Euro currency purchase - now or....

[Stig]

Well, the exchange rate is on a bit of a freefall as you know which is rather irksome as we've just purchased a house in France (fortunately we bought the euro's for it back in November!).

Thing is, I've probably got a year of renovation work to do on it. I was going to just buy Euros as I needed them, but with such a bleak outlook, I'm tempted to buy a load upfront - even at this poor exchange rate - as I believe it's got a fair bit further to fall.

What d'you reckon?

[Marki]

Wait i think

[WWESTY]

yhm!

[matsmith]

I have property in the south of france stig, so i share your currency concerns

My view on it is that there is a very good chance of an interest rate drop in the eurozone which (theoretically) will drop the value of the euro to the pound, as long as we dont have any cuts over here

if you can hang on then it might be worth a little wait, all in my opinion ofcourse

[digger_R]

Slightly off topic - who do you folks use to transfer your money? Mine usually moves in the opposite direction but would be good to get an idea

[g4ry13]

matsmith said:

as long as we dont have any cuts over here

It's expected there will be though. Possibly as early as February.

Edited by g4ry13 on Monday 14th January 22:33

[Stig]

digger_R said:

Slightly off topic - who do you folks use to transfer your money? Mine usually moves in the opposite direction but would be good to get an idea

I use HiFx - very good service though WWESTY can probably help too?

Edited by Stig on Tuesday 15th January 11:00

[WWESTY]

Stig said:

digger_R said:

Slightly off topic - who do you folks use to transfer your money? Mine usually moves in the opposite direction but would be good to get an idea

I use HiFx - very good service though WWESTY can probably help too?

Edited by Stig on Tuesday 15th January 11:00

Cheers Stig! I can indeed assist!!

digger yhm!

On the general point its all a bit iffy at the moment - early in the year and everyone seems to be "wait and see" 'ing!!

[Timmy33]

Look on the brightside, the cost of your rennovations might be increasing in £/euro terms, but in euro/£ terms the value of your house is also increasing rapidly.

[WWESTY]

g4ry13 said:

matsmith said:

as long as we dont have any cuts over here

It's expected there will be though. Possibly as early as February.

Edited by g4ry13 on Monday 14th January 22:33

Be very surprised if it doesn't happen in Feb.....

[Stig]

Timmy33 said:

Look on the brightside, the cost of your rennovations might be increasing in £/euro terms, but in euro/£ terms the value of your house is also increasing rapidly.

lol - yes indeed! I calculated that (provided we could sell for what we paid) it's appreciated quite considerably in sterling terms in only a couple of months

Edited by Stig on Tuesday 15th January 13:19

[Timmy33]

Stig said:

Timmy33 said:

Look on the brightside, the cost of your rennovations might be increasing in £/euro terms, but in euro/£ terms the value of your house is also increasing rapidly.

lol - yes indeed! I calculated that (provided we could sell for what we paid) it's appreciated quite considerably in sterling terms in only a couple of months

Edited by Stig on Tuesday 15th January 13:19

There that cheered you up

[Welshbeef]

Ive got a fair payment to make in Q3/Q4 2008 as a final payment for an overseas property (Euro zone). I also have another overseas property which has been paid for in cash however this time round I cannot afford to pay it in cash so have the option of releasing equity from the UK property or raising a mortgage on the new property or raise a mortgage on the current overseas property and then pay the final stage payment with that?

Opinions.

[Kibosh]

Bit concerned about this meself. Bought in Italy in November last year. We banked the 1st years mortgage payments so it's not hurting too much however hope the rate gets a lot better before we need to start topping up later in the year.

[Welshbeef]

Kibosh said:

Bit concerned about this meself. Bought in Italy in November last year. We banked the 1st years mortgage payments so it's not hurting too much however hope the rate gets a lot better before we need to start topping up later in the year.

Thats the other thing If I take out a euro mortgage I will then have to frequenty tfr funds overseas (assuming zero rental worst case) paying the fee every time. Or if equity release form the UK then its just a one off charge its a crystal ball to know which would be the most beneficial financially wise. However If there is good rental then I wouldnt need to tfr frequently to pay the mortgage.

difficult decision i believe

[Timmy33]

Kibosh said:

Dunno meself. Just worked out that if we sold it on for the same money (euros) we bought it for in November, we'd be up £38K!!

Same as a £35 a point position on the £/euro fx rate. I don't think the run is over yet either.

[matsmith]

WWESTY said:

g4ry13 said:

matsmith said:

as long as we dont have any cuts over here

It's expected there will be though. Possibly as early as February.

Edited by g4ry13 on Monday 14th January 22:33

Be very surprised if it doesn't happen in Feb.....

Im not totally sure on my opinion on this at the moment- because while a cut would certainly give our housing market a boost, but a weak currency would push our cost of living up which would just put media attention back to being bearish on our housing market

the decisions for euro interest rates and uk interest rates will both be made on 7th Feb at 12:00 so it will be very interesting to see the outcome, but it will mean that there will be no chance to sneak in a currency transfer in between decisions whilst the rates are more favorable one way or the other


In answer to the question asking about who people use for transfers- I use Natwest at the moment

[WWESTY]

matsmith said:

In answer to the question asking about who people use for transfers- I use Natwest at the moment

.....

I would be very, very dissapointed if we couldnt offer you a better deal then.......

[Windsorphil]

These guys may be useful - I've not used them yet, but am looking into it...

http://www.seed-exchange.com/index.php

[matsmith]

Hi WWesty, iv just had a look at your profile so I take it you deal in currencies? im currently in the process of making a few banks work for my business, turns out a business with a positive balance is a loved customer these days so will try to negotiate better terms that those i am currently getting, however I will bear you in mind for the future if you give me your business info, does this site have a PM system?