After countless requests from our lovely readers, we’ve launched a Moneywise-powered mortgage calculator which compares rates from real life lenders, updated by the Moneywise team on a daily basis.

On the same page you can also compare rates on savings, personal loans and credit cards. In short, there’s no excuse for not shopping around to find the most suitable deals for your personal circumstances, hopefully saving you a stack of cash in the process.

Check out the mortgage calculator now, and compare rates on savings, loans and credit cards…

Permalink||(0) Comments

As tributes flood in following the recent and sad death of pop legend Michael Jackson, questions are beginning to emerge about how to make sense of his complex estate.

It’s no secret that in recent years Jackson was plagued by rumours surrounding his money problems – a remarkable feat for a man who sold over a quarter of a billion albums.  Asset-rich thanks to acquiring a diverse portfolio of land, art, historical artefacts and musical rights, it has nevertheless been reported that at the time of his death Jackson owed anything up to several hundred million dollars in debt. read more

Permalink||(2) Comments

This week, elderly couple Brian and Joan Caswell hit the headlines after they scooped around £25million on the Euromillions prize draw. Brian, a keen gardener, pledged to pay someone to teach him how to grow carrots, having tried and failed himself for years. read more

Permalink||(0) Comments

For those with even a passing interest in the housing market, the 4Homes Property Search is a worryingly addictive way of wiling away the hours. For 4Homes employees, it’s a great way to have fun while giving the impression that you’re working. read more

Permalink||(0) Comments

Nobody’s calling the bottom of the market just yet, but today the Nationwide Building Society said that UK house prices rose 1.2% in May – the biggest rise in over a year and a half.

Is this the start of the great house price recovery? Probably not. With the economy predicted to contract by 3.5% this year, unemployment set to rise, and the general scarcity of lending capital showing few signs of abating, May 2009 could well be a blip on the graph.

According to the Nationwide House Price Index, April saw a 0.3% fall (-15% year-on-year), while May’s 1.2% rise puts average house prices 11.3% down on 2008 prices.

Whether the recovery’s started or not, it does at least look as though the rate at which prices fall should be wholly more manageable than in 2008.

Learn more about how house prices are calculated, or read the full May 2009 Nationwide House Prices Report.

Which way do you think house prices will go? Has the market bottomed out? Let us know your thoughts by leaving comments below…

Permalink||(0) Comments

Surprisingly, it’s not all doom and gloom, despite this year’s budget being the most contraversial and gloom ridden in living memory. To find out what it will all mean to you – whether you’re a homeowner, own a second home, are a first-time buyer or rent, go to How Will The Budget Affect You? now…

Permalink||(1) Comment

Last night saw the first episode of Kirstie’s Homemade Home, in which Kirstie Allsopp does up a house in deepest Devon, using, where possible, local materials and craftspeople, and her own enthusiastic but untested craft skills.

So what did you think? For what it’s worth, I think it’s refreshing to have anything on tv that isn’t about making money from your home. I’m not nearly fresh-faced enough to believe that the programme will do anything to change the way we think about our homes – we’ve all invested too much (financially and emotionally) in the whole housing process for us not to look at a house as an investment, even if it’s a long-term one. And with savings rates being as low as they are, many of us still think it’s best to sink hard-earned cash into property rather than put it in a bank.

That said, having done up six houses myself, it’s great to see someone approaching a renovation in a way that doesn’t involve a) trip to DIY store, b) trip to giant furniture store to buy roomset and c) trip to supermarket to buy ubiquitous products to accessorise with. I’m not knocking any of these approaches – we all go to Ikea, for example, because their furniture is cheap, just about stays together AND you can buy a whole room’s worth of furniture that looks really quite good together. The only hassle is getting it through the check out.

However, that kind of room, while stylish, swish, modern and, importantly, affordable, is never going to be unique, individual and one-off – and that’s what really makes a home interesting. And while I don’t want to put anyone out of a job at these bigger high street or retail park stores, I do think it’s high time we all supported local British craftspeople who work really hard, for little profit and almost no national recognition. And if the show does nothing else but to inspire us to think a little bit more imaginatively about how we design and decorate our homes, it will have done a good job.

What do you think?

Permalink||(25) Comments

This morning as I was sifting through emails I noticed that the USA’s most expensive house is up for sale. The late wife of TV producer Aaron Spelling, a man who brought us such programmes as Beverly Hills 90210, Dynasty and Charlie’s Angels, has put the family’s LA home on the market for a reported $105million. read more

Permalink||(0) Comments

The Nationwide’s March house price report suggests that prices rose by 0.9 per cent in last month. This is against falls of 1.9 per cent in February. Overall, prices are down 15.1 per cent on March 2008. The recent, modest rise pushed the average price back over the £150,000 mark.

Nationwide are warning us about getting carried away, though. It’s far to early to talk about a market recovery, although right now I think we’re all just content with a bit of market stabilisation.

You can read the full Nationwide March House Price Report here, and find out how Nationwide calculate their house price statistics here.

How will a rise in prices affect you? Can you see light at the end of the tunnel, or will the market start falling again? Please leave your comments below…

Permalink||(9) Comments