To be depressed about my financial situation compared to my neighbors

[greenwithenvy2]

My neighbor is about 59 years old and her husband is 63. She works for the local council as a HR coordinator and her husband, who is now retired, was a finance clerk for the local council.

They have a property portfolio worth around £2.4m (£1m mortgages) so approx £1.4m in property assets. They started their business in the early 90s, when they purchased their first property. They moved home, renting out their original house and repeated this again. With the increase in house prices they were able to remortgage their BTL and buy more property.

We are in our late 30s and are in a very privileged position - we earn a decent wage between us (£140k) and are able investment into our ISA each month but we will never able to have £1.4m in property investment.

I felt so bitter listening to her. They were able to provide gifts for their children to buy their houses and they have now set up companies so their children will inherit their wealth.

I get we are fortunate, but we'll never be able to do this for our children. They achieved this on fairly middling wages as well. I know there are a few other neighbors on our street who've managed this feat and now their kids are sitting pretty.

I felt disgusted at her and at myself for feeling this way.

As per usual, the first poster nailed it.

Maybe you could do some volunteering with a charity for the homeless, mental health, food bank etc. You would soon appreciate how lucky you are. Being born 20 years ago did not guarantee wealth or happiness. Make the most of what you have.

A landlord provides people with a place to live.

We have quite a few properties in India and have made a tidy profit with the rent. We provide a nice living space for people and their families.

Due to think DH and I will retire a few years in India and have a jolly good retirement.

What a load of bullshit

Wow! You have no idea what a decent human being is, because - you are not one. You've done that all on your own without even having to become a Landlord - yey for you!

Not that you will listen, but there are many, many decent landlords who are decent humans. Ones that pay for the best boilers for their tenants, ones that put new carpets in every few years when they don't even do that in their own homes. Ones that ensure they meet ALL safety requirements to ensure their properties are legal and safe for their tenants. Ones that don't give unnecessary hefty rent increases because they are in fact decent human beings.

You could actually learn a thing or two about being a decent human from some of us "nasty" Landlords.

Now, I'll just go back to counting my millions that I've made off poor defenceless tenants (sarcasm).

I am a landlord and have 6 properties, all with no mortgage. 2 of them are let out at market rates, and I put a 1 new roof on one of those last year as it needed doing "at some point".
The other 4 are let out at below market rates. One is to a victim of domestic violence. She pays £500pcm - the market rate would be £1200+ Why do I do that? So she can get on her feet and because I remember where I came from. She has no family in this country. She keeps the house and garden immaculate. That house was newly renovated too. All of my houses are. If work needs doing then it gets done immediately, to a high standard and using quality materials.

I have another tenant who pays around £1800 where the market rent would be £2500pm. A family. They have been there 3 years and will be there another 2. The house was redecorated completely before they came in and I updated the curtains and kitchen appliances too.

I could go on, but you will get the gist.

So no OP, not all landlords "allow their tenants to freeze". I came from absolutely nothing, a mining community in the Nth of England which was decimated. I have done well in life THROUGH MY OWN VERY HARD WORK and I choose to give back by providing people with a home that they could not afford otherwise.

Your jealousy and envy become more clear with every post you make. If you want to change "your situation" then sit down and think about what you want to achieve and how you can do it. Don't moan about people who have done exactly that.

Same here. So many people on here seem to be super well off and not appreciate it.

I actually think you are disgusting. £140k salary and you are complaining? That is an obscene amount of money for anyone to earn. I think you are just showing off!

Its combined, household income.

You are very comfortable. No one 'lucks out' by virtue of their year of birth. What a dumb thing to say - I am sure plenty of people with the same year of birth live in utter and abject poverty. In fact I am not just sure, I know, because I work with them. You might not be in an ivory tower, but you're not far off. Breathless ignorance. Maybe think about volunteering with the less privileged because you seem to be clueless...

Oh crying over your £140k pittance, I wish I had your problems. Are your diamond shoes too tight?

You have a very skewed idea of what genuine happiness and contentment actually is. Was your upbringing materialistic? The neighbours should be able to have even more money without it troubling you. So, think about what being truly ‘rich’ involves: it could be good health, your family, a job you love etc etc. Then think about what you envy. It’s what you think they can do with the money. Why does that bother you?

Are they slum landlords or to they provide quality housing?

Your anger is very much displaced. It's successive governments that have run this country into the ground, who deserve your frustration. I blame all those people who kept Thatcher in power and all the assholes that came after her.

What was so wrong about Thatcher? You hate every single PM since?

Indeed.

Op your income is well over 4 times the average putting you comfortably in the top 0.1% of the country.

I'd be embarrassed to be jealous in your shoes.

It’s a lot. Are you still upset about your situation?

@Njjhjbff
If you can't see what was wrong with Thatcher, you're part of the problem.

Met up with a friend for lunch today, she is a nurse and has just secured a Band 6 role, she will now be on just under £40k, that's about 3.5 of the OP's income.

Still insane to whinge about frankly.

factually incorrect and tbh makes you look even worse than you did before. You make money from being a landlord but charging your tenant more than your mortgage and having insurance in place for repairs.

I’m sorry you’ve had such a poor experience of landlords. When we had our first flat, our landlord was absolutely lovely. He gave me a rent reduction when I separated from my BF and couldn’t afford the full rent on my own, let us decorate and put pictures up, came and fixed or replaced anything when needed, and was generally friendly and chatty too. Didn’t put the rent up in the time we were there, and was below what he could have charged for the area. An utter diamond, giving me the chance to move out of my abusive family home and still have enough for a decent life. He was quite old at the time and I don’t expect he’s still around, but he was an entirely decent landlord.

Conversely, when we lived in social housing they did very few repairs, to a generally poor standard, because anyone coming to fix things had no personal interest in whether it was done nicely and properly, or just as cheaply as possible.

How do you think people should be able to get a home when they are young, if not from a landlord? We don’t all earn £140k and get to be smug.

And what business does your household income come from?

You are absuloutely pathetic - food is a basic human right too - How nasty is tesco!! jokes

There are very few landlords who hire the most expensive repair people, put expensive furniture in the properties, and who don't put the rent up as much as they can! 😂