From: John Laird 
Newsgroups: uk.politics.misc uk.finance
Subject: Re: House Price Crash___No Soft Landing
Date: Thu, 23 Jun 2005 10:46:57 +0100

On Thu, 23 Jun 2005 08:12:31 +0000 (UTC), "Tim"  wrote:

>"Richard Faulkner" wrote
>> Never really understood the fuss - MIRAS wasnt worth that much was it?
>
>Also, never really understood the fuss over stamp duty thresholds - the
>difference in cost (including stamp duty) of a house at 270K (103% = 278K)
>and one at 250K (101% = 253K) isn't really that much more than the
>difference in the asking prices (just 5K more).
>
>So why do people say "I wouldn't pay 270K because of stamp duty - knock 20K
>off the price" when the price only has to come down **5K** to pay for the
>extra SD??
>[101% of 270K = 273K (not possible, but presumably acceptable to the buyer);
>103% of 265K = 273K, the same.]

Never underestimate people's stupidity !  I think this may be the reason why
I fairly frequently see that the vendor is offering to pay the duty (when
the property is around the 260-280K mark) - no doubt to avoid being beaten
down below 250K.

-- 
Those who can't write, write manuals.