The millionaire binman

Thrugelmir

Graham_Devon wrote: »

Interesting though that when we discuss the mansion tax of houses worth £2m,

Politicians steering the debate away from the more difficult issues.

SailorSam

With all the talk about a mansion tax i've seen what you'd call the average guy who bought a run-down property in a scruffy area years ago, now sitting on a goldmine but their only income maybe a basic pension.

dryhat

The "millionaire" bit- as in a nominal amount of money- is irrelevant here.

What the question is really asking is "could someone now doing an equivalent job in London ever be able to repeat this "achievment"?

The answer is clearly no.

Whether it could happen in our lifetime is unknown but I would say it's very unlikely.

chewmylegoff

dryhat wrote: »

The "millionaire" bit- as in a nominal amount of money- is irrelevant here.

What the question is really asking is "could someone now doing an equivalent job in London ever be able to repeat this "achievment"?

The answer is clearly no.

Whether it could happen in our lifetime is unknown but I would say it's very unlikely.

Given that the suggestion is that this chap didn't actually do anything to deserve it - he just got lucky - I disagree. Anyone can buy a ticket for Euromillions. In fact it is probably easier for a street sweeper to become a millionaire now than it was in 1980 as the national lottery is better than the pools and it's much cheaper than buying a house. I expect there are probably more street sweeper lottery millionaires than there are street sweeper London property moguls.

Generali

dryhat wrote: »

The "millionaire" bit- as in a nominal amount of money- is irrelevant here.

What the question is really asking is "could someone now doing an equivalent job in London ever be able to repeat this "achievment"?

The answer is clearly no.

Whether it could happen in our lifetime is unknown but I would say it's very unlikely.

In London, no as they'd never save the deposit for a house. In the provinces? Why not? You'd have to be a part-time property developer in effect but it would be possible.

Crashy_Time

Generali wrote: »

In London, no as they'd never save the deposit for a house. In the provinces? Why not? You'd have to be a part-time property developer in effect but it would be possible.

It wouldn`t be possible, the one off credit event that led to this mess, where average people had masses of cheap credit to play with, will never happen again in our lifetimes. It`s over for property, there will be money made in the future fleecing the little people with "investments" in disease control, or Super Weapons, or Moon flights, but they can`t run the same scam via property again, everybody and their dog knows it was just a Ponzi to benefit bankers now.

115K

Masomnia wrote: »

Nice discount via a right to buy, council place in a central location and it's not at all inconceivable.

Yes, I would think the same.

the_flying_pig

Masomnia wrote: »

Nice discount via a right to buy, council place in a central location and it's not at all inconceivable.

Yeah, that's the only obvious way you'd see this.

say a Kensington council flat bought in the 80s, say for 3 times average wage after discount, there must be a good few retired or nearly retired unskilled workers sitting on something like that.

Generali

Crashy_Time wrote: »

It wouldn`t be possible, the one off credit event that led to this mess, where average people had masses of cheap credit to play with, will never happen again in our lifetimes. It`s over for property, there will be money made in the future fleecing the little people with "investments" in disease control, or Super Weapons, or Moon flights, but they can`t run the same scam via property again, everybody and their dog knows it was just a Ponzi to benefit bankers now.

You reckon. 50 years of work. That's only £20k on the side each year even if you're incompetent enough to manage to dodge receiving compound interest at all.

If you were frugal, spent 7 years in the millitary to build a pot then started flipping houses doing the work yourself I reckon even a blinkered fool could get there.

setmefree2

Graham_Devon wrote: »

Heard an interesting bit of chatter today (it's no more than that, but it's not really unbelieveable either) about someone who has just moved down "my way".

He's bought a 3 bed house to retire to. He has lived in London most of his life.

For most of his life, he was a street sweeper / graffiti remove, but went on to become a bin man for the last 2 years of his career. He has now retired, aged 58, sold his house, become a millionaire and moved elsewhere to live off the cash. (That's all I know, as that's what his neighbour said!)

We were talking about it today and how insane it had all become that an ex council worker, working the lowest paid jobs could become; and live the life of a millionaire simply by tripping up and buying a house in London at the right time....that's buying a house in London on a street sweeper salary...because you could then.

I can believe that. There are a real mixed bag of people in my avenue in Ealing. There is a real difference in different households standards of living too - cars, holidays, leisure, etc. One pensioner couple said to me that they could hardly afford to live in London anymore. TBH I wonder why they stay?