Housing Market gone wild

[Saitek]

I found this just unbelievable. I just have no idea where people are getting this money from. Even a doctor would struggle to cough up this sort of money after many years of working.

A "bargain" for the cheapest and most basic type of housing in Britain. Huh.
For our US friends this would cost you a lovely $1.7million.

Ben

[Hagar]

I imagine this property is in a desirable area - Chelsea. A similar property around here would be worth far less. I think this gives a false impression & news reports like it are one of the reasons for these price increases. I've seen ordinary garages & beach huts advertised for ridiculous prices before now. The most surprising thing to me is that some people are willing to purchase them. If nobody was interested they would have to lower the asking price.

[eno]

The estate agent says "It's good value for money." ........ YES IT IS FOR THE ESTATE AGENT!!!

I bet he's rubbing his hands at the commission.  ::)

[Saitek]

Sure thing eno... if he gets 1% then that'll be a fine sum

[eno]

[quote]Sure thing eno... if he gets 1% then that'll be a fine sum

[Hagar]

Also note that it's an ex-council house. These might be good value for existing occupants wishing to purchase their home but I recently found out that reselling them could be a problem. A good friend of mine had agreed to purchase a property before his solicitor discovered it was ex-council. He said that the estate agent should have made this clear from the outset & the property was worth far less because of it. I forget all the reasons now but my friend withdrew his offer.

[Woodlouse2002]

It's a four bedroomed semi detached house in London. Of course it's worth a complete bomb. The same house in Glasgow or somewhere in Yorkshire would struggle to fetch quarter of the price. I should think the fact that it's an ex council house is the only think keeping it off the million mark.

[Omag 2.0]

The prices in the UK are unbelievable... just saw a program on house-developping in the UK... man! The Price of a basement-appartment (with 1 bedroom, 50 years old - not renovated)  was almost identical to the price of my house ( 50 m

[Hagar]

It depends where you look Omag. Ben's example might not be the most atttractive residence but it's located in a highly desirable area of London. probably THE place to live for some of these yuppies. (Is that word used now?) Prices are relatively high in the UK but you could get much better than that for 1/3 of the price around here. Even cheaper in some parts of the country.

I still don't know how anyone can afford their first home now but I suppose it's really no worse than in my day when wages were much lower.

[Scottler]

What exactly is a Council House?

[Hagar]

What exactly is a Council House?

Cheap, good quality housing available for rent & owned by the local council. Until fairly recently, owning your home in this country was only for the wealthy & most people either rented their homes privately or lived in a council house. I was brought up on a council estate as was my ex-wife. Many of these homes were later sold off to their occupants for knock-down prices. I was never in favour of this myself & think it was a big mistake.

[Tequila Sunrise]

I still don't know how anyone can afford their first home now but I suppose it's really no worse than in my day when wages were much lower.

short answer:
Win the lottery... and that'll just about cover it  ::)

[Hagar]

[quote]short answer:
Win the lottery... and that'll just about cover it

[Scottler]

Thanks for the explanation, Hagar.  They need to do something like that here.  lol

In my part of the US (since I own the entire norheastern portion of the country), you' had better not even think about buying a home unless you're willing to spend a MINIMUM of $150,000 (about 80,000 pounds).  You're not going to find anything in my immediate area for less than that.  And even those are barely habitable.  You're going to need at least $175-$200,000 if you want something decent.

Then if you head down towards Dave's neck of the woods, that $150,000 house will go for $600,000 minimum.  Same house.  lol

[TacitBlue]

In my area, one of your $150,000 houses would probably go for $50,000 or maybe 75. houseing is cheap here compared to other areas. you can get a small, but decent house for under $40,000.