What is is with old ladies and their houses?

Davesnave

Good discussion; far better than some of the in-fighting we've had recently.

When I inherited, I made the mistake of thinking that it would be more straightforward to radically improve the tired bungalow, rather than slap it on the open market as it was and hope for a developer. I reasoned that a small property in an area inhabited almost entirely by those over 60, and with a new estate next door, would be of little interest if it required major works.

I still think that was correct, but I reckoned without the old ladies.

The virtually new bungalow went on the market and got plenty of interest. We had three or four old ladies who were mad keen to buy, but could any of them sell their family-sized homes? The short answer is 'No.' This was at the height of the boom.

It lasted almost a year. In the end, an old lady from a different area, sold & moving closer to her family, just said 'This is great,' and paid the full asking.

BettiePage

Geenie wrote: »

They didn't spend spend and borrow, but lived within their means. So don't blame the old lady for being prudent when the following generations were not.

Not all of us spend and borrow, but I do take your point.

matthewcb

harrup wrote: »

I only partly regret our decison not to move up. It was a conscious decision and the trade-off was most pleasant, actually. We lived mortgage free, had great yearly vacations, a comfortable life style and we never had debts or bought things on HP. THAT was the trade-off for living in a house we didn't like the (outside) look of but which served our needs. The mortgage companies would have approved exhorbitant sums of money - I was shocked when we bought our house about the sums they encouraged us to borrow. But we didn't want it. In hindsight, perhaps a mistake...but we always enjoyed the luxury of actually owning what we had.

But was I envious that ALL of our friends lived in much nicer houses after a while?

We are in almost exactly the same position, good to know we're not alone! It doesn't mean you lack ambition if you're not constantly buying stuff you don't need and not living in the largest possible house the bank would let you buy!

We live in a modest 1960's three bed semi, with a small mortgage and decent savings to fall back on if the worst happens.

However, sometimes I too feel a tinge of envy when I see friends in bigger, newer houses.

But on the other hand, I don't lie awake thinking I'm living on the edge. We probably will move one day, mainly for schooling reasons, but by that time I plan to have paid off most if not all of the mortgage and have significant savings to ensure we're not mortgaged up to the eyeballs.

The thing is, if the economy had been run on a similar, rather dull, fashion, we probably wouldn't be in the mess we are. There might be less bonus-driven millionaires but I guess their need for more and more wealth they'll never spend is of greater important than the average man, right?

SingleSue

My parents are the opposite to the elderly people posted about here. They know there is a crash in prices just like they knew prices were increasing. They watched in horror/amazement/shock as the prices rose (and did do a little of what Harrrup is doing now with the partial regrets of not buying a different property about 25 years ago). They couldn't believe the prices being sought for properties just like theirs, the figures were just incomprehensible to them - they paid just £3.5k for their house in 1969, have never mewed, were extremely prudent with their pennies and fully paid off their mortgage in 1974ish. Just before the height, the house next door to them sold for just a shade under £200k.

They thought it was a stupid amount of money to pay for a house and opposite to the general view, thought that no way would they get a similar amount for theirs...but they were never tempted to sell their house and never saw it as real money or an indication of their worth.

Now the prices are crashing, they are still not holding onto the 'value' of their house and when talking about what they could get for their house, actually knock more off the near height figure than what prices have dropped by in this area.

And they still think that amount is silly to pay for a house and out of all proportion to what can be earnt on average in this area.

mean_momma

harrup wrote: »

These eldery guys NEVER had a large mortgage, never experienced negative equity and their own house routinely doubled or trippled in value in a decade.

Really? They should all be millionaires by now then.

MX5huggy

dopester wrote: »

I love to hate this graph wonder why they choose Aug 07 to Jan 09 why not Aug 87 to Jan 09 oh that would be because it would tell the whole story!

SingleSue

Yep it would...that prices can go down as well as up!

mean_momma

harrup wrote: »

MIL and all their contemporaries still see it as their divine right to own and afford a decent property, for which they paid - comparably - peanuts

isn't that what everybody would like?

Conrad

We all tend to get set in our ways as we get older, no matter how illogical the reasoning so it's no surprise older people often mentaly 'bank' that peak value and find it hard to let it go.

Notice how people tend to cling to a dress / hairstyle and music genre or film era from thier impressionable periods such as late teens.
In fact I'm the only person my age (42) that I'm aware of that does not like music / style from my past, although my favorite film is from 1979 - Alien, the greatest flick of all time of course.

mean_momma

Conrad wrote: »

We all tend to get set in our ways as we get older, no matter how illogical the reasoning so it's no surprise older people often mentaly 'bank' that peak value and find it hard to let it go..

Perhaps they feel safer with a a protection mechanism, i.e. high asking price, to be on the safe side. The housing market itself has been extremely illogical for years now. Even the current renewed interest could just be a blip, 'dead cat bounce', or the start of green shoots. Better safe than sorry, until the time that they really need to sell. Then the vultures will be out in force.