Homes go for £800 - could it happen here?

PasturesNew

Curious_Moose wrote: »

elephant in the living room. Actually, there are other elephants as well.

I wondered why my place was so small.
Too many bl00dy elephants!

I have no pension. Over the years so many private pension schemes have gone to the wall I wonder why anybody ever starts one.

Mandark

StevieJ wrote: »

The market must have turned, on an EA site I saw last year they wer going for between 500 and 900 usd.

The woman said the normal rate was $70-80,000 for a 3 bed house presumably in a semi decent working class area, which is great by British standards. It was reported last month that the very cheapest houses in Detroit are now going for the token $1.

I remember in the 1980s when tabloids were running stories about whole sections of terraced streets that you could buy for 100 grand or so. We could be heading back to those days.

sabretoothtigger

The big difference would be property taxes. Empty houses here pay no council tax, theres a discount for just one person occupation. I think our system is more balanced and supported

epz_2

sabretoothtigger wrote: »

The big difference would be property taxes. Empty houses here pay no council tax, theres a discount for just one person occupation. I think our system is more balanced and supported

while I agree that a single person should get a discount as they will use less services an empty house effectively denies the council an income and raises taxes for other tax payers. I fail to see any reason to reward someone with tax discounts because they are rich enough to own a house and leave it empty.


A house is worth what someone is able to pay for it, in this country the welfare system means there is a point which makes it worth buying houses to farm dole bludgers. In an area where there is no demand to live there or wages to support the cost of house prices could fall much lower.

brightonman123

i may be missing something here- but arent all these repo's forcing down prices for everyone. and just creating bigger write-offs for the lenders to handle? (or at least whoewver buys them out, later on..)

not to mention the increase in social care costs, for the homeless that this causes..

here's an idea- keep the people in the houses, reduce interest to 'normal' rates, and/or make some arrangement for extended repayments.. rather have that, than an empty house 'worth' far less (on paper) than its purchase vaue..

b'mans guide to mortgages 101 start shere!
(i am not a financial advisor!)

PJB

sabretoothtigger wrote: »

The big difference would be property taxes. Empty houses here pay no council tax, theres a discount for just one person occupation. I think our system is more balanced and supported

Empty houses are liable for council tax at the local councils discretion after 6 months

Realy

PJB wrote: »

Empty houses are liable for council tax at the local councils discretion after 6 months

Are you sure I think that is business properties and business tax you are on about?

GDB2222

I can assure you that if the house is habitable it is taxed. That is why the roofs get removed, the other reason being that the secondhand value of the roof tiles may have been more than the cost of the house.

chucky

a property can be left empty and will only pay 50% of Council Tax.

a property that is having works done to it can be Council Tax Exempt.

both for 6 mopnth periods or unless the above changes.
I can only speak for my council though

Realy

chucky wrote: »

a property can be left empty and will only pay 50% of Council Tax.

a property that is having works done to it can be Council Tax Exempt.

both for 6 mopnth periods or unless the above changes.
I can only speak for my council though

Looks correct 50% reduction if unfurnished, 25% if furnished seems to be the norm.