Abandoned hope for all ye FTBs

BitterAndTwisted

StevieJ wrote: »

I think I will have this one :beer:

Not too happy with the funiture though.

http://www.inspain.tv/AllProperties383/191820/PropertyDetails_191820_2.aspx

Never mind the furniture: it has no bathroom. I'm not sure I could get used to peeing over a balcony. Well, not in the daytime, at least

dopester

Max_Headroom wrote: »

So great, I've taken a huge gamble, moved twice, rented for a while, had to scrabble for a job as my (admittedly meagre, see other thread) benefits were stopped the minute I sold my house, and generally put myself through a year of stress and hassle.

For five grand!!?? :eek:

And that's assuming you're actually right!!!

It is funny and I get your point.:rotfl:

Time will tell. I look forward to bumping this thread up when it is clear terraces around the UK are down in value by another 25% to 50%.

Max, I had to check if you'd given any info away in your history, and find you've paid the mortgage off recently, 10 years early.

Max_Headroom wrote: »

I bought the place in 1993 (or 94, I forget, but around then anyway)

So how have you not benefited from HPI? Because it is just a home to you. Nothing to do with values? If you sold then you wouldn't be able to immediately buy a comparable property for a lot less money. Lots of gambles involved for many people, or choices based on our own projections of what will happen to house prices.

StevieJ

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

Never mind the furniture: it has no bathroom. I'm not sure I could get used to peeing over a balcony. Well, not in the daytime, at least

Yes it has, depends who are below for the peeing over the balcony

3 bedrooms, bathroom, cloackroom, fully furnished and equipped,

BitterAndTwisted

You're right but in the grid thingy (which is the only thing I looked at to avoid having to look at that ugly furniture) on "The Property" section it lists: Bedrooms 3 Bathroom 0 Sleeps 6. And of course I didn't notice the bit which said Property Size (M2) 0

Should have been a clue, really

lostinrates

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

Never mind the furniture: it has no bathroom. I'm not sure I could get used to peeing over a balcony. Well, not in the daytime, at least

on the plus side, your rubbish bins would be safer from scavengers. :rotfl:

StevieJ

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

You're right but in the grid thingy (which is the only thing I looked at to avoid having to look at that ugly furniture) on "The Property" section it lists: Bedrooms 3 Bathroom 0 Sleeps 6. And of course I didn't notice the bit which said Property Size (M2) 0

Should have been a clue, really

They are not very good at this are they ?

pawpurrs

Also to be taken in to consideration, is if you sell your house, and you tell the benefits office, they dont take in to account your equity for at least six mths if your intention is to buy another house.
They let you keep that and its not counted. HTH,not that I think in Maxs situation he should sell, but for others it could be of interest.

Max_Headroom_3

dopester wrote: »

It is funny and I get your point.:rotfl:

Time will tell. I look forward to bumping this thread up when it is clear terraces around the UK are down in value by another 25% to 50%.

Dopester, in your situation as a potential first time buyer then without question I'd be doing exactly what you're doing, I'd sit and wait. If it comes down a bit, great, if it comes down a lot, fantastic. If it bumps along on a level, well it's not cost you anything. So I think what you're doing is entirely right.

But surely even you can see that for someone in my totally different position of owning outright, what you suggest I do is certifiable madness!? :eek:

Lets look at those options again. If it comes down a bit then I might just about draw even, might lose slightly, might even gain slightly, either way it's a lot of hassle. If it comes down a lot then great, I make a bit of cash. Still a lot of hassle and a hell of a risk. If it bumps along on a level then I burn a fortune in selling, renting and buying costs.

Surely you can see that gambling my only home and one decent asset, particularly whilst unemployed, would be utterly crazy??

Max, I had to check if you'd given any info away in your history, and find you've paid the mortgage off recently, 10 years early.

So how have you not benefited from HPI? Because it is just a home to you. Nothing to do with values?

YES!!!! How many times, yes yes yes!!

Let me turn the question around for you just to finally ram home the point. How has my house tripling in value (compared with say being worth 20% more than I paid instead) made me a penny richer?

Do you see..??

If you sold then you wouldn't be able to immediately buy a comparable property for a lot less money. Lots of gambles involved for many people, or choices based on our own projections of what will happen to house prices.

OK, so I'm going to gift you an experience of my longer years on this planet and hope you are able to take this on board as a life lesson.

---

Let me tell you a completely true story. When I bought my house, at the peak of the previous boom identical houses in my road had sold for about 35% more than I paid. I remember thinking at the time, if it even gets even close to that figure again I'll have done well.

About five or six years later my house was worth not 35% more than I paid, but 100% more than I paid! It had doubled in value!!

Madness, I thought. I should sell, bank the profit, rent, and wait for the next crash (inevitable in my opinion, fuelled with the experience and certainty that fuels you now). Why, with the profit I'd make, I could buy outright a few years after that. Imagine that, I'd have sidestepped paying a mortgage completely! How clever would I be?

I didn't. I was too comfortable, there was a (tiny, in my honest opinion) element of risk, and above all I was too lazy, think of the hassle. So i stayed put, stayed plodding away paying off my mortgage instead of using my massive intelligence and sidestepping it completely.

So what happened next? It didn't crash is what. It went up 100% again! (Doubled that doubled value, insane!!)

Of course it couldn't last, and it didn't. But it took 10 long years between that point where I thought I should have sold and made a profit till it finally crashed. And, in the middle of this huge crash, it's currently (conservatively) still worth 50% more than my "sell sell sell" price.

So imagine if I had eh? Imagine if I'd been "smart", as you are urging me to be "smart" now. Imagine I'd taken that gamble.

It would have been financial suicide.

I'd have been renting for the last ten years, no doubt have burned through some of my profit, and house prices are still even now 50% higher than my sold price.

So instead, every morning I wake up and I look at the ceiling I own in the house that I own and that I didn't "play clever" with and gamble.

And I thank god that I'm not as "clever" as I could have been and you'd have me be.

So here cometh the lesson, heed me well young Jedi.

What I most learned was that sometimes the trick in life is to understand when you've got a good thing, and not try to be too "clever" with it...

dopester

Max. I'm not trying to anger you. Such as how I don't believe JSA should be boosted to homeowners.

I genuinely believe this is a major house price crash. That is why I'm not buying yet, because values have much further to fall.

Anyway, you are not going to STR on my looney projections, or anyone else's expectations of a continued heavy crash in values, and rightly so.

Not trying to anger you. I just don't want you to be trapped in a house which has lost much of it's value of the boom years, and still be struggling for income, in an economy which has a lot of restructuring to do.

pickles110564

dopester wrote: »

Not trying to anger you. I just don't want you to be trapped in a house which has lost much of it's value of the boom years, and still be struggling for income, in an economy which has a lot of restructuring to do.

Better than being stuck renting and throwing your money away.