House ownership - Selling yourself into a lifetime of servitude

SandC

There's a thread on the home buying and renting forum where someone is whinging about the £7.50 he spent on fuel for the lawn mower and that he's tried to get it back from his landlord as he believes it is his responsibility. I mean, is this what general renting is about these days? Tenants think they live in a house where they spend no money whatsoever on anything vaguely house related?

debtistheft

The landlord should have a gardener to maintain the grounds. Who the hell does he think his tenant is, free help? What next, will the tenant be expected to rewire the house or fit a new boiler?

It's outrageous. The landlord in this case is an idiot. Just like most home owners.

Londonsu

debtistheft wrote: »

Jeeze, can you people not read earlier posts?

I cant be !!!!!d typing it all again. Do a search for my username and 'downsizing'. Basically, for those who haven't the skills to search... Downsizing is the favourite for the idiot home owner who uses the refrain "My home is my pension". One wonders if they live in a mansion house and intend moving to the gatehouse? No, they own a nice, but modest 3 bed family home and intend to downsize to a nice but modest 2 bed home. By the time they have paid out to the estate agents and other assorted parasites there is notheing left.

Remember, to downsize you need to sell a house and then buy one. Not cheap. Certainly not as cheap as I could downsize:

Me: "Hi landlord, here is my notice on this 3 bed house. We don't need the space anymore".
Landlord: "Oh, that's a shame, you were a good tenant".

One month Later:

Me: Ah, our new cottage. Lovely.

Alternative for downsizing home owner:

Idiot: "Eh by gum our Enid, we need 'tut downside whatever that means. Ma pidgeon feed don't come cheap our lass.

One year Later:

Idiot: "Eh by gum our lass, we finally sold our 'ouse and moved from that soot infested louse ridden northern hell hole to a smaller house in a different and even scummier part of the northern hell hole".

Idiots wife: "Eh by gum but we took a hit on the housing sale. 10% reduction 'cos we were desprit, that 2% estate agent cost, the £2000 legal costs, the stamp duty on our new place, etc. etc.

Idiot's wife: "By 'Eck Our Eric. We're worse off after the move than before it!!

Idiot: "By gum Enid, Your right. We should have listened to that good looking, erudite chap on't 'tinternet all those years ago. No doubt he is on a yatch in the Med right now. Cheeky Southern superior bleeder.

And so ends this true story.

well I will tell you another true story

We bought via a mortage a flat for 25k in the 80s we sold it in 2010 for 250k.

Even taking off the amount we ended up paying via mortgage and interest rates we were still over 200k in profit.

We downsized, but downsizing does not mean just moving into a to bed property from a 3 bed property does it?

Downsizing for a lot of people means not having to pay a premuim for living in such places as London, or living in a school catchment area.

We moved to the Isle of Wight and bought a property for 125k (say 130k if you take fees and everything into account) for cash.

Now thats not actually downsizing as we changed from a two bed flat with courtyard garden to a two bed semi detached cottage with a dining room (that we never had before) and a 100ft Garden therefore we have much more space (except when the rellys come over for a free holiday:p)


That left is with over a 100k in our bank account .

So we have 100k in our BA from the house sale approx another 70k in savings (due to a low mortgage repayment when we were earning good money in London) plus the fact that we are both working and getting not too shabby wages for the Island.

So we have a house we own outright, savings in the bank and salaries that cover the day to day running costs of the house and gives us a rather nice life

So by 'eck our Eric we are a lot better off now we sold our flat.

I would agree that we were very very lucky and not everyone will be in a position to do the same

Of course we could have blown all the money from our flat sale plus our savings and bought a bigger property instead of our modest two bed semi that would have been idiotic, but we cannot be called idiots by you or anyone else for doing what we did.

debtistheft

Londonsu wrote: »

well I will tell you another true story

We bought via a mortage a flat for 25k in the 80s we sold it in 2010 for 250k.

Even taking off the amount we ended up paying via mortgage and interest rates we were still over 200k in profit.

We downsized, but downsizing does not mean just moving into a to bed property from a 3 bed property does it?

Downsizing for a lot of people means not having to pay a premuim for living in such places as London, or living in a school catchment area.

We moved to the Isle of Wight and bought a property for 125k (say 130k if you take fees and everything into account) for cash.

Now thats not actually downsizing as we changed from a two bed flat with courtyard garden to a two bed semi detached cottage with a dining room (that we never had before) and a 100ft Garden therefore we have much more space (except when the rellys come over for a free holiday:p)


That left is with over a 100k in our bank account .

So we have 100k in our BA from the house sale approx another 70k in savings (due to a low mortgage repayment when we were earning good money in London) plus the fact that we are both working and getting not too shabby wages for the Island.

