To think these baby boomers are missing the point?

[Hundredacrewoods]

I grew up in an area where house prices have quadrupled since 2000. I consider this an intergenerational equity issue. Whenever the topic of house prices and 'millennials' comes up with my parents' generation, all I hear is how hard they worked and how much they sacrificed to get on the property ladder. AIBU to think that they're missing the point? No one is denying that they worked hard and sacrificed. The point is that if they worked just as hard today, and made the same sacrifices, it wouldn't be anywhere near enough.

Well maybe not the one-bed property... that would be more around the 100-110 mark probably

The wages in Clacton are very low and not commutable to many places with good jobs.

200k isn't cheap or affordable at all for the local wages.

People are linking to property in Clacton to prove that youngsters don't have it bad property-wise and they could easily pick up something like what they did?

Seriously? The most deprived area in the country?

The housing situation has changed massively. I do not understand why some boomers will not even try to accept that.

I think Clacton is staggeringly expensive....

Although strictly hardly the South East Northampton is quite cheap and there would be more jobs as it's commutable to quite a few places. It would be a lot easier to get to London than from Clacton. But it's hardly a solution for everyone.....!

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-63199999.html#_full-description

I'm not claiming it isn't a seriously shite time to be ftb helmet just to be clear

Agree Clacton is horribly overpriced for such a deprived area.

How much is a yearly season ticket to where there is work from Northampton? thousands post tax. Then having to do a 10 hour working day then 2+ hours traveling to work. Sounds like hell.

4148 according to Google to London.

But there are jobs in the Midlands so this isn't a necessary commute. The reason Northampton is cheap is because it's a dump that isn't near the sea and close to nicer places, rather than being far away from jobs. Unless on the couple of occasions I've been I didn't see the best side of it.

A few weeks ago I saw a large studio in Essex (definitely could be changed to a 1 bedder) go for £39000
A lot of these cheap flats are great investments as they have short leases which you can extend relatively cheaply and then resell for a profit.
BUT.THEY.ARE.NOT.MORTGAGABLE until they are back on the market, for a LOT more money, with the lease extended

When I bought, you could get a mortgage on a much wider variety of properties, for example flats above commercial properties were no big issue THEN. They are now.

So posters right move-ing to "prove" that cheap flats exist are just showing their ignorance of the situation for first time buyerss
Most of the "bargains" and fixeruppers and "scruffy flats" only exist for cash buyers/investers.

New 125 year lease and it was about the poster who said her friend couldn't find anything despite having £80000 in the bank.

No it wouldn't have been mortgageable because it was a studio but with £80000 you wouldn't need it

TheFirstMrs I meant eventually. Most people started off with something cheaper and settled eventually on a nice semi or terraced house for their family. My PIL had a flat in Bradford in a rough area then moved to a terrace in Keighly which is lovely but when they bought it was quite a run down street. It has been 'gentrified' as they say. It backs onto a forested bit of a park and is pedestrianised at the front.
They have done a lot to it over the last 35 years - central heating boilers, restored sash windows, new kitchens, attic conversions, new bathrooms, damp proof course, replaced joists, replaced victorian tiling in the hall, put stained glass doors back, re-plastered, restored floorboards and fireplaces, woodburners, re-pointing, new roof, re-stored garden from concrete, utility room, extension at back, re-decorated God knows how many times.
They paid £33,000 for it but must have spent easily £150,000 + over the years, plus all the mortgage interest. It has just been valued at £480,000.
So they have doubled what they have spent but that doesn't take into account inflation over 35 years. According to an inflation calculator 480,000 now is the equivalent of 205000 then. That would mean they have not made much at all in real terms. They are moving up here to be near us- south Northumberland. To buy the same house would cost them £550,000 here but they want to downsize anyway.

Or this in Tunbridge Wells

auctions.savills.co.uk/Auctions/LotDetails?pid=77ce6e99-ec1c-4f55-a1ff-b1f2c17dc99f&us=

Guide price £70000 and a 999year lease

If you are saying you can't afford anything in the SE with £80000 cash then the problem lies with you not with the housing market

. Most people started off with something cheaper and settled eventually on a nice semi or terraced house for their family

Well Yeeahhh but the "ladder" effect doesnt work anymore. A Small place isnt a stepping stone to a bigger place anymore.

