Housing

[SSD]

Morning folks, hope you're having a good Easter break! I've been stuck in a little bit of housing dilemma recently. Currently renting a place in Derby, it's not in a great area to be honest. It has done a job for us but now it's the time to move due to a change in job circumstances and the need for more space. Not ideal going from a rental to a rental but it will have to do whilst I'm saving for the ridiculously high deposit required to purchase my own property.

Drove up to a place near Burton for a viewing, really spot on location, was fitted to a good standard, the additionof a drive was welcome. After the viewing I said to the letting agent I'm willing to put down the deposit and go for it. All smiles, sounded positive. What they failed to tell me was 40-50 different parties were interested in the same house. One person was willing to pay 12 months rent up front. Similar scenario to another property I viewed about 5 weeks ago. And government wonders why there's a massive housing crisis. People on a modest income can't compete with them offers.

It's getting out of control to be honest, I've friends and family who are experiencing the same problems. I don't remember the situation being this bad even 4-5 years ago. I might have to try a private landlord instead as the letting agents are driving me nuts. Anyone else facing this issue currently? 

[sage]

40 minutes ago, SouthStandDan said:

Morning folks, hope you're having a good Easter break! I've been stuck in a little bit of housing dilemma recently. Currently renting a place in Derby, it's not in a great area to be honest. It has done a job for us but now it's the time to move due to a change in job circumstances and the need for more space. Not ideal going from a rental to a rental but it will have to do whilst I'm saving for the ridiculously high deposit required to purchase my own property.

Drove up to a place near Burton for a viewing, really spot on location, was fitted to a good standard, the additionof a drive was welcome. After the viewing I said to the letting agent I'm willing to put down the deposit and go for it. All smiles, sounded positive. What they failed to tell me was 40-50 different parties were interested in the same house. One person was willing to pay 12 months rent up front. Similar scenario to another property I viewed about 5 weeks ago. And government wonders why there's a massive housing crisis. People on a modest income can't compete with them offers.

It's getting out of control to be honest, I've friends and family who are experiencing the same problems. I don't remember the situation being this bad even 4-5 years ago. I might have to try a private landlord instead as the letting agents are driving me nuts. Anyone else facing this issue currently? 

Sadly, in the last 40 years, we have let the market decide our housing policy.

By 'market' I mean of course large construction companies who build house for profit not need. If they built enough houses to alleviate the crisis they wouldn't be able to sell them for enough profit.   

[Kernow]

It’s ridiculous really. I’m currently going through the process of buying my first house with my partner, and the market is absolutely mental still.

Most places have seen prices skyrocket, but we viewed one place which was listed at 265, and in 2018 it sold for 185. Every place we’ve viewed has been booked out in terms of other people viewing, and all have had at least 2 cash buyers offering over market value. If you’re a first time buyer it’s not attainable. You then have people who have rented for years, being either kicked out so the house can be sold for the inflated price, and then the buyer will rent it out for a higher price, making those renting find it even harder to save for a deposit.

We’ve started looking at new builds that haven’t even been started yet, purely so we could secure something and wait, rather than directly competing with people for things we’re never going to get.

[Rev]

The housing situation is disgusting at the moment. 

I left home at 18 in the mid 90's, and even as a poorly paid manual worker I could just about manage a mortgage on a 3 bed semi with my then girlfriends wages. 

No chance of that happening today, my lads 22 and is in a similar position, but despite 6 years of savings he's nowhere near being able to move into a home of his own. 

Buy to let has completely distorted the market, alongside the lack of new stock.

I know steps have been taken to make BTL less attractive, but these steps have just made it slightly harder to be a new landlord, rather than discourage the practice altogether. 

For me it's simple, you own one house you actually live in, and no more.

Let investors risk their money on the stock market, or other Investments, and let property be the essential thing we live in, not an asset to be plundered.

[Gee SCREAMER !!]

34 minutes ago, Rev said:

The housing situation is disgusting at the moment. 

I left home at 18 in the mid 90's, and even as a poorly paid manual worker I could just about manage a mortgage on a 3 bed semi with my then girlfriends wages. 

No chance of that happening today, my lads 22 and is in a similar position, but despite 6 years of savings he's nowhere near being able to move into a home of his own. 

Buy to let has completely distorted the market, alongside the lack of new stock.

I know steps have been taken to make BTL less attractive, but these steps have just made it slightly harder to be a new landlord, rather than discourage the practice altogether. 

For me it's simple, you own one house you actually live in, and no more.

Let investors risk their money on the stock market, or other Investments, and let property be the essential thing we live in, not an asset to be plundered.

Problem is the government now and previous.  Stamp duty once or ever increasing tax amounts on rent forever often at a higher rate.  They have no interest whatsoever in preventing multiple purchase and rental by singular owners, it's a growth industry on money to the exchequer.  5 houses have been sold around me in 2 years .  All rented at 800-850 quid a month. All cash purchases and owned by a solicitor from Lichfield and a barrister from London. 

