The Good Life....

[TheCountOfNowhere]

I was watching the first episode of the BBC TV series, The Good Life, on DVD last night.

Broadcast in 1975, Tom has just turned 40, working as a senior draughstman, life is good...he's paid for his house in surbiton !!!!

Looking at the house, big old detached house, 4/5 bed I'd say, huge garden, enough to live off it would seem, located in Surrey, prime commuter belt.

According to this link, their house was up for sale in 2001, for £570K

http://www.thefreelibrary.com/WHAT+WOULD+MARGOT+SAY%3F%3B+Tom+and+Barbara%27s+Good+Life+house+up+for+sale...-a072490653

What would it have sold for at peak £1 Million ?

Maybe soemthing like this:

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-28063693.html

Thought that doesnt look as big/nice.

Roll forward 32 years...to the peak of the housing market...Tom having given up work, 32 years earlier, living off the land ( and the state no doubt ) would now be 72 collecting his pension, only worked for maybe 20 years of his life and would have been able to sellhis house, that he paid for by the age of 40,working as a draughtsman, for a £1 Million move abroad and live in the lap of luxury.

No wonder the baby boomers dont want to let the bubble burst !!!!

What does a draughtsman earn now ? Would they be b uyign million pound houses ?

It might have been the good life for them,...it's the s**t life for the rest of us having to pay for them.

P.S. I know it's just a TV program.

PPS. After a little googling, the actual filming took place in Northwood middlesex, on Kewferry Road, Northwood

This pad is up for sale there:

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-31607195.html

£1.2 Million, looks smaller than the one used in filming.

It's certainly is the good lfie for some.

This shows how ridiculous and out of kilter housing in Britain really is.

I look forward to the filming of "The S**t Life."

Edited November 19, 2010 by TheCountOfNowhere

[pathfinder]

A large chunk of draughtsman are unemployed, I have seen a 50% culling in medium firms for FULLTIMERS not contract staff they went 2 years ago.

[righttoleech]

I agree with your sentiments, high house prices are destroying living standards of people at all income levels.......however I have a slightly different take on media culture.

The spoilt brats who have produced these programmes have no idea how normal people live. The media people are so well paid that their idea of a typical factory employee is somebody that eats and drinks in the pub every day, and suggests the barmaid 'keeps the change' after every £3 pint.

I would suggest this false portrayal of wealth has always shown people at all income levels living beyond what would be realistic in the real world.

Unfortunately this false portrayal does not imbube those of us being shafted up every orifice with a great sense of wellbeing.

[LivingWithTheInlaws]

I look at a lot of the houses in our town which 40 years ago would have been bought by dentists, doctors, accountants etc but now they'd have no chance. Those houses are only for people who've been very successful in their own business or where both husband and wife have excellent careers, though they usually then end up with a nanny for the kids which they never see.

[OnlyMe]

A large chunk of draughtsman are unemployed, I have seen a 50% culling in medium firms for FULLTIMERS not contract staff they went 2 years ago.

Just checked Chief Engineers jobs - about £50k. Still not enough. You probably wouldnt get one of those jobs till 35/40 at the earliest.

[Limpet]

It`s certainly wierd what I remember. ( sometimes I don`t know what day it is)

I recall an episode when the next door neighbour "Jerry" was going through a bit of a mid life crisis, and bleating about "oh yeah, I get paid £17k a year and a company car but...yadda yadda yadda.

Bearing in mind he would have been Tom`s boss at the firm.

And he had a stay at home wife.

No kids in sight though

Edited November 19, 2010 by Limpet

[campervanman]

I was watching the first episode of the BBC TV series, The Good Life, on DVD last night.

Broadcast in 1975, Tom has just turned 40, working as a senior draughstman, life is good...he's paid for his house in surbiton !!!!

No wonder the baby boomers dont want to let the bubble burst !!!!

It might have been the good life for them,...it's the s**t life for the rest of us having to pay for them.

So boomers now date from 1935? Cr@p. Tom was a pre boomer, part of a generation who benefitted from house price inflation paid for by their kids (boomers). But you don't want to hear that do you?

