied intelligently, after all it was the Europeans who introduced the Euro to curb those pinball speculators in The City.

Good luck all.

While I was busy the share has jumped so that is two problems solved - I do however wonder how far we are from an election which always produces a glow in the economy.

Am not going to spend too long looking at the SP in case my nose bleeds.

Good luck all.

The profit which the bank "declares" must surely have been factored in - but I am not forgetting the opportunity that so called "impaired loans"presents to those with a flair for creative accounting. Nor am I forgetting the losses that have been created (on paper) when properties have been auctioned or sold off at big discounts. It is easily done when you argue that the purchaser must be given some incentive especially in a depressed market.

I am waiting for the day when they return to traditional banking based on good and practical advice, people may then choose to deposit more with them, which would enable the bank to lend more - so long as they offer an incentive to their depositors and shareholders - instead of paying out ridiculously large bonuses to the only people who have benefited over the last ten years - themselves.

There is nothing wrong with capitalism, when it is allowed/indeed regulated to run properly and is supervised by government authorities who are up to the job. Casino banking does not serve anyone in the end or have we all learned nothing from the CRASH.

Our politicians were so busy spending the money that this merry-go-round produced, they completely forgot to ask the question "where is it all coming from?" Had they troubled to look at the size of Credit Card and mortgage debt they WOULD HAVE KNOWN how it would end - and it did.

Rant over - good luck all.

We were listening at lunchtime to the Marian Finucane discussion and BOI - the number of houses required to be built if built, could only find funding from present and projected resources until 2020.

After that funding from an outside source would be required - British banks are out after their last episode of self inflicted idiocy - so that leaves our friends in Europe again.

Cannot see them getting too excited "post brexit" - if it happens !!

Good luck all..