To hate homes under the hammer

[Cappuccinowithonesugarplease]

I know most young families can't afford to buy houses outright, but I see all these more affordable homes go to greedy landlords just in it for the profit. Eugh it makes me sick! Would be so refreshing to see some of these homes go to people who won't just tosh them up cheaply to sell again or rent them out

I hate it when they buy a fixer upper and then go back 6 months later and it's still a shit hole. What's the point??!!

It's annoying. The music, the filming estate agents doing the strut to the house usually wearing a bad suit. The filling the time scenes where the person has to stand in a room and stare at the walls and nod approvingly, sometimes they even look like they are trying to find something and they really can't find the bloody thing. They might straighten a bed sheet or lift a towel up and put it back down.

all grey

so many buying and doing up to sell simply after watching this programme

To show that it's not as easy as it looks.
To show that things can go wrong
To show that problems can be unearthed once you start renovating
There are posters on here not happy with a quick turnaround
You can't have it both ways

Oh, I'm not leading anywhere.

I would like to point out that there is a national bungalow shortage, with construction at an 80 year low, driving up prices for those with mobility issues who cannot live in a 3 up 2 down semi with not enough driveway for the correct vehicle. Nor can they buy or upkeep the ones with 2 brand new bedrooms upstairs with dormer windows.

https://www.saga.co.uk/saga-money-news/the-bungalow-bottleneck-is-causing-downsizing-dilemmas

I watch it now and then. But more then than now!

Most of the auction purchasers are professional buyers, been doing it for years, and flipping.

Most of the buyers have a stable of trades at their beck and call, for a cash, mates rates, etc. cost including the fixtures and fittings from connected suppliers.

They can buy multiple properties and do them up in rotation.

No one ever mentions the fact that if a buyer flips and makes a profit, there is a whack of CGT charged, plus legal etc.

Some if not many are buying as companies set up to buy and flip.

It can be addictive to watch, as many will say "I could do that!" but the reality for an individual buying one property for flipping, with no trade or other connections is that it's not as easy as it looks.

I agree that hoovering up such properties is problematic, but the fault lies with Government policy. If a property is flipped within say three months 40% CGT could apply to the gain, or even more, and a punitive Stamp Duty too for investors too. But then who would buy derelict properties to supply the rental market?

Used to love the show, but you're right. It's always landlords buying now - skimping on finishes then say they'll let it for a few years and sell. Or worse... a beautiful large 3 bed being turned into a 5 bed HMO or dissected into shoddy little flats. Winds me right up.

When they take a decent sized 2 bedroom and make it into a 3 bedroom with pokey bedroom sizes and expect it to sell for a premium when it's now just a shit sized 3 bed. Its still the same floor space.

Oh i hate the music choices and the dreaded puns! But the worst part is when they 'go back' to the property and show 2/3rds of the story again! If its recorded you can watch it in less than 15mins!
I don't get to see it very often but the other day the bloke said he expected it to be 12mths (needed planning permission). They went back 6mths later?! WHY?! hardly anything had happened

Agree it's pretty repetitive and renovation costs appear unrealistically low. Don't mind the music, though presenters' dialogue can be a bit forced in order to justify it. They rarely seem to show cases where things don't work out.
They're presenting a story, following a formula. It's not fully realistic but you don't have to watch it if you don't want to.

So if nobody fancies buying a property, it’s better to leave it empty or force the seller to potentially make a loss (or just give the government a shed-ton of money which someone else scrimped and saved)?

I totally agree. It enrages me and the high rents compared to the value of these properties makes me even madder. I am retired and own my home but my heart goes out to those young people who possibly never will.

I always have a chuckle at the morons that purchase without looking.. some still get lucky though... which is a shame.. as they go on to think they are a shrewd purchaser building up that portfolio .. hate this programme .. part of the reason for the housing crisis.. Martin was ok though!

I just wanted to comment about all the evil landlord posts. I used to have a flat that I rented out in London. £1500. PCM. When the mortgage was up for renewal I couldn’t get a mortgage unless I was charging £2200 pcm. A local estate agent thought I could get this but it seemed so unreasonable and I would have had to get rid of my lovely tenants and readvertise. I sold it.
buy to let mortgages have crazy expectations.