[TheCountOfNowhere]

Just checked Chief Engineers jobs - about £50k. Still not enough. You probably wouldnt get one of those jobs till 35/40 at the earliest.

You could always get a 20 x salary mortgage off the Northern Wreck...no hang on...that was 3 years ago.

This really does show the absurdity of the housing bubble/market and the wreckless greed and stupidity of the banking system/baby boomers.

I was worried the banks might collapse (again) and I'd loose everything so was thinking of paying these over-inflated prices and buying now.....thinking about it i'd rather loose it all than line one of the baby boomer's pockets.

[campervanman]

You could always get a 20 x salary mortgage off the Northern Wreck...no hang on...that was 3 years ago.

This really does show the absurdity of the housing bubble/market and the wreckless greed and stupidity of the banking system/baby boomers.

I was worried the banks might collapse (again) and I'd loose everything so was thinking of paying these over-inflated prices and buying now.....thinking about it i'd rather loose it all than line one of the baby boomer's pockets.

But it was ok for my generation to line the pockets of the pre boomers by paying them 20x what they paid for their houses? Your analysis is complete bllks. The 'good life' generation you use to demonise boomers were a generation before and it was boomers who suffered not benefitted from their low inflation/high house price growth.

[GinAndPlatonic]

Forget the draughtsman, his missus was a real nice lady.

All that manure and dungarees no wonder the babies were booming........

I really used to fancy Felicity...petite and well put together....

I never ever thought that people earning £50k in London would feel so poor.......

[Tonkers]

I agree with your sentiments, high house prices are destroying living standards of people at all income levels.......however I have a slightly different take on media culture.

The spoilt brats who have produced these programmes have no idea how normal people live. The media people are so well paid that their idea of a typical factory employee is somebody that eats and drinks in the pub every day, and suggests the barmaid 'keeps the change' after every £3 pint.

I would suggest this false portrayal of wealth has always shown people at all income levels living beyond what would be realistic in the real world.

Unfortunately this false portrayal does not imbube those of us being shafted up every orifice with a great sense of wellbeing.

Like the Kentucky Fried Chicken adverts being so bloody middle class, right down to the twigs in a vase. Anything but Cheap fried Sh!t.

[Democorruptcy]

I look at a lot of the houses in our town which 40 years ago would have been bought by dentists, doctors, accountants etc but now they'd have no chance. Those houses are only for people who've been very successful in their own business or where both husband and wife have excellent careers, though they usually then end up with a nanny for the kids which they never see.

You need to read more about doctor's pay.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1204065/The-GP-earning-380-000-year--hours-doctors-200-hour.html

On the subject of doctors and houses there is a little snippet here:

Whiteaway Laidlaw, a subsidiary of Manchester Building Society, which entered the buy-to-let market for the first time six months ago, and whose typical borrower is a GP with two or three buy-to-let properties, said that it was targeting high-earning landlords rather than first-time buyers because they were less likely to default

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/money/property_and_mortgages/article6993169.ece

[pilchardthecat]

I never ever thought that people earning £50k in London would feel so poor.......

I can never understand why they don't go and live somewhere else.

I could probably earm 15% or 25% more in London. I live about 50-60 miles from it right now and have a detached house with a garage, off street parking for 3-4 cars a 120ft rear garden with countryside to the rear, decent primary schools but the comp isn't great, not much crime, several large towns within a 1 hour commute....bought just before peak for a fraction over 200k. Maybe worth 180-200k now. I could get the train to central London and be there in just over an hour but i don't like public transport.

I would feel a lot poorer if i lived in London - i would either have to bring my family up in a pokey hole or pay (not sure how much)

more for a house like mine

Stop whining and vote with your feet. Move somewhere else.

[TheCountOfNowhere]

That's another point...wifie was at home...mortgage free by 40 in a million quid house working as a draughtsman.

Ahhh, the good life indeed.

[OnlyMe]

I never ever thought that people earning £50k in London would feel so poor.......

