How has this house gone up so much?

johnhenstock

Mark_Glasses said:

@johnhenstock if flats are so undesirable then why is London property considered a good investment when a significant proportion are flats? to the point overseas investors buy flats without even seeing them. The person I speak of in this thread has also kept his London flat so he's almost certainly a millionaire now.

because the flats in London you're talking about are luxury apartments in which you can easily host 30 people for a fancy dinner party, should you want to. this, in contrast to your new-built, paper walls "2 bed" flat with barely space for a dog bed. also location.

[Deleted User]

Mark_Glasses said:

There's a house in a little town in the midlands that sold in 2013 for £360k. Then someone I know bought it in 2016 for £535k. 

I thought he'd been ripped off, but then he sold it this year for £975k.

It looks like it was in good condition when he bought it and he's not extended it. If this was in London I wouldn't be as surprised, but this is some midlands backwater nobody has heard of.

The house next door sold around the same time for £580k. It is a little bit smaller, but I really can't get my head around how he managed to sell his house for £975k.

I bought my flat for £275k in 2017 and it's barely gone up in value since.

I've always said if he can do it so can I, but he's well and truly beating me financially.

I would think if it sold for those prices in 2013 and 2016 that there was something about the house that was perhaps more apparent to those who bought and sold it. That it is in a "Midlands backwater" might be the reason, without knowing where I can't say. But it was obviously worth the price to someone, maybe the buyer lives next door and wants to have family move in, maybe they work close, maybe they are sentimental about the street, maybe they just have pots of money and don't mind spending over the odds! Your friend may be very astute or just got lucky.

sheramber

even worked together when we were 16

How long ago was that?

Maybe as he grew older he was more careful about his spending and did without  to build up his savings, maybe he got promotion/ a better paid job, maybe he won the lottery or on the premium bonds.

Maybe he inherited money.

Envying someone else will not get you anywhere.

BlueVeranda

"it's clearly expensive for the midlands but for £975k you can buy houses in London"

This reads as though you're assuming the only reason anyone would buy a property outside of London is because they can't afford to do otherwise.

If that's truly how you feel then I'm not surprised you can't see why your friend's former house could have gone up in value so quickly.

You're looking at it from the perspective of what you could get for that money in London while the people buying might be thinking why are we looking in London when we can get a nice/r house for the same money elsewhere.

It does sound like countryside living isn't "your thing" and that's absolutely fine, but there are a lot of people on city-wages who no longer have to be locked into a location they can commute in from and would happily take something rural as long as they had job security. I reckon those are the people who can take a house that was probably always going to sell fairly well for its location and drive its price up to the best part of a million. 

As for working out how to repeat the trick - probably none of us can now that interest rate rises are biting. I suspect even this friend would struggle to catch lightning in a bottle twice.

Bigphil1474

I worked with a guy whose aim was to get a £million pound house up north. He started off with a modest house years ago, fixed it up, sold it, bought another one and so on. Don't know how many he went through, but he'd been doing that 30 years when I last saw him 5 years ago. He does now own that £million pound house, but I've heard he's still fixing it up to sell it, and carry on. He didn't do much else though when he wasn't at work. He was a police sergeant.

Mark_Glasses

@RelievedSheff It's difficult to not compare. If I had a million in the bank then great, but if I had a million in the bank and everyone else had at least 2 million then not so great because I'd be poor. Some of my choices have been similar to his, he's just been more successful at them.

@johnhenstock I've seen the inside of many luxury apartments in London and most are smaller than my flat

@[Deleted User] this is the mystery

@sheramber there's no doubt he's been more successful on the work front than me. He got a job as soon as he graduated in 2003 and was able to buy his first property in 2007 whereas I was still waiting for my break at the time. That's a whole other issue for the work board.

@BlueVeranda it's true that I'd only move out of London for financial reasons but I know people who would never move to London. When this person I speak of first told me about his plans to move out of London it was because his flat was too small and it would cost too much to buy somewhere bigger in London.

