Do you get fed up with the spin?

kebl0826

On the subject of spin, estate agents cannot be absolved of the blame on that front. Take for instance the estate agents guide to writing property adverts:

"Penthouse" (Translation: on the top floor)
"Luxury" (Translation: has laminated flooring)
"Offered in good decorative order" (Translation: needs refurbishment)
"Ideal FTB" (Translation: cheapest pile of cr*p we have avaliable)
"Under offer" (Translation: Sold, or Sold STC but please offer more so we can gazump)
"Short walk to the station" (Translation: a 40 minute hike)
"...... Village" (Translation: trendy part of town)
"Large flat" (Translation: size of two broom cupboards rather than one)

I'm sure there's more that can be added. EA's are the scum of the earth, without doubt. The same can be said of letting agents!

do_it_today!

ohhhhhhhhhh dont get me started on estate agents!!! whilst most of us are suffering from these extortionet prices they are gleefully rubbing their hands and keep hiking and hiking the prices. I find soo laughable the way they talk to con people presumerably mainly first time buyers into buying in my area! yes there is future regeneration and investment but right now its still not that great but the sh*t that comes out of their mouths! OMG! the other really concerning thing whilst everyone is scrabling for their own home is the fast decline of affordable council/social housing- so much ex-local authority stock is now on the market in my area but what about everywhere else? what will happen when the bubble bursts and even MORE low cost council housing will be needed?!? The goal post has definitely moved solutions in the next crash will be different - maybe the banks will become the landlords? I could imagine that people may be repossessed but still live in the property? the numbers are likely to be MUCH higher than before who knows

GreyPilgrim

Depresses me slightly. I'd always closed my mind to mortages because of the debt, but now the debt has gone we're saving money. "Saving for a deposit" was the original idea, but now the thought of having a decent sized deposit seems as unattainable as getting debt free did five / six years ago.

True, we stuck with it and managed to get debt free, but the carrot being dangled in front of me was always that once we WERE debt free, we could start enjoying life a bit more. Now it seems we have to continue scrimping to be able to get on the property ladder.

I know rent is dead money, and that you might as well be paying it and getting hard equity in return....but do you ever think - "screw it, is there really any point in taking on a debt that is so huge I'm going to have to live like a pauper until I'm almost ready to retire, and THEN i'll be able to enjoy life?"

The spin on continued house prices may be true, but if you take out a huge mortgage and then the markets crash, you're screwed.

Paula_anne

We rent our 2 bed semi in a small villiage from a housing association for cheap, i'm hoping we'll have the chance to buy this house one day, i see this is the only way we'll ever be able to afford to get on the property ladder.

lynzpower

well im selling my flat to rent.

yes, I could just about pay increased mortgage costs, but why would I want to?

weve found a gorgeous house to rent which is cheaper than the SO flat on IO mortgage in a nicer area, better connected and bigger and we are saving 350pcm to boot.

buying property isnt moneysaving.

We are going to save & invest the equity and our savings somewhere ( when I fathom where!) and one day buy a peice of land or a business or both somewhere hot. It pains me to see so many people so anxious about owning a home. Personally if I could rent a housing association flat, Id be in 7th heaven, security of tenure, no chance of reposession or eviction ( unless you are a nightmare tenant) and help with the rent from housing benefit if you become unable to work, and all your repairs done.

Personally buying has a lot of negatives, lots.

Verbatim

When I first bought in 1979 in a !!!!!! part of London I paid 18k for a terrcaed house. I'd saved for years and my parents helprd. I had 3 bedrooms and 2 lodgers. I earned about the same as Pobby said around £7k. However inflation was rampant and interest rates hit 15%. And direct taxation was higher then with income tax and NI conts taking 33% of gross income. Another reason why prices have increased and repayments seem "affordable" (to whom?) is because interest rates have been low and stable for the last 9years ish.

I saw in the observer yetserday and elsewhere that the overdebtedness in the US is causing a weakening of the dollar. If the Chinese stop buying dollars, they have needed US consumers to keep buying their exports so have done so to prop up the dollar, then the US economy is likely to go into recession or worse. Cue world wide recession, unemployment and mass repossesions and bankcruptcies here. Then house prices will fall and everyyone will wait to see how far they're falling rather than risk buying and then being in negative equity if they fall farther.

ZTD

GreyPilgrim wrote:

I know rent is dead money, and that you might as well be paying it and getting hard equity in return....but do you ever think - "screw it, is there really any point in taking on a debt that is so huge I'm going to have to live like a pauper until I'm almost ready to retire, and THEN i'll be able to enjoy life?"

It's not dead money... and this "getting hard equity in return" makes the major assumption the housing will out-perform every other asset class for the next 25 years.

Which it won't.

do_it_today!

GreyPilgrim,
if you are happy where you renting then keep doing it. there seem to be two conflicting maxims of modern life enjoy/buy now & pay later or struggle struggle work hard and then really relax later...
if only we could find a happy compremise between the two.
Is it possible for you to have some comforts yet still save some money?
however if you see it as an all or nothing exercise and you really dont want to then dont do it life is too short afterall!

Pobby

lynzpower wrote:

well im selling my flat to rent.

yes, I could just about pay increased mortgage costs, but why would I want to?

weve found a gorgeous house to rent which is cheaper than the SO flat on IO mortgage in a nicer area, better connected and bigger and we are saving 350pcm to boot.

buying property isnt moneysaving.

We are going to save & invest the equity and our savings somewhere ( when I fathom where!) and one day buy a peice of land or a business or both somewhere hot. It pains me to see so many people so anxious about owning a home. Personally if I could rent a housing association flat, Id be in 7th heaven, security of tenure, no chance of reposession or eviction ( unless you are a nightmare tenant) and help with the rent from housing benefit if you become unable to work, and all your repairs done.

Personally buying has a lot of negatives, lots.

Wise words from the ever delightful Lynz.In your position I would do the same,end of the day IO mortgages are relly rentals.The bank buys it and you rent it from them!So lets have a look,you are benefitting from equity,a nice bit of money in the bank,a nicer property,and rent that is making you £350 a month better off.A no brainer to me.I for one would not bet on prices going up that much over the short to mid term.Go gal!

GreyPilgrim

I think I'm just a sucker for thinking that "every other responsible person seems to have a mortgage so it must be the right thing to do"

I always thought the same thing about debt - that everyone else was financially organised and it was only me that had messed up.

Maybe renting isn't that bad. Would it make me a bad person to stay renting, save the money anyway, wait for the market to crash and then buy a seven bedroom house at a knockdown price with all the money I'd saved?:rolleyes: