[Asheron]

 Blandy, on 19 June 2012 - 10:40 AM, said:

Hello

I am just another victim of this house price boom we all experienced and I thought I would find solace by joining up here.

I have never owned my own home as I have been saving to buy one. I am not the sort of person who likes debt so I tried to save enough to buy my own house outright rather than get a mortgage. I was a very early predictor of a house price correction but I was proved wrong and have suffered greatly for it. When I say early, I am taking 2001 – 2002, so yeah, very early.

I have been working and saving since then, going without holidays, days – nights out, new cars, a life etc as I always believed things would be put right and justice would prevail. I have been made a fool of by successive governments and a subject of ridicule amongst my peers who have borrowed and lived beyond their means for more than 10 years now.

I have an overwhelming feeling that I have been cheated, it has affected me greatly and I find it hard to get on with people who have ridden this boom based on debt and lived well beyond their means. The final insult is that I am being expected to pay for their lifestyle by inflation, which as you can imagine is savaging my savings.

My only hope now is that house prices fall faster than the value of my savings, although through bitter experience I am not convinced I have any luck with money at all.

Hi, great post, similar to me. One big mistake you are making is keeping your savings in the bank.

Better if you move into physical Gold/Silver if you want to beat the debt slave system + beat inflation

[Beigemaster]

Hi all, yet another newbie here but thought I would share a story if those are in doubt of that HPCs are happening in different regions.

After graduating, my wife and I rented a 3 bedroom terraced house in a well sought after area in Sheffield (Crookes) for 595pcm. My wife is a nurse by profession but should be an interior designer by hobby as she got this (not unpleasant but boring) house looking fantastic by just a few tweaks here and there (plus a massive amount of work I did on the garden).

The landlady wasn't a career landlady, just happened to own this house while living with her partner somewhere else. So 9 months after we moved in (so June 2011) after a property inspection, the inevitable happened and the landlady obviously decided to cash in on our hard work and decided she wanted to sell the house. We obviously didn't want to rent a place where we might get turfed out and although the Rightmove Pics were taken at the time we were living there, we were gone by the time it went on the market.

The original asking price was 175K. Since June 2011 she's had no tenants living there (I walk past it on my way to work) so has lost a year's worth of rental income and the asking price has now dropped to 140K

Morals of the story, don't invest too much in a rented house unless you have a secure contract (I'd say 12 months) and, if you're in doubt, obviously 175 - 140 is a big drop (as I said, this is in a very popular area) but I expect it will fall further before it sells, so there are signs of readjustment.

[Tankus]

 Beigemaster, on 06 July 2012 - 10:23 AM, said:

Morals of the story, don't invest too much in a rented house unless you have a secure contract (I'd say 12 months) and, if you're in doubt, obviously 175 - 140 is a big drop (as I said, this is in a very popular area) but I expect it will fall further before it sells, so there are signs of readjustment.

why invest anything other than pay the rent ..?..if its rented .......!

This post has been edited by Tankus: 06 July 2012 - 10:31 AM

[Beigemaster]

 Tankus, on 06 July 2012 - 10:30 AM, said:

why invest anything other than pay the rent ..?..if its rented .......!

Because whether I rent/own/squat/share, I want to live somewhere that meets my personal standards and make the best of what I have. All other factors being equal, we'll have to rent for at least another 2 years before we're in a position to own, and I don't intend to spend that time living in a house where I know I could make vast improvements with small changes just because I don't own the house.

IMO a rented house can/should still be a home, but I completely understand if people see things differently.

[Beigemaster]

 Tankus, on 06 July 2012 - 10:30 AM, said:

why invest anything other than pay the rent ..?..if its rented .......!

Because whether I rent/own/squat/share, I want to live somewhere that meets my personal standards and make the best of what I have. All other factors being equal, we'll have to rent for at least another 2 years before we're in a position to own, and I don't intend to spend that time living in a house where I know I could make vast improvements with small changes just because I don't own the house.

IMO a rented house can/should still be a home, but I completely understand if people see things differently.

[tcltk]

Hi one newbie here, lots of bad points.
1) Immigrant. Boooooooo!
2) French. BOOOOOOOOO! ;-)
Had to register on this fantastic forum after living in London for the past 2 years and 1/2. Why? Because I have been a long-time lurker (2006+) and occasional poster on the French equivalent of this forum: http://www.bulle-imm...iere.org/forum/ (I'm sure you will all love the logo).
The good:
1) Convinced prices (buying/renting) are absurd. That cannot last. Or maybe it can. Kind of lost, here... Convinced house prices are also one of the last illusion of richness for the Western world.
2) Big saver. Hard working (after going through sevaral "you are redundant/pink slips" moments) now freelancing.
And yet... our savings (me & wife) would enable us to buy something (2 bedroom-ish in the SW, in cash). This really comes as a dilemna - our only goal would be stability (or the illusion of maybe?) for our daughter. And believable or not, we _love_ London and plan on staying the next few years here. We'll see. The current lease expires next year. Guess that leaves us a little time.
Anyway, glad to have posted here.
And please, do continue do be a fantastic mine of information, points of views (and English humour too)!

