I'm experiencing higher volumes now

dopester

Davesnave wrote: »

We're only round the corner from our old house & still have a reasonably large garden there with its own independent access. That was me being creative when I realised we'd have to drop our price! So, it will be a bit weird, living in a different house and also gardening back at the other one. As you may know, we used to run a small plant nursery business from home, so we've even signed-up to do a few events this spring.

So I take it you're renting now then Davesnave.

Well done on selling your house, and the measures you took to make it more likely to happen.

Davesnave

fc123 wrote: »

I have learnt another word today

It took me about 3 years to get used to living in someone elses house....plus strangers living in mine (but we use it ourselves now...tho' mainly OH).

I assume (;) ) you will post a few links to stuff you are looking to buy....so we can all be nosy and check it out too?

But of course. Here's one we looked at when on holiday in November. Good value, but short on upstairs space. However, for us, the biggest drawback was the sound of the main road, noticeable over most of the land. Believe it or not, we are used to almost total peace & quiet here in the city of Bath, so we are fussy if it's not as quiet in the country. Valley properties can be surprisingly noisy.

http://www.profilehomes.com/documents/0578_property-with-holiday-cottage-land-for-sale-cenarth-wales.pdf

Davesnave

dopester wrote: »

So I take it you're renting now then Davesnave.

Well done on selling your house, and the measures you took to make it more likely to happen.

Thanks. We had an abnormally large plot, which people were originally interested in paying extra for, but when the first two sales fell through, we realised that sentiment had changed & detached the lower third of the garden. We have 350 square feet of storage in that part, which is useful and, as 7 properties adjoin it at some point, we shall be able to sell it on later.

Maisie11

Interesting comments fc123. I always think that you regret the things you dont do as opposed to the ones that you do. At present we are paying school fees out of income despite the downturn so we might just need SOME money to top it up should the need arise. What I wont do is make a decision on the boys education based on today's climate. Sometimes I feel that some of the posters wont take a risk with ANYTHING. Always being cautious, always putting off a decision because it just might not work out. If my hubbie and I had been cautious we would not have taken on our current house. We spent about £150k ripping out the kitchen, bathrooms, decorating, recarpeting, landscaping the garden etc etc.. We did this because we were planning to stay 10 years plus. The place was a project and although we didnt personally do any of the work it was finished within a year of us moving in.

It just might be worthwhile us increasing our mortgage should the need arise as opposed to selling which will cost us about £60k.

I take your point re interest rates. However for peace of mind and to ensure that we dont end up using the money for something else we would look at possibly paying the school fees in advance.

My husband would like a comfortable retirement and with our pensions I believe we will get it. Also looking forward to having NO mortgage. People who rent (and if I was single I might well be looking to rent) pay rent until they die....

I think Geoff is wanting to talk the market down to the level where HE can afford the place he has his eye on. Personally I do think house prices should drop to a more realistic level, however the wealth in this country will ensure that a five bed house in say Beaconsfield or Gerrards Cross will never be within the grasp of a person earning the average UK salary. I started off in a 1 bed with an ex partner over 25 years ago. I feel that some people are wanting to jump to a 3-4 bed house as a first time buyer and certainly around here that is not going to be possible unless they earn in excess of £100k....

lostinrates

Maisie11 wrote: »

.............however the wealth in this country will ensure that a five bed house in say Beaconsfield or Gerrards Cross will never be within the grasp of a person earning the average UK salary. I started off in a 1 bed with an ex partner over 25 years ago. I feel that some people are wanting to jump to a 3-4 bed house as a first time buyer and certainly around here that is not going to be possible unless they earn in excess of £100k....

I agree, it sounds most unrealistic, ven for a ftb earning over 100k, the deposit and multiples would be inordinately large. May I ask your/husband's ages and rough earnings when you bought it? I'm intersted in the equivalent now.

Thrugelmir

Maisie11 wrote: »

I would like to respond to some of the comments made by Geoffky.

'Never to return' you are 100% correct on that? Who knows what will happen in the future. 'Poor position' - I beg to differ. £750K equity (even if I lop off £250K we still have £500k equity) and the mortgage paid off in 10 years. Two pensions schemes that we will both have paid into for over 40 years, £100k in savings. We dont have a depreciating asset. We have a home.

And why will we be forced to downsize? We are paying school fees (which was the reason we thought about trying to sell the house) out of income and only want the equity in a worst case senario. We dont require it at present and actually might not even need it but unlike you I cannot tell the future. The recession is hitting us all and the rainy day fund will be used, however we fully intend to ride this storm out. I have never been out of work a day in my life and neither has my husband. We are both in our late forties and have every confidence that we will come through the other side.

