Modern Vespa

Page 12!

Yes it's not going badly this thread is it. I wonder if Border will get his wish.
Here's an interesting sign of the times fact - in October BMW sales fell by 18% Mercedes Benz fell by 8% but Audi sales increased by 7%.
I wonder why?
Billy-no-scoot

another queer factoid .... house prices have dropped all over london, with the exception of Hackney, where they continue to rise

didn't realize i was living in such an exclusive neighbourhood.

Give it time, the market has another 20 to 30 per cent to go. I told you six months ago we'd be able to afford houses!

Hackney has a large number of buy to let investors and property flippers who are desperate to recoup their money. Hence high asking prices because the area had some of the highest rises during the boom and people who bought in with very very expensive mortgages. It does not mean they are achievable at all. In January those prices will start falling, rapidly as financial reality hits.

The UK property market has a long way to go before it hits the long term average price, and normally in a recession there is a bigger dip below that average before prices start recovering.

I will buy you a pint of creme de menthe if it doesn't happen like this.

it's because all the w*nkers are driving audis these days

i'm sure you're right wm.

the only problem is that even if prices fall by 30% the banks may still be unwilling to lend to anyone that doesn't have a £50k deposit

That's funny - I had a 125cc GT from 2003 to 2005 following two ET4s, and found it a big improvement. Now I'm on an ET4 again I really miss the bigger wheels and better handling of the GT.

I hope to trade up again at some point, or even get the 200cc GT (had one as a loan bike once - WHEEE!).

I'm back doing the law (boo hiss boo hiss boo boo) for this deposit thing you mention. Cartoons nice but law will pay lump sums much more quickly than flogging something non essential in a recession.

Mortgages are just mortgages of yourself - you are mortgaging your ability to pay something for 25 years. I like that cost to be as low as possible, not seven times income or any of that financial nuttiness encouraged in "LOCATION, RECESSION, REPOSESSION".

by the time i manage to scrape together a downpayment that the banks won't laugh at, i'm going to be too damn old for anyone to consider me a good risk for a mortgage if i stay in this country it's a lifetime of renting for me, i'm afraid.

maybe renting's not such a bad thing. it's only in britain we're obsessed with property ownership. the rest of europe are happy to rent.

i can't see my children ever owning until i die and they have what's mine .

I'd be happy to rent too, except British landlords are the pits and not one of them will sign for a five year tenancy, permit you to paint the walls and make the place yours. They tolerate you on sufferance. The legal protection you have a tenant here is appalling. This explains some of the mania for owning property.

Much of the rest of Europe has great tenant protection and landlords are professionals.

If anyone knows a decent landlord with a two bedroom flat within zone 3 which tolerates people living in it with their own furniture, then please, pm details.

Sore point but I suspect that many my age in London have the same problem. I am just thinking that I have to leave town because even the rent that I have is extortionate and the quality of the flat is poor. You just get fed up putting up with the crap, frankly.

(Sorry bad day at work as lawyer (hate hate) and conscious only doing this so I can have my own place without hassle).

i must have the best landlord in london, then .... he gave me a handful of cash to furnish the place to my own taste, he doesn't care what colour i paint the walls as long as it's not black, he updates, upgrades, and maintains the flat regularly .... and he hasn't raised the rent since i moved in in 2000, which means that i'm now paying about 40% below market rent for zone 2. in exchange for this, i'm responsible for keeping the grounds (front and back garden) in good nick so the place doesn't look like a dump, but i love gardening and would probably do this regardless.

kate, if another flat comes up in the building, you'll be the first to know

Oh, you rent from a human being. I like those types.

At the end of my tether with my landlord and considering playing hardball in changing locks, not paying rent and selling carpets to improve matters.[/b]

glad to hear your landlord is decent, genie.

i'm a landlord too and pride myself on being socially responsible.

i'm currently updating the boiler, even though it's just been safety checked and is working fine, and putting in a new kitchen to smarten the place up. I always decorate between tenants and am happy for tenants to repaint or customise.

we're not all bad.

on the downside, my flat's too small for you wm (1 bed) and a bit expensive.

I am very lucky. The house in which I live is bought and paid for and I don't owe a penny to anyone. Nice feeling that.
Mind you I do live in a portacabin next to a scrap pile.
Billy-no-scoot

Hang on cam, I drive alot of Audis for a living so what does that say about me?
Billy-no-scoot

I can't believe I spelt you name wrong. Sorry Kam XXX

No, you're not. I'd love it you were my landlord, Kam.

Oh I am just mad because of this particular one and my judgment is off - some have been great in the past. But the difficulty of finding a basic non furnished flat with a tolerant landlord has increased over the years.

I would love to paint my own place, I may just do it anyway because I cannot bear cream any longer.

Those of you who rent from bad landlords should pool your funds and try to scrape up the downpayment on something that could be divided into the appropriate number of units to owners. You could then be your own landlords and be building equity at the same time. North Americans are also obsessed with ownership. Most of the experts will tell you that if you rent and put the difference that you would have spent on ownership towards a retirement fund you will come out ahead of those who own!

Sorry- couldn't resist hijacking your UK thread. I read it with great pleasure- love the wonky sense of humour shown.