About 50% of the traditional starter home property in Derby was the terraced housing off Uttoxeter Road.  According to the estate agent when I was looking last -16 yrs ago- around a third of this housing was owned by investors from the South East who'd paid for their kids accommodation in Derby whilst at university, realised the capital to be made and bought these houses to do the same.  The average house price in those areas went up about 35% in two years. Will only get worse. 

[Gee SCREAMER !!]

11 hours ago, Kernow said:

It’s ridiculous really. I’m currently going through the process of buying my first house with my partner, and the market is absolutely mental still.

Most places have seen prices skyrocket, but we viewed one place which was listed at 265, and in 2018 it sold for 185. Every place we’ve viewed has been booked out in terms of other people viewing, and all have had at least 2 cash buyers offering over market value. If you’re a first time buyer it’s not attainable. You then have people who have rented for years, being either kicked out so the house can be sold for the inflated price, and then the buyer will rent it out for a higher price, making those renting find it even harder to save for a deposit.

We’ve started looking at new builds that haven’t even been started yet, purely so we could secure something and wait, rather than directly competing with people for things we’re never going to get.

Cornwall mate.  I'm assuming you may still be there based on the name.  My wifes grandparents were from Cornwall.  The 2 bed bungalow they owned near Newquay sold for 79k in 2001 and the old bird who bought it wanted a couple of windows replacing within that price..  Back on the market in 2018 for 255k.  Just sold again for 345k.  I'm sure the whole s*** show will implode imminently.  Houses in Cornwall at the minute are similar to ones in Derbyshire in some high demand bits. Your basically adding 10 k for every 100k under this new offers over/guide price  malarkey rather than an actual figure the seller wants like in the old days.  

[uttoxram75]

9 hours ago, Rev said:

The housing situation is disgusting at the moment. 

I left home at 18 in the mid 90's, and even as a poorly paid manual worker I could just about manage a mortgage on a 3 bed semi with my then girlfriends wages. 

No chance of that happening today, my lads 22 and is in a similar position, but despite 6 years of savings he's nowhere near being able to move into a home of his own. 

Buy to let has completely distorted the market, alongside the lack of new stock.

I know steps have been taken to make BTL less attractive, but these steps have just made it slightly harder to be a new landlord, rather than discourage the practice altogether. 

For me it's simple, you own one house you actually live in, and no more.

Let investors risk their money on the stock market, or other Investments, and let property be the essential thing we live in, not an asset to be plundered.

Its actually getting worse.

Lloyds Bank are buying new homes before they're even built for buy to let. Without government intervention, the market will price most working people out of owning their own home.

[1of4]

The madness started back in the eighties, when then government forced local councils to sell their housing stock. So making it harder to rent decent housing at an affordable price.

[GenBr]

There was one for sale in Alvaston recently that I was looking at. Really needed a lot of work - new boiler, rewiring of the entire house, looked like it hadn't been re-decorated in about 70 years. Was on the market for a reasonable price, but they had so many viewings that they had to take it down and I presume it went for a lot more than said reasonable asking price.

I'm in a slightly different position to yourself in that I am already on the housing ladder, but the house is tiny and i don't think I will ever be able to expand unless I win the lottery. Not sure what I'm going to do if I want to start having kids, etc.

[Stive Pesley]

It is indeed nuts. My eldest is 26 and has been in the same steady job since he was 18. As he doesn't have a partner the bank won't lend to him at the level he'd need to afford a house. Even though his mortgage would be less than what he's been paying in rent for several years

 

 

[Boycie]

7 hours ago, uttoxram75 said:

Its actually getting worse.

Lloyds Bank are buying new homes before they're even built for buy to let. Without government intervention, the market will price most working people out of owning their own home.

Are Lloyds not part owned by us!  Obviously not.

[sage]

One of the biggest issues is largely unknown.

50 years ago there was an average of around 4 people living in each house. Now it's less than half that. So that's twice as many houses for the same amount of people 

[sage]

We need to build in a higher density in urban areas which means flats. 

I live in Belper which has around 2-3% of the population living in flats. A town this size in most European countries would have 70-90% of the population living in flats.   

[alexxxxx]

Could write on forever about the housing market but would get on for being political.

The long term 0% IR has basically ruined the housing market and the wider economy. Now you've got millions of people on low rate mortgages, if it was to go up to 3/4% you'd get a load of defaults and reduce everyone's disposable income. Dunno what the solution is apart from flooding the market with more homes.

House price rises need to be targeted to match inflation - also bear in mind inflation rates don't include house price rises... It's a massive drag on the economy.

I've paid probably paid £70k in rent personally over the past 10 years or so which makes me a bit sick thinking about it.