I can understand your point of view. As a successful investor in the property market you have a large amount of equity in your current home. Unlike say successfully investing in the stock market, it's not possible to realise part of your gain and diversify your risk. Not suggesting that you have to downsize. But a long time ago I was told by a successful businesssman that "cash is king". An expression that I have never forgotten.

Maisie11

Trying to remember that far back Lostinrates, we brought in Aug 1999 and we probably earned about £150k ish between us. Clearly that is a lot of income but once the second child arrived we were spending approx £1500 in childcare fees as I went back to work after maternity leave. We brought the house for about £450k I seem to remember but it needed large amounts of work doing to it. We are in a very nice part of South Bucks and we did the work because we wanted to get personal value out of the improvements not to make lots of money. We were mid to late thirties when we brought our current house.

By the way - did any one watch Relocation, Relocation last night. Was it just me or did you want to slap the two young buyers who had been looking for 2.5 years. They had a list a mile long of their requirements and a budget which they then exceeded. Couldnt make a decision to save their lives. I am not sure why they thought they could afford a £450k house but I missed the start so dont know their circumstances but sometimes you need to actually make a decision or take a risk. A job might not be exactly what you are looking for but once you are IN a company you can often look around and see if there is anything else. Waiting for your ideal home, job, man/women with a long list of requirements in my humble opinion stops people moving on. They also tend to be the ones who blame others, or look on in envy at other people's 'good luck'.

I would never leave my company now. It is as stable as a company can be in the economic climate and having been their for 24 years in different roles I fully intend to stay until I retire. I could leave and get a larger salary but the company is very family friendly and I would be pretty stupid to leave now.....

Maisie11

Thurgelmir, I take your point regarding cash is king. However in the next street an elderly man with no apparent relatives lived very carefully, a friend of mine used to look in on him every day. He literally used to carry a light bulb from room to room. He had a large amount of equity in his house but refused to move as it would cost him in his opinion too much. He died a couple of months ago and he had huge amounts of cash stored around the house. He also had £600k in 'savings'. Well guess what, the uncaring relatives suddenly appeared out of the woodwork claiming their inheirtance. I know it is nice to have cash. But at the end of the day you die and someone else gets it - either the government or an undeserving relative.

lostinrates

Maisie11 wrote: »

Trying to remember that far back Lostinrates, we brought in Aug 1999 and we probably earned about £150k ish between us. Clearly that is a lot of income but once the second child arrived we were spending approx £1500 in childcare fees as I went back to work after maternity leave. We brought the house for about £450k I seem to remember but it needed large amounts of work doing to it. We are in a very nice part of South Bucks and we did the work because we wanted to get personal value out of the improvements not to make lots of money. We were mid to late thirties when we brought our current house.

By the way - did any one watch Relocation, Relocation last night. Was it just me or did you want to slap the two young buyers who had been looking for 2.5 years. They had a list a mile long of their requirements and a budget which they then exceeded. Couldnt make a decision to save their lives. I am not sure why they thought they could afford a £450k house but I missed the start so dont know their circumstances but sometimes you need to actually make a decision or take a risk. A job might not be exactly what you are looking for but once you are IN a company you can often look around and see if there is anything else. Waiting for your ideal home, job, man/women with a long list of requirements in my humble opinion stops people moving on. They also tend to be the ones who blame others, or look on in envy at other people's 'good luck'.

I would never leave my company now. It is as stable as a company can be in the economic climate and having been their for 24 years in different roles I fully intend to stay until I retire. I could leave and get a larger salary but the company is very family friendly and I would be pretty stupid to leave now.....

LOL, I think thy probably earned around what you guys were earning whn you bought your place, we have a thread on it .

I agree with what you say re fixer uppers/adding value homes. Unfortunatly they are fewer and farther btween now, thanks to a gneration of property developers Othr pople's home improvments not to my taste really mean very little to me, extentions/rooves might though

I wonder what people could buy round you now for a similar wage and mulitple?

Maisie11

We did build a 2 storey large extension. To be honest the kitchen was a joke and one of the bathrooms was a potential fire hazard. We knew as it was a long term house for us that we would have to do this work. Certainly over the last ten years the extension has made a real difference. Lots of space for everyone to spread out, large bedrooms for the boys. I dont regret for a minute what we spent.