RTÉ News: New homeowners may face broker fee

New homeowners may face broker fee Thursday, 24 April 2008 08:00 People hoping to take out mortgages will now face another charge if buying through a broker. The Professional Mortgage Brokers Association has announced that it is strongly considering introducing the burden on prospective new homeowners. The announcement follows the decision by several banks and other lenders to cut back the commission they pay to brokers. Last year brokers were involved in 50% of mortgages taken out in Ireland. Jack Fitzpatrick, Professional Mortgage Brokers Association Chairman, says that his 900 members are suffering the knock-on effects of volatility in the global markets affecting banks. That volatility will have repercussions for customers using brokers to get mortgages. In the last two weeks, seven banks have retuned their mortgage offering by putting rates up, putting loan to value up, saying they are pulling out of the broker channel, or cutting broker commission. Yesterday AIB and EBS were the latest to make moves. AIB said it is cutting the commission it pays to brokers to 0.5% of the mortgage amount drawn, down from 1%. They blame the continuing high cost of funds in the financial markets and the effect it is having on margins in its mortgage business.

Boo Fucking Hoo.

Sympathy ? Is that what you want ?

These 'brokers' are part of the problem. They've been responsible for the dysfunctional arranged marriages between people who borrow more than they can afford and banks who make obscene profits on long term loans.

You can all sing for it as far as I am concerned.

BBC NEWS | Health | Asthma equipment 'of little use'

Lead author Dr Peter Gotzsche said: "We can conclude with confidence that there is no need to buy expensive vacuum cleaners or mattress covers or to use chemical methods against house dust mites because these treatments do not work.

"If you are wondering why it is that mattress covers and the other strategies are not effective, the likely answer is that all these treatments do not have a large enough effect on the occurrence of allergens from house dust mites.

"The level of allergens is so high in most homes that what remains after the treatment is still high enough to cause asthma attacks."

Make up your bloody mind people !  Between covers,sheets,vacuums etc I'm confused... but found my own solution that works for me.

I was diagnosed with asthma aged 39 (I wrote about it here). For about 2 years I had suffered from broken sleep every night... caused by me having asthma attacks in the middle of the night. Along with my existing allergic rhinitis I was in bad shape.  

For the past year I've been trying to use a simple saline spray morning and night. It's not cheap when you consider it's only water & salt. When I'm in the US on business I try to buy as many bottles as possible because it's a lot more affordable (2-3 dollars a bottle compared with the 8+ euro I pay on this side of the pond).

After managing to maintain a consistent regime of treatment I concluded a few weeks ago that the saline spray along with the Singulair tablet was having a major positive effect on my health. My sense of smell and taste is returning - it has good days and bad days - and the Seretide inhaler I'm using morning and night is really helping - I haven't had an asthma attack since the day I started using it 2 years ago. If I would stay away from the herbal jazz cigarettes I'd probably do even better...

Don't hang your head low,
it's going to be alright
Just let your heart know, tell your heart so
it's going to be alright

Everything goes back to where it came from
We all came from nothing
When you're ready to come back to the land of living
We'll be there

Don't hang your head low,
it's going to be alright
Just let your heart know, tell your heart so
it's going to be alright

Autumn leaves means springs around the corner
Winter snow means it's closer
Don't spend your days wishing for tomorrow
Live for today

Don't hang your head low,
it's going to be alright
Just let your heart know, tell your heart so
it's going to be alright

Oh my giddy aunt.

Yazoo have reformed for a tour.

Back in 1982 I was a huge fan of this duo. I had all the releases and wrote to the fan club ... all the things you're supposed to do as a teenager.
They were the first band I became a fan of apart from The Beatles. I still have an autographed photo from them both but now regret 'donating' my autographed sleeves and scrapbooks (I had the lot ) to a Vince Clarke 'archive'. Ah well.

So I'll be buying the box set in May but even better still I will be seeing them live here in Dublin on June 2nd. I fly back from Liverpool that afternoon (we're going over to see Macca play at Anfield). What a coincidence ?