Unable to sell our house

going_nowhere_fast

Davesnave wrote: »

So you were really referring specifically to social housing, whether council-owned or privately provided, not "rental properties" in general.

I guess I am. But I'm not against social housing in general and would not have a problem living next door either as long as the tenants were nice. Sadly the area I live tends to rent to a lot of people who fit the stereo types on those awful TV programmes. The people renting from housing associations stay long term here so they treat the house and street as their home and are nice to live near, whereas the private landlords around here dont maintain their houses and rent to people who are unpleasant to live near. There is a genuine problem in this area due to the privately rented houses and the council and police are having to deal with the problems. I know I dont know the OPs area but the house prices imply it is not the best so may share some of the problems my area does.

I am a firm believer that councils should stop areas becoming all privately rented, and try and have an equal mix of renters and owners.

SEGGA1986

Hi all
Thanks for your advice at the minute in time we have had a fantastic offer put in by a lovely gentleman and fingers crossed all will go to plan and they will sign on that dotted line,

I understand fully what people have said and one person who said about landlords rent to anyone as they don't have to live in that area which I totally agree, when we bought our house 12 years ago it was a thriving area with lots of potential with motorway been close by a lovely park and nature reserve just 5 mins away but then house prices crashed and the cheap houses started getting snapped up by investors and that's when all the trouble began slowly but surely it was over taken by certain types of people and has a mixture of different ethnic groups and even though this doesn't bother me some people don't want to live around this.
I ant believe how many people can relate to me in finding it difficult in selling their homes due to the same reasons and its a shame there is nothing tat councils are willing to do to help homeowners sell there homes or at least keep check on areas. I was totally gutted to read in my local paper that they class our area as a deprived area when the few people that own there own homes and some who rent, have great jobs like myself and my husband it's not our fault that the area has become what it has

going_nowhere_fast

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

many renters are "home owners" who simply cant get to own a home because they cant afford it

My estate agent quite specifically told me that I should take a home-owner buyer, rather than a landlord buyer

it looks to me that, overall, terrace houses pretty much across the city have stayed pretty much the same price

I think you moved from a better area which is why your opinions are different to mine.

I would not have a problem living amongst the renters you describe, but where there is very cheap housing you will get areas (or pockets of areas) where the properties are almost entirely rented to anti social people

All estate agents will tell you to sell to a home owner rather than landlord but in some areas although it is still possible its highly unlikely because of the above. I would love to sell to a home owner to get a better price but I'm realistic and have already accepted that might not happen.

Terraced houses in my area are settled at the moment but I suspect they will reduce again as the area further deteriorates.

moneyistooshorttomention

That is the problem identified indeed.

I would think most people who buy a house as a buy-to-let arent a Big Landlord doing it as a job? I may be wrong on that..but my suspicion is that many investors are just people who want 1 or 2 houses as a means of keeping their capital safe and receiving a fair return on it...but then everyone else does it too and down go the areas this happens to.

What I call the Copycat Effect, ie its okay for a few people to do something and there is no bad effect on society as a whole or on the first people who started it. But then the Copycatters come along, as everyone else wants to leap on the bandwagon and then you get to saturation point and beyond and the First Runners don't get what they were due to get (due to too much competition) and Society as a whole suffers too and this is one instance of "Copycats Can Cause Chaos".

going_nowhere_fast

SEGGA1986 wrote: »

Hi all
Thanks for your advice at the minute in time we have had a fantastic offer put in by a lovely gentleman and fingers crossed all will go to plan and they will sign on that dotted line,

I understand fully what people have said and one person who said about landlords rent to anyone as they don't have to live in that area which I totally agree, when we bought our house 12 years ago it was a thriving area with lots of potential with motorway been close by a lovely park and nature reserve just 5 mins away but then house prices crashed and the cheap houses started getting snapped up by investors and that's when all the trouble began slowly but surely it was over taken by certain types of people and has a mixture of different ethnic groups and even though this doesn't bother me some people don't want to live around this.
I ant believe how many people can relate to me in finding it difficult in selling their homes due to the same reasons and its a shame there is nothing tat councils are willing to do to help homeowners sell there homes or at least keep check on areas. I was totally gutted to read in my local paper that they class our area as a deprived area when the few people that own there own homes and some who rent, have great jobs like myself and my husband it's not our fault that the area has become what it has

I am so pleased for you, congratulations. I hope everything goes smoothly with the sale. :j

going_nowhere_fast

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

That is the problem identified indeed.

I would think most people who buy a house as a buy-to-let arent a Big Landlord doing it as a job? I may be wrong on that..but my suspicion is that many investors are just people who want 1 or 2 houses as a means of keeping their capital safe and receiving a fair return on it...but then everyone else does it too and down go the areas this happens to.

What I call the Copycat Effect, ie its okay for a few people to do something and there is no bad effect on society as a whole or on the first people who started it. But then the Copycatters come along, as everyone else wants to leap on the bandwagon and then you get to saturation point and beyond and the First Runners don't get what they were due to get (due to too much competition) and Society as a whole suffers too and this is one instance of "Copycats Can Cause Chaos".

I am hoping I can one day escape - the OP seems to have done it hooray!

moneyistooshorttomention

going_nowhere_fast wrote: »

I think you moved from a better area which is why your opinions are different to mine.

I would not have a problem living amongst the renters you describe, but where there is very cheap housing you will get areas (or pockets of areas) where the properties are almost entirely rented to anti social people

All estate agents will tell you to sell to a home owner rather than landlord but in some areas although it is still possible its highly unlikely because of the above. I would love to sell to a home owner to get a better price but I'm realistic and have already accepted that might not happen.

Terraced houses in my area are settled at the moment but I suspect they will reduce again as the area further deteriorates.

Probably true.

I weighed up the options available to me based on my own personal circumstances etc and how I see things going across Society as a whole.

I could have chanced my luck and stayed a couple of years longer and crossed my fingers that things would go the other way in my area, but by the time I added in that the house needed a second Major Tranche of work done on it and I wasn't prepared to do that on a starter house I should have long since been able to move on from. Add in the fact it would have been difficult to spend retirement in a house that doesn't suit A Normal Lifestyle (ie hobbies of cooking and gardening I had been waiting to get on with properly for years) and yep...move it had to be..to elsewhere in the country:mad:.

That is another aspect of this problem too, ie that many people due to "move up the ladder" to a house in a style that will cope better with that Normal Lifestyle (ie bigger kitchen/better garden set-up) are probably finding it more difficult to sell the "starter" and "move up", as well as possibly having to put up with antisocial neighbours.

going_nowhere_fast

That's me, stuck in my starter home. That itself wouldn't bother me, its the area/neighbours that makes it unpleasant.

moneyistooshorttomention

My sympathies and hope you find a way to move on.

How old are you?

I know my own personal "housing blueprint" of How Things Are goes:
- right from Year Dot its "WHEN I buy a house" and you wait for
- early to mid 20s = get starter house (ie 2 bedroom terrace house)
- 30s = move up ladder to a 3 bedroom house with reasonable size garden (probably a semi-detached) in an okay area
- 40s = move up ladder to a 3/4 bedroom detached house with garden in a reasonable area

Is that your "housing blueprint" too?

I_have_spoken

My "housing blueprint" was

Mid 20s, buy 2-bed terrace 'starter home', live in it (on and off) for 24 years until area went downhill
Late 40s, buy 3-bed detached with garden in reasonable area. Result!