On 19th May Funds centre published another article by Alice Lilley. The article can act as a quick guide for home sellers. She said that Most of the sellers go way beyond what they can afford in redecorating and renovating there houses when they plan to sell it off. Most o them think that doing so can help them in getting a higher price for there house. However this may happen in some cases but its not always the case. According to recent research from Direct Line Home Insurance, we have spent more than ?154 billion on DIY jobs that have actually lowered the value of our homes.
When planning to sell the house the owner should make sensible pound-to-pound basis redecorating. For example the right paint job - generally in neutral colors that will appeal to everyone - can add up to 10% to the final value of your home, Small touches such as window boxes and hanging baskets can make a home look cared for, covering worn sofas and chairs with large throws in a neutral colors Also don’t forget to clearing out clutter to make your home seem more spacious, stay on top of general household maintenance such as replacing broken light bulbs and showing the full value of your storage space by keeping cupboards, the basement and attic tidy too. Finally, make sure the house number or name can be seen from the road, and that your doorbell works.
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On Tuesday 29th May Funds Centre published an article by Sarah Modlock under the title “Sell in May and Go away?” but what does this statement really mean? It is an old adage ‘Sell in May and go away; don’t come back ’till St Leger’s Day’ which prompts investors to sell their stock in spring when the market is expected (by some) to dip for the summer. Saint Leger lived about 1400 years ago and lots of incredibly nasty things happened to him as part of his martyrdom.
His feast day is 2 October and it is from this point in the year that the custom says you should begin to invest again. In the US, it is called the ‘Halloween Indicator’ but adopts the same principle. For those that don’t believe in superstitions and look towards logic for explanation the reason for the dip of market may be that the investors loose all their ties in summer and go on a family vacation. (more…)
On June 20th an article on Financial News said “Most not saving for pension”. The article mentions that even less then half of the working age adults are saving money for their retirement.
A survey shows that less then 49% are saving for old age. Although this is better then the 46% of the last year but still almost a quarter have no savings at all according to Scottish Widows UK Pension Index.
According to the Scottish Widows many of the currently employed people will have to live on 70% to 80% less working age income after retirement. Ian Naismith, head of pension’s market development at Scottish Widows, said: “While confidence seems to be returning slowly to the pensions market, 51% of those who should be preparing for retirement are still not saving adequately.” (more…)
On Friday June 22 William MacNamara and Michael Hunter reported on Financial Times that by midday London equities were losing ground. This was for the reason of concerns of the investors over banks’ and managers’ exposure to sub-prime mortgage assets in the United States. By noon the FTSE 100 was trading 20 points lower at 6,576.0, a fall of 30%.
The financial sector was facing a worrisome situation when the Barclays share fell 0.9% to 722p. The Schroders was hardest hit losing 1.7% to £13.29 and RBS fell 1.25 per cent to 633p.
The retail sector after a week of selling following tepid trading updates from Tesco and J Sainsbury left the sector looking undervalued. This forced the investors back into the game. by midday Tesco was leading the blue-chips, recovering 2.9 per cent to 434¼p.while Wm Morrison rose 2.3 per cent to 293½p. Home Retail Group, the owner of Argos, rose 1.4 per cent to 445p and Kingfisher, the company behind the B&Q home improvement chain, was 1.2 per cent stronger at 232¼p. (more…)
John Stepek of MSN Money wrote on interesting article on June 20, 2007, that brought to light the fact that the government bond market is making big news. This is unusual for a section of news that hardly anyone ever sees.
The yield on a 10-year gilt (UK government bond) hit a seven-year-high of 5.5% last week while the yield on a 10-year Treasury (US government bond) was also on the rise.
This is important as the yield for government bonds is the foundation for all asset values. If you can receive because if you can get a 5.5% on a government bond which is virtually risk-free than you need to be able to get a better return on anything riskier.
This means that yields on everything have to rise. And for yields to rise, prices need to fall. (more…)
A story featured in the June 20, 2007 edition of Yahoo News indicated that fewer than half of all working-age adults are not saving enough for retirement. A survey of 5,000 people showed that only 49% were setting aside enough money for when they retire, a quarter of these people not having any savings at all. This figure is compared with last year’s findings, which showed 46% not having enough put away.
This also shows that the number of working-class adults headed for an easy retirement is 6% less than that of 2005. This means that many people who are currently employed could go into retirement living on less than 70% - 80% of working income.
Two-thirds of the people not saving are men, with 31% of woman making proper arrangements for retirement. The self-employed are also a high risk group with less than a third setting aside enough money to live off of when they retire. And a third of the people who did save a little bit said they did not know what their main income would be in retirement.
The June 24, 2007 edition of The Mail on Sunday featured on article on the presence of negative equity appearing more and more these days. Negative equity is a result of a homeowner’s mortgage being greater than the value of their property and is the result of borrower’s taking out new, bigger loans.
Lenders are also contributing to the trend by of (more…)
On the site of Yahoo Finance of UK ‘Alice Lilley’ highlighted Housing Market Crash. Its analyzed that the year 2006 saw a high rise of 9.9% in house prices until 1%downfall in December of the same year according to the most recent figures from mortgage lender Halifax
The latest Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors monthly survey reported a sharp drop in the pace of increase in new buyer enquiries in November, suggesting that the market upturn may be losing momentum. But according to most commentators these kind of surveys don’t prove anything in particular. For example, Estate agent Savills is forecasting 7% growth in 2007 on the other hand the mortgage lender Nationwide expects the prices to rise between 5% and 8%.
This will prove the predictions from the Council of Mortgage Lenders(CML) to be true. According to them the prices will rise about 7% in 2007 and 5% in 2008. On the other hand Howard Archer, a chief economist at Global Insight is also predicting a 6% increase in 2007. He said “Ongoing strong mortgage activity and a shortage of supply suggests that house prices could well see further buoyancy in the near term”. However, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors believes prices will climb by just 3% this year, while Halifax is forecasting a 4% rise.
Halifax concluded there results for the year 2006 from the strong growth in areas such as London, where the average price paid for a property hit £287,176 at the end of the year, and the South West, where the average home now costs £200,931 (more…)
Cash savers are being offered the highest returns in more than five years by the increase of savings accounts and bonds paying 6% or higher, says the June 15, 2007 edition of FT.com.
The returns on variable rate accounts have again just been increased after their last hike to 5.5%. This is the fourth rise in a year for these accounts. One year fixed rate bonds are now being increased to 6.5%.
Sainsbury raised it’s Internet Saver account up to 6% this week and Coventry Building Society also introduced it’s Sixty-Plus eSave account which offers a rate of 6.2%. This deal is only available to those over sixty and it will pay a fixed rate until April. Users have penalty-free access to their funds. (more…)
James Charles wrote in the June 22, 2007 edition of the Times Online that HSBC has just announced that they will be charging students high overdraft interest payments. They say they will be the first to do away with free borrowing from those leaving university.
Traditionally, banks have given graduates a three year interest free period after graduation to give the students time to pay back their loan. But students having an account at HSBC will need to pay 10% on their overdraft starting in August. HSBC claims that this will prepare students for life after university and give them a taste of what life will be like as a young working professional.
HSBC will not reveal how many graduates will be affected but the National Union of Students say that HSBC is a popular lender among students and there will be close to 280,000 students left to face this high interest rate. (more…)
