Homes Under The Hammer today

Bogof_Babe

I did feel sad today when a middle aged couple were bidding against a btl guy for an affordable house in Northumberland (didn't catch exactly where), guided at something ridiculous like £25K. Anyway they bid up to £26.5K, which I got the impression was £500 over their intended limit, and the look on their faces of sheer disappointment when this guy was obviously determined to have it, and got it for £27K to add to his portfolio made me feel so sorry for them. They perhaps genuinely wanted a chance to move out of rented for the first time in their lives, although obviously as they didn't win we weren't told their background.

He wasn't even local, came from Woking 300 miles away because properties are cheaper up there.

I know btl has its place and is necessary to house those who genuinely need to live in a cheap rented place, but it brought it home to me how hard it must be to get a foot on the ladder these days if you don't have access to much money. Guessing again, but they might have saved up all their lives for the chance of their own home.

Anyway that's the way it goes. Sad though.

Arklight

Yes, hopefully they'll remember that when they are voting at the next election.

dunroving

Arklight wrote: »

Yes, hopefully they'll remember that when they are voting at the next election.

As if things will be any different under a different government. :wall:

Arklight

dunroving wrote: »

As if things will be any different under a different government. :wall:

They would be very different but you actually have to go out and bother voting and campaigning for it rather than just complaining that nothing can be done.

Cheeky_Monkey

OP - you are making the assumption that they wanted it to live in rather than a BTL like the successful bidder!

hazyjo

Might have done them a favour - who knows what was wrong with it if in an auction.


Anyway - what goes for on or below the guide price?! They often go for well over. It's not that it went for £500 more than they could afford, if they both wanted it or there was another interested party, it could have gone for £20k+ more!


Bit presumptuous to guess at their story - as above, they could have been investors too lol, or may have sold up a month previously to be a cash buyer at auction. Who knows!

moneyistooshorttomention

Didnt see the programme - but am guessing they looked like they werent flush with money and maybe said it was to be a home to them - hence conclusion they wanted it as a home. I know that, if I were needing an auction house as a home for myself personally - I'd be trying to figure out how to tell b-t-letters that was my intention and hoping they had a conscience and would stand aside for me.

I sympathise as well when people get outbid by those who want a property for other reasons.

Obviously there are landlords/ladies and landlords/ladies. Some will be doing it "professionally" and I definitely think they should "move out of the way" for those needing the place as a home.

One can have more sympathies with someone who only wants 1 or 2 properties to rent out - because they can't think of any other way to get a decent interest rate on their savings (ie because of the abysmally low interest rates of the last few years).

It would be interesting to know how many of the b-t-letters are "professional" landlords/ladies - though I'm guessing that most of them are. So I have no sympathies with them. I'm guessing that the average "person in the street" probably would be too concerned about the risk of bad tenants to put their savings into buying a property or two these days? - and would therefore "run around in circles" instead searching for a way to keep their savings safe from inflation.

lincroft1710

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

I know that, if I were needing an auction house as a home for myself personally - I'd be trying to figure out how to tell b-t-letters that was my intention and hoping they had a conscience and would stand aside for me.

Obviously there are landlords/ladies and landlords/ladies. Some will be doing it "professionally" and I definitely think they should "move out of the way" for those needing the place as a home.

Why would a potential purchaser of a property stand aside just because another potential purchaser says they want it to live in themselves? You do have some strange ideas!

Arklight

The problem isn't that people can buy houses and rent them out. The problem is that the taxpayer spends £25 billion a year paying the mortgages of private landlords to house people who should be in council rented accommodation, or in affordable owned accommodation.

It's simply a wealth transfer from the state to private individuals, and it's a colossal state subsidy of the private mortgage industry. There is no other country that does this.

kingstreet

Bogof_Babe wrote: »

Anyway they bid up to £26.5K, which I got the impression was £500 over their intended limit, and the look on their faces of sheer disappointment when this guy was obviously determined to have it, and got it for £27K to add to his portfolio made me feel so sorry for them

SDLT surcharge from £0 and not £40k in future?

dunroving

Arklight wrote: »

They would be very different but you actually have to go out and bother voting and campaigning for it rather than just complaining that nothing can be done.

You seem to assume I don't do either of those things. And you know what happens when you make assumptions.

But "voting" and "campaigning" doesn't seem to have changed much over the past 20-30 years.

I just find the idea that voting the other party in will solve anything substantial to be rather simplistic, and is usually raised as the solution by voters for the party that isn't in Government!.