So we have a house we own outright, savings in the bank and salaries that cover the day to day running costs of the house and gives us a rather nice life

So by 'eck our Eric we are a lot better off now we sold our flat.

I would agree that we were very very lucky and not everyone will be in a position to do the same

Of course we could have blown all the money from our flat sale plus our savings and bought a bigger property instead of our modest two bed semi that would have been idiotic, but we cannot be called idiots by you or anyone else for doing what we did.

So your advice for prosepective house buyers is to travel back in time to 1980, buy a house in one place, live there for most of your working life and then move away from all your friends and family to a cheaper area, where you don't know anyone, when you retire.

Well, it sounds simple enough. That's my argument dead in the water. Idiot.

IveSeenTheLight

nembot wrote: »

It seems to work perfectly well on the continent, with statistics suggesting a better quality of life.

I can accept that the continent has a higher level of renters.
They do also have owners
The correlation to the choice between renting and buying in relation to quality of life is a bit of a stretch for me, probably a lot more to do with location, work, weather etc.

Still, you've yet to show someone who chose to rent and invest elsewhere as a better financial outcome.

Let's try this
Here's a link to some rich lists, presumably all have invested.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-13325999
consider who are owners and who are renters?
Is there anyone who chooses to rent as it's better financially?

On a more global field, from the Forbes to 100 rich list.
http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/news/article.html?in_article_id=418243&in_page_id=2

who are the renters?

IveSeenTheLight

debtistheft wrote: »

These people whould have been better off renting, especially the first one. If she sold to let she would have been in a great position:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7909354.stm

"If she sold to let", but your premise is not to buy in the first place......

IveSeenTheLight

debtistheft wrote: »

The landlord should have a gardener to maintain the grounds. Who the hell does he think his tenant is, free help? What next, will the tenant be expected to rewire the house or fit a new boiler?

It's outrageous. The landlord in this case is an idiot. Just like most home owners.

When you rent, there is a responsability to look after the property.
If you choose to rent with a garden, what is so wrong with cutting the grass every couple of weeks (in summer time)

I'm not advocating rewiring the house or fitting new boilers etc, but come one.
Would you expect the landlord to provide washing / ironing / cleaning / cooking services etc? Get real

debtistheft

IveSeenTheLight wrote: »

I can accept that the continent has a higher level of renters.
They do also have owners
The correlation to the choice between renting and buying in relation to quality of life is a bit of a stretch for me, probably a lot more to do with location, work, weather etc.

Still, you've yet to show someone who chose to rent and invest elsewhere as a better financial outcome.

Let's try this
Here's a link to some rich lists, presumably all have invested.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-13325999
consider who are owners and who are renters?
Is there anyone who chooses to rent as it's better financially?

On a more global field, from the Forbes to 100 rich list.
http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/news/article.html?in_article_id=418243&in_page_id=2

who are the renters?

So what you are saying here is that you have to be a billionaire to easily afford to buy a house without running the risk associated with borrowing a vast amount of money. I totally agree with you. However, as most of us on here and in the wider UK society are NOT on the Forbes rich list then what you are therefore saying is that it makes financial sense to rent rather than buy. I knew you would see sense eventually. Non Idiot.

Londonsu

debtistheft wrote: »

So your advice for prosepective house buyers is to travel back in time to 1980, buy a house in one place, live there for most of your working life and then move away from all your friends and family to a cheaper area, where you don't know anyone, when you retire.

Well, it sounds simple enough. That's my argument dead in the water. Idiot.

Oh dont be sooo stupid

Move to an area where I dont know anyone do me a favour mate
I have a better social life know more people here on the island then I EVER did in London.

As READ MY POST I have not retired I am still fully employed

As for family again read my post, I see more of my family then I did in London - they all come down to see me and due to the fact that we have ferries here I can go and see them

You also DONT need to travel back to the 80s to do what I did plenty of people who bought in the 90s early 2000s are doing what I did - I know at least 4 people who are doing just that

debtistheft

Londonsu wrote: »

Oh dont be sooo stupid

Move to an area where I dont know anyone do me a favour mate
I have a better social life know more people here on the island then I EVER did in London.

As READ MY POST I have not retired I am still fully employed

As for family again read my post, I see more of my family then I did in London - they all come down to see me and due to the fact that we have ferries here I can go and see them

You also DONT need to travel back to the 80s to do what I did plenty of people who bought in the 90s early 2000s are doing what I did - I know at least 4 people who are doing just that

OK, I'll set the dial on my TARDIS to the 90's or early 2000's (i.e. Pre massive boom). It will save fuel not having to go all of the way back to the 80's. It also saves me from hearing katchagoogoo and Billy Joel records on the Radio. I might even pop up to that smog-ridden northern slum Madchester and visit Fac 51.