Am I evil, I only read these boards to find someone worse off than me..

neas

PasturesNew wrote: »

awww *hugs*
There are loads worse off than you.... pop to the DFW board. People on there with £250k mortgage, OH's just run off with the neighbour, 6 kids to cope with, negative equity and £100k of cc debt.

Hint: look for those with Sky+ in their SOA and a holiday budget.

The thing is this would be funny if.... it wasn't true.

Airwolf1

I think one of the problems here is that when you know you can borrow more, and there are items on your "I need one of those" list, it can be so tempting to say to yourself "Oh, I'll just get such and such amount", especially if you see other people doing the same.

That is one of the things too, people may do this in the same street and then one may wonder how can they afford that car, or new windows etc, they must be loaded, but a fact is that they simply could have borrowed more.

The OP has a bit to play with, with the figures she mentioned, so she could drop the price a little if needed. It is like what the father in law says (who is a chartered surveyor), if you need to sell, you've got to lower your asking price to below current levels, not simply on a level par.

mdb99jh

starsinmycrown wrote: »

don't take this the wrong way, but be thankful you have a house. i really want one, its all ive ever wanted.

I promise you there is MUCH more to life than owning a house (thankfully)!
It's not that amazing :cool:

puddy

starsinmycrown wrote: »

Well, if it makes you feel any better, i was on these boards for the exact same reason as you, but hoping to find somebody worse off than me, but i just saw your post!

don't take this the wrong way, but be thankful you have a house. i really want one, its all ive ever wanted. i must be one of the few people into interior design who lives in a box room! i'm 26 and had to move back with mum. the way things have been ever since i left college, means that although i thought as a kid, id be able to get a house just like everybody else has, i just can't. i don't think i'll earn enough until i'm in my 30s. fat chance. i'm living here with my bro and bros gf 23, and 24- cos they cant afford rental prices either. my bros gf has a dream too- to own her own home. i wish i had my own house. someday...

well i didnt buy until i was 25 and if the prices keep on dropping, by a couple of years time, you'll be easily able to afford something, but take some advice from me, either get a small house or a flat that only has a few in the block and/or manage the maintenance charges themselves, dont buy something with a big number of flats and a managing agent

puddy

Airwolf1 wrote: »

I think one of the problems here is that when you know you can borrow more, and there are items on your "I need one of those" list, it can be so tempting to say to yourself "Oh, I'll just get such and such amount", especially if you see other people doing the same.

That is one of the things too, people may do this in the same street and then one may wonder how can they afford that car, or new windows etc, they must be loaded, but a fact is that they simply could have borrowed more.

The OP has a bit to play with, with the figures she mentioned, so she could drop the price a little if needed. It is like what the father in law says (who is a chartered surveyor), if you need to sell, you've got to lower your asking price to below current levels, not simply on a level par.

yes you're right, i think one of the main problems for me is that th area i am looking at doesnt seem to have lowered at all and its putting me off taking any more off mine as we have wanted (not needed) a 3 bed house, not sure i can now afford that with the drops off mine.

i am learning though, my sofa is broken, the rugs are all stained from the cats and need to be replaced, the bed is broken, usually, i just would have gone out and bought new ones on credit, but now im waiting until i sell. could be a long time

sdooley

jenner - have you thought about getting together with the other tenants and exercising your 'right to manage'?

puddy

sdooley wrote: »

jenner - have you thought about getting together with the other tenants and exercising your 'right to manage'?

long sigh,,,,,, well this happened a few years back, we had regular meetings and some of us, me included wanted to buy the freehold, unfortunately, there is a mix of about 3 differenet types in our estate (36 flats altogether), some are like me and my neighbour, who wanted to go ahead and arrange to buy the freehold, some are like us, fed up about the managing agents but too apaethtic to do anything or even be persuaded to do anything and most are elderly who thought that the idea of having your own freehold would somehow mean more problems, too much money for the freehold, lots of paperwork etc, so it sort of died a death.
we couldnt get the numbers involved to force the buying of the freehold. most of us in my block wanted to, which meant that theoretcially we could have gone ahead and forced the purchase of the freehold for the block but that wouldnt have fixed what the actual problems are, which are large bills for 'gardening' (mowing the grass), fixing things that didnt need to be fixed like garage roofs, fixing things that do need to be fixed but could have been done cheaper, like the roadsurfacing etc.

its all on a back burner now.

i had someone interested in my flat but she wants to know how much teh lease would cost to extend. in order simply for me to find out, i have to pay the managing agents £350 just to process the application (thats right, to fill out something and send it off to the freeholder) and then £650 for the freeholder's surveyor. i just cant afford it and now im worried this person will lose interest.

zarazara

what is a MEWer please?

neverdespairgirl

MEW = Mortgage equity withdrawal.

Borrowing more money secured against your house under the delusion that, instead of borrowing, you are "withdrawing equity"

puddy

oh, i take issue with the 'delusion' bit. i can only speak personally but i was under no delusion that i was borrowing money. i never considered it and still wouldnt, withdrawing equity, ive never seen it that way