Can you tell me what it was like in the 1970's recession?

dottylotty

Ah I see! Yeah I wish Id done the same thing....am now still considering it, though unfortunately wont get anywhere near the same amount and will have to wait til goodness knows when before someone buys!
BUT am lucky in that I will still make a profit as I bought JUST before the price hike in 2003, and most houses round here are still selling reasonably fast.

PasturesNew

dottylotty wrote: »

Ah I see! Yeah I wish Id done the same thing....am now still considering it, though unfortunately wont get anywhere near the same amount and will have to wait til goodness knows when before someone buys!
BUT am lucky in that I will still make a profit as I bought JUST before the price hike in 2003, and most houses round here are still selling reasonably fast.

If I was doing it today, my house would have to be on the market at least £60k less than it was then. I'd be competing with (imho) a slightly better house that's on at that price.... so in fact I'd have to undercut him by probably £15k to even tempt the one buyer in town looking for a house "like ours". I know a house bigger/better (work needed but huge/potential) 50 yards from mine sold at £100k less than mine did (sale still in progress), so with that as a recent sale and the neighbour's house competing I'd be having to really slash my price. Probably taking £70-80k less than I did just to get it sold within 3-4 months.

For my type of house, in my part of town, selling prices are down 25% from 18 months ago. Those with asking prices down only 10-15% just aren't selling.

dottylotty

WOW!! You really did choose a good time then!

Hopefully I'll get a good bargain on our next home to make up for any money we lost by not selling earlier on this one!
But like I said, am thinking of renting for a while.....too many decisions, too many uncertainties.....

Anyway I must get to bed; up again in 2hours for work!!!! :eek: :eek: :eek:

PasturesNew

dottylotty wrote: »

Anyway I must get to bed; up again in 2hours for work!!!!

Work is for people who didn't STR :P

Tassotti

I'd say just enjoy the equity you received from STR'ing 'at the right time'.

Actually, no, use it for rent for as long as you can before you join the cardboard box brigade.

STR'ers thought 'Oh yeah I'll sell now and when prices vome down, I'll use it to buy again'

Never...I've always said you will never get back into owning a house (not you personally)

Lending criteria will be much stricter, wages lower, investments worth zilch, and a severe lack of jobs

I have a few cardboard boxes I might be able to spare.

PasturesNew

Tassotti wrote: »

Actually, no, use it for rent for as long as you can before you join the cardboard box brigade.

Assuming 0% interest on it ... 50 years.

Tassotti wrote: »

STR'ers thought 'Oh yeah I'll sell now and when prices vome down, I'll use it to buy again'

Never...I've always said you will never get back into owning a house (not you personally)

Lending criteria will be much stricter, wages lower, investments worth zilch, and a severe lack of jobs

I have a few cardboard boxes I might be able to spare.

LOL. You're a cheery soul.
Yeah, for me, I'll be paying cash for a tiny little home, room to swing a 2-legged kitten will be enough for me.

I'll be looking at the running costs of a home as the main choosing criteria.

MRSTITTLEMOUSE

mardatha wrote: »

It was miserable and bl00dy horrible..and I still can't watch "the boys from the black stuff" because it brings back memories of that time. My OH was out of work and I was working 2 jobs and starting at 5am. And we still lived on soup and porridge.[/quote

Could'nt of put it better myself.It was horrible and the worst recession I've seen.The three I remember afterwards were like hiccups compared to that one.
I lived in a mining village in Northumberland at the time and it was hell what with the miners strike as well.It was like all out war sometimes.
I think it was the first time I saw grown men cry in public.
Jobs were so scarce,people just gave up and the job centres were useless.
No one cared,if you had nothing you were just forgotton.
I think that this recession is heading to be much worse,people have a lot more to lose and expectations are much higher these days.Don't beleive the It'll be over by such and such.This one is just starting to unfold.
I think a lot of people are going to be in for a wake up call unfortunatly.

MrsE_2

PasturesNew wrote: »

From the 70s I remember:
- potato shortage, price of chips rocketed so we could no longer afford them. Mum started making us parsnip chips at home.
- lots of fights/strikes on the news and in the papers. But we didn't have much TV back then. Just three channels, some of which closed down during the day and most closed down at 11pm, so it wasn't like now with programme after programme of it.
Bomb scares at school, I remember those.
Also, living with the threat of nuclear war.

I was born in 67.

I remember the potato shortage, we got a slice of bread & marge with our school lunch instead of potato.

I remember the miners strikes, I was raised in London, but I was aware of the people in the "north" who had a tough time & not much in the way of jobs.

I remember 3 channels & TV starting in the morning & finishing by midnight.
I remember the advent & excitement of channel 4, breakfast TV & then all night TV:D

I remember lots of bomb scares, but didn't think they were at school
Central London always seemed to be the target.

