House Price Crash 5

Hereward

Alan_M wrote:

Out of curiosity I did a search in the Cambridge area on line, there are an awful lot of prefabs (trailer park) type properties for sale arund there, can you get a mrtgage for this kind of thing? I didn't think that was possible.

It is certainly an eye opener, I've spent all my adult life in and around South London/Surrey and as a result you get used to the silly prices people market properties for, It must be nearly 16 years since you could buy anything around here for under £100K even a studio flat.

Just shows how far out of whack we are around here I suppose.

I don't live in the Cambridge area, that part of the county is far too much like London for property prices, I live in the Cambridgeshire Fens (the only bit of the Fens that is actually bellow sea level!).

There are a few Prefab properties for sale around here (mostly £60,000 or less) and you are right you can't get a mortgage on these types of property. If you had the cash then you could buy the prefab and knock it down to get your self a reasonable size plot to build your own home. The prefab buildings here, where built not long after WW2 to house the poor souls who lost their homes: the majority of these properties have yet to be rebuilt, hence the "temporary" homes have become somewhat permanent and mixed in with the normal property stock.

CB1979_2

sm9ai wrote:

The problem with houses is there is usually that high starting price.

Where I live you could get a 1 bedroom flat for around £95 - £100 k

And then a 2/3 bed house for around £125k - £130k

So to be honest when we are talking this high 30k not really much difference.

But hey, 27k(although the average where I live is probably near £20 - £25k) couldn't even buy the 1 bed flat so its all irrelevant.

but 3.5-4 x multiple is about right, so if you're after a starter home, surely a 1 bedder that you CAN afford is better than getting a 2/3 bedder that you CAN'T afford?

that seems to be the biggest problem is that people who want on the ladder aren't prepared to be on the bottom rung to start with.

obviously just my opinion.

Dead_Eye_Jones

talksalot81 wrote:

well £27k seems a pretty decent salary to me and the best I can afford is a run down terrace or appartment in a questionable area...

Nah, you're wrong, I bought a nice starter 3 bed family semi in a lovely area on about your wage. London suburb actually. There are places in my road starting at about 150k for 2 bed terrace, depending on size and state of repair they go up to about 230k. Nice big gardens, 20mins from central london, safe, green, you really can have your cake and eat it. Its a myth that there are no affordable homes, Im glad I didnt belive the hype and went out there to find my place. Unfortunately it does take effort - and I think thats the problem most lazy Brits face. Why go out looking for those little pockets of ideality when I could drink through my weekly wage down the local boozer whilst waiting for the government to sort my life out.

A typical example is the 250k 2 bed flats in my town that seem to be selling fast, I guess people see the fancy adverts, get sucked in by the swish marketing and financial deals, what it seems that people dont realise or dont take the time to look up is that if you dig a bit further you can buy a whole house for so much less. I guess people never see past those flat prices "well if a flat costs that much a house will cost..." - shame really.

The other big gap in this affordibility debate is DEPOSIT!! People seem to think that affordability = 3x salary. Wrong. Affordability is actually 3x Salary + DEPOSIT!! The trouble is, and this is from experiences in other threads, people seem to think its impossible to save up tens of thousands of pounds. "What? Of course a mobile phone is a necessity!" or "I go to my council gym for only £15 a month so thats OK" or "everyone has an iPod" or "You expect me to give up drinking/smoking - get real". Yet as any MSE will tell you, giving up these things can save thousands and thousands a year. I managed to build up a huge deposit over 5 years or so whilst still enjoying life. Its sad that people are just sooo brainwashed into thinking they need money to have a 'good' life.

People on this site manage to wipe out debts of tens of thousands of pounds, and they are working against interest. Of course this can be done the other way. And it doesnt have to be that extreme either. The real key is to stop the waste, just some simple MSE steps can really help get that fund booming. I remeber chatting to a smoker friend moaning about how he could never save the 10k he needed (his target home was about 80k - not in London lol!). Yet he had spent around £5 a day on smokes for years, a quick calculation infact showed he had probably spent about 15k on smoking since he took it up (about 2k a year at its max!), I just feel that's so typical, moaning about how impossible it was for him, how he was so poor, how the government had ruined his life, yet the money was there yet he chose not to put the effort in to actually save it. He blamed everyone but himself - ultimately it had been his choice - a house, or a smoke. Wow - what a tough choice....

