Meet the Wilsons Part2 - Fergus goes mad on Radio 5

Yoshua

Someone just told me they were in the news again selling off some houses very very cheap.

Has anyone got the details I cant find it yet?

It sounds like they are scared.

Generali

mewbie wrote: »

Ah, you should have couched your comments in clever legalese like mine.

"Shrinking faster than a shrinky thing" - they can't touch you for that.

How about 'shrinking faster than a man in Reykjavik's unheated lido during a cold snap'?

RDB

Yoshua wrote: »

Someone just told me they were in the news again selling off some houses very very cheap.

Has anyone got the details I cant find it yet?

It sounds like they are scared.

It was in the paper, they used the Wilsons as an example.

I think either someone bought a bunch of houses off them very very cheaply or they were repossed.

I dont know how to find out what happed exactly.

spuds_2

Googling just seems to throw up oldish articles about them starting to sell. I would think that if they bought any houeses in the last 2 years with 100% mortgages some of these would be in negative equity now and they would have to sell others to release funds.

All those houses, all that money (on paper), yet probably amongst the most hated people in Britain...not worth it.

novazombie

Is there any up to date info.

RainMaker_2

spuds wrote: »

All those houses, all that money (on paper), yet probably amongst the most hated people in Britain...not worth it.

I'd swap places with them. I couldn't give a flying puck about being hated, or liked for that matter. It's business.

spuds_2

True, Rainmaker, but the fact that they seem to seek out publicity suggests to me that they long to be admired. His race horse thing - bringing clapped-out foreign horses over and entering big races just so he gets to go in the enclosure - also suggest that he longs to be 'somebody' and is seeking approval.

Unfortunately, they don't seem to have done anything positive or charitable with their money, other than brag about how many houses they've got. All they will be remembered for is being a pair of greedy wannabees. Or as one of Britain's biggest bankrupt landlords. Or both.

ad44downey

The Wilsons are 2 truly awful people. They'll get what's coming to them soon enough

PasturesNew

ad44downey wrote: »

The Wilsons are 2 truly awful people. They'll get what's coming to them soon enough

But then they won't.

If it all goes tits up for them, they go bankrupt and the portfolio is gone.

But they still have two hefty teacher pensions for life.

dopester

PasturesNew wrote: »

But they still have two hefty teacher pensions for life.

Are you sure they didn't transfer pension monies directly in to the BTL business?

The two former maths teachers have amassed their wealth over a relatively short period, Judith investing her teacher’s pension fund in their first semi-detached house.

http://www.gullands.com/news/view/129/Buy-to-Let-millionaires-Choose-Gullands

They probably have private pensions though.. which might be hard to put a claim on.

I won't just accept stories of how they'll be able to walk away clear... as there may well be personal guarantees involved.

When was the last time they did any real teaching anyway - not that honorary role she is supposed to do? They walked away from careers that were rewarding and put something in to society, to become BTL merchants.

They disgust me.

January 2007

The couple deny this. "Put it this way," Mr Wilson says. "If you were selling a house, who would you rather deal with? A young couple who might pull out at the last minute, or Judith Wilson, who you know will not mess you around?"

October 2008 (when now trying to get out of the crashing market)

Fergus says: "Buy-to-let landlords are not bad people. We are not like sub-prime in the US. Most of the properties that will now be sold will go to first-time buyers. What the government has to do is something about the size of deposits people now need to raise."

His advice for property buyers? "Flats will not be worth buying again. There are far too many - that market is finished. What I tell youngsters is, 'rent your first flat, but buy your house'.