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Original poster

To not understand Location Location Location?

81 replies

Edgarj7674 · 15/02/2017 20:37

Just sitting watching this with my wife. Can someone help me out with it? Are the "rules" for getting a mortgage different in London than the rest of the country? I see what appear to be relatively normal young couples with relatively normal jobs looking at houses that are 500k plus. How are they making these mortgages affordable?

OP posts:
EweAreHere · 15/02/2017 21:14

I love the show.

But I wonder the same thing Every Single Week.

SmoothiesRule · 15/02/2017 21:15

I enjoy watching it a lot, mainly for the houses and always get excited about the 'secret' house or whatever they call it.

AddToBasket · 15/02/2017 21:18

StarUtopia - I agree.

When I hear young couples discussing stretching themselves I want to say 'Do you really want to have to miss out on time with your child in order to pay for your guest room?'.

There are people who could have every Friday off if it wasn't for the conservatory and the extra car parking space. Obviously, different priorities, different lives, etc. But I think that it quite often it just isn't something young couples think about.

EssentialHummus · 15/02/2017 21:21

It depends though add and star - in London sometimes the "stretching themselves" is in order to get a second bedroom/a flat that isn't up 3 flights of stairs, which is eminently sensible if DC are on the cards. Cheaper than moving twice.

ohgoshIdontknow · 15/02/2017 21:26

I love this programme and particularly when they look at the more expensive end of the spectrum.

It's escapism, and if you're envious of the people on the show watch something else!

LuluJakey1 · 15/02/2017 21:30

When DH and I got together at 30 we both had properties- him a flat, me a house. Used his flat equity to just about pay off my house. MOved, both promoted, inherited a smallish amount and paid off a chunk then overpaid mortgage. Paid it off. Saved and have just moved again and no mortgage. Every property has made money. Current house is our next 30 years house. Now 37.
So:
Both on property ladder before we met
Equity in properties
Promotions
Live in north-east- you get more for your money
Small inheritance and savings helped

I have no idea how people starting out in the south-east on lowish wages will manage to buy anything. It is shocking.

jamdonut · 15/02/2017 21:30

What really bugs me about the programme is people walk into rooms, look at the décor and furniture....then decide they like it or not on what is there! Surely you look past all that and look at the space. What does it matter if a room is orange? You can paint it! So you like the people's furniture?...They'll be taking it with them!!!
I always want to shout " Use your imagination, for god's sake!!!", to the really fussy people!

KitKat1985 · 15/02/2017 21:34

I get annoyed at the episodes where a retired couple feels that they need an enormous 6-bedroomed house or similar and anything smaller is clearly going to be too cramped for them.

Allthebestnamesareused · 15/02/2017 21:37

Maybe they have inherited money from grandparents who owned property in the SE or London too.

PopGoesTheWeaz · 15/02/2017 21:37

There are people who could have every Friday off if it wasn't for the conservatory and the extra car parking space. Obviously, different priorities, different lives, etc. But I think that it quite often it just isn't something young couples think about.

This isn't really how work works though is it. I can't just tell work that Im going to stop coming in on Fridays and to dock my paycheck.

HyacinthsBucket · 15/02/2017 21:38

It always make me laugh watching it - one couple a few weeks ago bought in "rural" Gloucestershire. It was a house a few miles from us that's been on the market for literally years and it's got one of the busiest most dangerous B roads in the area passing feet from the front door. You can tell they hadn't done any research on the area as the local town has got a failing secondary school, has very limited facilites and you have to drive about 15 miles to get a decent coffee anywhere..................I felt really sad for them when their offer was accepted............!! I don't think the show takes much on board in the way of research.

smileyhappypeople · 15/02/2017 21:39

I wonder this too... there was a couple on a little while ago who had spent their time travelling and working in bars abroad etc but had now returned to the south to buy a half a million pound house! I can't remember what jobs they had here but they certainly weren't jobs that I thought earned a lot!
I think us in the north just can't believe it! We live in a 4 bed detached in one of the nicest areas of our town worth 200k...500k here would buy 6 bedrooms, own land, very posh area and probably servant quarters! Haha

JustEatYourDinner · 15/02/2017 21:39

Wasn't today's in hertfordshire? (Only half caught it) looked like ok areas though.

happypoobum · 15/02/2017 21:39

I agree with kitkat those people annoy me far more than younger buyers.

