Remember Fergus Wilson?

Graham_Devon

Mr._Pricklepants wrote: »

Yeah yeah, he got 'lucky'







Mr. Wilson risked, invested, went through a difficult time and is now reaping the reward of what I can imagine were many difficult years since 2008 when the crash came around.
I remember several threads on here full of glee from the usual moaners, groaners, doomers, worriers and do-nothingers scoffing at the Wilsons' misfortune.
As always, the doomers been proved wrong.
All the best to Mr. and Mrs. Wilson. :T

So you are happy to support a man who has had everything thrown at him in the way of support, and still goes on to say how brilliant it is that there is a shortage of housing and young people just have to get it into their heads that they can't have a home?

Bit like a fat bloke in poor areas Africa sitting there with a mountain of rice claiming how great it is theres a rice shortage as everyone will have to pay him more now.

You;'d just respond "we should admire him!"

grizzly1911

Just hope HMRC are all over him like a rash too.

Why couldn't the lender (s) simply appoint administrators (at the crux point) rather than keep propping them up to run down the book? If a big proportion is LA/HB long term overspill why couldn't management be transferred into a local housing Association?

If it is a single lender (sufficient to bring it down) with this level of restructured debt on it's books why isn't one of the regulators involved?

ILW

Graham_Devon wrote: »

So you are happy to support a man who has had everything thrown at him in the way of support, and still goes on to say how brilliant it is that there is a shortage of housing and young people just have to get it into their heads that they can't have a home?

Bit like a fat bloke in poor areas Africa sitting there with a mountain of rice claiming how great it is theres a rice shortage as everyone will have to pay him more now.

You;'d just respond "we should admire him!"

Be honest, if you had thought of it and had the bottle to do what he did, you would have. But you didn't.
Thats what really irks.

Graham_Devon

ILW wrote: »

Be honest, if you had thought of it and had the bottle to do what he did, you would have. But you didn't.
Thats what really irks.

I am being completely honest, and no, that's not my issue with him.

My issue, as I have said is people making out he is some kind of genuis. People celebrating this style of business, which would under other circumstances be bust by now, and people not giving a damn about the tenants.

Seriously. He has no where to go with this business. The lender can't move, he can't sell. What happens to the tenants should Mr or Mrs Wilson fail for whatever reason to run this business?

Who's going to want to buy it or take it over?

There are 700 families out there in these houses. He can't sell for the price they want. He can't sell en masse as it would again, break the business. He's well over the point at which he wanted to sell up. So what happens as they get older and older to these 700 families should anything go wrong?

Taxpayer steps in AGAIN after he's creamed it for all it's worth?

You can take issue with something without being jealous. This seems more a cop out line to any questioning or discussion. Simply state "oh, your jealous" and dispense with everythoing that's been stated.

To have someone with such immense greed and disregard for everyone else held up as some kind of messiah by Hamish will bring disagreement.

Mr._Pricklepants

Graham_Devon wrote: »

My issue, as I have said is people making out he is some kind of genuis. People celebrating this style of business, which would under other circumstances be bust by now, and people not giving a damn about the tenants.

I don't think they are geniuses, and yes they got lucky. But luck just doesn't come around, you have to make your own luck. They do seem to have a nose for a good deal, and the cojones, drive and attitude to pull it off.
One could also apply the shortchanged rule of "don't do anything as interest might rise, and even if they don't, something really really bad might happen". But I'm doubtful such an attitude would lead you anywhere in life.

Here's a quote from Daily Mail, pre-crash:

After snapping up a four-storey house in South-East London at auction for £44,000, he noticed 'for sale' boards outside the property next door. So he called the estate agents to ask the price.
"It's £58,000," came the reply. Mr Wilson insisted that this was far too much, claiming he had bought the adjoining house for £30,000.
His bid was initially rejected, but a few days later, on Christmas Eve, the phone rang.
"If you've got £30,000, it's yours," the agent said.
The deliciously simple sting was concluded a few days later, when Mr Wilson had the house valued for mortgage purposes and it was deemed to be worth four times the amount he had paid: £120,000.
He borrowed the maximum amount allowable - £100,000 (85 per cent of its value) - and promptly used the excess funds as a deposit on several more houses.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-431224/How-maths-teachers-clocked-707-houses-240m-fortune.html


Could/would YOU have done similarly, Graham?
Envy is not a nice trait.

wotsthat

Graham_Devon wrote: »

There are 700 families out there in these houses. He can't sell for the price they want. He can't sell en masse as it would again, break the business. He's well over the point at which he wanted to sell up. So what happens as they get older and older to these 700 families should anything go wrong?

Are they planning on taking their houses with them when they die?

It's a worry.

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

wotsthat wrote: »

It's a worry.

Everything is in Devon.

Worry, worry, worry, all day every day....;)

grizzly1911

Mr._Pricklepants wrote: »

I don't think they are geniuses, and yes they got lucky.
Here's a quote from Daily Mail, pre-crash:



After snapping up a four-storey house in South-East London at auction for £44,000, he noticed 'for sale' boards outside the property next door. So he called the estate agents to ask the price.
"It's £58,000," came the reply. Mr Wilson insisted that this was far too much, claiming he had bought the adjoining house for £30,000.
His bid was initially rejected, but a few days later, on Christmas Eve, the phone rang.
"If you've got £30,000, it's yours," the agent said.
The deliciously simple sting was concluded a few days later, when Mr Wilson had the house valued for mortgage purposes and it was deemed to be worth four times the amount he had paid: £120,000.
He borrowed the maximum amount allowable - £100,000 (85 per cent of its value) - and promptly used the excess funds as a deposit on several more houses.

Interesting that the valuer valued it at £120k when it couldn't be sold for more than £30K?

Perhaps it was a distress sale?

Seems a big difference when he had purchased at auction for 50% more too.

N1AK

Mr._Pricklepants wrote: »

Yeah yeah, he got 'lucky'

Mr. Wilson risked, invested, went through a difficult time and is now reaping the reward of what I can imagine were many difficult years since 2008 when the crash came around.

All the best to Mr. and Mrs. Wilson. :T

He's lucky in the same sense that a lottery winner is: the benefactor of a random event. It wasn't skill or business savvy, unless you're seriously suggesting that he positioned himself knowing that rates would change and his bank would bail him out; which he has never claimed to be the case himself.

I don't know him and don't begrudge them anything but only a fool would think they are an example to follow.

What I'm interested to know is how they managed to get so many properties? I wouldn't have thought they'd be able to secure enough lending, but I'm probably basing that on bank behaviour since I entered the market post crash.

the_flying_pig

Mr._Pricklepants wrote: »

I don't think they are geniuses, and yes they got lucky. But luck just doesn't come around, you have to make your own luck. They do seem to have a nose for a good deal, and the cojones, drive and attitude to pull it off.
One could also apply the shortchanged rule of "don't do anything as interest might rise, and even if they don't, something really really bad might happen". But I'm doubtful such an attitude would lead you anywhere in life.

Here's a quote from Daily Mail, pre-crash:



http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-431224/How-maths-teachers-clocked-707-houses-240m-fortune.html


Could/would YOU have done similarly, Graham?
Envy is not a nice trait.

some tall tales in there.

estate agents always know roughly what a house in their patch will fetch if up for sale.

the idea of someone just rocking up & paying £30k for a house that's in any way worth £120k [or even £44k], it's just the stuff of fantasy.