Tell me your property story

[Briony32]

Me...
Bought (just me) 2 bed cottage in N.Oxfordshire in 2002 for £97k, sold for £140k in 2011. Did nothing to it except paint, give tlc and spruce garden.
Bought (husband) 2 bed cottage in nice village (good schools) in N.Surrey in 2007 for £237k, sold in 2011 for £250k (stuck at stamp duty level!). New carpets and flooring throughout, some new windows, new bathroom and kitchen. We didn't really get our money back on this one, but it was lovely (tho really tiny).
Bought (jointly) 4 bed modern house (less character) in less nice town (less good schools) in N. Surrey in 2011 for £387k. Wanted more space, but feel like we've forfeited too much now.

We're thinking of moving North now (both not from the South), although I know it's probably far too soon as we'll lose financially. We want a slower pace of life, less traffic and a bigger garden (our current house I think is a mistake buy unfortunately and we have to decide what to do. We went for space, but have forfeited the things in life that are really important to us (village life, character, wider pavements, green space) so have to decide whether to stick with it for a few years or move and lose money. I really feel lost here and quite unhappy (more me than husband), and was trying to be brave when we bought here (less maintenance etc) but it just doesn't feel right for the family and I can't stop dwelling on it. We would have to pay a LOT in stamp duty to move again, and we have no savings.

I think we've been quite lucky in the property 'game' so far (although people around us have done far better and sold houses for £100k more after 2 years of doing nothing). Just got to work out what to do next. We have to move this year if we want to be ready for starting school next September (2014)...very tall order I think.

I know I'm lucky really, perhaps you lot can give me a bit of perspective! What's your story?

Bought in NW Lon 2 bed flat for £195,000 in 2001; sold in 2009 for £399,000. Have been in rented ever since spending deposit money! Was briefly in Surrey now in NW due to OH work. Looking to buy first joint property as OH sold his flat in dec. looking for 4 bed £400+.

Me bought in 97 2 bedroomed terraced house for 29, spent about 5 putting in heating and a new kitchen. Sold in 2004 for 110.

Dh bought in 2002 huge flat for 145 and sold in 2004 for 199 (did nothing to it)

Bought in 2004 jointly, relocating to the Isle Of Wight 5 bed detached Edwardian with small garden for 250. Spent loads updating bathrooms, kitchen and heating. Sold this eventually in Sept 2012 for 299 and bought our current victorian detached for 370.

The relocation to the Isle Of Wight was driven by property prices and that my family live here. It took a couple of years to feel settled though as Dh didn't know anybody and many of my old friends had moved on. The schools are not great but the lifestyle we have is fantastic. Hth

Thanks BellaI and Bumbez. I'm impressed with your property gains. Over 200k for Bella, wow! I would love to be able to buy and sell frequently to climb the ladder a bit further but once you go over the 250k level, the stamp duty becomes crippling!
Bumbez - Your relocation to the IoW sounds lovely, did you move before you had children? How did the children settle/get a school place?

1997 approx - sold flat for £52000
Brought house in cheaper area for £59000

2008 - sold house for £180000
Brought house in different area for £245000

Don't imagine I've made £10,000 per year in the five years I've lived here due to recession. However, old house is now back on the market for the price we put it on, so no gain or loss include prices there. Houses around here have been selling quite quickly, so hopefully, there is a price increase here, even if only slight.

can't remember all the details but first house doubled in valued, then a flat which made a bit. House we're in now DH and I bought in SE London for £345,000 in 2004, just been valued at £750,000. We don't want to move but the catchment areas for schools have shrunk (not that this was something we had looked into when we bought) in the last few years so there's a real risk we wouldn't get DD into a decent school next year, so looking to move, but want something different in a slightly different area - moving a few streets down into the same kind of house to get closer to schools feels depressing and stupid. Tis all very annoying.

That line about "spending deposit money" is wuite chilling, Bella! Or did you mean "not-saving"? If the former, you need to move to where you don't live off savings

Wow! I'm feeling a bit green now.
Are you in the London invicta?
I know what you mean MrsOakenshield. We are 10 metres out from good school catchment area (and I would need to go to confirmation classes). Moving just down the road seems ridiculous doesn't it, but we've been considering it too! When I tell the other parents at nursery which school DD might be going to, they can't hide their horror. Ofsted has a lot to answer for!

Bought a 2 bed flat in Southend for £100k in 2008 age 21. 5 years later still in the same flat. It was valued last year and its valued at £115k but we are happy here for now. An extra bedroom will cost about £60k!!

Bought 1 bed flat in about 98 for 21k, sold about 2002 for 19, bought 3 bed semi for 86k, sold 4 years later for 165. Bought current 4 bed detached for 225.

Bought 2 bed new flat in 1996 for £112k sold in 2000 for £165k
did nothing to it.

