to think all this nonsense about house prices being too high is just that - Nonsense!

[RazahFluffy]

DH and I have long been in the property game. We actually met whilst working as Estate Agents back in 1999!

I've seen a lot in my time as an agent - 2008/2009 were a bit of a blip, but overall, there's one thing I've always had faith in, and that's bricks and mortar and that prices always go up. They aren't making more land after all 😁

As well as working in property, we've got a few of our own. We started off as accidental landlords after we got together and kept both our homes to rent out when we decided it was time to move in together and find a place of our own. Over time we've added a few more to the portfolio.

We are lovely landlords. We let our tenants have our houses as their homes, and we like to do little things like send them Christmas hampers, and know their birthdays so we can send a card and usually a Pizza Express voucher.

Anyway, there's a lot of rubbish being written recently about interest rates and the economy affecting the market. Nothing could be further from the truth where we are!

It's still buoyant and the buyers registering at the agency are no different to usual - excited to either 'get on the ladder' or move to their next step towards their eventual forever home😊Vendors are still confident. They agree with us that houses are actually a bit too cheap, all things considered because inflation is quite high.

The one thing I'd have to say is if you can't afford a mortgage at the moment - think about your expectations. You might have thought previously that you could afford a 4 bed, but if you can only get a 3 bed for now is that really so bad? First time buyers especially I feel need to be realistic!

Property always goes up and it's no different now. We're really confident and having seen it all in this game, we really think it's time to believe in the market💪

This thread and the OP have GOT to be winding is up...nobody could be that tone deaf could they? Boris is that you? I'm trying to save up to buy my kettle!

Wow, you are so smug and completely out of touch with people who are struggling. It's really quite offensive.

MN should delete this purely based on the fact that the OP is encouraging people to raid their parents pension funds to buy property

Truss and Kwarteng have made sure their pension funds have tumbled in value.

We are lovely landlords

Bet your tenants don't think that.

@RazahFluffy is either a subtle comedic genius or a troll.

I am hoping the former - pizza express vouchers and hampers 😂

I also can't believe the lack of empathy for others... If I was the OP I'd be very ashamed.

The thread needs to be kept. When you really understand what OP is trying to do you may realise this too.

No one is this deluded.

Bollocks!!! My dh and I have never made serious money on property. Dh bought his first flat in early 90s and sold in 2002 making about £500. The second property price was double in price when sold in 2007. That was a made period The next property we had to living for years as at one point drop £40k selling last year. This my final property no plans to move from it. I don’t think if it as monetary investment.

in this currently climate the property prices have been fuelled by low interest rates. The impact will not hit for another 9 months when people start getting hit with higher mortgaged and have to sell fast. Then prices will start dropping.

I think so but they’ve missed the mark and not quite pulled it off.

It’s just upsetting people who are really struggling.

Talk about smug. You really are tone deaf.

I love this thread. Even if it I thought it was serious, I wouldn’t want it removed!

1245J, I hope you're right about the OP having a sarcastic laugh because the bit about the OP being a lovely landlord because she let's her rent paying tenants make her properties their homes is a bit like Asda congratulating itself for letting you eat the potato it sold you.

This is my thinking too. Trying to be witty and satirical but it's not quite worked.

Maybe a sign of how little people think of estate agents and landlords. It's not a stretch to believe there are one's out there who actually think like this.

Does this remind anyone of the M&S posts or is it just me?

Woah - a lot of replies whilst I slept. I'll answer some of the main points here

People attacking me for my suggestion that cashing a pension to help a child is bad - erm hello?!? Ever heard of a certain Robert Maxwell? Property always beats pensions, because it's more tangible. Look at what the Bank of England are doing with gilts at the moment, they are trying to stop Pensions blowing up. . Fortunately I don't trust them, never have and never will. It's much easier to trust something you can see, and that's property.

People talking about 'low interest rates being the cause of the market' - this is so weird I don't even know where to begin with it. It's supply and demand - and with property demand always exceeds supply, so prices go up. Did none of you do economics at school?

