How can people be so greedy?

sunshinejoclaire

they are currently building new build FTB houses here too (seem to have been doing it forever mind!), and our plan was to wait for these to be built and go for one of those.

In the end though, the circumstances that forced our hand were a blessing in disguise (though not one I would want to go through again), as houses are still going up here due to regeneration of the area and our house is now worth more than the 110% mortgage we took out

PasturesNew

One of the issues on these boards is that property prices vary so much across the country.

£100k would buy you quite a selection in many places. Good homes in good towns with jobs and transport.

But everybody here just says "where I live it's pricey", and we've never got a clue where that is.

What they usually mean is "where I live, I really want to impress my friends and therefore buy something way out of my league... so I will dismiss anything else that I see and pretend it doesn't exist because I deserve the new build luxury 2-bed place, even though it's just me and I am in my first job"

MrsE_2

PasturesNew wrote: »

One of the issues on these boards is that property prices vary so much across the country.

£100k would buy you quite a selection in many places. Good homes in good towns with jobs and transport.

But everybody here just says "where I live it's pricey", and we've never got a clue where that is.

What they usually mean is "where I live, I really want to impress my friends and therefore buy something way out of my league... so I will dismiss anything else that I see and pretend it doesn't exist because I deserve the new build luxury 2-bed place, even though it's just me and I am in my first job"

I live in Surrey. Ex LA 2 beds are 200k+

furndire

Where I live you can still buy terrace houses ~ and not in too bad an area ~ for 80 grand and rent a terrace for about £400 per month.

beingjdc

I live in central London (zone 2) but it's chav hell, therefore I could buy an ex-council studio in a tower block for £110k, a reasonable ex-council 1-bed in a low-rise for £170k, a small 1-bed in a private development for £200k, an exclusive riverside 1-bed with basement gym and parking for £270k, or a reasonably nice 2-bed terrace for £300k.

I could probably afford and get a mortgage for a 250k purchase, at a push, but I just don't really see any of those prices as anywhere near good value, compared to renting an en-suite room in a nice 2-bed for £700 a month (which would be a bit less but I subsidise my flatmate slightly).

evergreen

Its not just this generation that have had to deal with increased prices. My mum and dad married after the war and were both in their thirties. They lived in Portsmouth with in laws. After the 1st baby being still born they were desperate to get there own place before next baby came along. Because of bombing, nothing to rent, no chance of council house, so they bought 2 up 2 down in Portsmouth for £1000. I remember my dad always having 2 jobs and mum going back to full time work after having us 2 kids. This was unheard of in those days and mum was frowned upon. We went to a local nursey which we loved and did not suffer any ill affects from (I'm 55 now and sure I would have noticed by now!!!). In the 50's same houses were selling for £500 pounds. They did go up though. Shame of it was though, I can remember my dad saying all the things they would be able to do when the mortgage was paid. They paid it off in 1967, and that was the year he died.

I know its not as bad as it is for kids now though, those huge mortgages and no option but for young mums to go back to work, plus the added problem of being made aware of whats available to buy in magazines and TV. When I had my kids I didn't seriously thin about going back to work until they were at school.
As for people being greedy - that never changes. When we were buying our first house we had an offer of asking price excepted. A couple of weeks later, the sellers agent rang us saying, they had been offered £200 more and if we didn't match it they were going with the other people (who were not 1st time buyers and had a house that was in process of being sold). Well we wouldn't up our bid on principle and went fo a much nicer house in a better area that was £2000 more (lot of money in those days). Six weeks later we had a call from original sellers. Other buyers had dropped out and we could have house for original price!! Well needless to say we said no (I don't think those were my husbands exact words from the smile on his face!!) and as far as were concerned buying the 2nd house was a much better move.

margaretclare

Bluemonkey wrote:

When I was a kid mums did not work. Those that did were the 'latch key kids' that had a key to get in after school - and their parents were wealthy and the kids had everything. Generally Mums would be at home doing the washing, getting dinner ready, cleaning the house, having tea in the afternoons with their friends, this just does not happen now.

I am sorry, I can't let this pass. This is one of those Technicolor stereotypes of the 1950s and in my experience at least, it didn't happen. 'Having tea in the afternoon with my friends?' I should only have been so lucky!

To put it in context, I have half a century in the workplace leaving school aged 16 in 1951. The week I was married in 1957 I got a job, I became a student nurse later that year, I was back at work as a part-time staff nurse when second baby was 6 months old in 1964 and I worked until I was 67 in 2002. My daughters weren't 'latch-key kids' either, we coped with childcare by a combination of granny and great-aunt (the people who brought me up), swopping shifts between husband and me, him on days and me on nights and vice versa. There was such a demand for qualified women in the 1960s, teachers and nurses were needed back at work, we were offered a nursery place only it was in the next village, not on the bus-route and I didn't drive then.

Further, in a women-dominated profession like nursing and midwifery (I qualified as a midwife in 1971) where do you think all the other staff came from? They weren't all dedicated spinsters who'd lost their fiances in war. Many worked part-time shifts to 'fit in', did their best to live up to that 'mum at home' ideal that was pushed at us, most paid only women's reduced NI contributions and didn't pay into the NHS pension scheme (and aren't they regretting it now?)

My point is, all those women in nursing, teaching, factory work, office jobs (you could work as a typist, that's a job that has disappeared!) must have come from somewhere and they can't all have been single. So please do not generalise so wildly. You may be speaking from your experience of having a mum at home baking cakes and having tea with friends. I am speaking from mine, of always being at work. Incidentally, when I went to uni in 1978 I still worked, 14 weeks on night shifts every summer.

Margaret

MrsE_2

My sister was born in 1956 (I was 1967), our mum always worked, in the 50's as well.

Badger_Lady

MrsE wrote: »

I live in Surrey. Ex LA 2 beds are 200k+

Just to add to this - my "home" before I moved here was Salisbury. Average wage there is just below national (think it's about £20k currently?). Before I left, a modest 1-bedroom flat was £150k. I scraped the bottom of the barrel to find a tiny, short-term leasehold 1-bed flat for £125k, which still meant working two jobs and scrimping because it was 6x my full-time wage... looking at a standard 2-bed terrace, you'd need to spend over £180k (average house price in the area was £270k).

Of course, since I left, house prices have dropped there, so it's getting a bit easier. I don't know much about Surrey but I guess it must be dropping there too..?

So some areas are unaffordable, but the OP's isn't, my new area in Wales certainly isn't (I keep meeting other young, single homeowners here!) and there are plenty of other places that aren't. So it's a mixed bag. Just as there are some areas that are still benefitting from HPI (like mine), and are worth stretching yourself a little bit more for. If home-ownership is that important (more important than living near friends / family / work etc), just move here! If it's not that important, it's not worth whinging about.

merlinthehappypig

On Exmoor, where we live currently, there is the greatest disparity between average house price and average wage in the country. Average price is £382000, average household income is £28000.

Households in the lower 25% of the average household income, earning around £16,000, would have to borrow 12 times their annual wages to buy a house in the lower end of the Exmoor market. Even the lowest price properties are still well beyond the reach of most people living on Exmoor.

It's a combination of largely agricultural and tourism wages with a high concentration of second homes and wealthy retirees.