I’m watching Escape to the Country - how do they afford those homes?

[CormoranStrike]

Youngish couple, he has kids from a previous relationship, new baby and she’s happy to now give up her career - they’ve got a budget of £900k!

How on earth do people manage that?

High earners
Bought a London property that has quadrupled in value
Inheritance

I always want to know why their idea of downsizing is a house with about five bedrooms. Or elderly couples buying houses with enormous gardens that they'll never be able to maintain!

I know. It’s always the way on these house programs though. I guess watching people by a two bed terrace isn’t much fun.

The ones that get me is when his makes bespoke door bells and she forages for dandelion leaves and they have £1 million to spend.

It all seems totally detached from my reality.

I've met a few people whose landlord parents have gifted them properties in some way, either as a going concern or to sell on. Their parents all seem to have been self-starters and presumably expect them to move up the ladder or build their own portfolio. I've wondered if that accounts some of the generous budgets on Escape to the Country.

Or couples like the ones in your example might have come from owning two properties in an up and coming area, making up an impressive combined budget.

I do wonder about some of their choices though - wanting old character properties but then moaning about low ceilings etc!

Cressida is 26 and designs shoes for dogs, George is 27 and a sculptor. They have a budget of £850000 but can stretch to £950000 for the right place. They'd like somewhere with character, a log burner and an aga and space to keep goats.

My money's on the parents providing or inheritance from grandparents.

ETTC is a guilty pleasure of mine.
I am not surprised that very few couples actually buy one of the houses they are shown. They seem to have unrealistic expectations or find minor faults that put them off.
Also, those who have sold their own property and have nowhere to go and don't know the area 😱😱😱

Anyway ...' we want to downsize to a 5 bedroomed house. With 3 reception rooms, a gym and home office and a large kitchen (with island) for entertaining. We'd also like an annex for our parents and a 1 acre garden for the dog. Jemima wants to keep chickens, goats, a couple of donkeys and have a large area for vegetables. An established orchard would be desirable. We want to live on the edge of a village as we intend to play a big part in our new community. However, we don't want to be overlooked, have neighbours or be near a road. We must have good transport links to x a place at least an hour away we'd like an older character property, but no small rooms, beams or creaky floorboards. We also need the potentialto run a small businees, b&b, clamping type of thing. Although we would consider a cattery'

Does that about sum it up? 😂😂

Glamping not clamping, they are not private car parks!

I feel the same about LX3 I always want to know EXACTLY how they got the money, they usually say something like "some heard earned savings and a bit of help from mum and dad" but I'm soooooo nosey and want to know more, how long have they saved for? How? What do they earn? How big will the mortgage be? It's completely skewed my own expectations, I've watched these programmes since I was a teenager and it was a kick in the teeth when I realised what a starter home was and what we could afford haha.

I get bored quickly watching houses I can’t relate to. They all merge into one huge beige mansion. I’d rather see “normal” houses so I can be quietly judged about their decor and furniture. It’s a bit like when you’re on the bus at dusk and you get a good view of everyone’s living rooms lit up before they close their curtains!

This is dh and I guilty pleasure. Love Julian and Alistair. Cant stand Johnny - pushy little twerp.

They always want 'entertaining' space. We call it having friends round.

We always skip through the bit where they do basket weaving or whatever and are prompted to ask stupid questions.

Oh I love/hate that program! Don’t know why I watch it really I’m usually shouting at the TV. What really gets me is when a retired couple decide it would be a great idea to live in the middle of nowhere, totally isolated, and 50 miles from the nearest hospital

Unfortuneately i am from poor stock, so have no grand plans, but my best friend, married, had a house worth 300k.
Her mum died (her dad had died about 10 years earlier), and she inherited circa £400k house and cash).
Her Dh mum died about 3 months later (his dad died when he was a child). He and his brother split the inheritance, and got £390k each.

As it happens, they have used their money to get both kids on the property ladder, but they could have been shopping for a million pound property.

It can happen without them being spolit brats you know 😉

It's also my guilty pleasure. I love Jules Hudson, he's the best presenter, then it would be Alistair Appleton, Nicki Chapman, Jonnie Irwin and I don't really like either of the other two women.

Wish they would show more properties under 500k. But maybe there aren’t many houses in the Countryside at those prices anymore?

I think these people apply just to be on the telly. They almost never buy a property they have been shown and I don't believe they have any intention of buying. I think it's all a 'show'. They are in no better position to buy a 102acre plot with 20 beds period pile than I am.( Well that's what I like to think)

I find it hilarious when they moan on about the kitchens being too small (even though they want to downsize), when it’s actually bigger than my entire downstairs.

I know someone who bought a property after seeing it on Escape to the Countryside, they weren't on the tv programme.

When that programme first started rains ago, with Catherine ?, the budgets used to be much more realistic and expectations lower.

There’s no point in saying that the figure for a detached house is £? below the national figure if they then look at houses way above the reach of most people.

I can’t believe that you have to spend over half a million to get a lovely house in most parts of the country. London and the south east, yes, but surely not everywhere.

Recently of an afternoon they've done I Escaped To The Country where they went back to visit those who did move. Weren't many programmes tho 😉

I miss to buy or not to buy, much more affordable and relatable.

I live abroad (continental Europe) and I was attending an art class once when the subject of ETTC came up during the tea/coffee break. About three Germans, one Belgian and four Dutch women all sighed and said how wonderful the programme was and how they would all love to live in the UK! I had to cackle!

Late afternoon this past week or so they've introduced a ghastly programme where a group of people go into other houses in their neighbourhood and comment. Not sure what it is called, cane home to watch DH watching it on Wednesday.

(In his defense he had out of the blue emergency life changing surgery in the summer; is still recovering and is out of his mind with boredom!)

I’ve got a bit bored of ETTC now, it’s got so samey.
DH and I used to joke that as our wish list would start with:
NO grade two listing, NO Belfast sink, NO wood burners, NO thatched roof, NO low ceilings/doors, NO beams, NO barn conversations, NO fifteen acres of protected hilly scrub or woodland, NO isolated property where getting a pint of milk means a fifteen mile journey in a 4x4.
Wonder where we’d end up?

when they talk about 'entertaining' I always imagine them tap dancing for a group of bewildered friends.