People saying 'I couldn't afford the house I'm in now if I had to buy it today', sorry but this is just classic rubbish. You're in the house?! So you could afford it. It's the same for people today, they just need to adjust their expectations.

As an agent, and a landlord we've heard it all. People constantly want to suggest it's difficult to get on the ladder, but this talk does no-one any favours. It's better to be an optimist! Believe in yourself and you can always get yourself a home. Sometimes you have to hold your nose and just go for it. But if you take the plunge into the property market, no-one, no-one will ever say they've regretted it.

Havent RTFT, but from even the first couple of pages:
OP - property isn't too expensive, it's all media hype
Also OP - have you tried raiding your parents pensions to try to get enough for a deposit...?
🙄

True! Evidence they will steadfastly ignore however because of their asinine mantra that there is no investment better than bricks and mortar.

I genuinely despair at how successive governments have made less-than-intelligent people in the UK feel clever and wealthy for getting a loan to buy a property at a good time, then paying it off and selling for a profit.

There are thousands of folk up and down the UK who bray at parties and tell everyone who’ll listen how much their rental properties have “made” in appreciation or rent.

OK… I’m not unhappy for you per se. I just don’t think this is an achievement.

My ex H and I bought our house in 1998. We paid £120k. I was on £30k my ExH was on £25k. So £55k total so just Over twice our salaries (we didn’t stretch).

The house is now £500k. Our joint salaries are £100k (ex h retrained). I make that 5 times to buy our house. And we earn above average salaries. I work in the public sector, seeing zero or 2% pay rises, I’m still in the same job but have been promoted.

So I really don’t believe it when people say salaries and house prices have risen consistently.

@RazahFluffy

Up till WW2 the average house price was 3 x the mean salary, and had been for 600 years.

Housing being expensive, and there not being social housing for those who will never be able to buy, stifles the economy and makes people miserable.

For a healthy economy people need to be able to move around the country without worrying about housing costs, they need to not feel they have to tie themselves down by frantically getting on the housing ladder when very young.

For people to be happy they have to be able to comfortably afford decent housing. The need for a secure roof over your head is an absolutely fundamental human need.

We need to build far more houses in the right places. We need to give up some of the green belt - much of which is crap polluted land anyway - and write new legislation to protect the countryside. We need to remove the developers stranglehold. We need to make ownership of second homes illegal in certain areas. We need to build more public housing so people on low incomes aren’t dependant on private landlords as they were in the 19th century are again now.

Right now this won’t happen because outside of a few desirable urban centres it would crash the housing market.

But as soon as enough of the generations who have benefitted from rising house prices have died off, it will. Our current situation is untenable.

Oh and this sort of thing is really, really upsetting. In my first post I explained why I'm not some horrible person - we really do care about our tenants lives, but at the same time this is our livelihood and we have to operate in the market we are in. Our tenants have been really touched by the little gifts we've given them, so please have a think on about that. We aren't monsters.

The cheapest 16sq m studio flat in Brighton right now is 140K which is 4.5x the average salary. How can you argue that there is not an affordability crisis? People have to lower their expectations? How much lower can they go? To a garage?

you didn’t answer my post @RazahFluffy

you said property is always the best investment

yet if we look at property prices in the UK, using the FE UK Property Proxy, over the past 20 years the returns have been 148%, whilst shares, as represented by the MSCI World index, returned 149%*.

Performance is similar, however the timing of those returns does matter, as the above was at the start of a strong property market, whilst shares were suffering a fall out from the TMT Bubble bursting.

Over the last 10 years shares have far outperformed property returning 134% versus 58%.*

so I ask you again @RazahFluffy how can property “always be the best investment” when shares have outperformed property by 2 to 1?

or do you mean “property is always the best investment for people like me who have vested interests and don’t understand the stock market”

I mean, I hoped the OP was taking a satirical look at the economy and especially the housing market and they’d just not quite got the joke right, but with this post I’m not so sure now. 😬

Christ what a dickish post!

The FTSE 100 is less than the value it was in 1999. Don't think I don't watch the markets!