Another bike shop closes

And what if it doesn't drop through the floor?

Paying a similar mistake in the other direction...

 

I hope so... <fx: strokes insurance payout cheque>

 

Sounds like the sort of argument I heard when share trading in the dot
com bubble.

Well given that rental yield is at an all time low and property prices
at an all time high. I can't see much of a problem in sitting on your
hands and continuing to rent. You will find generally speaking that at
the moment it is cheaper to rent than buy.

Don't give me the old 'rental money is dead money' argument either, as
it's no more 'dead money' than the interest payments on a mortgage,
and you'll find that even with the relatively low interest rates we
have at the moment, interest on your average mortgage on an average
property is higher than the equivalent rental.

We could argue about this forever. I'll be back in a year or two, when
evidence will show that one of us got it really wrong.


Phil.

 

You'll have to expand on this because I'm not sure what yor getting
at?

I agree there, makes little difference unless your looking to move.

Whilst true, there are many other reasons why a crash will happen.

As I've stated elsewhere in the thread, maybe we should revisit this
in a year or two, when one of us will be able to demonstrate just how
wrong the other person was.


Phil.

 

? - but surely the pressure on people's finances and the increase in the
cost of borrowing could be enough to tip the whole house price inflation
issue into reverse? That would burst the bubble of rising prices. We
obviously disagree on the meaning of the term bubble in this context.

 

Bubble implies it will burst - ie a dramatic drop.

Why should there be a dramatic drop, as opposed to a slow in the rise/no
rise for awhile?

 

Perhaps - the properties round here have gone up 12% in a year - we wouldn't
now be able to afford to buy if we'd waited.

Mortgage payment will go down.
Rent will go up.

Seems pretty logical to me.

 

Ben Blaney says...

My view entirely. To me a bike shop closing means people on the dole and
a miserable future for a fair few families. I didn't have any of our
stock in there anyway, so it's not a personal loss of income for me, but
I feel sorry for those who lost their businesses, houses and jobs.

 

Steve P says...

Zero chance. You wouldn't believe just how cheap good quality sports
bikes are at the moment.

 

Rope says...

Is that the place that was shut down for being a brothel, on the
northbound side?

 

Eh? I thought: (a) it was 'Gene'; and (b) when he was at Nottm(Beeston)
Powersports he was a thoroughly nice chap and very very helpful and the
total opposite of most bikeshop wallahs who just want the money and don't
give you the time of day. And when I met him again at Derby Pidcocks he
recognised me (after not seeing him for about 2 years) and immediately was
nice and pleasant and we had a long chat about very little in particular,
but it was one of those chats that makes you realise why you go to some
dealers and avoid others due to the quality of the service[0][1].

Maybe you just annoyed him by(in order) being (a) a Ginge and (b) a Spic (or
maybe he was nice to me 'cos he wanted to shag Kate or summat.. I dunno....
Takes all sorts I suppose)

Dave

[0[ Or lack, thereof
[1] This was in the period immediately prior to his departure from
Pidcock's, admittedly....

 

WavyDavy says...

I think Ginge and I are way too heterosexual to be his friends.

 

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

<points at cheapish Husky>

I think a lot of bikes are at the moment.

 

Not at all, they were just a bunch of fucking idiots
who wouldn't have known the meaning of customer service
if they had it tattooed on their rather neanderthal
foreheads.

I really, really did want them to be better at running
the Essex dealership because of all the bad stories
that I both experienced first hand and had related to
me from others in my cliquey Ducati club.

In the dozen or so times I dealt with them, not once
did they get it right. Sure, first time I'd have
chalked it up to experience. Second time maybe it's
me. Third time is taking the piss, but the rest is
just bad business.

For example- I'm a ride-in, ride-out kind of person
when it comes to tyres as I have no front paddock stand
to take the front wheel off. So I phoned Parkies to
see if they could fit me in for a tyre change, only
to be informed that they fit tyres on a friday morning
only and they're fully booked for the next 3 weeks.
Fridays? That means taking a morning off work just to
have new tyres fitted, which just isn't possible.

