450k for a three bed flat-madness ! Now these people face ruin.

Generali

fc123 wrote: »

Same here......I reckon whatever is there will go on care or private ops if the NHS can't provide and the rest in taxes to the govt in charge at the time.

Mmmmm pensions. For us; Mortgage paid off first then get saving up I guess.

As a business-lady you get some pretty decent CGT perks when you come to retire I believe.

Regarding the flats, they apparently signed a contract agreeing to buy a flat at a preagreed price. In doing so, they locked in a price - Berkeley Homes couldn't put the price up, they can't require that Berkeley Homes cut the price.

It's pretty standard stuff.

StevieJ

fc123 wrote: »

Just to cheer Graham Devon up (cos he sounds like he needs a bit of a lift at the mo) your generation have access to information that we never had.

This is the biggest change to affect peoples lives for a generation.

Access to anecdotal, facts and figures, old archive material at the click of a mouse (trite I know but couldn't think of other words to say what I wanted to say) that helps you make decisions.

The only snag is if the leccy runs out or gets cut off....then the laptop won't work and as long as the broadband can get to your PC.

You, like myself, take it for granted that anything one wants to research can be done just like that. Can you imagine what it was like in the olden days when we just had to weigh things up and jump...or not??

It was hard.

The trouble with more information is it also includes more mis and dis information, I think you know what I mean:eek: I am sure it will become increasingly difficult to sift the truth out of the from gunge.

Yakubu22

Graham_Devon wrote: »

Just strikes you how it's the young who are paying the price. They probably had advice of "buy now or you will never get on the ladder"...I know I did, but chose not to buy out of my depth, hence SA.

You don't get 20 something landlords in general, you just get these people facing financial ruin while the generation before them tried to hoard money for their own children, while financially ruining their peers children to try and do it.

I completely agree with this.
OK if you are reasonably well read and well informed in the ways of property and the economy. You are better placed to make a decision on what is right for you and your future. However most people aren't and dont involve themselves in the way an economy works or how easy credit isnt always a good thing.
Windback 3 years and the media were full of TV programmes/stories like Locationx3, Property Ladder, How to make a million by buying houses, Buy now or forever be renting etc.... People are sheep and generally follow the crowd.
I actually have loads of elder family members and elder parents of friends asking me now "Am I going to buy soon?"... "It's a great time to buy" they tell me. They then spout half a story they heard on itv news about some Mortgage company reporting some half truthes about how the market has turned itself around.
If I didnt know better I would probably listen to them. The thing is i personally believe prices have further to come down, and unless you are looking to settle long term. I dont believe there is any short term financial gains in buying. That is my opinion and why I currently choose to rent

chucky

dopester wrote: »

You're both wrong, but Graham a lot more so. With him trying to excuse a fresh generation of not having enough information or education to make rational decisions.

you do not mess with the legendary Dopester!!!

fc123

StevieJ wrote: »

The trouble with more information is it also includes more mis and dis information, I think you know what I mean:eek: I am sure it will become increasingly difficult to sift the truth out of the from gunge.

Agreed...you can also keep going around in and around in circles and never make a decision too.
I still feel you can never have too much information though....one just have to sift through it all and edit it down.

abinanthanb

Before blaming the buyers we should also consider what kind of tone was followed by the mass media regarding house market when the agreement was signed on..

I am sure that most of them just wanted to buy a HOME, but the choice they made most likely involved the financial benefits of ever rising Housing Market. I agree that they all were stupid to buy a flat for 450K off the plan, but how can all of them be so stupid?

I often see in this forum people blaming the mass media to manipulate the fact and data and portray a different picture from the actual, most of the times supporting booming housing market. We who access forums like this is a small minority and the majority think Mass media is the end of all. I just sampled some frontline papers and web pages during that period, and I couldnt find one pessimistic view on Housing market? Forget about the parties like Promoters/Estate agents or etc (they easily get the tag as "vested interest"), but the journalists who are supposedly a pillar of democracy should have been honest.

Were they and are they?

I really sympathise those people who seem like almost ruined their life, but the root cause for this situation is lying somewhere else.

PasturesNew

At the time they were choosing their flats, somebody I know called me and linked me through to a £1million penthouse he wanted to buy. I looked at it and told him he'd never be able to afford it (salary only £250k), what if he lost his job, house prices were about to come down and he'd be stuck with it... I think he secretly wanted to flip it but presented it to me as a place to live.

"£1million for a flat???" I spat at him in MSN. He was caught up in just how posh it'd make him look, how he could keep face with his peers. I pointed out to him that he'd just got shot of his last riverside flat for about £500k and had found that hard-going ... so why buy something else now.

Some people just want to look big and clever in front of other people.

nearlynew

Debt is wealth to these people though, so having a bigger mortgage makes you richer.

Strange, but true.

kennyboy66_2

dopester wrote: »

You're both wrong, but Graham a lot more so. With him trying to excuse a fresh generation of not having enough information or education to make rational decisions.

Do we physically force these people to learn stuff which might actually benefit them? The 'fresh' generation has the opportunity to learn and enjoy so much history. It is freely available to them. More so than it was to all the generations before them.

.

There have been significant numbers of public libraries in the UK for 100 years - in fact the Public Library Act was first passed in 1850.

You confuse volume of quantity and quality of information.

abaxas

What a bunch of greedy !!!!ers!

Sue the lot and claw as much money back from them as possible. Give them an education is what they signed.