Ridiculously entitled baby-boomer complains that she can't sell her £1m home

[Sankari]

She's unrealistic, but I don't see any evidence that she's 'ridiculously entitled.'

At £945,000 — the perfectly realistic agreed price on my five-bedroom house plus annexe — stamp duty land tax adds £38,250 to the buyers' costs. That's an enormous amount for any normal family to find, and it means more people are deciding to stay put.

Looks like she's also stupid. Those costs are deducted after the sale. £38k is a very easy amount of money to find if you're a family that's just sold a £1 million house (and if you have a £1 million house, you're not a 'normal' family!) She's just stingy about paying tax.

She could have sold the house already if she'd been sensible about the price. Instead she's cost herself money with two aborted sales that failed purely as a result of her own greed.

 

[dowie]

Looks like she's also stupid. Those costs are deducted after the sale. £38k is a very easy amount of money to find if you're a family that's just sold a £1 million house (and if you have a £1 million house, you're not a 'normal' family!) She's just stingy about paying tax.

It doesn't look like she's stupid with regards to that claim, you've got it the wrong way around. Those costs are payable by the buyer not by her, it is mentioned in the bit you quoted "£38,250 to the buyer's costs".

It doesn't seem like she's too far off re: the price, she's had two buyers nearly close, the fact one of them tried to gazunder* her by knocking off 50k at the last minute is possibly a bit shady of the buyer or perhaps the result of another buyer doing it to them either way she's hardly the only vendor to perhaps not be too happy about that sort of tactic and it is bad luck more than anything.

* https://www.onthemarket.com/content/gazundering-a-guide-to-what-it-means-and-how-to-avoid-it/
"Thankfully gazundering is rare, and in most instances buyers do not do it vindictively, but whatever the scenario it can be distressing and can often see deals collapse."

 

[Sankari]

It doesn't look like she's stupid with regards to that claim, you've got it the wrong way around. Those costs are payable by the buyer not by her, it is mentioned in the bit you quoted "£38,250 to the buyer's costs".

Then she's still stupid, because a 'normal family' won't be buying a £1 million house. Nobody's going to do that unless they have enough money to cover all their costs, and no self respecting real estate agent or bank will waste time on them if they're short.

It doesn't seem like she's too far off re: the price, she's had two buyers nearly close, the fact one of them tried to gazunder* her by knocking off 50k at the last minute is possibly a bit shady of the buyer or perhaps the result of another buyer doing it to them either way she's hardly the only vendor to perhaps not be too happy about that sort of tactic and it is bad luck more than anything.

£50k off a £1 million house is pocket change, little more than a rounding error! She should have taken it.

 

[Angilion]

At £945,000 — the perfectly realistic agreed price on my five-bedroom house plus annexe — stamp duty land tax adds £38,250 to the buyers' costs. That's an enormous amount for any normal family to find, and it means more people are deciding to stay put.

1) A normal family is not buying a £1M house.
2) The difference between £945,000 and £983,250 is very far indeed from "enormous".
3) If the price she was asking was "perfectly realistic", she would be able to sell. So obviously it isn't "perfectly realistic".

 

[edscdk]

If you can't sell your house for a million quid, there's a very simple reason for that.

The reason is it's not worth a million quid.

It's called a free market.

A house (or anything) is only really worth what a real live buyer is prepared to pay for it.

For some reason people just don't understand this simple fact when it comes to houses.. They do about most other items but houses seem to be different I've never understood why most people cannot grasp this fact .. Our next door neighbours house was on sale pretty much all the time for 10 years before it sold.(price being bumped up constantly as prices were going up fast at the time)

 

[Derek W]

Meanwhile both myself and girlfriend registered nurses can't afford a house, these entitled baby boomers really **** me off.

Just as a matter of interest can you afford either a 1 bed flat / ex council house within a reasonable travel distance to you and your partners work?

