HPC thread of the week

padington

It's odd they talk about debt being terrible, when actually it's never been so good ....

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/oct/02/britains-super-rich-cash-in-low-interest-rates-1m-mortgages

BLTKING

Aberdeenangarse wrote: »

Bruce Banner, thecountofnowhere, crashy and Venger are currently mass debating over the latest Buyers strike

they are the only ones left , everyone else has been banned

padington

BLTKING wrote: »

they are the only ones left , everyone else has been banned

I was, only managed a few posts. It's like a gulag that place.

Mistermeaner

I bought my house in 2004, in a northern hell hole.

It's gone from 115 to maybe 130 - alot of value from stuff I've done to it rather than hpi. So no major increase.

Most equity I sit on has come from me paying off the mortgage, and I'm going to be mortgage free well before I'm 40.

It's not big or fancy but it's a lovely safe warm home for me and my boy with all the space and things we need.

Just an example that house buying and hpi / crashes etc can be pretty irrelevant really if you think of a house as a home; bull or bear surely it's better to be paying off a mortgage and building equity rather than feathering someone else's nest? My house doubles in value - on paper I'm richer but won't move as I'm happy here and everything else will double too. My house halves in value on paper I'm poorer but so what? I know I can afford my mortgage, I still have my home and I'm still happy here - anywhere else I may move to has also probably halved in price. I'm indifferent.

Sometimes follow the heard is dumb but when you're in a nation of house buyers you would be daft not to buy one of your own. I can't think of a scenario where I would have been better renting.

chucknorris

padington wrote: »

It's odd they talk about debt being terrible, when actually it's never been so good ....

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/oct/02/britains-super-rich-cash-in-low-interest-rates-1m-mortgages

They are not capable of distinguishing between different types of debt, it took me a while to realise, but when I say to people like them that we have almost £700k of mortgage but more than significant equity, the equity part is irrelevant to them. I might as well be saying that we owe £700k on high interest unsecured loans, they are financially illiterate, it is a waste of time trying to discuss financial matters with them. I've seen wotsthat and others trying to explain things to crashy, but it just goes over his head, he just doesn't get it.

wotsthat

Mistermeaner wrote: »

I can't think of a scenario where I would have been better renting.

Just luck so far.

Wait until the boiler breaks down, the roof blows off, you lose a corner of the house in a sinkhole, prices fall 50% by Christmas, and the frightened BTL owners on your street pay druggies to move in to minimise losses. Oh, you'll probably lose your job so don't think you'll be able to move.

Your trousers won't be looking quite so clever then.

padington

chucknorris wrote: »

They are not capable of distinguishing between different types of debt, it took me a while to realise, but when I say to people like them that we have almost £700k of mortgage but more than significant equity, the equity part is irrelevant to them. I might as well be saying that we owe £700k on high interest unsecured loans, they are financially illiterate, it is a waste of time trying to discuss financial matters with them. I've seen wotsthat and others trying to explain things to crashy, but it just goes over his head, he just doesn't get it.

It's such a shame that a large part of the UK focused Internet is being engineered to make people behave like finaciancil illiterates though. God knows how many people have really messed up their families chances of surviving this period of the cheapest money we've had for 5000 years.

Even their guru's like Peter Schiff have been saying for years that the fed have little room to move and large interest rate rises are very unlikely and that cheap money will cause asset price inflation. How the hell have they managed to conclude that to sit and rent from that information is a wise idea ?

Mistermeaner

Interestingly I think each of those things has happened.

I have replaced the boiler, cost 1.5k.

2010 a tile slipped on the roof causing a deluge of ice melt to collapse the plaster board above the stairs into the house. For 3 months I could see roof tiles from inside my house. The insurance paid for fixing that as well as redecorating my hall, stairs and landing. I now pay a crazy man 150 a year to crawl around on my roof checking the slates. Fyi I've had a quote for complete roof replacement at 3k.

I live ain an area with historic subsidence due to brine mining - a huge crack appeared in the kitchen at the corner of the house and I thought uh oh! Surveyor came out (from insurance company for free) ; turns out it was caused by vibration from the back door slamming and where a new window was poorly fitted (too close to an unsupported wall. The solution was literally to paper over the crack.

House value drops as previous I can afford my mortgage so it's merely a paperless: as mortgage will be gone soon may even present me with a buying opportunity with my spare cash for a btl investment. I survived the 2008 crash.

Druggies down the street - had a few neh do wells in the time I've been here : in my experience they never stay long as generally they are renting (the irony!) And the police / council are actually at sorting out problem neighbours. As most people are owners round here you don't get too much of that though.

Yeah sure shi t happens when you own a house, but !!!! happens in life generally. House insurance is pretty darn good and most things you 'fix' when they break tends to give you an opportunity to improve what you have - my new boiler reduced my gas bill by 20 quid a month.

What would hpc say about my experiences? With the benefit of hindsight am I better having bought or rented?

Nb - how do you put a value on the fact that me and my boy still live in the same house he was born in, with all those memories, and the fact that we both have numerous friends up and down our road from the years we and they have lived here?

wotsthat

chucknorris wrote: »

They are not capable of distinguishing between different types of debt, it took me a while to realise, but when I say to people like them that we have almost £700k of mortgage but more than significant equity, the equity part is irrelevant to them. I might as well be saying that we owe £700k on high interest unsecured loans, they are financially illiterate, it is a waste of time trying to discuss financial matters with them. I've seen wotsthat and others trying to explain things to crashy, but it just goes over his head, he just doesn't get it.

It's the equity issue they can't get past. To most people if you buy a house with a 75% mortgage your net position is unchanged. Yes, the balance of assets have changed as has the risk profile.

To the Crashy's of the world they don't recognise equity as 'real' (mainly because it's not cash but also because the value can change). This helps to explain why debt is abhorred and cash adored - a mortgage of , say, £150k 'simply' reduces net worth by £150k. Don't have a particular problem with this because I don't think Crashy would disagree and walks the talk judging by what he says about his lifestyle.

It's the complete hypocrisy of others that winds me up. They sell themselves as freedom fighters and will argue equity isn't real, buyers are idiots for paying current prices etc. but they want to do is play exactly the same game but buy in at lower prices.

If the crew are sat on loads of cash waiting for a crash before buying that's fine - just don't dress up a punt on house prices as something else. If they just can't afford to buy full stop then keep saving and hoping the same as everyone else.

wotsthat

Mistermeaner wrote: »

What would hpc say about my experiences? With the benefit of hindsight am I better having bought or rented?

They'd think that was part and parcel of home ownership because everyone knows life has ups and down whether renting or buying. Don't forget they only want a crash so they can buy a house cheaper - they've already bought into the dream of home ownership.

However, what they'd say is the way you're pushing ownership down everyone's throat you must be an estate agent.