English Rose Posted September 16, 2005 Share Posted September 16, 2005 OK, I'm going to be devil's advocate for a moment. There's a lot of talk here at HPC about how householders will have dug themselves into a huge hole by MEWing and spending the dosh on Plasma screen TVs etc. BUT.... Round where I live it seems like every other house has been extended or had other significant improvements which will genuinely add value to the building (I'm not counting decking or other trends which will look like decayed tat in a few years time). Could it be that a lot of the MEW has been spent in responsible ways which will not have landed the homeowner in a pile of debt? Open for debate!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FTB Posted September 16, 2005 Share Posted September 16, 2005 Could it be that a lot of the MEW has been spent in responsible ways which will not have landed the homeowner in a pile of debt? "a lot" = half. Probably. Yesterday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2005 Posted September 16, 2005 Share Posted September 16, 2005 Some may have been spent on improving the house which would add value in the long run but I doubt this accounts for most of the mewing (probably only a small proportion). People have been using equity in their homes to improve their general lifestyle e.g cars, holidays and paying off credit cards (consolidating debt). Of course this debt has already been spent on stuff they don;t even have anymore. I know someone who has been living off their house for years..it has been their main source of income for general living expenses. You only have to look at the number of people on low/modest incomes who have plasma TV's, MP3 players, laptops, playstations, a TV in every room, mobiles, etc to see where all the moeny has been going. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the end is a bit nigher Posted September 16, 2005 Share Posted September 16, 2005 Yes, some money spent wisely. Unfortunately, as a side effect of those morons who were stupid enough to vote for labour, this will (eventually) put them in a higher council tax bracket. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Converted Lurker Posted September 16, 2005 Share Posted September 16, 2005 Agreed, if you had, for example, a 50K mortgage, house now worth (apparently) 250K, and you borrowed an extra 20K to: build conservatory, create extra room in loft, have kitchen done, strip floorboards, fit fireplaces etc, and that extra loan is on a 9 year basis costing approx £200 per month, then that`s maybe not a bad spend. Not all "mewers" have messed up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xian Posted September 16, 2005 Share Posted September 16, 2005 Agreed, if you had, for example, a 50K mortgage, house now worth (apparently) 250K, and you borrowed an extra 20K to: build conservatory, create extra room in loft, have kitchen done, strip floorboards, fit fireplaces etc, and that extra loan is on a 9 year basis costing approx £200 per month, then that`s maybe not a bad spend. Not all "mewers" have messed up <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I agree, but hell, if you know someone who'll do all that work for 20k, give me their contact details!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
English Rose Posted September 16, 2005 Author Share Posted September 16, 2005 Are there any official figures on this? Bearing in mind that people who intend to fritter their MEW away presumably won't have admitted it so any numbers would have to be taken with a pinch of salt! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Converted Lurker Posted September 16, 2005 Share Posted September 16, 2005 I`d love to mate, but sadly he passed away two weeks ago, he was a good mate, a builder, honest weeks wage is all he was ever after. I`d source the goods, pay him the labour. Have you seen the mark up on a conservatory? I had quotes for 10K from the usual suspects, cost me 5K. Kitchen 3K, loft, quotes for 17K cost 7K. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxed out Posted September 16, 2005 Share Posted September 16, 2005 A bit sick, sorry, but how many of these MEW ers are banking on an old relative to pop there clogs (as one of the first generation home owners) to bale them out ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest muttley Posted September 16, 2005 Share Posted September 16, 2005 I know a home owner who hasn't MEWed!! In fact he might be in the majority. It is wishful thinking that everyone who has not joined this forum has MEWed to buy a 4x BMW and a plasma screen. Of course there will be plenty of examples of people who have,but there are many examples of people who haven't;and plenty of examples of people with huge,but affordable mortgages.SITKOMs (Single Income,Two Kids,Outrageous Mortgage) We'll have our HPC.......but not just yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
English Rose Posted September 16, 2005 Author Share Posted September 16, 2005 A bit off topic but on the subject of markup... Friend recently had an extension built. A relative of his is a building site manager. All of his materials came, for free, from the building sites his relly worked on, and I was told this is the done way of doing things on sites, the guys just take what they fancy. So that's why newbuilds cost so much Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
devils advocate Posted September 17, 2005 Share Posted September 17, 2005 OK, I'm going to be devil's advocate for a moment. Do you want to wear my dresses as well?The whole economic argument about extensions is the additional spend versus the relevant increase in value. Thus if someone pays £30k for a loft conversion and it makes the house worth £25k more than the unconverted next door, it could be argued that they've lost £5k. So if they keep the house with loft conversion 5 years, they're effectively renting an extra bedroom for £1k per annum. dev Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
non-FTBer Posted September 17, 2005 Share Posted September 17, 2005 During boom times the money you spend on an extention might be recouped when you come to sell..... But when property is in a slump, you could spend £30K on an extention and only add £15K to the property. I think this is why we have seen a period of massive spending on house improvements, as they have made some financial sense for a time (plus the influence of so many TV progs). Why spend £30K to add half as much value to your house unless you really need the space and don't want to move. And I would wager that most MEWed money isn't finding its way into extentions or significant improvements. I would wager that a good portion of MEWed funds is spent on Cars/Holidays/Shopping/Crap decorating etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nelly Posted September 17, 2005 Share Posted September 17, 2005 They all borrow what they need to do up the house plus a little bit extra. Mate of mine just did it, got 10 grand more then he wanted me "what for?" him " well... yer know... just for stuff" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrashedOutAndBurned Posted September 17, 2005 Share Posted September 17, 2005 OK, I'm going to be devil's advocate for a moment.There's a lot of talk here at HPC about how householders will have dug themselves into a huge hole by MEWing and spending the dosh on Plasma screen TVs etc. BUT.... Round where I live it seems like every other house has been extended or had other significant improvements which will genuinely add value to the building (I'm not counting decking or other trends which will look like decayed tat in a few years time). Could it be that a lot of the MEW has been spent in responsible ways which will not have landed the homeowner in a pile of debt? Open for debate!! <{POST_SNAPBACK}> But you don't always get it all back. Before the TV tart-up-your-house fad most talk was that your house had a limit to value based on size of plot, location, etc. so making your ex-LA/****-end-of-town terrrace gold-plated could make it worth little more than the plain house next door. I'm sure with falling prices, you'll be able to get those 'had the works done' houses for little premium. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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