Hopefully next year I'll be finally in a  position to pay a small fortune to buy a 2 bed flat in London.

I think we need more flats too, but the leasehold stuff can be really bad and the new estates are cookie cutter and badly served by buses and other services. We need some creativity and not just leaving it to redrow homes and co to sort out.

[alanmarklewis]

On 18/04/2022 at 13:51, Kernow said:

It’s ridiculous really. I’m currently going through the process of buying my first house with my partner, and the market is absolutely mental still.

Most places have seen prices skyrocket, but we viewed one place which was listed at 265, and in 2018 it sold for 185. Every place we’ve viewed has been booked out in terms of other people viewing, and all have had at least 2 cash buyers offering over market value. If you’re a first time buyer it’s not attainable. You then have people who have rented for years, being either kicked out so the house can be sold for the inflated price, and then the buyer will rent it out for a higher price, making those renting find it even harder to save for a deposit.

We’ve started looking at new builds that haven’t even been started yet, purely so we could secure something and wait, rather than directly competing with people for things we’re never going to get.

I feel your pain, we are currently going through the process now after having an offer accepted that was 35k over the asking price. When the valuation came back though it was put back to the original price so the seller had to renegotiate, very lucky for us ?.

This was also in Cornwall which I'm guessing is where you are!

[Mostyn6]

there is a conspiracy in play to remove "ownership" of property and have everything rented. Eventually the plan is that nobody owns a single thing, all cars, electrical goods and property will be on rentals.

[Kernow]

1 hour ago, alanmarklewis said:

I feel your pain, we are currently going through the process now after having an offer accepted that was 35k over the asking price. When the valuation came back though it was put back to the original price so the seller had to renegotiate, very lucky for us ?.

This was also in Cornwall which I'm guessing is where you are!

I am indeed. If we wanted to bid over, then we would probably have had to do the same. 

Logically, to make the process smoother, cash buyers will always be preferable. There still seems to be a lot around down here, who are still willing to pay above asking price.

[JoetheRam]

1 hour ago, Mostyn6 said:

there is a conspiracy in play to remove "ownership" of property and have everything rented. Eventually the plan is that nobody owns a single thing, all cars, electrical goods and property will be on rentals.

Not sure I'd say it's a conspiracy, it's a pretty well documented effect of Western economic policy but it's certainly beneficial to those that already have to make it impossible for others to acquire. Wouldn't want to do anything to let the masses get out from under - it'll stop those monthly repayments coming in.

Cars, electrical items etc being available to rent only I actually don't have a problem with because they break, become outdated, cost of repair makes them uneconomic to own...

And it's not even a massive problem if housing can be rented long term, but you just know that in capitalist society the owners will be shafting the renters with poor living conditions and unfair rent because "supply and demand innit".

Solutions to the problem of a ludicrous housing market will be painful for most of us serfs.

[Ram-Alf]

I bought my 2 bed semi bungalow for £115,000 5 years ago, Decided a change was needed and started looking after visiting Belper at Xmas time, Estate agent comes round and values the bungalow at £155,000, Before I did a deal with the agent I saw something that suited myself, A 1 bed apartment exclusively for the over 55s on a private estate, I viewed it and liked what I saw, Rang my agent up and asked how long will it take to put my home on the market...5 minutes, I asked the owner of the property if she would hold off on viewings for a week while mine goes on the market as hers had been on for 3 days and only one viewing, She agreed if I give her the asking price...I agreed.

My bungalow sold on the 1st day of the 3rd viewing, Derby City Council bought it...full asking, I then offered the asking price for the Apartment, It has been 16 weeks since the offer, Looking to exchange Friday 22nd and complete Monday 25th April just a couple of details needed for her house buy, It's a lease property and a pain in the backside with paperwork and Management companies...all I've heard this last month is the sound of money that will eventually leave my bank account.

Now here's the mad thing, The 2nd viewer came back once I'd accepted and offered £160,000, Told them...sorry offer accepted and done but thanks.

I often look at the market on Rightmove...it's mental what people are asking and getting for very little

[Miggins]

I bought my first house for £13,995 in 1979 and sold it in around 2008 for £74,000. It was a two up two down end terrace and a lovely little cottage. It was immediately snapped up by a landlord who completely renovated and modernised it and it has remained a 'let' ever since. I was so lucky when I bought it. At the age of 22  I was on the property ladder .

It makes me so angry to see affordable properties being bought up by landlords. How on earth can people get on the property ladder when there is almost nothing affordable to buy?

I know this deplorable situation has existed for a long time now but just reading this thread has pushed me into writing to Pauline Latham to ask what is being done to help first time buyers.

So sad for all those out there who cannot afford to own their own home, surely a basic right. I now appreciate how fortunate I was 40 odd years ago.