It is like a war

Pobby

Rog2,what an amazing post.Thankyou.So much of what you have said reflects many of my own experiences.I bought my first house the same year as you.£9,900 was the price and again we also purchased whaen houses had gone up in price.In fact,the couple sold the house for £1,000 less than they paid for it as they couldn`t keep up the repayments!Negative equity but we didn`t call it that in those days.I was lucky as I had a company Volvo,the first taste of the good life----lol.

Co-op divi,half a crown in the pound!

We also had a council mortgage.We moved to a bungalow in 1978 paying a heady £14,900 at the time.However inflation was now really on the move and my job,a sales manager for a very small firm was attracting 6 monthly pay rises.In 1974 I was earning around £35 a week and by 1980 this had risen to £200.

By 1983 we could have paid off the mortgage with savings.

I agree,if history repeats itself,then we are in for a sharp correction in the housing market.In recent years,property is seen as an asset not unlike any other commodity.Something to profit by.Like all markets,there are booms and busts.

I am coming around to thinking that what is going on is some covert social engineering.Some thing that Thatcher was expert in.Quite what the powers that be are trying to achieve, other than dumbing down,I am unable to fathom out.The next few years will be at the least interesting.

elantan

i'm afraid i dont feel able to comment on this subject but i am very glad it's still being discussed thanks everyone

ZTD

elantan wrote:

i'm afraid i dont feel able to comment on this subject but i am very glad it's still being discussed thanks everyone

Of course you can comment. You have knowledge and experience as well.

Comment away!

Pobby

Reading today that the National Debt Helpline is struggling to cover the amount of phone calls it is getting.As someone refered to me the other day as a doom monger{lol} I am not going to comment much but something seems afoot to me.

Pobby

Just been look at this.totally amazing http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/mortgages/house-prices/article.html?in_article_id=413582&in_page_id=57

Pobby

Not posted here for a while.Well my own private war has started.I am a self employed sales agent.Today i had a phone call from my main principal saying that they are going to put my top customer{and when i say top customer I mean he totally outstrips any other customer} into a house account.Well that`s 8 grand a year worse off!I at least got it deferred to the end of the year but this company provided for me a lot of income.Got to the point that rip off Britain is really taking off!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sophocles_2

I just wanted to stop by and say thank you to Pobby for opening this thread, it has given me a lot to think about and digest. I would like to add my own tuppence worth though.

If the average UK wage is now £27k and the average house price is now £170k where does that leave the mere mortals like me who only earn £15-£20k? Nobody I know earns close to this amount on their own. Both myself and my OH would have to save the equivalent of a really good lottery win just for the deposit on such a property, so as not to be impoverished by huge monthly repayments such a mortgage level would no doubt incur. I don't see how this can be continued without something, somewhere having to give. It's the main reason I am not even entertaining the thought of buying a house just yet. I would love to own my own house, but I will not cut my own throat in order to do so.

felixthecat

LittleL wrote:

Really enjoyed reading that Pobby. You sound very wise (even after a few beers)

I hate the rat race and all that comes with it (DEBT being the biggy). I'm 37 and renting (£600 pcm) and feel really insecure. I think we need to start teaching how to handle money in schools etc...

xx

Littlel has a valid point. Kids today do not seem to know the value of money. Perhaps we should all write to the Department for Education and ask them to add it into the curriculum. try emailing them and ask if they have any plans to make our children more financially astute. They have to answer you. (I know). we could do for finance what Jamie Oliver did for dinners

try info@dfes.gsi.gov.uk and see what they say.

Felix

RibenaBerry_2

Pobby - slightly o/t, but have you looked at whether the Commercial Agents Regulations help at all? I now that they have provisions that give compensation on termination of sales agent agreements, might work with taking away a client...

Skint_Entrepreneur

I think we've lost the plot big style. Some people take up to three holidays a year, fly there adding to global warming, eat more than they should and used to, drive expensive cars and expect to move straight in to nice new middle class neighbourhoods. There is a degree of housing snobbery with some 1st time buyers looking to afford something way beyond their means. You can still buy a 3 bed terrace house in Liverpool for £30K-£45K. Some neighbourhoods might be a bit rough but there again if people's expectations were not so high these same neighbourhoods might be better. I moved to a worse area a few years a go, from a Surrey stockbroker area to East Kent where housing is cheaper. We used to take holidays in the UK, one a year. We have been abroad but not three times a year. In fact we haven't been anywhere for 4 years now. With cars our parents drove old bangers because they didn't have any money (and no credit cards thank god.) All our cars have been 2nd hand. Now people expect to pay £15000 for a brand new one. I didn't used to like paying more than £500!! I am 41, our generation was one of the first to be handed credit cards with little (no) instruction on how to use them since no one had had that degree of credit before. at 18 we lived for the moment, had no guidance and the banks were happy. Well that is now in reverse for me. My daughters will never have credit cards. I feel a turnabout will come in society at the expense of the banks and traders because we are worse off than we have been for 50 years.