Do you feel sorry for people

[Mr Pig]

I find it impossible to feel sorry for people who have enough money to live a comfortable life but end up broke through their own greed and desire to impress others. And let's face it, what else is a Range Rover for? My boss had one and he worked out that it lost £500 a month on depreciation alone!

There are enough people struggling to make ends meet, working hard, doing the best they can for their families, who could use our sympathy. I don't have any left for graspers.

 

[Crackle]

That's what I thought. The estate agent is very keen to sell it to us.

They would be.

If you're not pitching in 25-30% below what the asking price would've been at the height of the market, you're too high. Use one of those land registry sites to see what they were going for when. If it was bought and sold in the last few years, you might even see what price for and how much equity the current owners have in it.

 

[cheadle hulme]

Visit housepricecrash.co.uk for some vitriol dished out to the MEW-ers!

Range Rover Sports practically owe their existence to it. Land Rover has just put staff on a 3 day week due to lack of demand.

I Feel sorry for those made redundant and having to run down savings etc, but absolutely no sympathy for materialistic pillocks who have overstretched themselves.

The real slowdown hasn't even got going yet.

 

[Gromit]

I don't understand why people want to re-mortgage to the hilt just to buy a new kitchen, car, holiday of a lifetime? I'm trying to get shut of all my debts, I have paid off 3 of them just the big one to go now, looking forward to being debt free in 2009. No more credit cards or loans, living within my means from now on.

 

[CopperBrompton]

Well releasing house equity is not new and quite a reasonable thing to do provided you go into it eyes wide open and don't overstretch yourself.

I don't think it's ever a sensible thing to do if you're going to spend the money on a depreciating asset like a new car.

Personally I hate debt. If I can't afford to pay cash for a car, my view is that I can't afford the car. And I would never even consider buying a brand new one and watching 30% of the value disappear in the first 30 seconds of ownership as I drove it off the forecourt ...

Ben

 

[Crackle]

I don't think it's ever a sensible thing to do if you're going to spend the money on a depreciating asset like a new car.

No neither do I but you could do it 'sensibly' and a Range Rover or high prestige vehicle might be better. For instance, and I don't actually know the prices but for example.

Range Rover costs 40K. Trade in for old car is £15k (it's a good car ). Equity taken out of house is £25K. Value of Range Rover after three years is 25K.

So after 3 years you sell it and return the equity to the house. Your running costs on the equity loan are about £150 a month. So for 3 years you've had a Range Rover for not a lot of money compared to an equivalent 25K loan.

Compare and contrast with just taking 40K out the house and buying it new.

Like I said, not a great choice in my book but perfectly feasible and even sensible.

 

[CopperBrompton]

I wouldn't describe it as sensible compared to buying the car you can afford :-)

 

[Crackle]

I wouldn't describe it as sensible compared to buying the car you can afford :-)

Well affordability is about being able to pay and not leaving yourself in debt should you need to bail out and is influenced by your own personal circumstances. Borrowing is a perfectly reasonable thing to do, provided you do it reasonably: One man's dream is another man's foolishness.

 

[CopperBrompton]

Different strokes, and all that. Personally I hate debt: I have a mortgage and that's it. Everything else, if there's not enough money in my bank account to pay for it, I wait until there is.

Ben

 

[Andy in Sig]

I feel sorry for those in limited incomes who were persuaded that they could have the dream of their own home by greedy banks and were misled.

I have no sympathy for wealthy people living beyond their means.

Totally different things.

Surely anybody of whatever income deserves our sympathy if they were misled and they are equally undeserving of it if greed drove them to live beyond their means.

 

[Flying_Monkey]

Surely anybody of whatever income deserves our sympathy if they were misled and they are equally undeserving of it if greed drove them to live beyond their means.

I was making a specific distinction between poor people who were misled and wealthy people who were out to try to make even more out what they already had (as in the OP). Everyone else seems to have understood this...

 

[Mr Pig]

Surely anybody of whatever income deserves our sympathy if they were misled.

No. You are not 'misled' if you choose to ignore warning bells in order to accept the advice that tickles your ears. When we took out our second mortgage we were offered vastly more money than would have been prudent to borrow. At the end of the day 'you' are responsible for the decisions you make, no one else.

 

[freakhatz]

..but if someone misleads you, then IMO you have been misled. WTF are IFAs for if not to advise?

Plenty of people are quite capable of earning a wage without being smart enough to understand the intricacies of our financial systems. That includes the chief executives of several major banks it would seem.

 

[andyfromotley]

i feel sorry for everyone about to lose their house. My best mate is about to lose his as hegambled away 90K. Stupid, reckless, idiotic, but yes i feel sorry him and all the others.

 

[Abitrary]

I'm glad that this ridiculous credit situation is coming to end now, and feel a bit sorry for the casualties, but not totally.

Because most of this situation was borne of greed, and envy of what other people have.