£500k wouldn't buy a small 3 bed semi where I live in SE.

A lot of the very young couples are probably using deposits from parents or inheritances from GPs or GGPs.

The people in their thirties probably bought a property each ages ago and are combining equity.

In most cases their repayments will still be less than if they were paying rent so all the comments about how will they afford DC etc are moot really - if they can't afford children then they can't whether buying or renting.

You would have to have one of you on a very good salary as a young couple in London to be able to afford one of you being SAHP these days Sad

I bloody love the programme Grin

toffeeboffin · 15/02/2017 21:41

I love Kirsty and Phil.

To me it's always some retired couple who have 600k for their retirement pad in Devon.

Bastard.

toffeeboffin · 15/02/2017 21:45

Bastards, plural

ceeveebee · 15/02/2017 21:47

Just did a quick quote on nationwide mortgage website - 2 people earning £50k each (not unusual for London) with no children and no credit commitments would be able to borrow £475k, so doesn't seem difficult to get there

applecatchers36 · 15/02/2017 21:53

I love the show, yes it's escapism and interesting to see different areas of the country / couples/ families. ( esp dynamics between couples and who makes the decision) . As to the budgets on this programme would say standard for South East. We bought in London together but had both a property to sell & pool resources. We also did up the current house together, as in totally gutted it.. We both do professional jobs, could get a chunky mortgage and bought together when we were much older (35/34)..so you can do it..
And of course love watching Kirsty and Phil.

Fluffycloudland77 · 15/02/2017 21:55

I love they way they can just magic £50K extra for the right house. I'm obviously doing something wrong.

SuperFlyHigh · 15/02/2017 21:55

I used to work in a solicitors in a naice part of London.

Most younger couples buying together either had properties (usually flats) they'd owned or bought (maybe not outright) before they met so pooled resources to buy a house, normally more than £500K.

Also high earners (solicitors, bankers etc) quite easily got mortgages to buy that level of house normally more.

Some younger couples with "good jobs" were helped by bank of mum and dad with the deposit which is pretty hefty.

Lots of couples we saw when they came to us for wills etc, usually mum had gone back to work when baby was young, if they'd had a baby.

SuperFlyHigh · 15/02/2017 21:58

happy a lot of people do save up for their deposit or partially save it you know, not just rely on inheritances or deposits from parents.

Saw a few people also start off on shared ownership then staircase more of a stake in the property then sell that and buy something with someone else (partner).

GallivantingWildebeest · 15/02/2017 21:59

475k??? Almost 5 times joint earnings? I don't think so, ceeveebee.

Elendon · 15/02/2017 22:00

It should be renamed Credit Credit Credit.

Their lives are built on credit.

PageStillNotFound404 · 15/02/2017 22:00

I am amused by the older couples who already live in the enormous 6-bedroomed house, tell K&P that they want to "downsize" then criticise every 3- or 4-bedroomed property they're shown as "too small".

So far as any under-30 couple looking to buy in London with a £500k budget, I always assume they're being helped out with family money. LLL always used to be quite upfront about indicating where the buyers' money had come from - I remember one couple where the man's mother had died a little while previously and left him some money, and it was quite sensitively done/emotional, with Kirsty understanding how important it was to him/them that it was somewhere she would have liked, and supporting him when he "wobbled" during the process.

ceeveebee · 15/02/2017 22:08

Well check it yourself then Gallivanting. I have better things to do then make stuff up
www.nationwide.co.uk/products/mortgages/our-mortgages/mortgage-calculators/mortgage-quick-quote

To not understand Location Location Location?
To not understand Location Location Location?