[sombreroloco]

 tcltk, on 09 July 2012 - 09:53 PM, said:

Hi one newbie here, lots of bad points.
1) Immigrant. Boooooooo!
2) French. BOOOOOOOOO! ;-)

Bienvenue!

You forgot to mention how many times you shower a month. Or a year.

[tcltk]

 sombreroloco, on 10 July 2012 - 08:57 PM, said:

Bienvenue!
You forgot to mention how many times you shower a month. Or a year.

Thanks
Once a year. But then again only if I have onions, cheese and frogs (love the smell!). Otherwise, can't do. Oh and it has to be on la Fête Nationale too.

[Frank Hovis]

 tcltk, on 09 July 2012 - 09:53 PM, said:

Hi one newbie here, lots of bad points.
1) Immigrant. Boooooooo!
2) French. BOOOOOOOOO! ;-)
Had to register on this fantastic forum after living in London for the past 2 years and 1/2. Why? Because I have been a long-time lurker (2006+) and occasional poster on the French equivalent of this forum: http://www.bulle-imm...iere.org/forum/ (I'm sure you will all love the logo).
The good:
1) Convinced prices (buying/renting) are absurd. That cannot last. Or maybe it can. Kind of lost, here... Convinced house prices are also one of the last illusion of richness for the Western world.
2) Big saver. Hard working (after going through sevaral "you are redundant/pink slips" moments) now freelancing.
And yet... our savings (me & wife) would enable us to buy something (2 bedroom-ish in the SW, in cash). This really comes as a dilemna - our only goal would be stability (or the illusion of maybe?) for our daughter. And believable or not, we _love_ London and plan on staying the next few years here. We'll see. The current lease expires next year. Guess that leaves us a little time.
Anyway, glad to have posted here.
And please, do continue do be a fantastic mine of information, points of views (and English humour too)!

Wow that's long-time lurking! That's two new equivalents I've seen recently - French and Spanish.

In most of our opinions the absurdity cannot last, but many bears fall when your life situation requires you to have a house as waiting is a luxury not everybody has.

[tcltk]

 Frank Hovis, on 11 July 2012 - 11:03 AM, said:

[snip] but many bears fall when your life situation requires you to have a house as waiting is a luxury not everybody has.

Yep.
The bear in me might soon be gently pushed aside because of that littl'un. No bull in sight yet, though.

In my personal case, I then find" consolation" (not that this kind of thoughts gives me nightmares or anything) only in the following fact: if I buy (100% cash or a _very_ small mortgage like 50k) and prices plummet, then the "next" house (whether for me or my daughter's generation) will be cheaper too! Yay! Everyone's happy. Or should be.

[ManVsRecession]

Hello, another newbie here, though I've been reading the site for years.

Single, living and renting in London, just turned 40, nervous about my job in a very outsource-able industry, and learning everything I can to be ready for the coming economic tsunami. After a bad credit crunch, I've just a couple of thousand pounds in savings, no debt thankfully, and a liveable salary, as long I'm careful.

Looking forward to joining the debate!

MvsR

[esspeegee]

Oh I forgot to post here. Long time lurker. Australian. Living in London since 2006. Was on ********************* for years before wandering over here to the British site after that one disappeared.

Absolutely not stunned by what happened to the global economy since 2007. Stunned that the efforts to prevent an economic crash have so far been successful, as far as I can see. There's no blood in the streets, metaphorically.

[98% Chimp]

Welcome esspeegee and ManVsRecession.

I don't envy either of you living in London at the moment.

Are either of you going to see any of the Olympic events?

[ManVsRecession]

 M.A., on 01 August 2012 - 01:41 PM, said:

Welcome esspeegee and ManVsRecession.

I don't envy either of you living in London at the moment.

Are either of you going to see any of the Olympic events?

Actually London's been deathly quiet for the last few days, though it finally seems to be picking up. I didn't bother applying for any tickets as I'm on a tight budget trying to save what I can. I'm enjoying it on telly like everyone else!

Thanks for the welcome and looking forward to participating!

[Jail Them All]

Apologies All, I too forgot to quote here, after lurking for quite a while.

live in the North and currently renting after STR (was very lucky to get out in time). Travel around a lot with my work (Comms) and usually get a room close to where the job is.

Currently comfortable, but seeing a huge downturn in work availability, not good to be a contractor at the moment.

My main beef is watching the exposure of the disgusting frauds etc and the culprits receiving a slap on the wrist, and the blatant misuse of taxpayers money.

Good to be able to join the discussion!

JTA