Not as poor as the feeling when that 50k job is replaced by someone on 15k a year through outsoucrcing/offshoring/investment into more tech (a computer doesn't need a super-sized mortgage to exist).

Mega Mortages in this country should be renamed career death notes, you sign it you are activly participating in your own future redundancy.

Edited November 19, 2010 by OnlyMe

[Stars]

Stop whining and vote with your feet. Move somewhere else.

Millions being forced to live a long way from where they work isn't particularily efficient

Still it's worth its, so people can make hand over fist on their properties

[@contradevian]

I think the Good Life was probably about right as I liken my dad to someone like my father to Tom at the time (though in reality he was Tom/Gerry hybrid as an owner /director). My dad was born 1929, chief engineer/director, progressing to "executive" house in the 70's with bright yellow Rover. Mum didn't work. I suspect he wasn't mortgage free till the 80's though, due to taken over my Uncles house (who had just retired) and being refused planning for a flat in the garden where they lived, and other business stuff.

Unlike the recent attempt to modernise Reggie Perrin, I don't think that worked at all for the 21st century. A marketing manager, would not I suspect not get a house like that in Surrey, apart from the secretarial functions having been eliminated, by PC's and microsoft office. They perhaps should have made him a banker, this time round.

Edited November 19, 2010 by Sir John Steed

[PopGun]

Stop whining and vote with your feet. Move somewhere else.

The problem with sound logic such as this, is it gets undermined by idiots/all right jacks shouting get on your bikes/buses. Then they whinge about about people on HB living in the capitol. Some people can’t win.

[PopGun]

Not as poor as the feeling when that 50k job is replaced by someone on 15k a year through outsoucrcing/offshoring/investment into more tech (a computer doesn't need a super-sized mortgage to exist).

Mega Mortages in this country should be renamed career death notes, you sign it you are activly participating in your own future redundancy.

Well when house prices eventually do crash and stop supporting our phantom economy....TBTB won't need all these people on £50k + a year generating debt to buy them anymore.

Just a (scary) thought.

[pilchardthecat]

Millions being forced to live a long way from where they work isn't particularily efficient

Still it's worth its, so people can make hand over fist on their properties

Eh?

I'm about 25 miles from the office.... takes me about 40 minutes to drive to work.

Which is about 10-15 minutes less than the walk + tube + walk commutes i used to do in London.

Oh and don't forget that London is a stinking shit hole full of angry people and is a bloody horrible place to live.

Edited November 19, 2010 by pilchardthecat

[SHERWICK]

I was watching the first episode of the BBC TV series, The Good Life, on DVD last night.

Broadcast in 1975, Tom has just turned 40, working as a senior draughstman, life is good...he's paid for his house in surbiton !!!!

Looking at the house, big old detached house, 4/5 bed I'd say, huge garden, enough to live off it would seem, located in Surrey, prime commuter belt.

According to this link, their house was up for sale in 2001, for £570K

http://www.thefreeli...e...-a072490653

What would it have sold for at peak £1 Million ?

Maybe soemthing like this:

http://www.rightmove...y-28063693.html

Thought that doesnt look as big/nice.

Roll forward 32 years...to the peak of the housing market...Tom having given up work, 32 years earlier, living off the land ( and the state no doubt ) would now be 72 collecting his pension, only worked for maybe 20 years of his life and would have been able to sellhis house, that he paid for by the age of 40,working as a draughtsman, for a £1 Million move abroad and live in the lap of luxury.

No wonder the baby boomers dont want to let the bubble burst !!!!

What does a draughtsman earn now ? Would they be b uyign million pound houses ?

It might have been the good life for them,...it's the s**t life for the rest of us having to pay for them.

P.S. I know it's just a TV program.

PPS. After a little googling, the actual filming took place in Northwood middlesex, on Kewferry Road, Northwood

This pad is up for sale there:

http://www.rightmove...y-31607195.html

£1.2 Million, looks smaller than the one used in filming.

It's certainly is the good lfie for some.

This shows how ridiculous and out of kilter housing in Britain really is.

I look forward to the filming of "The S**t Life."