A short lease is just ONE example. Banks are very fussy these days. I have a friend flat hunting at the moment who has had her bank say no to perfectly okay flats for some very minor reasons. Basically they like perfectly updated new builds with no potential to improve or add value..

Also with 80k cash you would be an idiot to buy something that you couldn't resell if your circumstances change (as your market would be limited to cash buyers, most of whom are investers, and there isn't much "flip value" in a studio flat that already has had it's lease extended...

That 80k studio won't get him any closer to a house or decent sized flat, quite the opposite as it would just be tying up his cash indefinitely

Unlike if you cash buyed a studio in 1998 and just sat back and watched your equity increase and increase for the next 10 years

It's not "fussy" to not want to buy an un-resellable fire hazard! (= a reason they're not mortgageable) that gets you further away from, not closer to, a "home"
(If you disagree that you can feel "at home" long term in a studio flat, have you ever tried living in one?)

OMG at that terraced house!! It's a mid terrace for £165k

Can get this for under £100k near to where I live

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-65285468.html

Only £160k? I’d be jumping for joy at that!

Incidentally £165k would get you something like this where I live.

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-52379868.html

The south really is extortionate.

All this looking at property is making me fed up! X

Today 13:06 grannytomine

I couldn't afford a semi or a terraced house in a nice area. We bought in 1973 and what we bought was a two up two down with no central heating, dangerous electric wiring, rotten window frames and it wasn't in a nice area

& Did you buy it outright or get a mortgage
Cause those are the kinda issues that mortgage providers say "nah" to nowadays.

so yes if you got credit on that house, you were lucky, and it was easy, compaired to today's first time buyers.

Bloody hell @FruitCider!! Those price tags are making my eyes water!!!

For those saying my kids'll say the same thing about me in the future, here's the equivalent conversation I could have with kids today:

"You were lucky to go to university when you did"
"How dare you I worked hard for my degree"
"Yes I'm sure you did, that's not what I mean, I mean it was easier for you to GO, you had no fees, a grant, cheap student lets...its less affordable these days is all"
"Well maybe if you lot spent less time looking at your fit bits and more time revising you could all get A levels and go to university too"
" Um, you must admit that the entry requirements for your exact course are much higher today"
"Well we had other things harder, we had no virtual learning environments, we had to write our revision notes with pens, so it all evens out"
"sure, but actually AFGIRDING university is more prohibitive nowadays"
" Well if you didn't buy fit bits you could pay uni fees"
"Um, fees cost a bit more than fit bits, and this was a gift anyway so..."
" If you worked hard like we did you could have exactly what we had"
"What? Free uni and grants?"

Also with 80k cash you would be an idiot to buy something that you couldn't resell if your circumstances change

So what would you suggest. You could say that about any place.

The studio was actually £39,000 and could be easily turned into a 1 bedroom flat. It was very big.

And yes I have lived in tiny studio flats for several years. I have also lived for years in a caravan and a 3 bed council house with gps, 2 sets of aunts and uncles, cousins and parents.

My other suggestion was a perfectly reasonable 1 bed flat with a long lease for a guide of £70000. I know there are others places with other auctions with a lower guide price of nearer £50,000.

There are things around.

The thing about auctions is that property is given a very low guide price to pull people in, the actual selling price is much higher. And you can't buy at auction if you need a mortgage.

What I am suggesting
Is that posters who are saying "Well we started off with a scruffy flat and worked up the ladder to the house we have today, why don't millennials just do that?"
Are ignorant to the current situation

The days of "but ANYTHING and once you're on the ladder you can start stepping up" are gone

A crappy studio isn't a stepping stone to anything other than a scrappy studio these days

A studio is around £90- £110 K where I live. A 2 bed flat is about £170K upwards A terrace in a bad area is £220K min if it needs structural work

Those are BIG increments. the old "property ladder" system doesn't exist any more