To be fed up of hearing about SIL's 2nd house "problem"?

[limitedwarranty]

On the last 3 occasions on speaking to PIL's, MIL has told us how daughter and husband are looking to buy a house and they are 40-50k short and may have to sell the flat they rent out (MIL thinks they should not have to pay tax on the income from this flat). She is going on and on about it and I want to say - for pity's sake 90% of the population have to sell a property before they can buy another one! It feels like MIL is always inviting us to feel sorry for SIL and as I no longer have a mother of my own and I have 2 very small children I often want to say - how about noticing someone else for once instead of assuming I have an easy life and the only person anyone of us should care about is SIL.

I think you probably should say exactly that. I would.

I can imagine it must be annoying, but I don't think it's worth falling out over. Just tune out when she starts going on about it.

Look, I know it's always excruciatingly annoying, but I think you have to grin and bear it rather than letting her wind you up.

Or you can take my mum's tack, and say some meaningless but neutral phrase each time she brings it up, and then change the subject (and if she changes it back, you repeat neutral phrase). Anything like your MIL's conversation, my mum says in this rather flat voice 'Well, I don't know about that.' Somehow, she just manages to kill the conversation dead without it being possible to accuse her of rudeness.

Wrong Grendel, I'm afraid - there are two of us with similar names!