I thought they lived in a large semi, with the other half of the semi occupied by Margot and whatshisname...

[Stars]

Eh?

This is what you said:

Stop whining and vote with your feet. Move somewhere else

I'm pointing out that moving somewhere else and then travelling back every day to work is extremely innefficient, even if the bloated price of accommodation sends a distorted signal which makes it financially efficient. It would be far better for everyone (except a few) if we didn't subject our workers to this nonsense and so the other poster's complaint is imo quite justified even if he can move somewhere else

I'm about 25 miles from the office.... takes me about 40 minutes to drive to work.

Which is about 10-15 minutes less than the walk + tube + walk commutes i used to do in London.

I have no interest in your circumstances

[Heading South]

No wonder the baby boomers dont want to let the bubble burst !!!!

I agree with you that house prices have far outstripped wages & salaries since this programme was made in the 70s. However I think you are totally wrong to assume that most boomers don't want prices to fall.

All the boomers I know (and I include myself) would be only too happy to see prices slashed. Most of us have been looking on for years at how cheap money and lack lending policies have allowed prices to soar to unsustainable levels. In my view at least a 50% fall is required to bring affordability back to sensible levels.

So are we all pretending to be altruistic but secretly hoping prices stay high? I don't think so - it's more to do with enlightened self interest. Reduced prices would lower the cost of moving home (through less stamp duty, etc) and more importantly allow the boomers' own offspring to buy a home to live without having to raid the bank of mum and dad. Also, I see very little evidence of older people trading down to take advantage of high prices, so amongst the public it's really only the BTL brigade who don't want to let the bubble burst.

But we only have to look across the Irish Sea to see why the UK establishment is so desparate to keep the bubble going. If prices did fall by half, you just wonder what any government could do to prevent our banking system collapsing.

[pilchardthecat]

This is what you said:

Stop whining and vote with your feet. Move somewhere else

I'm pointing out that moving somewhere else and then travelling back every day to work is extremely innefficient, even if the bloated price of accommodation sends a distorted signal which makes it financially efficient. It would be far better for everyone (except a few) if we didn't subject our workers to this nonsense and so the other poster's complaint is imo quite justified even if he can move somewhere else

I have no interest in your circumstances

My circumstances are anecdotally useful in this argument. If your mind is that closed you aught not to be here really.

The point i'm making is that living AND working outside london affords a far better standard of living, because the reduction is salary is much much smaller than the reduction in living costs. Therefore if you live and work in London, stop moaning and get a job somewhere else for slightly less money and get a much better place to live for a lot less money.

As a side effect of people deciding to actually change their own circumstance rather than trying to change the system via a whining process, you would actually get effect you desire because demand for London property would fall.

[anonguest]

It`s certainly wierd what I remember. ( sometimes I don`t know what day it is)

I recall an episode when the next door neighbour "Jerry" was going through a bit of a mid life crisis, and bleating about "oh yeah, I get paid £17k a year and a company car but...yadda yadda yadda.

Bearing in mind he would have been Tom`s boss at the firm.

And he had a stay at home wife.

No kids in sight though

One of the things that helped prevent the series from ageing too badly (IMO) was the lack of references to specific details/personalities of the times (e.g Margot only ever referred to the general scourge of socialism without naming politicians of the day).

But, as you say, there were a few occasional revealing details that help remind us of how much cheaper things were back than.......

In one episode in which Jerry lost his 'executive' job, his boss revealed that Jerry was paid £18K a year, expense account and a company car. Don't forget that Tom, when he left the company in the very first episode, was more junior still - and hence a lower salary. In a later episode Tom undertook a one off consultancy/design job and was paid £200 for it. Compare with today!

The only reference to house prices was in a one off special (which I posted about light heartedly on this board some time ago) in which, to overcome their financial woes and take care of their retirement, Tom goes to see his bank manager to propose a plan that today would be more readily accepted (at least until 2007 maybe). The key being 'soaring house prices'. When asked what the value of his house was, he stated "Oooh about £25,000".

(fast forward to 5mins 15sec into the video)

Edited November 19, 2010 by anonguest