Bradford and Bingley ?

[tigerfeet]

Is it time to move my money ? Is anywhere safe ?

[Clair]

There's some room under my mattress... [:)]

[woolybananasbrother]

Northern Rock is backed by the UK government and taxpayer.

[dragonrouge]

These guys are in the buy to let market and are now suffering from increased funding costs and the fact that arrears are hitting them hard.  Thus buy to let landlords who borrowed on the basis that this 'is an easy way to make money' now find they cannot rent their houses and you cannot rob Peter to pay Paul the money must come from somewhere.  Lots of landlords be it houses or shops or whatever are now facing a very hard time.

If you looked at the piece on the tv this morning B and B are offering plus 6% for savings.  Therefore to make a margin what is the price for lending?

Albeit and on a very small scale I am in the buy to let market on the basis that they are my bolt holes when I come back to the UK but no lender has more than 10% invested in my or their properties. I can live with that.

However there are stories of investors who joined clubs never saw properties say in Manchester then remortgaged both family homes and investment properties and then bought unseen!

There is a lack of logic here but equally we now see the old Building Societies who are owned by shareholders and shareholder value is all important.  Nationwide and Coventry amongst some others are owned by members.

This is the capital market that we all now live in.

Fuel in previous times was a necessity for getting around and will continue to be so.  However investors see it as a commodity and buy and sell without fear or favour.  Again shareholder values.

Keynes and his view on economics and supply and demand still hold good today.  And I am sorry to say I well remember it from my Grammar School Days!

[pachapapa]

From Stock Options previously acquired in energy that seems the way to go;

obviously something with a good asset base and mature market.

Today MEE Massey Energy Company was in the top 10 today,

putting on a cool 10% in intra day trading at one stage and topping $ 70.

Not bad when compared with it's 52 week low of  $ 17.36.

So it is not all doom and gloom.

[Logan]

See the thread Eurozone Economics for some interesting prospectives.

[lmc]

I reckon that after all the complaining lots of us have done about how conservative French banks are and how they never want to invest in anything, we are now maybe seeing some of the wisdom of that conservatism.  (Admittedly, you can still carry a thing too far!!)

But if you're looking for a safe place to put your money then a French "mutuelle" type bank eg Credit Agricole or Credit Mutuel will have been the most careful with what they have lent money on because of their necessary concern for their stockholders' money.  They are therefore much less exposed to the subprime issue than the more "capitalist" lenders.

[mint]

[quote user="Clair"]There's some room under my mattress... [:)]
[/quote]

I like it!

[dr orloff]

The Chancellor has made a statement that depositors' savings with the B&B are safe.  So I would move my money.

[Russethouse]

These guys are in the buy to let market and are now suffering from increased funding costs and the fact that arrears are hitting them hard.  Thus buy to let landlords who borrowed on the basis that this 'is an easy way to make money' now find they cannot rent their houses and you cannot rob Peter to pay Paul the money must come from somewhere.  Lots of landlords be it houses or shops or whatever are now facing a very hard time.

Only last week I was listening to someone say that the rental market is buoyant - people who have had to sell their houses now rent, people who cannot afford to buy, now rent, etc - supply and demand keeps the price up.

In this area there probably is a glut of flats as opposed to houses in the rental market.......but I don't think it is quite the black picture you paint, across the board.

[Alan Zoff]

I was wondering same thing, RH -  i.e. how, in less than a week, the media can first be reporting that rents will rise due to high demand as everyone will be looking for rental property rather than buying, while now they are saying oversupply will depress rents as owners who can't sell are flooding the rental market with houses, desperate to get any return on their assets.

I wonder if financial journalists wake up each morning thinking, "Well which way shall we say it's going to be today?"  

 

[Jo]

The Telegraph this weekend, while not down playing B&B's problems has said due to recent investment by a U.S. company, 23%, they are nowhere near the same situation that N.R. found itself in.

[Nearly Retired (I am now)]

If you are a shareholder - my sympathies.

Otherwise up to £35,000 is safe.

In today's Daily Telegraph: "B&B is in a worse state than Northern rock" says Virgin Money's chief executive. Later she says....."Virgin would be insane to buy B&B".

My comment - they nearly took over Northern Rock though.

[lostinfrance]

[quote user="Jo"]The Telegraph this weekend, while not down playing B&B's problems has said due to recent investment by a U.S. company, 23%, they are nowhere near the same situation that N.R. found itself in.

[/quote]

If i had money in it,     

                            Now there is a U.S. company in it,

                                                                                   Out i would get, U.S. means that.

[Graham & Brenda]

A estate agent was interviewed on "Working Lunch" today. She said the rental side of the business was shoring up the (quieter) sales side. Makes sense - if mortgages are harder to come by renting seems to be the likely alternative.