They are auction houses that need a lot of time and effort to bring them up to standard. They are doing that then selling them on. I see nothing wrong with it. It’s better than sitting all boarded up and derelict. Yes, sometimes they rent them out but not everyone can or wants to buy. There is no way in earth I’d buy from auction.

I used to watch it, it always amazed me they got it done for 10k.🙄 but it's professional property developers on there.

Worst house on the street is much more realistic, and helpful as they do show them buying reclaimed/second-hand or seconds, doing the work themselves and going over budget. I was watching it the other week where they mentioned buying seconds of kitchen appliances(usually returned, or have a slight issue like a small dent), went to have a look on a website and saw the oven and hob I want at half price. When I eventually get round to replacing them that's where I'll go.

Homes Under the Hammer is getting boring now.

I think the music is the best bit.Whoever picks the songs is a genius they always choose exactly the right one. Brilliant

Was evicted because the landlord wanted to sell, was literally homeless for almost a year and still don't hate homes under the hammer. In fact I find it a relaxing program to watch for some reason. Some of you need to lighten up

Why is it so popular as a rental apparently but so unpopular than no one would buy it?

That doesn't track at all.

Perhaps for several reasons -

If it's a poor/rundown area, people are less likely to buy

Lots of people don't want to buy a fixer upper, they want something move-in ready

We don't know whether it actually gets rented, just that it's put up for rent

Perhaps the person renting doesn't want to buy - they will be in the area short-term or are checking it out before they buy

Perhaps because the LA needs to find rental properties to put people in so they are not homeless? I wonder whether anyone has ever actually done a financial analysis on how much it costs an LA to own, manage and maintain a property for rental, vs how much it costs to put somebody in a private rental - perhaps landlords are actually saving us money in a roundabout way, as they are responsible for insuring and repairing their properties?

@housethatbuiltme

Also landlords are rarely cash buyers.

That's because they either have huge business loans secured over all their properties in their portfolio which they can draw down on, or because they re-mortgage properties already owned to release funds to pay outright for the next, then once completed, they re-mortgage that to release funds for the next, and so on.

They're not getting a mortgage on the house they're buying at auction.

It's all leveraging the "equity" in the rest of their portfolio and releasing funds as house prices rise or every new house is completed and becomes eligible for mortgage or security over their business loans.

@housethatbuiltme

Why is it so popular as a rental apparently but so unpopular than no one would buy it?

The majority of renters are on some form of benefit and won't be able to buy their own home, so will be destined to a live of living in rented, subsidised in whole or part by benefits.

Lots of people (like my son) need to move to new cities for their first proper job after leaving university (as there are few, if any, graduate jobs in the regions away from a handful of big cities). Not only the fact they can't afford to buy at first, they won't know whether their new job is a "forever" job with that firm in that city, or whether they'll be moving firms/cities within a few years. Most graduates don't have a choice as to which city/which firm they work in/at - they apply for lots of jobs and just have to take whichever they get offered. Very few will get multiple offers and a choice of city/firm - it's not like Unis where 18 year olds typically get 2/3/4 offers and can choose which Uni they like best! Every few new graduates living in a new city and in their first job will even be thinking about buying a home there for the first few years. Likewise lots of other people who move cities temporarily to follow their work or to take the only jobs available. I suppose if you're a teacher or nurse or a retail/hospitality worker, you can get work anywhere, but if you're, say, an engineer or actuary, there are very limited employers in a small number of locations and you have to go where the work is at that time.

The majority of renters are on some form of benefit

not including social housing. 5.6 million privately rent and 1.9 million claim housing benefit.

the issue is more to do with large deposits and loan to wages.
so average house price is £282,000
average wage £34,963

the sums don’t add up.

Those figures are misleading, as they don't include the housing element of UC claims; they only refer to legacy HB claims. There are over 3m UC claims which include the housing element.

The English Housing Survey 2022-2023 figures are below - unless there's significantly more social housing in RoUK I would say your assumptions are incorrect re the split of private/social renters.