Yea *shrug* Over half my family live in Devon, some in Leics and I live in Lincolnshire. You keep in touch with old true friends and make new ones.
Cameron's housing plans
- Thread starter robfosters
- Start date
Yea *shrug* Over half my family live in Devon, some in Leics and I live in Lincolnshire. You keep in touch with old true friends and make new ones.
Totally agree. BTL has to be the main reason the bottom rung of the ladder has been pushed up so much.
I think it will be before then. What with current 30-somethings unable to buy anything, what actually happens when we retire? Our pensions will be worth diddly-squat. How exactly do you afford rent on a state pension?
We'll be retired on the streets if nothing changes before then.Totally agree. BTL has to be the main reason the bottom rung of the ladder has been pushed up so much.
I think it will be before then. What with current 30-somethings unable to buy anything, what actually happens when we retire? Our pensions will be worth diddly-squat. How exactly do you afford rent on a state pension?
This is simply not true the only reason BTL is popular is because there is a shortage of housing both for purchase and rental meaning BTL landlords get good returns on investment as rents are high. If we built the housing the country needs then purchase prices and rental prices would drop it's simple supply and demand.
Back when there wasn't a housing crisis in this country, construction companies used to train kids as they left school at 16 in skills like bricklaying, plumbing, carpentry etc. then employed them to build houses. Nowadays it all seems to be contract labour, who have little interest in training anyone.
it isn't just a technical difference and I'm not misrepresenting anything I'm explaining why there are fundamental differences between buying a home using a mortgage and buying something via a hire purchase agreement.
You're proposing a flawed scenario - you pay back the bank when you complete the sale... the bank has a secured loan on the home you owned. The ownership isn't a matter for opinion, it is just fact.
If you take your car into a garage for repairs and you fail to pay the bill they may keep hold of your car - the ownership of your car doesn't change just because you've taken it into a garage for repairs it is just that when you do that and you owe the garage money they have a lien against it (just like the bank does with your house) and if you fail to pay them they'll hold it.
Last edited:
Why wouldn't you?
If that's the only option then that's the only option - I moved 120 miles away from family and friends because I wouldn't had a chance of affording even a studio flat where I grew up (Bath). Instead I moved to Birmingham, and bought a 3 bed terrace in a half decent area a couple of years ago.
It's all about priorities - if staying close to your friends is more important then there's nothing wrong with that; in my case, starting a family and wanting a bit more stability than moving between tiny rented properties every year was more important.
Many people just aren't prepared to make any sacrifices and want everything (and right now).
Which is in contrast to what I see and hear around here, that it's all Polish/Eastern European construction workers being paid minimum wage. Not disputing your experience though, as being in the industry you will have a better idea than my anectdotal knowledge.
And tbh, seeing the rows of houses that just got knocked up in the middle of a market town (on a plot no-where near big enough) there was hardly a brick in sight
It was all timber frame with polystyrene/plasterboard panels nail gunned in with a single brick skin up the outside and fake stick on bricks all along the eaves.
Nothing wrong with timber framed buildings per se, but not when they are in a terrace with just the single panel wall dividing them and in a flood plane area...and being sold for full price
what if there are no sacrifices left to make and its still out of reach?
im essentially resigned to (as harsh as it sounds) waiting for a member of family with property to pop their clogs.
We would love to train more people. Problem is kids leave school and want cushy inside jobs working 35 hours a week and earning £25k.
Which is in contrast to what I see and hear around here, that it's all Polish/Eastern European construction workers being paid minimum wage. Not disputing your experience though, as being in the industry you will have a better idea than my anectdotal knowledge.
And tbh, seeing the rows of houses that just got knocked up in the middle of a market town (on a plot no-where near big enough) there was hardly a brick in sight
It was all timber frame with polystyrene/plasterboard panels nail gunned in with a single brick skin up the outside and fake stick on bricks all along the eaves.