Although I must say the thought of a pint of creme de menthe makes me visibly queasy.

im buying my house and feel for people in the rent trap .. in inner london .. i used to rent most of my life .. and then had enough of being told what i can do and how i could .. and then buying someones else is house for them ...

i can sense a ukmv commune coming on!

lots of scooter out front, spare parts under the stairs. sounds lovely...

sorry bill. no offense meant.

in fact, my wife wants an audi next, but i'm not keen to play the 'i'm considerably richer than you' game (especially because i'm not!)

I only rented for a very short time, then got on the ownership ladder - the cost of a mortgage was less than rental would have been. Now all paid off, my biggest expense is the Council Tax.

Property ownership has to be seen as a long-term thing, with the prospect of not having to pay anything, mortgage or rent, when you retire. This allows one to live on a pension considerably smaller than previous salary with no forced change in lifestyle. Well worth it IMHO.

The big obstacle before idiots lent money willy-nilly was always collecting the deposit. In these days of instant gratification with new toys ( ) single-minded saving seems to have vanished. Also people seem to want as their first house that which would have been considered second or third house in days gone by. Even back when I first bought, about the only property a new owner could afford would be a run-down Victorian two-up two-down terraced house with no mod cons.

I think I'm rambling...

I may have stumbled on why I don't trust the GT's handling. Having read alot of negative feedback on the Sava tyres that come with the GT's maybe it's those that are making it feel vague?
If it's so I'm just going to have to wear them out.
Maybe I'm trying to look too much into this but the feel of it is very important and if you don't trust your tyres....
I should just get to grips with the differences and shut my gob but the first time I rode it the bars were so badly pissed it unnerved me and on the way back from the Donkie Skok 12 the front wheel slipped on something wet while on the apex under some trees.It probably slipped only an inch but it felt like a lifetime until the front wheel gripped again.
But the 3rd time I ride it it will be a positive experience of that I'm hopeful.
Like most men I like to fix things or at least find the reason something is the way it is. When I find it I'll button it.
Billy-no-scoot

Bill, I can't make Friday I am affraid as I am going to the National Scooter Rally at Warmwell near Weymouth for the weekend. Me and the Nexus are going to clock up another couple of Hundred miles. The Nexus had it's first service today so now i can get on with some "progressive " riding.

I think you are right about the Sava's my GTS was much better when I switched to the continental twists.Still had the 25mph front end wobble tho , even with wheels and tryes balanced.

As for the housing front, I always wanted to own my own place and I bought my first house when i was nineteen, two up two down terrace for £18,600.... ;I've bought and sold over the years , i'll be mortgage free in 10yrs , got a real nice bungalow and feel pretty lucky that I did it when I did, I moved house twice last year and ended up in rented as the place I was buying wasn't ready....first time in my life I rented and bloody hated it.As Jim said it then allows me sooo much freedom on a greater reduced income. following my plans to retire at 55. Can't bloody wait.

and a big garage!! i insist on a garage it would be so much nicer working on the scooter if i knew i didn't have to finish everything up before it got dark and/or started pissing with rain.

you're talking my language, genie.

and at least one member of the commune has got to be a mechanic, don't you agree?

If you guys can work out how I can kick out younger 'orrible you'd be welcome here! Cheap...

Tempted by the commune, but really I want to live BY MYSELF. My flatmate is lovely an'all, but I'm not good at sharing my space.

If prices carry on falling like this then we will be able to afford a castle!

I had a mate who had a remortgage valuation done recently and the surveyor came back with a 40 per cent drop in the value from last year.

So hang on, ftbs. There is going to be a big drop.

Today I will mostly riding in the freezing cold to Canterbury and back.
Can't bloody wait.
Regards Billy-no-scoot

Good luck Bill...!!! I'm heading off to Warmwell nr weymouth......... it's freezin here. !! .

I'm going to be mainly riding a desk all day, and discussing the correlation of zero-coupon Government gilts with the iBoxx index of corporate bonds with our actuaries, so I'd happily swap that for a day out on my scooter, even if it is cold.

But tomorrow I'm going to the city farm to see some sheep, so it's not all doom and gloom

Have a nice day, all you Skokers out there

um... have a great day

Thought for a minute we were going to disappear off page one then..

Warmwell is a couple of miles up the road from my boyfriend's place - I'll tell him to keep an eye out for scooters!

Well I finally connected with Wang Chung today. I had a lovely ride from Maidstone down the old A20 to Charing where I picked up the A28 to Canterbury and eventhough it was windy and cold it was a lovely (although speedy) ride. Alright I still think the tyres are still suspect and the steering is still ever-so-slightly out but it didn't really matter because I had a great time pushing it up to 70mph and clipping as many apexes as possible. I've got alot more faith in it now and I'm alot happier now as it's pilot.
Border enjoy your ride. I hope it's as good as mine was.
I think the only thing I'm going to change is going to the addition of a fly screen but mine will be clear and not smoked because I think smoked would look wrong with vintage green.
Off to Royal Tunbridge Wells tomorrow.
Billy-no-scoot

I've been riding a dirty dirty Honda today, but it is a nice day to be out. Crispy.

Glad you're feeling the love, Bill.

Well it makes a change from feeling myself. Oh God I've just done a Brand and Ross.
Forgive me or banish me from the under priced Castle.
Billy-no-scoot

Hurrah, glad you and Wang Chung have clicked! Bit of a windy ride, was it? My ride in certainly was.