Mancunian284

The elephant in the room is unemployment. https://kpmg.com/uk/en/home/media/press-releases/2023/12/kpmg-and-rec-uk-report-on-jobs.html

I’m becoming an Angela Rayner fan too.

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/140182808#/?channel=RES_BUY This is a sought after area of Manchester. The last 2 to be sold have gone for above 400k (have a look in the nearby sold prices). This one is newly listed with an asking price of 360k. I think this is an area you watch @Nomadd

These are the people that look well off on the surface. I wonder what all that debt has gone on? They have a good monthly income so shouldn’t need to have debt like that. Holidays? Designer handbags? I’m struggling to think what it’s been spent on.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/4889140-aibu-to-think-that-we-cant-sort-this-ourselves-without-professional-help-desperate-situation Interesting thread on debt.

What were mortgage approval numbers in August 2022?

They are from kids parties in the 1980s. Stuck in a half melon wrapped in tin foil. See also cheese and pickled onion on a cocktail stick. They were both known as hedgehogs up here in the north.

I posted about this last week. 2 friends have holiday let’s in Ulverston and Windermere. Both had zero bookings between Christmas and Easter (not peak time but they would usually have some bookings). They are at 30 to 50 % occupancy for the summer when they would expect to be almost fully booked by now.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/jun/28/ubs-preparing-to-cut-more-than-half-of-inherited-credit-suisse-workforce?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Lake District is saturated with holiday homes though. Places like Ulverston, Kendal etc that were always residential are now full of holiday homes. I think places like Bowness, Keswick etc will do ok but not the outlying towns.

Interesting, one of the people I mention is in Windermere. No bookings at all between Christmas and Easter. School hols booked up, apart from summer. About 50% booked over summer, would normally be pretty much full for summer by now.

So as we know, there was an increase in people buying property to rent out short term as holiday lets. Taking these properties out of circulation for people to live in (rent or buy). I have two acquaintances who have holiday lets in the Lake District. Both are at about 30% occupancy this year. They need to be about 50% occupancy to break even, about 75% to make a profit. Saturated market ? People going abroad again? Cost of living meaning people rationing their holidays?

Looks like the Aussies are getting their act together. Incidentally, I reported my last landlord to HMRC because he was an arse. No idea if he was avoiding tax or not but at least I know HMRC will have taken a closer look. I’d recommend that all renters report their landlords, just for fun.

How do you deal with this? https://www.reddit.com/r/HousingUK/comments/12bpoyz/ruminating_after_finding_out_that_we_massively/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_content=2&utm_term=1

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/property/4773706-house-prices?page=2 Well, general consensus seems to be that the market has stalled. Apart from a couple of outliers.

I joined when I was on mat leave thinking it would be a good place to share info / laugh at stuff that goes on when you have a new baby. It’s just women attacking each other though, for the most innocuous things. I think they are mostly angry and frustrated women with very little going on in their lives. Most threads turn into discussing benefits (by the unemployed and 16 hour a week crowd), whether that’s how to claim or a moan about how benefits aren’t enough for them to keep up with the Jones’s. I’m not sure how moaning on the mumsnet echo chamber is going to help them though - they’d be better spending their time organising petitions and protests. Except they think mumsnet is widely read and utilised by Kate Middleton et al (no dearest mumsnetters - she has staff). And that posting on mumsnet will actually have an impact. Then they went even more demented during Covid / lockdowns.

Mumsnet’s own figures? Interesting how they don’t break down the full and part time employment. I suspect most are 16 hours a week workers claiming child related benefits. Evidence - the amount they post on mumsnet and their intricate knowledge of the benefits system.

I’m not so sure all women are as bad as mumsnetters. It’s a very petty place populated by angry women on benefits who think the world (well, the tax payer) owes them a living. They just spend their time picking fights with each other over innocuous things that most people would just ignore. I’m a mum and I used to use mumsnet when my daughter was little but I decided I could find useful information elsewhere, without having to wade through all the nastiness. It’s a small subset of British women there though, the only people who take it seriously are the women who post on there. I don’t know if any of my friends who use it / take it seriously. But back to your point - not sure it’s trying to be a “pick me” girl that makes some women successful. I think the worlds of business and politics were built by men for men and women have to adopt certain male behaviours to succeed. Sheryl Sandberg wrote a good book on this “Lean In”.

Women hate women that they see as superior to them. They love to try and bring a successful woman down. Whilst she didn’t last long, Liz became prime minister (a bigger achievement than bitching on mumsnet all day), Liz is also wealthier than most mumsnetters and was against benefits scroungers (most mumsnetters). So yes, mumsnet hates Liz Truss (they don’t seem to mention Kwasi much do they?).

Thanks 😀

Haven’t got a subscription, could someone cut and paste pretty please?

I don’t do take aways anymore either. We get a take away box from M&S. £10 for 2 and you microwave it yourself. Chinese, Japanese, Sri Lankan, Thai, Indian or Chinese. Take aways did very well during the pandemic but not so well now.

My gym is in a hotel and I sometimes chat to travelling workers. They have usually booked last minute for £120 night, rather than the standard rate of £240. They say it’s a bit of a risk because you never know where you’ll stay and sometimes you’ll end up driving home / half way home. You also need to keep an eye on any local events (that’ll be football in Manchester) and school holidays. It sounds to me like hotels are just trying it on for those who have to book in advance but drop their pants when they realise they have a lot of empty rooms left for the week.

Yeah, real wood flooring is the only one of those I’d actually aim for. My slow cooker is my favourite possession - I’m easily pleased 🤣

This concerns me because I don’t think many people did holiday in the U.K. in 2022. They holidayed in the U.K. in 2020 and 2021 because they basically had no other option. Pretty much everyone I know saw summer 2022 as the return to travelling abroad freedom.