Hard up homeowners should be selling up.

homelessskilledworker

I have been pondering over a conversation I had with some not to close friends who live in my old haunt in south london. Like many others they are having a stinker of a time right now, real down to the last penny stuff most months. both were working five years ago, now he is working full time with little overtime now and she is doing a little part time.
All day it was me me me, how this was difficult and how that was difficult. But you looked around the wonderfull home they had with all of it's furnishings and mod cons and I though hold on a minute!. I was not living like this, and to be honest I am not so sick with worry about feeding myself or paying bills. If life really is that difficult for them, and by all accounts it has been for a while, why do they not sell the house.

I am pretty certain they could have £200k plus in equity, they would probably claim £250k plus being deluded property !!!!!! worshippers. They have enough money there to pay about 15 years rent without even touching their wages.

Look, I know if they want to fight for their home its fine. But there are all kinds of sob stories out there where some are in the same postion and building up debt and they are sitting on a mountain of equity.

Times are hard now, and with these austerity cutbacks we should not be wasting welfare money when people could be paying their own way. afrer all we do have a huge rental market out there, nobody has a god given right to own.

That's what I think anyway

ess0two

Who's gonna buy their houses?

Loughton_Monkey

What we have here (probably) is a very 'normal' inability for someone to live within their means.

It is not for us to 'preach' what people like this should do - sell their house and rent - or stay there. That's up to them. All I can say is that they will "reap what they sew".

Like everybody, I saw 'good' times and 'bad' times when I worked. But overall I lived well within my means and saved hard. That's why I could retire early. If this couple continue to pay their mortgage, and spend everything else, then they will retire on a big amount of equity. Fine! Up to them whether they sell it and live on the equity.

I suspect these so-called 'mobile home' parks are the stamping gorund of such people. Sort of 'clever' enough to buy their own house, but 'dim' enough to spend all their cash and ignore pensions/savings/investments.

michaels

Agree - some can be bothered to budger, others can't - is this anything new?

Loughton_Monkey wrote: »

What we have here (probably) is a very 'normal' inability for someone to live within their means.

It is not for us to 'preach' what people like this should do - sell their house and rent - or stay there. That's up to them. All I can say is that they will "reap what they sew".

homelessskilledworker

ess0two wrote: »

Who's gonna buy their houses?

There is no problem there at all, there is buyer for every house in the UK right now, the seller has just got to accept that he cannot get what he might of got back in 2007 and drop the price.

Of course he(the seller) does not have to sell at any price or if he does not want to. But what I am saying is that people such as the ones I am talking about should not be able to get away with playing the sympathy card, and most definitely should not be able to cry victim and claim any kind of welfare money.

Even with a huge haircut on their property they will have over £200k to get them through the hard times approaching, most people can only dream of that kind of security.

nollag2006

Sounds like a great plan to me - anything that improves already robust rental demand is only a good thing for rent increases

Loanranger

Sounds like a bad case of envy.
What business is it of yours whether these friends have equity in their property?

MrRee_2

Plenty of people claiming that they are now 'Hard Up' ..... it's a popular cry, an in fashion statement - it's 'chic' to claim to be struggling.

Not many people are actually struggling to put food on the table ... those who say they are, between puffs on a ciggie, mistaken!

They think that SKY TV, ciggies, drink and clubbing are all essentials which the tax payer should be funding for them - as they pop another sprog out into the council flat.

It is as it always has been ..... scum living off the hard working - it should STOP!

Rant over, stand down everyone :-)

RenovationMan

If these people really have that much equity in their home then it's highly unlikely that they could find a rental property that is cheaper than their home. Practically everyone is impacted in a recession and you just need to tighten your belt and cut out any unnecessary waste. They seem to be keeping their head above water, so panicking and selling up isn't the solution. It's comparable to amputating a leg to solve an ingrowing toe nail.

The couple need to sit down with a list of their outgoings and trim the fat. Get rid of Sky, go PAYG on mobile phones, go for walks in the countryside instead of walks to the pub & restaurants, etc. If they are real difficulties then they need to speak to their creditors and perhaps go interest only on the mortgage and try to negotiate better interest rates on their debts.

There are plenty of things you can do to keep your head above water.

tyllwyd

And it isn't as if selling up is a low cost option - by the time you've paid the estate agent, solictors, removal man, even without buying you've paid out a lot of money. If you are already living in a house you like, and you've got all your furniture etc sorted out, it might well be best to extend the term of your mortgage as far as possible or go interest only, rather than selling in a panic.

dtsazza

Loanranger wrote: »

Sounds like a bad case of envy.
What business is it of yours whether these friends have equity in their property?

The original post was in the context of whether people in that situation ought to get some sort of benefits or not.

So every taxpayer has a reasonable say in whether public funds go to help those with a six-figure net wealth.

(And in the OP's specific case, if they're complaining to him he likely has a personal involvement in the issue too!)