The "have a look at this!" thread II

clint_S

Samsonite1 wrote: »

This one is unbelievable - a small bungalow for this price!

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-54265522.html

As someone who lives near-by - this is at least £200k overpriced - it even needs work!

If someone buys this then they need their head checked!

How does anyone afford anything around there. That's at least £700K over priced

bugslet

Samsonite1 wrote: »

This one is unbelievable - a small bungalow for this price!

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-54265522.html

As someone who lives near-by - this is at least £200k overpriced - it even needs work!

If someone buys this then they need their head checked!

How anyone affords anything in the South East is a mystery to me!

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-49648070.html

I particularly like the wall stone effect in picture 7 ( that alone must have wiped 10k off the asking price ).

bouicca21

It's easy to buy in the south east.

1. Sell your soul to the devil (aka an employer).
2. Give up having a life for at least 10 years while you get the mortgage under control.
3. Furnish your house from other people's cast offs and ebay.
4. Pray you won't need expensive maintenance.
4. Find yourself totally bemused by people who say that if you don't have spare money after paying the mortgage and can't afford furniture/white goods/an extension, you can't afford the house, before you realise that they must come from oop north.

bugslet

bouicca21 wrote: »

It's easy to buy in the south east.

1. Sell your soul to the devil (aka an employer).
2. Give up having a life for at least 10 years while you get the mortgage under control.
3. Furnish your house from other people's cast offs and ebay.
4. Pray you won't need expensive maintenance.
4. Find yourself totally bemused by people who say that if you don't have spare money after paying the mortgage and can't afford furniture/white goods/an extension, you can't afford the house, before you realise that they must come from oop north.

Aye lass, that's me from oop North, with a large 3 bed end semi with end garden, new kitchen and bathroom worth 150k. I'm definitely staying up here, I like being bemused by Southerners ( though I secretly hope beyond all hope they suddenly find Runcorn desirable - ha! - and push up prices), new furniture, having a life and being the devil incarnate;).

Seriously though, it is carp trying to get on the housing ladder in the South, unless I was from there originally, I'd stay in the North.

Samsonite1

clint_S wrote: »

How does anyone afford anything around there. That's at least £700K over priced

To some extent, it is about timing and location.

I moved from Wales to the South East and bought my first house in the latter, aged 26. Considering I graduated at age 22, this was not too long a wait in my opinion.

Firstly, the much higher wages meant that mortgages were much more affordable. We bought based on one person being able to comfortably afford the mortgage too so we were not stretching too much.

Buying our first house in the South East is not important actually, the important aspect was having a mortgage affordable by one person, but being able to overpay massively while we had two incomes. When we sold after 4 years, we had paid for a lot of capital. This would have been the same had we stayed in Wales. Also, we sold in the middle of a recession and gained just £2k over the price we paid.

Of course, with low interest rates, we were able to use our sizeable deposit to move into Greater London and get another affordable mortgage on a long term fixed rate. Now London houses do go up quickly so that is where timing comes in - our London house almost doubled in value in 4 years. Our old Sussex house is apparently worth £295k on Zoopla and we paid £220k 10 years ago.

So regarding how people can afford in the South East:

- With low interest rates you could throw lots of money into your property but have an affordable mortgage to build up a good deposit on your next house (in the SE). If you get a 5 year fixed, you may not be able to overpay until the end of the term, although 5 years may give you good visibility of the market and if prices did not do so well, you could just have kept savings instead.

- More common is that as with us - 4 years ago, the houses were not so expensive in outer London, but they are now. As it is relative, we can buy in London due to the increase in value of our own house. If we were outside of London, it would be tough.

- Salaries can be very large in London. Fairly common jobs in IT for example can range from low to high for the same type of job (e.g. £25k to £100+k). If you are willing to take a long commute then you can have the cheap house, big salary and build up your deposit quickly. I had a 2.5 hour commute to London for 4 years (yes 5 hours of travel per day). I do not expect everyone to be willing to do this, but if you are willing, you can improve your housing situation. Thankfully, working from home is becoming the norm for many London jobs so that saves money and commuting time.

Anyway, just my silly thoughts on how people can afford properties in the South East!

I was born in oop North 'n' all

moneyistooshorttomention

bouicca21 wrote: »

It's easy to buy in the south east.

1. Sell your soul to the devil (aka an employer).
2. Give up having a life for at least 10 years while you get the mortgage under control.
3. Furnish your house from other people's cast offs and ebay.
4. Pray you won't need expensive maintenance.
4. Find yourself totally bemused by people who say that if you don't have spare money after paying the mortgage and can't afford furniture/white goods/an extension, you can't afford the house, before you realise that they must come from oop north.

Mygawd - is that a first? - but I've agreed with you Bouicca...:rotfl:

But the south-west isnt much better frankly. There was many a time when I thought "I'm paying a very high price for being single - maybe I ought to get married to the next available man (ie rather than holding out for Mr Right)?".

Which did get followed swiftly by commonsense saying "Remember the divorce statistics (check). Remember what happened to women you know that did just that (check) and Hold Out for Mr Right - even though it does mean lower-level housing than you thought you'd have:(".

Of course these days - I'm watching even married couples have the same sort of housing problem that single me had several decades back. Cue for very mixed feelings of sympathy for them on the one hand and "Now you know how single people of my era (ie shoulda been able to buy the Starter House in the 1970s - ie my 20s) felt" on the other hand.

Cakeguts

Lummoxley wrote: »

Must get hot when cooking in the kitchen, picture 2.

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-60132791.html

It gets hot taking photos in it. Note the windows and the door.

Cakeguts

bugslet wrote: »

How anyone affords anything in the South East is a mystery to me!

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-49648070.html

I particularly like the wall stone effect in picture 7 ( that alone must have wiped 10k off the asking price ).

All that exposed stone is also called "not insulated."

brodawel

Lummoxley wrote: »

Must get hot when cooking in the kitchen, picture 2.

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-60132791.html

Yuk! that's one of the worst modern kitchens I've seen in ages, what ever were they thinking. I don't like the bathroom sink either.

cazmanian_minx

Samsonite1 wrote: »

This one is unbelievable - a small bungalow for this price!

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-54265522.html

As someone who lives near-by - this is at least £200k overpriced - it even needs work!

If someone buys this then they need their head checked!

I think the clue is in the '73ft frontage' and 'generous plot size' - I reckon that'll go to a developer who'll apply for permission to demolish the bungalow and put two houses up.