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My hopes for 2011!

That I manage to finally sort out the mortgage on my house once and for all! (complicated, ex name still on it and want him off once and for all!)

That my other half gets the new job he's applied for, which mean he can move in

and.... I get better at sight reading and pass my next piano exam!!

When you say 'Count The Rings Of Gill The Piano' I feel I should clarify something; if you want to know how old I am, I'm 49 - there's no need to cut me in half and count my rings...

When it comes to rings, Liberace was a mere amateur...

I'm hoping for...

1. Less addiction to Facebook so I can get more work done
2. Safe delivery of our first child. Due in August
3. A smooth house move to make room for said baby!

I've just spent an hour reading an article which says that houses prices are not yet at rock bottom so it makes no sense to buy. The reason why prices haven't dropped further YET is because they are being propped up by artificial and temporary market forces, such as the very very VERY VERY low interest rates.

As soon as those go up, many people will see their mortgage payments increase by several hundred quid per month. That means people won't be able to afford to buy a house, and that will drag prices down. Combine that with higher VAT, job cuts, bonus cuts and whatever else, suddenly nobody wants to a mortgage. Oh and don't forget the 10-20% deposit (darling do we have a spare £20k lying around somewhere?)

Should be a fun year though.
I hope everyone has an enjoyable 2011

Oh and....

4. I've just taken on sole responsibility for running a school in India. It's early days yet, I've only just done the "deal" but it should see some very interesting developments and something very worthwhile.

My three wishes:

1. I want sell my Las Vegas timeshare this year;
2. I would like to buy my first home;
3. I want to progress and grow in my God-given talents.

Interesting post about mortgages, Mark!

We were rushing towards buying a house ASAP until I read this today. We are now in the discussion of "buy or rent". We can rent a house for about half the price that the mortgage payments would cost for the same size and location of house. AND we wouldn't have to put 10-20% deposit down if we rent AND we won't lose 10-20% of the house value over the next 2 or 3 years if we rent.

So in my mind, it looks like we should really rent. HOWEVER, we have a dog and that goes against most landlord policies and we don't like the idea of 6-monthly inspections and having to ask permission to decorate etc etc and we didn't really want to move house again for at least another 10-15 years. If we rent, it will only be until property prices hit rock bottom and then start climbing again

Hi Dave
I've taken the brave step of deleting my account AND deleting the Facebook app from my phone. So far I'm enjoying it but I do occasionally get the feeling of "ooh, that was interesting, who can I tell? Where I can broadcast this?" Facebook is good for that but in the end, WHO CARES WHAT JUST HAPPENED!! Just get on with living life and enjoying the company of loved ones.

I was just saying the other day that Birmingham is like a big black hole in terms of piano sales. In the 8 years I've been selling pianos nationwide I can't remember more than 1 or 2 going to Birmingham. Derby yes, Bristol yes, Glasgow yes, Ipswich yes, Norwich yes, Newcastle yes, Liverpool yes, Cardiff, yes, Brighton yes... but I almost never get any enquiries from Birmingham.

It's very strange!!

Gap in the market then?

...but then it's all the more confusing that I get so few enquiries from that region. I've never been able to figure it out.

What a strange coincidence.
I've just an enquiry from Stourbridge.
That's somewhere near Birmingham isn't it?