Second example- I wanted to have the bike serviced by
an official dealer to keep the book stamped. So I phone
up and finally get through to some lady receptionist
who takes my details and will get someone to call me
back. Two days later I call them back having not heard
anything and no answer-machine messages, only to get
the same lady and same problem. So I call back the
next day and finally get through to some guy who laughs
when I said "Can you fit me in for a service?" and
replies "We're booked for months! Not a chance!".

Third example- I'm thinking of buying a new bike so
I take mine up there and ask about part-ex, test rides
and the like. No, they won't take mine in as part
exchange. "But you don't know what bike I've got nor
how much I want for it yet!" was my reply. As for a
test ride "No more than 50 miles and fill it up with
petrol." Thanks.

Those are just some random examples. To their credit
I'd never had any problem with the parts guys (except
on the odd occasion that they never phoned to say
that parts ordered had arrived) but I always made sure
I took the part numbers with me anyway.

I know people who had no problems with them and thought
they were great, but I know more people who had experiences
the same and worse than I did.

As Lozzo said up there ^^ somewhere: "people buy from people"
and I'm afraid that the people running that place were
a bunch of fucktards and so I did smile to myself when they
closed their doors as it couldn't have happened to a nicer
bunch of fucktards.

But you're right - it must be some cliquey Ducati club
thing because that's always the answer.

PS- Did you order your Sport 1000 from them? I presume
that "your mate Kev" will see you alright with the deposit
if you did?

 

The effect of interest rate rises can end up being disproportionate -
especially when starting from the very low rates we have had in the last
few years. Far too many people have overstretched themselves concerning
multiples of salaries borrowed or through remortaging. Interest rates
will also impact on other debt and employment levels as demand falls.
The Bank of England have been lucky so far but maybe only another 0.5%
on rates could tip a lot of people into serious money problems whereby
they may end up out of work and unable to pay their mortgages or simply
overstretched thus leading them to default. You then end up with houses
being repossessed that will push down prices - more properties available
for sale but without buyers.

Increased borrowing costs will further deter first time buyers who you
must have in order for the housing market to function correctly.
Therefore demand falls which then reduces the turnover of properties.
For those people who have to move they are forced to accept lower prices
because there are fewer buyers outbidding each other. Again the supply /
demand mechanism will tend to push prices down.

Finally, as mentioned elsewhere, you need to factor in the effect on
rents. If interest rates are high then typically people will not buy
property and will turn to the rented sector. There is a bit of a paradox
here in that increased demand will keep rents buoyant relative to
mortgage payments (that are relatively more expensive due to higher
interest rates). However some many people have bought properties for
rent or as investments that they will need to keep rents realistic in
order to ensure they have tenants in order to meet their mortgage
payments on said properties. Too much greed on the part of landlords
could mean empty properties, no income and no ability to meet the
mortgage costs - apart from reducing their own expenditure in order to
cover these costs. You then end with a reduction in demand in the
economy which just worsens the cycle all over again.

Isn't economics fun?

 

you could always have a sudden and terrifyingly bad cash flow problem
and plead poverty. Oh look - you're doing the krc next year )

 

My thinking is similar.

From what I've read (though limited), the overall circumstances are very
different to the last time round - ie unemployment, inflation etc are all
'better'.

Obviously lots can affect this, but I shall remain optimistic, though as per
Blaney, TBH I don't really GAF for at least another 5-10 years.

 

Well, I must be doing something wrong then as I couldn't rent this place
(or anything even remotely near) for £450 a month.

 

MCN gets it wrong. Badly. MCN was the publication that, a year or two
ago, advised its readers to extend their mortgages in order to fund new
bikes.

 

Champ wrote

I am old enough to remember when they felt low.