What is a "starter home"

roseland69

1-2 bed house / 2 bed flat

Graham - don't worry, you're not the only one who thinks saying a grotty bedsit isn't a starter home. Because... it isn't! Some people try to twist things to suit their argument.. and end up talking rubbish. IMHO. A bedsit is somewhere you exist in. A house or (flat with bedrooms). Well then you can acutally START to live.

So then, to me (and I'll wager most sane people) a starter home is a place either the traditional "new married couple" or the single "just moved out of mum and dads" working proffessional can START their life in the big wide world. Its more than a place for them to lay their head as a bedsit would be to a student out on the !!!! every night (haha, loving the exclamation marks).

A starter home is a place where they can plan and build their life and maybe START a family (if a couple). Growing up in the 70's and 80's, starter homes (and they were called "starter homes" in all the blurb in the ads section of the papers) were little houses. 2 up 2 down with a little garden/yard out the back in a quiet cul-de-sac or on a quite road on a new development. I know this. My brother bought one when he first married in the mid 1980's for about £40K (south west). It was marketed for him. Pictures of couples with keys crossing the threshold. That type of thing.

I don't think I've ever seen pictures of the happy couple crossing the threshold into a grotty bedsit mind. Hmm... wonder why...

System

Who mentioned bedsits exactly?

Oh yes, no one.

Run along.

chucky

1 bed flat / Bedsit i.e. small flat.

Wookster wrote: »

Not at all. A ponzi scheme is something that requires new entrants to the bottom of the scheme to feed into higher prices farther up the scheme. I'd like to see how cars/ branded clothes fit that profile.

how are houses a ponzi scheme?

people pay what they think a house is worth, if they don't pay what it's worth how do they then feed into higher prices up the 'scheme'.

you should get your definitions of thing right..

A Ponzi scheme is a fraudulent investment operation that pays returns to investors from their own money or money paid by subsequent investors rather than from any actual profit earned. The Ponzi scheme usually offers returns that other investments cannot guarantee in order to entice new investors, in the form of short-term returns that are either abnormally high or unusually consistent. The perpetuation of the returns that a Ponzi scheme advertises and pays requires an ever-increasing flow of money from investors in order to keep the scheme going.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ponzi_scheme

note that fraud is a crime - buying a house is not a crime

Really2

Other - Explained.

Joeskeppi wrote: »

Who mentioned bedsits exactly?

Oh yes, no one.

Run along.

Anyone notice Graham as logged off (did rose support grahm yesterday? I wonder)

roseland69

1-2 bed house / 2 bed flat

Joeskeppi wrote: »

Who mentioned bedsits exactly?

Oh yes, no one.

Run along.

The poll mentions bedsits.

Look up and read what it says. Doh - you do like silly now.

Now YOU run along

Really2

Other - Explained.

roseland69 wrote: »

The poll mentions bedsits.

Look up and read what it says. Doh - you do like silly now.

Now YOU run along

So the only person to mention it is Graham in the whole thread. (Well and yourslef but I do wonder if there is a link)

skap7309

Other - Explained.

I voted other - depends entirely on personal circumstances.

For me as a FTBer - i require a seperate area so i can run my business - this would mean a property that has either a dedicated family room, a dining room or a study. These are never seen on 2 bed / flat / small three bedders. Hence a larger 3 bedder is looking like a minimum.

If you are incorporating OH + kids, again, a 2 bed flat would more than likely not cut it.

Another, as mentioned boils down to what you can afford. FTBing and starter homes should not be limited the stereotypical studio / one bed flat.

Wookster

1 bed flat / Bedsit i.e. small flat.

Joeskeppi wrote: »

Ok, skip clothes.

I sell my car to buy a better one.

Doesn't work either. Cars are always depreciating assets, where as homes are generally long term appreciating assets. Also people trading up seldom need to sell their old car to buy a new one where as this is not the case for houses.

IveSeenTheLight

I'm between options 1 & 2.
Do you really get 1 bed houses?

My opinion is that a starter property for a single buyer is a 1 or 2 bed flat, with the 2 bed flat being the higher end of the FTBers income.

Of course, if the FTBer is a couple i.e. joint income, then they should be able to buy a 2-3 bed house.

chucky

1 bed flat / Bedsit i.e. small flat.

roseland69 wrote: »

Graham - don't worry, you're not the only one who thinks saying a grotty bedsit isn't a starter home.

yes you're right - my view of a starter home would be an 18 bedroom house.

unfortunately, i can't afford one of those so i'll have to settle with what i can afford.