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💪

My thoughts too. A small number of people might have expectations too high, but I think alot of people want to buy so they actually own a place and it not be 'money down the drain'.
NB. That is not what everyone wants and some enjoy renting.
I think you are massively deluded, OP.
Also, not everyone anyone is a thoughtful landlord like you that gives out vouchers and remembers birthdays. I suspect that is very much few and far between.
There is a reputation that landlords have as you probably are aware of involving greed and callousness and it is often true.

Mmm I used to think the people can’t afford houses was a load of trope. It’s more you can’t afford what you want where you want.

But no, now things have changed - interest at 5/6% and uncertainty they could go higher! No chance. What’s the point now. Before it was more you didn’t ‘buy’ a house - you borrowed it for a while to gain equity and move on up. With interest so high, prices so high making terms so long so the interest is so front loaded - well that’s fuck all equity your building there. And that’s before a crash. Why bother. If I didn’t own I would just rent right now.

On the contrary I don't feel like the OP is doing this post with the best intentions the more they post the more goady they seem. Everything's overblown but apparently her and her husband can buy their own homes in the 90s or whatever and keep them whilst then getting their joint home and it's not that hard, but then they like to see siblings have to live together to get on the ladder. 🤔

What on earth is wrong with family buying together?!

Good grief.

This thread really shows what a ponzi scheme the whole housing market is. Sell your granny to get a deposit on an overpriced, highlighly leveraged liability.

I think you might be in for a horrible shock OP.

Clearly extremely goady and definitely trying to wind people up.

You're saying it's so easy to get on the ladder because you and your husband could apparently achieve it and get 3 properties together ( and then more) but don't see that if siblings have to join together to get a single property it's obviously not that easy?

I bought my first house in 1997 for 70K.
It was 3.5 times my salary.
I was 25
The same house in 2022 is 375k.
So someone would need a yearly salary of 107K to be in the same position as I was at 25.

Trouble is OP - the entry level salary in my profession (public sector) has gone up by 10K since 1997.
Ordinary people are no longer able to buy ordinary houses even up north!

Going back even further, my MIL lives in a very desirable city not far from London.
She and her DH bought their very modest house in the ‘80s. She was a cleaner and he worked in a warehouse.
Her house has been valued at 650k …
I don’t think two people on minimum wage jobs would be given a mortgage for that nowadays do you?

Right, so maybe house prices are a tad too high if you can't afford to rent one and save money?

You realize you're being horrible, right?

This is an almost sociopathic tone-deafness that is either on purpose (as a wind-up) or is worrisome.

I've reported for being a goady fucker

Me too.

I fail to see any post where I've attacked anyone - what have I done wrong? 😥

Nope. Not where I am. I put a property on the market in June. Two rounds of viewing and some cheeky offers, I accepted 10k below the asking price in August. The buyer has recently tried to knock another 10k off due to the current market. Not exactly the ‘fighting off cash buyers with a stick’ everyone was telling me about. Still waiting for any significant progress, too.

This is really unfair. I'm just trying to help people calm down about all this property crash nonsense that's in the media! 😥

I’ve just read some of your updates OP.
You haven’t a clue have you?!

Do they have any other investments - pensions or shares they could sell to help you futher?
🤣
Stop embarrassing yourself with your total ignorance.
I’m surprised that someone who has (obviously) been alive for as long as you have can be so utterly unaware of what is going on around them.

I don’t think so OP.

Choose one of your many properties to go cry about it in

But that's what I mean! I've been there, done that - and bought the bloody T-Shirt when it comes to housing! So I'm just trying to express an opinion that all this rubbish we're hearing is just that - rubbish!

@RazahFluffy Long term, property always goes up - it's the best investment - thanks for reinforcing the point 💪

I really think you need to read what I'm saying. If I was in the same job today, I couldn't afford the same house I bought in 1995. The property has gone up by 350%, salary only by 200%. But you knew what I was saying, you just chose to be awkward.

YABU, if you look at the data for house prices compared to average income since ww2 (latter part of the attached graph) you can see a trend of house prices peaking and falling.

The 2008 financial crisis should have seen house prices return to nearer the multiple of 4 mark but because governments around the world stepped in and propped the market up this never happened and we have been in an artificial climb ever since.

We are now at the point where house prices compared to average earnings are higher than at any point in the last 100 years or so and the gap continues to grow.

The problem is there will (soon imo) come a point where the difference between average earnings and house prices becomes so large that banks will not be willing to risk offering / buyers and remortgagers won’t be able to afford mortgages. I had a quick look on various comparison sites to see what is currently being offered.

2 people, each earning £32k a year would qualify for a mortgage of up to £225k over 25 years. Right on the cusp of the average house price (with a 10% deposit). There’s really not much scope for movement now without going into riskier options such as 30+ year mortgages or sub 5% deposits, neither of which are favorited by the banks.

There’s only two ways this is resolved, either wages rise, and the average wage would need to more than double to bring things into alignment, or house prices drop until they return to a more manageable baseline.

Either way lots of people are going to get screwed over.

Oh really? So you have a crystal ball and you can predict the future, then? How do you know it’s rubbish?

Are you a real-estate bot?

Encouraging people to gouge their parents for money?

Far out...