 

[Nasher]

Get a caravan. Apparently if you live in one of those you don't need to pay any taxes and you can just steal whatever you like without consequences

 

[Maccapacca]

Entitled baby boomers? When you've worked for 40 years, paid your taxes, your endowment mortgage didn't add up, your state pension won't allow you to run any more than one bar on the gas fire and live in poverty and your private pension (if you have one) isn't worth diddly squat andyou've stumped up mortgage deposits for your kids. All you have left is the property you live in, a bit of cash and are probably going to live for another twenty years with no income.

No wonder she's holding out for as much as possible.

 

[Hades]

Meanwhile both myself and girlfriend registered nurses can't afford a house, these entitled baby boomers really **** me off.

Are you able to move to a cheaper area at all, such as further north (assuming your profile location is accurate?)

 

[Dis86]

Meanwhile both myself and girlfriend registered nurses can't afford a house, these entitled baby boomers really **** me off.

My next door neighbour is a single nurse. Band 6. Lives in a 4 bed detached. Move.

 

[ttaskmaster]

NVM

 

[fez]

Entitled baby boomers? When you've worked for 40 years, paid your taxes, your endowment mortgage didn't add up, your state pension won't allow you to run any more than one bar on the gas fire and live in poverty and your private pension (if you have one) isn't worth diddly squat andyou've stumped up mortgage deposits for your kids. All you have left is the property you live in, a bit of cash and are probably going to live for another twenty years with no income.

No wonder she's holding out for as much as possible.

The reason people say they are entitled is because there are a lot of people who have worked in low skill jobs for 40 years with perhaps one out of the couple not working for that time and they are retiring with a house worth a huge amount of money. The average person in our generation will retire with a house that is not worth that much more than they paid for it, a **** pension and they will be 75 not 65.

Part of the issue is that there is a huge discrepancy between the haves and have nots in the baby boomers. There are those that will retire with a ridiculous lifestyle that they haven't "earned" and then those that have worked far harder with very little. If you managed to put any money into property as a baby boomer you are laughing. There has never been a generation like the baby boomers who have managed to amass so much wealth for so little effort and quality. I'm not saying they haven't worked hard but property has skyrocketed, people ran businesses badly and still made money because they got in at the start of industries and didn't need to be good.

Anyway, back on topic.

We are selling our flat at the moment and looking to buy and the market is entirely static at the moment compared to last year. As others have said, your property is only worth what people are willing to pay so if its not selling then its too expensive. You either wait for the market to pick up or you accept less. Your price has to take into account the stamp duty people will pay but thats what an estate agent does. They value your property based on the market and the market value of properties takes into account stamp stamp duty. From talking to estate agents, plenty of people refuse to take their advice and will put it on for far more than suggested and most of the time they don't sell. Some agents won't even take on a property unless the price the seller wants is realistic because they know they won't get paid if the property doesn't sell and it makes them look bad.

Just because houses were selling like hot cakes last year doesn't mean they will keep doing so. Our flat would have sold for ~300k last year but this year we are struggling to get more than £280k for it. On the plus side, the houses nearby have suffered the same fate so we should benefit overall. Stamp duty is one of the main reasons we are maxing out on our new property. We don't need a place as big as we are buying but we aren't going to live in a house for 3 years and then shell out another £20k to move up the ladder again.

 

[Scam]

Well said fez^.

Honestly I can't believe it took that long for somebody to get all uppity about my clickbait title People like Macca post that sob story which probably has no relevance to the woman-in-question's life, nicely forgetting that due to the greed of the boomers in housing, there's going to be millions of millennials in exactly the same position 40yrs down the line, except they won't be sitting on a £1m house -- they'll be forking over thousands of pounds every month to some scummy landlord. What happens when these youngsters retire with a non-existent pension and rent to pay? We'll all be out on the streets, that's what. But no, let's try and make up a sob story about the millionaire boomer who did nothing but be born in the right era and watched her home 'earn' more per year than most people do in the country. Sure.

