Diary of a house sale disaster

cheap_charlie

dhassen wrote: »

sorry, but it's been 8 years since her husband died....... and only now she realises she can't afford to live in a 400K house and spend 20k a year on school fees whilst earning 25K a year?

My husband died 4 months ago and I know already I can no longer afford to live in a £650K home. :eek:

I understand her reasoning for not taking the children out of private school not long after her husband died but in the intervening 8 years she should have realised it wasn't something she could afford.

And as for spending £90K doing the house up? No wonder she is in debt.

I do wish her luck in selling the property...I will have to take that route myself soon and don't expect it to be easy - or to achieve what I would like to get for it.

fc123

cheap_charlie wrote: »

My husband died 4 months ago and I know already I can no longer afford to live in a £650K home. :eek:

I understand her reasoning for not taking the children out of private school not long after her husband died but in the intervening 8 years she should have realised it wasn't something she could afford.

And as for spending £90K doing the house up? No wonder she is in debt.

I do wish her luck in selling the property...I will have to take that route myself soon and don't expect it to be easy - or to achieve what I would like to get for it.

Hope it works out. I can moan with the best of them....but a post like yours bumps life back into perspective....there but for the grace of god and all that.
The woman in the article was probably in a strong case of denial which became her coping strategy....kept putting things off....as if things stayed the same (materially), it didn't feel so awful.
I feel it's harsh to judge peoples actions after a trauma like a husbands death.....how can anyone know how that feels unless experienced directly.

I can't.

vikingaero

I posted a reply on the Daily Mail site that this wasn't about the state of the housing market or the credit crunch. Strangely my comments haven't appeared! The lady has had her head in the sand and been grossly financially negligent. End of. Maybe she was hoping for a knight in shining armour to adopt her and her 3 kids?

morg_monster

neverdespairgirl wrote: »

Why assume all of that?

Financial decisions should be taken jointly. Women can't just opt out.

because if she had even taken the tiniest part in the joint finances, she would have the smallest idea about sensible financial planning, and wouldn't be quite so deep in this ridiculous mess.
I agree with you that in a partnership, finances SHOULD be joint, but in many cases they aren't, whether its the man or woman who holds the pursestrings.

slipthru

vikingaero wrote: »

I posted a reply on the Daily Mail site that this wasn't about the state of the housing market or the credit crunch. Strangely my comments haven't appeared! The lady has had her head in the sand and been grossly financially negligent. End of. Maybe she was hoping for a knight in shining armour to adopt her and her 3 kids?

Well to be fair she would have been able to sell her house with a tidy profit if it had not been for the credit crunch/downturn, thus enabling her to continue her inflated lifestyle further.

nightwatchman

morg_monster wrote: »

because if she had even taken the tiniest part in the joint finances, she would have the smallest idea about sensible financial planning, and wouldn't be quite so deep in this ridiculous mess.
I agree with you that in a partnership, finances SHOULD be joint, but in many cases they aren't, whether its the man or woman who holds the pursestrings.

Unfortunately some people are totally incapable to handle finance regardless joint planning or not.
Prime example is my brother. He is incompetent with finance. His OH is the main breadwinner and decision maker.
I asked her if she had any death & critical illness life insure, she replied that she does not need any as in case of her death there is no amount of money that could keep my brother out of trouble.
Only her constant vigilance keeps him afloat and assuming she dies then nothing will save him.
She however pays for his critical illness insurance and TBH her way of thinking is perfectly rational.
I pray that nothing ever happens to her.

vikingaero

slipthru wrote: »

Well to be fair she would have been able to sell her house with a tidy profit if it had not been for the credit crunch/downturn, thus enabling her to continue her inflated lifestyle further.

But surely that would be delaying the inevitable? Rather than being in financial strife today she would still be in financial strife in 5 years time primarily because she wants her kids to stay at private school. If she had turned a tidy profit most of that would be eaten up by school fees and most probably another BMW X3 until again all the capital is frittered away.

beingjdc

I don't understand why this woman is trying to buy somewhere. Surely her situation is ideally suited to selling up and renting? She needs the cash, then she can buy somewhere smaller when prices have fallen and the two eldest kids have gone their own way!