We learnt about the nuclear threat at school & it gave me nightmares:eek:

Lifeisbutadream

PasturesNew wrote: »

My dad bought his first house in 70/71. Some time in 71/72 his work site was closed down and he had to travel further to get to work. His calculations had assumed he could cycle, but he had to take his car. This was the electronics in Cambridge and the firm never really recovered as it was taken over again about 10 years later and he lost his job entirely.

From the 70s I remember:
- potato shortage, price of chips rocketed so we could no longer afford them. Mum started making us parsnip chips at home.
- 3-day week
- petrol shortages/ration books were about to be issued
- sugar shortage/price shot up, we gave that up
- butter shortage/price shot up, we had marg instead and never went back to butter
- regular power cuts, the newspaper published a chart so you could look up which 6-hour slot you'd get each day. It varied each day so you might have no electricity on Monday morning, Tuesday afternoon, Wednesday evening, Thursday night, Friday morning, Saturday afternoon ... etc
- with no electricity, it was soup and toast made on an open fire for tea.
- long queus for petrol
- long food queues
- rows of empty shelves in food shops

- lots of fights/strikes on the news and in the papers. But we didn't have much TV back then. Just three channels, some of which closed down during the day and most closed down at 11pm, so it wasn't like now with programme after programme of it. For newspapers we just had the local Evening News and the Sunday People, so limited exposure to the media/news. Remember, there was no Internet so nobody sharing views/opinions/experiences and certainly no way to look up stats/figures etc.

- some houses on one estate in Corby were just £1,000. A price that even at the time seemed unbelievably low.

We had no money really. Times were hard. There were no benefits like today. A family just got Child Benefit for the first 2 kids. There was a married man's tax allowance (gave them 1.5x the single person's tax free allowance I think). But that was your lot. What you made, you lived on.

Many people still had coal fires and no bathroom. Outside loos were common. No central heating, no fitted carpets, no double glazing. The winters were cold (ice on the inside of the windows). But that was just the way people lived.

Bomb scares at school, I remember those.
Also, living with the threat of nuclear war.

Thank you PN - I was born in 73 and you have just brought back loads of memories for me.

Shows how a child views things from a completely different prospective than if I had been an adult at the time - I remember the power cuts really fondly! it meant that we would sit snuggled in blankets tellings stories

SingleSue

I remember the 70's as austere years but then my dad had had an accident and couldn't work for a few years...I know he found it hard to get employment again when he could work.

I remember the jumble sales as my parents could not afford to clothe us from the shops, something which has had a major effect on me as an adult as I now get panic attacks in busy areas - I started to think I was epileptic as it would always start with a burning smell (that I noticed anyway), then I would collapse...now I notice the heart rate increasing, the feeling of rising panic and then the funny smells so I can react and stop the collapsing. Don't worry, I have had it checked out to make sure it was nothing nasty!

I also remember the power cuts and how it appeared to us children as a normal part of the day - I have always kept a box of candles as an adult as a result of this.

I remember the miners strikes but as I was still a youngster, didn't really take a lot of notice.

The early 80's for us didn't seem to be too bad although now thinking about it, it must have impacted on my parents income as they could not afford to take us away on holiday and we stayed at my nans house in Rye for a holiday...it certainly didn't impact on me as I got my first part time job in '81 and felt like I was rolling in it!

The last recession was initially not felt by us, I had a good job on good money although I was made redundant twice but had no trouble securing further employment, usually at a higher salary. At first, we couldn't see what the problem was and why everyone was running around like headless panic chickens, I was in secure employment finally, my salary was excellent, no debts and some savings..we had a good life (I keep seeing similar people this time around - hence my warnings to some) but it did have a big impact on our house price and we ended up being one of the casualties after a series of unfortunate events as I found myself pregnant, something which was not supposed to be able to happen (I was told it was a million to one chance), my company was rather backward thinking when it came to mothers and I couldn't return to work after my rather short maternity leave (it was paltry back then). I ended up working two jobs, hubby took on cleaning at work but nothing could cover what I had been earning but we were surviving and paying the mortgage...until I got the triple whammy of going into kidney failure, developing pneumonia whilst also suffering severe post natel depression. I had to stop working (or the doctor said he would put me in the mental hospital as a danger to myself) and we lost the house.

Our mistake was having the mortgage based on my salary, hubbies salary was the minor one (he earnt way way less than I did) and although it could have been afforded on his plus part time earnings from myself, when I could no longer work, the whole house of cards came tumbling down.

So to others out there, if the main earner...just be cautious, the worse can happen. We thought we were being sensible basing on just the one salary multiple.