Nothing wrong with timber framed buildings per se, but not when they are in a terrace with just the single panel wall dividing them and in a flood plane area...and being sold for full price
Yeah might be different in different parts of the country but here in North Yorkshire the shortage of (good) staff and materials is acute. Even the quarries can;t keep up with stone for concrete or foundations.
Or have they been conditioned that way?
No ones doing anything wrong. Just have different priorities..
Am I lucky that I can stay close to friends/ family, earn a decent wage and buy a house in one of the hardest places in the UK!? Yes most probably. If you ignore the hard work I put in to my career and sacrifices with regards to saving.
Yes living near London all my life is s stroke of luck. Can't begrudge me for that though. 3 bed place im looking at cost 330k. In Stanley, Durham, you could buy one for 50k I recon.
Last edited:
Yes and have done pretty much a 100 miles from where I grew up, in fact I have been working over 400 miles away from my wife and home for the past 5 years. I fly up to Edinburgh on a Monday and fly back home on a Thursday night and yes we are happily married.
I am not saying why they have that attitude but they do. Doesn't matter why they have that attitude, the point is nobody seems to want to join construction. HGV drivers are just as bad. Nobody leaves school wanting to become a HGV driver anymore.
Same with the office based staff. Interviewed a new graduate last year and he said near the start of the interview he wouldn't get out of bed for less than £25k per annum. The job was for £18k to £20k as an assistant to the QS with training and good promotion prospects.
It will only get worse as well. Already 20% of our workforce are over 60 and eventually they are going to retire.
The ones near me are completely bent and everyone knows it. My town only has one road in and one out. Traffic on them is at a standstill for two hours a day. Surveys have said for years that the town cannot handle more houses as the infrastructure just isn't there. So...the council allows the go ahead for 400 homes to be built on one of those roads effectively closing it. Now there's one road in and out...
That's a solution for an individual. Please explain, how does moving solve the problem for the wider population over the long-term? When prices become unaffordable in the majority of the country do we start encouraging people to move to the Highlands?
There's a huge amount of building going on in my town at the moment. It's not having a positive effect at all. In fact, I suspect it's driving prices upward. A new build two-bed semi sells for 30% more than existing housing stock. The developers are marketing the homes heavily to people who work in Birmingham and Manchester. As a result, they are selling at that price - even including monthly rail costs it's a lot cheaper than buying in posh city areas like Solihull. The outcome of all of this is, existing stock now looks like a bargain by comparison. It's being snapped up by commuters and BTL investors alike. Prices have risen 18% in the 22 months I've been living here, and rents aren't far behind. I'm now in a situation where if I don't buy in the next six months then I'm likely to have to move. Problem is, I'll move to a cheaper area, looking to commute to my existing job, and help to push up house prices there because they look like a relative bargain. Where does it end?
Save hard, work hard, move to another area and pay over the odds. That's not a solution. It's simply helping the problem along.
It's funny really. Looking back at the financial crisis most of us can't believe how we let that happen - it was obvious. Plain as day. Yet right here, in this thread, we have maybe 50% of posters defending the housing market, seemingly blind to the enormity of the bubble. It's unsustainable. If we don't take steps to deflate it then it will pop. Maybe not this decade, but the next one? Or the one after that? It's inevitable. When it happens, all of those people currently defending the status quo will forget they held this stance and ask the government: how did you let this happen?
Last edited:
Soldato
- Joined
- 13 Apr 2013
- Posts
- 13,714
- Location
- La France
No, but I suspect that reality might change yours over time.
True. But is the problem really that wide spread? Sure the situation isn't ideal, and it might be impossible for a tiny minority but to suggest the problem is boderline impossible for a majority or to suggest it one day will be is wrong. The majority of the population will not have to relocate hundreds of miles.
Most people I know have the same view. It sucks but you do what needs to be done. Some are now home owners and others well on their way. Every development plan we went to whilst looking houses were going like hot cakes. Plenty of people out there can afford homes. They aren't unobtainable.
We've got it over here in the north east too
In fairness some conscious decisions on my part probably helped.