Another bike shop closes

Dunno what he rides, I've only seen him in the shop. Shortish, plumpish,
facial hair, bit Graham Norton but a nice guy. Doesn't have a lot of time
for Priddle.

 

Call that a bite?

 

Ho. Ho. ho.

--
| ___ Salad Dodger
|/ \
_/_____\_ GL1500SEV/CBR1100XXX/KH500A8/TS250C
|_\_____/_| ..73063../..16589.../..3180./.19406
(>|_|_|<) TPPFATUICG#7 DIAABTCOD#9 YTC#4 PM#5
|__|_|__| BOTAFOT #70 BOTAFOF #09 two#11 WG*
\ |^| / IbW#0 & KotIbW# BotTOS#6 GP#4
\|^|/ ANORAK#17 IbB#4
'^'

 

Oh how we giggled about that one!

 

antonye says...

Why?

 

Some Ducati Club clique sniggering, it sounds like. I knew one of the
co-owners of Ron Parkinson/Redline Honda: Kevin. He is a fine man,
and I for one am very sad that he's just lost his business.

 

We're moving/selling/buying house too; it's a bit complicated though.

 

dwb was seen penning the following ode to ... whatever:

Presumably of supercharged V-twin Hondas.

 

You're going to do an Auvache and live in the van?

 

The rumour I've heard is one of the co-owners just got divorced and
his wife wants half his cash.

John

 

Good time to be in the market for a new(er) bike then? Cool!

Serious question! Is it worth worrying about what I might get private
for the Gixer as opposed to any "discount" I might get for a new bike if
the dealer is desparate to flog something newer?

Scouting MCN ads last week I reckon I could get £2500ish private for it,
what's the likelihood of a dealer giving me close to that?

Probably should ask the dealers really

 

Us too. Mind you we're looking to move to a bigger house for less ot
about the same money and hoping to save £400 a month into the bargain.
An extra 20 miles a day for me seems a small price to pay to be honest,
especially if I get a new bike into the bargain.

 

Because the blokes that ran the place were a bunch
of muppets from all the experience I had with them.

 

THat's not necessarily a "bubble" though...

 

There's an alternative perspective: that there's never a bad time to
buy a house - a first house, specifically. Because every day you
don't buy a house is every day you're *not* closer to the end of your
mortgage.

Also, house-buying is a long-term matter. Short term changes in house
prices should be ignored. Personally, I couldn't give a **** if my
house lost 50% of its value. What matters is whether one can afford
the mortgage payments.

 

I would care. Not because of the negative equity, but because for the
next 25 years I'm would be paying out a lot more money on my mortgage
than had I assessed the market better and held off for a short while
before buying. With low inflation, low wage increases and a possible
danger of deflation, you are no longer in a situation whereby in a few
years time the difference becomes negligible.

Spending the next 25 years paying for a mistake is a harsh lesson, and
could amount to a life changing sum of money.

Those that simply care whether they can afford the repayments or not
are clearly blinded by the mantra of 'you cant go wrong with
property'. The purchase price of *anything* is important, just because
you can afford it doesn't mean it's a sound decision.


Phil.

 

Quite so. What people don't realise is that long term house price
inflation is pretty steady at around 2~3% - it's just that it has
large peaks and troughs either side of the trend.

 

Salad Dodger wrote

Well, the first christmas ads have been on telly

P.

 

That only applies if you're at the very earliest stages of a mortgage,
with the assumption that you could have held off for a few more months
to get the price down.

If you're ten years in to a mortgage (five, even) that wishful
thinking is pointless.

And, let's remember how these house prices are going to crash, right:
as a result of the interest rate rises thrown at the economy to cool
house price inflation. So if you bought earlier - even at a high-ish
price, the interest payments are less severe *and* you've made
progress through the 25 year term.

You can't *if* you think in the long term. Short-term-ism is a boil
on the arse of our "modern" society and economy.

This is true, kind of. Let's remember that market forces are at work
on the property market. Those predicting a crash are using the idea
that because first-time buyers can't afford to get on the ladder that
there must be a crash. Not so. In the UK, there's a terrific
imbalance between demand and supply. Largely this is because more
people live alone than ever before (divorce rate, people marrying
later, onion shape of age demographic, etc). While this is still
there, I don't see a significant correction. Caviar is expensive, but
people still buy it, and price won't change because some can't afford
it.