My folks were only able to buy a place through compromise and sacrifice, its actually quite normal for families to cram into small homes, to live in an area outside of your primary choice, to give up on 'essential' luxuries. If you were lucky enough to escape this in a plush middle class upbringing then lucky old you - but now its time for reality to bite, if you arent wealthy you cant live that lifestyle - thats reality. You need to either earn more or make your choice - do you want a house or a cushy lifestyle - you cant have both.

sm9ai

3.5 - 4 x multiple is about right, but its nearer 4 - 5x in my area.

Also the problem with not wanting to start on the bottom rung. For me this problems exists as through Uni my debts have grown huge so I have never been able to buy. However as I move jobs I have moved into nicer houses (rental ladder perhaps?).

So now as I have had to stay renting and been unable to buy I now live in a reasonable large house, so there is practically no way I could downsize to a 2 bed flat.

lisyloo

You are absolutely right.

Too many people these days think they are entitled to certain things without having to work hard or save up.

Massive generalisation coming up - but the Polish and Asian people that come over here really show up the lazy Brits for what they are.

Polish people that want to save work 7 days a week.
They go home to Poland having earned £20K in a year through hard work and frugal living.

I'm not saying that everyone should make themselves miserable eating baked beans on toast, but people should expect to have to work hard, make sacrifices and wait for things.
Not have them on a plate tomorrow as lots of credit card/loan companies would like you to believe.

Rant over.

Alan_M_2

Dead_Eye_Jones wrote:

Nah, you're wrong, I bought a nice starter 3 bed family semi in a lovely area on about your wage. London suburb actually. There are places in my road starting at about 150k for 2 bed terrace, depending on size and state of repair they go up to about 230k. Nice big gardens, 20mins from central london, safe, green, you really can have your cake and eat it. Its a myth that there are no affordable homes, Im glad I didnt belive the hype and went out there to find my place. Unfortunately it does take effort - and I think thats the problem most lazy Brits face. Why go out looking for those little pockets of ideality when I could drink through my weekly wage down the local boozer whilst waiting for the government to sort my life out.

A typical example is the 250k 2 bed flats in my town that seem to be selling fast, I guess people see the fancy adverts, get sucked in by the swish marketing and financial deals, what it seems that people dont realise or dont take the time to look up is that if you dig a bit further you can buy a whole house for so much less. I guess people never see past those flat prices "well if a flat costs that much a house will cost..." - shame really.

The other big gap in this affordibility debate is DEPOSIT!! People seem to think that affordability = 3x salary. Wrong. Affordability is actually 3x Salary + DEPOSIT!! The trouble is, and this is from experiences in other threads, people seem to think its impossible to save up tens of thousands of pounds. "What? Of course a mobile phone is a necessity!" or "I go to my council gym for only £15 a month so thats OK" or "everyone has an iPod" or "You expect me to give up drinking/smoking - get real". Yet as any MSE will tell you, giving up these things can save thousands and thousands a year. I managed to build up a huge deposit over 5 years or so whilst still enjoying life. Its sad that people are just sooo brainwashed into thinking they need money to have a 'good' life.

People on this site manage to wipe out debts of tens of thousands of pounds, and they are working against interest. Of course this can be done the other way. And it doesnt have to be that extreme either. The real key is to stop the waste, just some simple MSE steps can really help get that fund booming. I remeber chatting to a smoker friend moaning about how he could never save the 10k he needed (his target home was about 80k - not in London lol!). Yet he had spent around £5 a day on smokes for years, a quick calculation infact showed he had probably spent about 15k on smoking since he took it up (about 2k a year at its max!), I just feel that's so typical, moaning about how impossible it was for him, how he was so poor, how the government had ruined his life, yet the money was there yet he chose not to put the effort in to actually save it. He blamed everyone but himself - ultimately it had been his choice - a house, or a smoke. Wow - what a tough choice....

My folks were only able to buy a place through compromise and sacrifice, its actually quite normal for families to cram into small homes, to live in an area outside of your primary choice, to give up on 'essential' luxuries. If you were lucky enough to escape this in a plush middle class upbringing then lucky old you - but now its time for reality to bite, if you arent wealthy you cant live that lifestyle - thats reality. You need to either earn more or make your choice - do you want a house or a cushy lifestyle - you cant have both.

