Breaking news - use a house to live in!

SandC

Yeah and what's with always doing interiors with 'when you come to sell' in mind?

If you want purple walls and red skirting boards you have them.

hamblettamaud

I agree totally with the OP. The greed of others - particularly those who buy-to-let - artificially inflated prices so that "normal" people were no longer able to afford "normal" homes anymore. Who cares if they all lose their investments now? I don't.

mlz1413

Redlady I agree with you too, home first.

I also agree with the point about buyers looking up what vendor paid and then only offering that.

Whatever did we do before that information was available? Oh yes we looked at the properties on the market at that time and only viewed the ones we liked / fitted requirements / in our price range and then offered on them by informed judgment.

I bought a run down place in 2005 and spend a lot of money doing it up so it could be my home, I have a 10 yr plan - I'm not necessarily moving in 10 yrs I'm just going to re-look at my finances, life style, everyday living, etc and decide if I want to update the home I'm in or sell it at that point and move to somewhere else.

jonmp

To begin with, most people don't really own their own home until the mortgage is paid off. As one of the wicked people who have bought old wrecks and derelict farm and industrial buildings and who has grafted evenings and weekends to make them habitable and attractive homes I can assure you there is a great sense of satisfaction when the day comes when you complete a sale. The mortgage is paid off and if it was taken out on another house to finance the renovation (I have been in the happy position of living in a more or less completed house while I renovate another) you get given all the deeds and other paperwork. That certainly brings it home to you that you never were the owner until you finished paying for it.

A limited housing supply due to the planning system (in part) and a growing demand due to more single occupiers (in part) means that prices at least keep pace with general inflation and lately have exceeded it. There is something of a bubble in prices still (try to make money at buy-to-let if you have to mortgage to buy) but the long-term trend is still less for property than investing in stocks and shares so maybe property is more a safe haven in the long-term than an investment unless you are building property.

An how about if you need to move for work or you get divorced or want to downsize and give some money to your kids or want to finance your care in old age? Certainly then your home will seem like an investment or cash-cow if you prefer.

Phrases like "emotional investment" and "sentiment about a house" reflect the valid views of some but I wonder if Norma Desmond and her partner are doing major works, outside in winter. The months I have spent in hard, physical graft building stone walls where I live at present give me a sense of satisfaction in a job well done but don't make me love the house. Its all just stuff you can buy from the builder's merchants or that was grubbed up from local fields in the past.

Having said all that I do sometimes drive past and look at the window of the bedroom where my son was born (in a house that is now, unfortunately, a holiday home) with emotion but I also remember pointing up the chimney and tottering about on a ladder seeing to the roof which reminds me again that its just stuff and not really anything to get emotional about. Plus I made a good profit on my work which gives me a warm feeling too.

As for puplevamp, maybe she should try and get an old wreck and make her own home. It would entail some sacrifices but if she does the sums for paying someone for building or renovating a house she will see that they are not grossly overpriced except for the land value. Materials an labour are expensive in a first world country and unless you diy the costs of H&S and employing staff make it more so. Maybe we should release land in the green belt and national parks or good agricultural land or control immigration or reduce building standards or .......

purplevamp

Fire_Fox wrote: »

You can afford to get on the 'property ladder', you simply cannot afford to buy in your chosen area. There are flats in Bradford on the market at £45K and houses for not much more. BTL investors and developers are no more greedy than any other businessman or woman; for most people property ownership has always been about what sacrifices you are prepared to make. Better to be forced into saving up a hefty 10% deposit than have bought in 2007 with a 100% mortgage.

Actually I can't afford to get on the property ladder even in the worst area, in my town and the surrounding areas, even ex-council places are going for over £200K. Do you think I should uproot my family and go and live "oop north" just so that I can buy a house?? Not likely.

sunshinetours

purplevamp wrote: »

Actually I can't afford to get on the property ladder even in the worst area, in my town and the surrounding areas, even ex-council places are going for over £200K. Do you think I should uproot my family and go and live "oop north" just so that I can buy a house?? Not likely.

If it would make you and your family happier then yes why not?

If you don't earn enough in the area you currently live could you not relocate to a cheaper area of the country where your wages would be enough to buy your own home? Choose to retrain your career to one that does earn enough?
We all make choices (to a degree) of what we do for a living or where we choose to live at the end of the day - lots of people just get on and do it as well...

purplevamp

sunshinetours wrote: »

If it would make you and your family happier then yes why not?

If you don't earn enough in the area you currently live could you not relocate to a cheaper area of the country where your wages would be enough to buy your own home? Choose to retrain your career to one that does earn enough?
We all make choices (to a degree) of what we do for a living or where we choose to live at the end of the day - lots of people just get on and do it as well...

No, it wouldn't. We have thought about it but it's not what we want to do. I love living in my town, have lived here all my life, so why should I move just to buy a house? We're saving for a deposit, but it's going to have to be a lot bigger than most peoples.

Buying a house is not the be all and end all for my family. It's just it would have been nice to of had the option of buying one at a reasonble price.

Anyway, this is getting off topic...