Wilsons Selling Up. The Lot. All 700 Houses.

lostinrates

Really2 wrote: »

I think the the main reason for it is repairs. this has bean the main reason for selling council stock to HA's.

It is rather stupid really but I think councils can't repair (don't want too and want the cash) them cheaply enough. (well they make out a case that repairs will eventually overtake revenues.)

Repairing tenancies (enforcable) might be a way forward, particularly with longer term leases. It won't solve those huge bills they've had (and passed on to those who have bought LA flats from the LA) for re roofing, but minor repairs, or the costs there of would be a fair pay off for greater security of tenure in a new approach.

bo_drinker

ninky wrote: »

i know i should get over this but i really can't. why oh why was the council housing stock sold off at way below market rent in the first place. what was the short sighted logic in that?

now not only have privately owned properties in previous council estates, they are now rented out at private rent levels, sometimes paid for by housing benefit. the tax payer and society has lost out on all counts. cheers mrs t....

Thatcher thought that it would be right for everyone to own their own home. What they didn't take into account was rebuilding replacements for them with the monies received. Up sprung H A's later on to bridge part of the gap.

ninky_2

bo_drinker wrote: »

Thatcher thought that it would be right for everyone to own their own home. What they didn't take into account was rebuilding replacements for them with the monies received. Up sprung H A's later on to bridge part of the gap.

or where were the new generations of poor people supposed to live? when i was a kid there were lots of council houses in our village. now they are ALL privately owned. this alters the social mix of the village in a big way which has a knock on effect to the schools and so forth.

PasturesNew

If they don't get enough income from council houses to cover the repairs then there's no point saying "we can't do this" if the rent on the council house is £350/month ... and their answer is to pay HB on a private rental at £1000/month. The answer is to increase council rents to cover the repairs, based on house size perhaps. Just £2/week across them all would add up for starters, then they could increase it a bit over the next 10-20 years.

dopester

Inside Ashford.

The Wilsons:
The Open Day with a difference.

http://www.thedailybail.co.uk/news/article-2110/Fergus-Wilson-Tour-Ashford

Special Report. Exclusive Part 1.
by Ed Presto

Monday 21st September 2009


Fergus and Judith Wilson beside their "rented" Sikorsky S-92.

“I’ve always thought of myself as ‘the striker’ of our team. Judith negotiates the deals. She’s the mid-field, the defence, and goalkeeper all-in-one. Such a natural talent for closing down first-time-buyers when they dare step on to our patch. She tries to get a few hard tackles in early. Or an 'FTB introducer' as Judith likes to call it. Always attacking and pushing forward.”

“I’m sort of a Gary Lineker type of striker. Hanging about upfront. Judith sets them up and I just bang ‘em in,” he says with some obvious pride.



Teamwork: When it comes to buying houses, after
a good cross by Judith, Fergus sees himself as just
applying the final finish, like Gary Lineker (above pictured).

Fergus closes his eyes and begins to smile, as though replaying and savouring a special memory in his mind.

“Like that Saturday in March 2006. Towards the final whistle we retreated back to our own half inside the Estate Agents. Playing the safety game and just looking not to concede. I had totally lost count of how many I’d banged in,” says Fergus, with a sigh of exhaustion as he relives the moment.

“Then the Branch Manager tells us we thumped all their first time buyers 10-nil that day! Get in! Game of two-halves you see, and Judith did some really nifty MEWing footwork in the morning, and again into the late afternoon,” he enthuses.

Fergus turns his head and looks down the aisle, trying to get a glimpse of Judith.

“That girl really has some engine on her you know,” he says admiringly.

Fergus turns back towards me, “Nearly just as good that day was the Estate Agent letting us know we’d smashed the ceiling price for all the streets we’d bought on."

"We beat the previous records for each street for an Ashford semi-detached by at least £10,000 in each instance. A full £12,500 on one side crescent.”

“By just doing that we made all our existing collection gain value all by itself. It is magical to be so good at maths,” he says proudly.

“It is like we got those 10 houses for free. Of course, we’ve beaten ceiling prices so many in the past. Still, it’s always very satisfying when I set a new record,” says Fergus triumphantly.

Don't miss our special correspondent's follow up submission coming very soon. Always get the real insight at www.thedailybail.co.uk/

Discover why the Wilsons have come to own 30 flats, despite having always said they only bought houses.

We profile a few of the hopefuls in the running for the collection.

Also put faces to the names as meet some of the Wilson's 'gold-dust' tenants, including:


Mr.Tassotti



Stressed-out newlyweds Pastures and Ad



'Vanilla' executive Mr.Broderick.

And brace yourself for a run-in with Max Eastwood, who is definitely not impressed when his house is accidentally mistaken as part of Mr.Wilson's collection.

---

Really2

Dopester. That is the worlds longest post.

Zandoni

Dopestar you're a genious lol

PasturesNew

Dopester .... Pure genius ... and the ONLY long post I have ever read.

Brilliant.

elona

The image of Judith as "eye candy" offering to show the delights of the private bathroom is now seared into my brain (shudder)- can you use bleach and a scrubbing brush to remove it? :eek:

I love sci -fi too.

Zandoni

£180m for buy-to-let empire - but does it add up?


By Ross Clark

Last updated at 10:19 AM on 08th September 2009

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Do the math: The Wilsons reckon they will make £120million from their sales

They were the two former maths teachers who epitomised the buy-to-let boom and built themselves a property portfolio in Kent that, in 2007, was worth £240million.
But last week Fergus and Judith Wilson announced that they are retiring and plan to sell all 700 properties in one go.

They believe the current imbalance between supply and demand will make them easier to sell now than in a couple of years' time.

Fergus says his properties are worth £180million and that once he has paid off his mortgages he and his wife will be left with a retirement pot of £120million.

That wouldn't be bad, if realistic - but would anyone who was selling in a position of strength really attempt to sell 700 properties in one go, 250 of which are in the same town, Ashford?

A year ago, the Wilsons told the Mail on Sunday's Property Editor: 'We are not going to sell all at once. That would collapse the entire market in Ashford and Maidstone.'

In the event, Fergus says he didn't manage to sell a single property last autumn.

'The only way is to sell the properties to an institutional investor, like a pension fund, that will buy the whole lot,' admits Fergus, who says he won't discount on price.
However, Ian Fowler, of Savills in Sevenoaks, reckons an institutional buyer would want a 20-30 per cent discount.

Fergus denies his property portfolio is in trouble. Although rents are down £100 a week, his mortgages have fallen by more. He says he is still able to refinance his mortgages as they come to the end of fixed-rate deals - though Bradford & Bingley, through which the Wilsons arranged their deals, switches those on fixed rates back to the bank's standard variable rate of 4.59 per cent.
The Wilsons' £180million valuation would make their properties worth an average £257,000 each. But most of them are two-bedroom terraces, which in Ashford tend to sell for under £200,000, according to the Land Registry.



Read more: http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/property/article-1211866/180m-buy-let-empire--does-add-up.html#ixzz0QXOw00AR