It doesn’t work in other countries that do the sam, why do you think it would work in the UK?

I can think of Amsterdam and maybe Germany for another that both have a property tax that is based on the value of the asset. Can't recall either of those having ludicrously unaffordable housing, or massive inflationary bubbles. I might be wrong though.

For some reason people just don't understand this simple fact when it comes to houses..

Oh they do. They like quoting the 'free market' when it suits. Namely when calling millennials entitled and complaining they eat too much avocado on toast. "House too expensive? Yeah, free market mate".

My next door neighbour is a single nurse. Band 6. Lives in a 4 bed detached. Move.

When did she buy?

 

[francky]

Why do you care what one woman is selling her personal property for or not based on tax......labeling her a "baby boomer" as if that's some form of badge of disgrace....its a bit like someone calling you whiny millennial.

People constantly lumping others into groups so that they can put them down or vent their own jealousy.

Please tell me how someone that has paid into a mortgage and just so happened to have their property rise in value through no fault of her own is entitled...especially having worked for 50 years?

Why so many people hate on people that have worked all their lives and got something for themselves is beyond me.

 

[Dis86]

@Scam 2 years ago.

 

[ttaskmaster]

NVM

 

[Scam]

Please tell me how someone that has paid into a mortgage and just so happened to have their property rise in value through no fault of her own is entitled...especially having worked for 50 years?

entitled
/ɪnˈtʌɪt(ə)ld/
adjective

1. believing oneself to be inherently deserving of privileges or special treatment.
   "kids who feel so entitled and think the world will revolve around them"

She's acting like she's entitled to sell her house for £950k+. It's quite simple. It's nice to flip the word on it's head and apply it to boomers, who are most often busy calling millennials 'entitled' whereas in reality they're just striving for what this woman has. Like a place of their own to call home.

 

[dowie]

3) If the price she was asking was "perfectly realistic", she would be able to sell. So obviously it isn't "perfectly realistic".

It is an illiquid market and she nearly did sell, twice, ergo she’s not far off. She probably should have accepted the offer from the people who tried to gazunder her, as dubious as that practice is.

Increased stamp duty likely does have an effect on liquidity.

Then she's still stupid, because a 'normal family' won't be buying a £1 million house. Nobody's going to do that unless they have enough money to cover all their costs, and no self respecting real estate agent or bank will waste time on them if they're short.

I'm not sure why you're persisting in calling her stupid when you completely confused the situation yourself in the previous post and called her stupid based on your own misunderstanding. The point re: the increased stamp duty affecting sales is likely a valid one whether you agree with stamp duty being applied like that and at that rate or not.

 

[balky12]

Hey, I totally agree and I understand the point she was (really badly) trying to make. I'd like see the abolition of council tax as well, and see a Land Value Tax come into force. Everyone pay a percentage of the value of their home. Would certainly help stop the boom and bust we've seen in our property market, would especially stop the massive bubbles.

Not against the idea, but how would that work in practice? Does the value get assessed every year? Or just the last value it sold at?

Just to annoy some forum goers my parents bought their house in '99 at £300k. It's now worth £1m according to zoopla and similar houses in the area. You can no longer buy a house for 300k in the area. Obviously an annual valuation would be needed...but logistically that would be chaos... I bet when the housing market takes a dive the government will be slow at the annual valuations too...

If it was just based on last sold for price then people would be reluctant to move possibly... why would my parents move from a 4 bed detached paying LVT based on 300k a year to something smaller but an increase in LVT

 

[francky]

I dont agree personally.....its not about earning money for not working......how I see it is if your house rose in value from 500K to 1 Million through the general market prices increasing.....would you sell it for 500K as you dont feel you should have gained money for nothing?

If you want to blame anyone for not providing property for younger people, blame the government or builders for not building affordable housing.

the 1M house market has no bearing on 1st time buyers.