scottbeard Posted March 28, 2012 Share Posted March 28, 2012 Television news channels always talk about "getting on the property ladder", why can't they just say "buy a house"? Property ladder is a rubbish phrase, but to be fair "buy a house" doesn't cover flats. Americans tend use "buy a home" which also encompasses flats, but would seem to exclude BTL - a better phrase maybe? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Banner Posted March 28, 2012 Author Share Posted March 28, 2012 Property ladder is a rubbish phrase, but to be fair "buy a house" doesn't cover flats. Americans tend use "buy a home" which also encompasses flats, but would seem to exclude BTL - a better phrase maybe? That would gel with "home loans". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erranta Posted March 28, 2012 Share Posted March 28, 2012 Ahh thanks. That's why the concept seems so strange to me. It's not been applicable since before I was born!! Far more complicated than that and all luck of the draw when you buy ie at the bottom of the market during a crash. People mentioned above also got 30% tax rebate Govt 'bribes' to buy a house called MIRAS in those days! (Miras - another anti-capitalist way the City types & Landed Gentry manipulated prices higher to get max gains from selling parcels of land off to the plebs!) When prices crash properly - no-one buys flats for two-three years (which stagnate into druggie infested areas as they crash further) cos most FTB's can afford to buy a three-bed semi Also the higher house prices go the faster the most expensive crash due to being measured as percentage falls. So Detached and Semis fall fastest into affordable bands (even for first time buyers) - if we have a non-Govt manipulated housing market - just as they shoot out of reach as houseprices rise! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erat_forte Posted March 28, 2012 Share Posted March 28, 2012 Property ladder is a rubbish phrase, but to be fair "buy a house" doesn't cover flats. Americans tend use "buy a home" which also encompasses flats, but would seem to exclude BTL - a better phrase maybe? Buying a flat is a crazy idea in the first place because you can't really own the place - you have to share the roof, foundations, entrances etc. Flats are for communal living, houses are for owning. Also agree about Property. Perhaps we should go back to using "Real Estate" (i.e. land that you hold from the crown) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Banner Posted March 29, 2012 Author Share Posted March 29, 2012 Another piece today on BBC News about "Getting onto the property ladder" . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DabHand Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 Rather than summarising the process as buying a grotty slave box with life crushing debt...no...no you have to look beyond that to some sort of lifestyle shangri-la. Getting on the property ladder intimates some kind of journey to somewhere better. It's a form of obfuscating something sh**e by promising something better later, even if it seems all but impossible to the most cursory of logical examinations. e.g. Religion, particularly in the past: Your life is awful and you'll die miserable, but don't rise up and crush the system, as you will be rewarded in the afterlife. Just hold on and try not to stab any PTB/"your betters" in the meantime. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ader Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 They used to use the phrase "property ladder" back in the 80s and probably earlier. So well before the stupid hpi. Basically people rented flats until they could afford a 2.5k (5% ) deposit on a 2 bed starter house. A few years and payrises later they'd move to a 3 bed semi and then again to a 4 bed detached. That's the ladder. Mind you in the 80s a single person could buy a 2 bed house on an average salary and 3x mortgage. I knew lads that did so. Oh and the monthly mortgage would be less than the rent on the previous abode (flat). And a 2 bed house that cost over £500 a month to rent in 1990 rents now for less... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DabHand Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 Yes its a career ladder. Thre is no advantage to mortgaging on a flat and then somehow that helping you build a deposit for a family home, other than some sort of forced savings, which seems to intimate that we are all money spunking bonobo's with no self control. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottbeard Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 Buying a flat is a crazy idea in the first place because you can't really own the place - you have to share the roof, foundations, entrances etc. Flats are for communal living, houses are for owning. Why single out flats - you have to share walls, foundations etc if you buy a semi-detached or terraced houses too. But surely in city centre locations it's not a "crazy idea" to buy a flat or semi-detached house, just because it is part of the same building as someone else's dwelling? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zebbedee Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 Why single out flats - you have to share walls, foundations etc if you buy a semi-detached or terraced houses too. But surely in city centre locations it's not a "crazy idea" to buy a flat or semi-detached house, just because it is part of the same building as someone else's dwelling? You buy a flat-you own the volume within but have to pay for the upkeep of the container. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ader Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 You buy a flat-you own the volume within but have to pay for the upkeep of the container. and if you buy a flat you own no land - the land is the expensive bit and you don't get any! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sims Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 and if you buy a flat you own no land - the land is the expensive bit and you don't get any! Unless your flat includes the garden, eh. You'll also find that the freehold for houses converted to leasehold flats is typically fairly cheap, so if you have an irrational fascination with freeholds, feel free to buy a few and see what good it does you. The only practical difference is having to ask for permission for major alterations to the building.. but with the statutory right to acquire the freehold nowadays, the more difficult thing is usually getting planning permission as long as what you're doing is reasonable. Of course it's nicer to have a detached house with garden rather than a flat, but if it's in a decent city location, buying a flat can be a perfectly reasonable thing to do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
(Blizzard) Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 (edited) and if you buy a flat you own no land - the land is the expensive bit and you don't get any! You are getting certain limited rights over some land, but this is all land 'ownership' ever really amounts to anyway. Land is a kind of 'intellectual property', which isn't really property either. Edited March 29, 2012 by (Blizzard) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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