Thursday, Aug 12, 2010
The tragic side of a HPC
Daily Mail: 'In despair over debt': Couple found dead as their young sons played had lost their jobs and their home
''A couple found dead as their two young sons played nearby were plagued with money worries and had lost their family home after being made redundant. Barry Harrison, 47, is believed to have strangled wife Amanda, 34, before hanging himself at their seaside flat. It has emerged that the devastated couple had lost their £100,000 property after losing their jobs from a recession-hit car manufacturing plant.''
Posted by hpwatcher @ 07:58 AM (1614 views) Add Comment
25 Comments
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1. hpwatcher said...
No one who posts on this website would take any pleasure from this awful story.
2. mr messy said...
what a tragic story, what must this person have been going through to carry out such tragic action, very sad indeed
3. techieman said...
VERY very sad and unfortunately i don't think this will be the last story like this we hear. We could make all sorts of comments that thy over-extended themselves, fell victim to the dream of house ownership etc etc. But at the end of the day, its terrible that the bubble has this social effect on peoples lives.
Lets hope the next generation see the bubble it for what it is, and learn from it. I have little sympathy for BTLs who come unstuck (that is their decision) - but this is surely just someone who wanted a better life and got sucked in to borrowing to pay for it.
4. growler said...
Yep - very tragic indeed that money can drive people to such utter dispair. But to allow your husband to strangle you as part of a suicide pact I don't think as her parent I could be at peace with.
Terrible for the kids to lose their parents in this way.
5. Stevie Dee said...
Simply tragic. Condolences to children and immediate family. R.I.P.
6. inbreda said...
This is not "the tragic side of HPC", this is the tragic side of over-indebtedness which stems from credit being too freely available and houses costing too much. This is the kind of human misery everyone on HPC is trying to prevent. It puts the homeownerists to shame, and yet they are probably completely oblivious to the suffering they cause, sat as they are in their owner occupied bubble.
7. fubar said...
inbreda@5. Well said.
8. symo said...
I hope the credit companies are sued for allowing them to become so overburdened. My thoughts go out to the children.
9. sibley's love child said...
Great, now two boys are orphans. Absolutely selfish act and I have no remorse for this chap whatsoever.
10. charlie brooker said...
Its precisely the prospect of this kind of tragedy that motivated me to take a stand against HPI when the boom got going. I am sure many other HPCers felt the same way.
Those two children are the victims of ignorance and greed from events that took place even before they were born. The human race: What a species.
11. urbanbear said...
Tragic, damned stupid, and pathetic.
They wasted a substantial redundancy payment doing up a house, sold at a big loss, then left their kids to the dubious attentions of the state, because they were too weak to tough it out, ask for help, and rebuild their finances.
12. hpwatcher said...
This is the kind of human misery everyone on HPC is trying to prevent.
Yes, but sadly it's too late to stop it now. The actions of Government and central banks have now made it inevitable.
...because they were too weak to tough it out, ask for help, and rebuild their finances.
It's probably not a good idea to speculate on what was going on with them. There may have been other factors at work. In any event, it is terrible for the kids.
13. righttoleech said...
Fred the Shred, Adam Applegarth, Andy Hornby and thei ilk have blood on their hands.
14. inbreda said...
12. righttoleech said...Fred the Shred, Adam Applegarth, Andy Hornby and thei ilk have blood on their hands.
...which they can't see because they've got so much money in their hands, or their hands in teh tax payers pockets
15. tom101 said...
@Inbreda Blogers on this site haven't tried to prevent anything. Typing on keyboards and doing something is totally different. I include myself incidentally.
@righttoleech Fred, Adam, Andy.... Tom, Dick and Harry. It makes no difference. If there is an opportunity to make some cash Im pretty sure any human would have made similar choices.
16. a saver said...
This is the tragic side of HPI, along with the younger priced out generation.
17. mark wadsworth said...
Inbreda 6 and Sibley's Love Child 9, well said.
18. timmy t said...
This is completely tragic, and all the comments about it being a selfish act are heartless. If someone feels so desperate that they feel this is the only option they have, then they and their kids should have nothing but sympathy. People's ability to deal with scenarios like this vary massively and will depend on all sorts of factors, not least their state of mental health. To say they wasted money doing up their house, implying they deserved everything they got is mad. Do you honestly think they would have done it if they knew it would have ended up like this? The selfish ones in all this, are the people who strive to make money regardless of the cost. Some so-called "developed" countries have "developed" so much that financial gain has become the ultimate goal, and people will do whatever it takes to get rich. In this environment where there are massive winners, there will inevitably be massive losers as well. I'm all in favour of capitalism and entrepreneurialism, but enough is enough. There comes the point where money just doesn't matter that much - and I think we have gone past that point.
19. Simon said...
righttoleech @13
One other thing Fred the Shred, Adam Applegarth, Andy Hornby have in common is that they were all well out of their depth and at least 2 of them lacked banking sector expertise and had to rely completely on others for it .
There are far bigger fish out there who knew exactly what they were doing by deliberately puffing up asset bubbles in an attempt to place whole populations in debt slavery .
20. sibley's love child said...
I see where you're coming from Timmy although surely abdicating personal responsibility seems to be a re-occuring theme throughout the whole HPI/HPC debacle and subsequent fall-out. Their farcical financial situation is but a bit-player in this Shakesperian tragedy. The only saving grace is that they spared their children from such a grotesque act of selfishness.
21. rumble said...
I feel for those kids. The parents must have had bigger problems than financial. House repossessed = murder and suicide?
"This is the kind of human misery everyone on HPC is trying to prevent." -- No, many are here for financial gain.
"Some so-called "developed" countries have "developed" so much that financial gain has become the ultimate goal, and people will do whatever it takes to get rich." -- In undeveloped countries you'll get shot in the head for your phone...
"abdicating personal responsibility seems to be a re-occuring theme" -- Agreed, moral hazard society.
22. hpwatcher said...
"This is the kind of human misery everyone on HPC is trying to prevent." -- No, many are here for financial gain.
I think you will find that there aren't many people on here out for purely financial gain. Most just want to be able to buy a house at a fair price.
23. sureseam said...
rumble @ 20 and hpwatcher @ 21:
There is a financial component to both sides; lets face it BTL on high LTV is not a sign of selflessness.
Speaking for myself, and perhaps others: yes I want an affordable home for my family. I also really want to see a calmer more sustainable property market where younger generations can have affordable homes to raise their families.
Unfortunately this country has reach an extreme from which there is no "nice" way back. Even in the good times folk are made redundant and have their homes reposessed and commit suicide. These times are not good.
The most hawkish of this parish will be obliged to watch family, friends and neighbours go through hellish times, partly as result of their own mainstream decisions to take on huge debt (despite our insights). Am already watching this among my own friends and it is growing - I care but my pockets are not that deep. There is growing anxiety and not schadenfreude at this keyboard; even as my own decisions are vindicated.
The couple at the base of this story were real people and financial stress was part of the story but not all of it. Politicians and journalists will doubtless present one dimensional interpretations to suit their cause of the day; but it isn't the whole story. From this distance I hope those kids get the support they need to move on and build successful lives.
24. rumble said...
"I think
you will findthat ..."25. hpwatcher said...
No, many are here for financial gain.
Are you? I won't judge if you don't!