We All Want Our Own Homes!

Nenen wrote: »

In the meantime it belongs to the Building Society and you're paying more in mortgage than it would cost you to rent



Until the neighbours from hell move in next door making your life an utter misery but effectively stopping you from selling... oh and the local planning department might 'dictate' what you're allowed to do or not do to your house too!



Except where your taste in tacky laminate flooring, slippery decking, garish colours, flocked wallpaper and a bedroom decorated to look like a tart's boudoir is not to the taste of potential buyers who immediately offer less. Alternatively you could spend several thousand pounds adding double glazing, kitchen etc only to find it only adds half as much value to the house as it cost you to do.



Or you can lose your job, not be able to pay your mortgage, not be able to claim any help for said mortgage for several months and lose everything. The BS reposesses your house, sells it for less than you paid for it and leaves you still owing then money.



...and your ex-husband/wife who takes you to the cleaners in the divorce hearing, ensuring you have to sell up and lose most (if not all) of your equity. Alternatively, the local council want to build a new motorway/runway and make a compulsory purchase order and 'your' piece of the planet is not quite as secure as you thought!



... and spend all their free time painting and decorating then become house price bores at local dinner parties for other suburban misfits discussing the value of their properties at instead of living life and enjoying everything it has to offer.



...and will be sold to pay for your care in an old people's home whilst others, who have not made all the 'sacrifices' necessary to own their own homes, have their care paid entirely by the state.



...unless you are unfortunate enough to get divorced, become ill or be made redundant during a downturn and then you're stuffed!



...but the banks and building societies did use very clever sales techniques to 'encourage' people with less education and information than they needed to take on ridiculously high loans. It is all very well for the more educated, well-informed and sensible among us to be so condescending towards those less able than ourselves but we are part of the society who patronizes the less fortunate with 'carrots' and untenable promises dangled in front of them and then derides them for 'biting'.



Yep... you do that because, as we all know, you want to spend your whole life trying to 'climb that ladder' as it is the only measure of success and happiness known to mankind! Having said all that.... I would like to own my own home but I'm not prepared to make it the most important thing in my life... my family and friends will always be far more important along with my enjoyment of all that life has to offer, of which owning a house is a small part!

I'll watch but I won't hold my breath!

GracieP wrote: »

I've rented and I've owned and now I'm renting again and I'm a hell of a lot happier in this rented home than I was in the house I bought. I'm happy because I live in a much nicer area for less rent than my increased mortgage repayment would have been. I'm happier because I have lots of money in the bank, earning lots of interest and allowing me stop working and start a family. And I was bloody happy the day my oven packed in and my landlord had to pay to replace it and not me.

Where I live is my home, I'm proud of it. I keep it looking nice and well maintained. But whenever there are major jobs that need doing my hand stays in my pocket.