Interesting post, what part of London are you in where 2 bed houses are available at £150K....

Genuinely interested to know.

Alan_M_2

lisyloo wrote:

You are absolutely right.

Too many people these days think they are entitled to certain things without having to work hard or save up.

Massive generalisation coming up - but the Polish and Asian people that come over here really show up the lazy Brits for what they are.

Polish people that want to save work 7 days a week.
They go home to Poland having earned £20K in a year through hard work and frugal living.

I'm not saying that everyone should make themselves miserable eating baked beans on toast, but people should expect to have to work hard, make sacrifices and wait for things.
Not have them on a plate tomorrow as lots of credit card/loan companies would like you to believe.

Rant over.

To an extent you're right. The difference being the Pole will return home and the £20K will buy an apartment/small house outright.

It's the equivalent of a Brit going abroad for a year and earning £200K, then being allowed to remove all the money from the country in which they earned it without penalty or tax.

Not quite the same when put in those terms, but I'm sure people would be falling overthemselves to do it if it were possible, hence why we've had 500,000 Poles enter the UK since their entry into the EU, do you blame them? Hell I don't, it's just a great big gravy train here, you'd be mad to turn it down.

lynzpower

heres a few Alan

Ilford 130
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-6078018.rsp?pa_n=1&tr_t=buy

Abbey wood 145
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-13740907.rsp?pa_n=1&tr_t=buy

thamesmead 154
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-13936879.rsp?pa_n=2&tr_t=buy

thamesmead 155
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-13859320.rsp?pa_n=2&tr_t=buy

mottingham 159
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-13833517.rsp?pa_n=3&tr_t=buy

plumstead 165
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-6198525.rsp?pa_n=3&tr_t=buy
croydon 168
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-5613951.rsp?pa_n=1&tr_t=buy

eltham 170
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-5047344.rsp?pa_n=4&tr_t=buy

All of these are 2 bedroom HOUSES one of thems a 3 I think.

manhattan

CB1979 wrote:

that seems to be the biggest problem is that people who want on the ladder aren't prepared to be on the bottom rung to start with.

obviously just my opinion.

just remember that there are ftb'r families too! and that a one bed bottom rung property would be of no use.

Alan_M_2

Well the first two look a little unpleasant but the rest seem reasonable, I have an idea where the property in Croydon is, If you moved it a mile away it would probably add £100K.

I figure it's the area that keeps the prices reasonable, and out of this bunch I only know Croydon.

So, on that basis, what's wrong with Thamesmead? It seems like an ideal location for anyone working in London and very reasonable prices, is it a toilet there or something or will you not find any Jonses living there to keep up with?

I owned a house in Coulsdon quite a few years ago, it's an OK area, not posh, but not crappy, jut middle of the road and a pleasant place to live. The house behind ours was quite old an stood on a fair bit of land, it was sold to developers, demolished and had some sort of half way house for young offenders built their, our house was burgled within a week of it opening. Nice.

So I understand why people don't want to live in unpleasant areas, it's not only snobbish thing, I work for whatever I have and I begrudge having it stolen/vandalised/generally abused.

If that makes me a snob, then I'm a snob, I just don't want to live anywhere where I have to worry about where I park my car, what's in it, will it be there when I get up in the morning etc.

Reading between the lines there are many people on here that would suggest I'm some sort of frivolous selfish whinger for actually wanting that....bizarre if you ask me.

Now I do happen to live somewhere where I really wouldn't choose to buy because the prices are so high (but the rent is very reasonable in comparison) but it's a really nice area, in a cul de sac, where I have enough room to park four cars and know everything will be intact when I wake up in the morning. I like that, and I'm pretty comfortable with it all actually, but I have financial interests elswhere so I'm actually much less bothered about where and when I actually buy something.

There's a great deal of animosity from a few people who are unable to buy at the moment, being priced out of the market.....so invest in something else until prices drop or your income reaches a level where you can buy what you want, or what you can tollerate as the case may be.

One thing I don't understand is the panic to be in the market no matter what the cost, that's a little short sighted, so if you can't buy right now, what are worrying about? Theres very little you can do about it, so chill out, save what you can and sooner or later the economy will enter a different phase of the infinite cycle.