@Bigphil1474 I doing know how much doing up he could have done.

johnhenstock

Mark_Glasses said:

@RelievedSheff It's difficult to not compare. If I had a million in the bank then great, but if I had a million in the bank and everyone else had at least 2 million then not so great because I'd be poor. Some of my choices have been similar to his, he's just been more successful at them.

@johnhenstock I've seen the inside of many luxury apartments in London and most are smaller than my flat

@[Deleted User] this is the mystery

@sheramber there's no doubt he's been more successful on the work front than me. He got a job as soon as he graduated in 2003 and was able to buy his first property in 2007 whereas I was still waiting for my break at the time. That's a whole other issue for the work board.

@BlueVeranda it's true that I'd only move out of London for financial reasons but I know people who would never move to London. When this person I speak of first told me about his plans to move out of London it was because his flat was too small and it would cost too much to buy somewhere bigger in London.

@Bigphil1474 I doing know how much doing up he could have done.

no, I don't think you did. luxury is not your typical new build with a fancy sink and a modern lamp shade, as is often advertised in brochures. I'm talking about real luxury properties that you and me probably can't afford. those are not smaller than your flat, unless you're richard branson, I can promise you that.

we're talking penthouses on top of the most exclusive buildings in the UK, we're talking swimming pool in the middle of your living room, we're talking living rooms tens of meters long, we're talking private 18 people cinema, we're talking a walk-in wine cellar and so on. as I said, luxury, not "luxury".

RelievedSheff

Mark_Glasses said:

@RelievedSheff It's difficult to not compare. If I had a million in the bank then great, but if I had a million in the bank and everyone else had at least 2 million then not so great because I'd be poor. Some of my choices have been similar to his, he's just been more successful at them.

@johnhenstock I've seen the inside of many luxury apartments in London and most are smaller than my flat

@[Deleted User] this is the mystery

@sheramber there's no doubt he's been more successful on the work front than me. He got a job as soon as he graduated in 2003 and was able to buy his first property in 2007 whereas I was still waiting for my break at the time. That's a whole other issue for the work board.

@BlueVeranda it's true that I'd only move out of London for financial reasons but I know people who would never move to London. When this person I speak of first told me about his plans to move out of London it was because his flat was too small and it would cost too much to buy somewhere bigger in London.

@Bigphil1474 I doing know how much doing up he could have done.

If you live your life continually comparing yourself to others then you will never be happy with what you have. There will always be someone who is richer, has a bigger house, has a better car, etc.

You can't live like that.

lookstraightahead

RelievedSheff said:

Mark_Glasses said:

@RelievedSheff It's difficult to not compare. If I had a million in the bank then great, but if I had a million in the bank and everyone else had at least 2 million then not so great because I'd be poor. Some of my choices have been similar to his, he's just been more successful at them.

@johnhenstock I've seen the inside of many luxury apartments in London and most are smaller than my flat

@[Deleted User] this is the mystery

@sheramber there's no doubt he's been more successful on the work front than me. He got a job as soon as he graduated in 2003 and was able to buy his first property in 2007 whereas I was still waiting for my break at the time. That's a whole other issue for the work board.

@BlueVeranda it's true that I'd only move out of London for financial reasons but I know people who would never move to London. When this person I speak of first told me about his plans to move out of London it was because his flat was too small and it would cost too much to buy somewhere bigger in London.

@Bigphil1474 I doing know how much doing up he could have done.

If you live your life continually comparing yourself to others then you will never be happy with what you have. There will always be someone who is richer, has a bigger house, has a better car, etc.

You can't live like that.

Agree. Op, having a rich life isn't just about possessions/money. 

Slinky

OP do you think your former friend spends any time thinking about how he's done so much better than you? I seriously doubt it. Follow his lead on that front and live your own life, stop wasting head space on comparing yourself to him, it will only make you frustrated and miserable.