Bought 3 bed terrace in 2000 for £290k sold in 2008 for £427k did some removations to kitchen, knocked walls out, new bathroom -probably spent £50k but that was to live in it not to make money from it. Just missed out on a sale pre crash when it had been valued at £550k. It was sold at about that level in 2011.

Bought 4 bed victorian villa 2007 for £950k. current forever house.

had 2 houses in 2007/2008 don't recommend that as it was stressful but rented one breifly waiting for a sale.

I suppose I have done quite well on property, but to be fair the main difference in the houses has been made up of other investments doing much better as the mortgages have increase but LTV never has.

I'm astounded at some of the huge gains people have made (although I understand it's not always that simple as other assets are cashed in too).
Our climb has been much slower. I don't think there will ever be another boom again like the one from the mid 90s to mid 00s. I wish I had played the game a bit better though. I was brought up in a huge house (idyllic really) and my parents greatly increased their wealth through property. I find it hard now to take a different route in life but shouldn't complain.
But if anyone has any tips on how to leap up the ladder quickly, please share!
Maybe we need to be bolder, but how?

invest in things other than property is my top tip.

Sell and move to Perth Australia for a bigger house, better weather and slower way of life. For £235,000 well that's what the exchange rate was 3 years ago, I have a 4 double bed , 2 bathroom house 800 km from beautiful beach, double garage, front and back garden, dinning area, 2 lounges, big kitchen , reverse air con, laundry area, study area, opposite a park. Don't go north come down under!!!

I bought a 5bed post war semi for £47k in 99, did it up, sold it in 2004 for £150k
DH bought 3bed upper Tyneside flat in 96/7 for £49k, decorated, new roof, kitchen & windows sold for £245k
We bought immaculate 5bed Edwardian terrace for £325k & we've just sold it for £345k
In process of buying huge 5bed Victorian semi in the countryside for £550k

Okay...

I bought a 3 bed detached for £55k in 1989 when I was 18. I still lived at home and rented it out for 5 years before moving in and having lodgers in order to afford the mortgage! I eventually put in new windows, kitchen and bathroom, and sold in 2006 for £240k.

OH has bought and sold three properties before we got together, but a messy divorce (no children either!) left him with no property equity.

We purchased a small 3 bed bungalow in nice area for £260k in 2006. We've extended and modernized and have just agreed a sale price of £325k. We've not made any money on this house, but the house we really want to buy has come on the market and although the timing is crap (house value-wise) we had to go for it. We've had an offer of £530k accepted. Should only take us the next 20 years or so to do it up!

Bought this house in 2008 for £465k. Spent about £30k on it (converted garage, new kitchen).
Now worth about £500k. So not made a penny.

FTB here! We complete on friday on a semi in A Kent town. Bought it for £232k. It's a 3 bed. It was on for £225k to £240k but we really wanted this house so our offer had to be tempting enough to stop the open house viewings that were planned for 1wk after our 1st viewing; it had been on the market for 12 hrs when we viewed it.

The vendors bought it in 2005 for £205k and they have extended to a conservatory, new kitchen in 2011 and utility ( same size as kitchen) with all white goods. They have also had Cavity wall insulation, new windows and doors, landscaped garden with a patio area. If anything I think they are not making much on the price we paid or I tell myself this everytime I panic that we overpaid. The bank's surveyor valued it at the price we are paying (even with our tiny deposit) so they must think its worth the price. We plan to move in and just enjoy living there.

Love these stories. Keep 'em coming!
So hard for anyone just startong out now.
What sort of investments garden of eden ? stocks and shares? (knowledge limited!)

good for you notyetthere :)
ben 5 DH would love to move to Australia, sounds beautiful! I would do it for a while, but I think I'm a real English girl at heart (like eccentric houses) and would find a long term move hard, but perhaps I'm narrow minded.

I think other investments depends on what you are interested in, what you are comfortable with and how active you are. I made that comment slightly flippantly because I have to accept I have about 10 times as much equity in my current house as I did in the first flat. And I also therefore accept I am lucky.

But it is not mainly because of increases in property prices. If I assumed 5% interest on the capital for the first flat I would have sold at around 138k so made £30k gross profit. From which came the legal fees, estate agency fees, survey and other costs. Still a tidy sum but then 5% in 1996 was nothing. The FTSE 100 gained between 11 and 24.7% per annum in the same period and I could have made more money by just putting the cash in shares - so long as I sold before the 2000 crash.

I just sometimes think that the interest in house prices is weird. We buy houses to live in. Sometimes the pirce goes up sometimes it goes down. I find it interesting, but not that revealing IYSWIM.

Our move was Hertfordshire to Bedfordshire to Kent. Herts and kent prices seem to be doing okay. Beds prices seem to be flat.

We've had a twenty year ladder incorporating 8 houses. We started at £45 000 and bought in the last few years at £750 000. At least 250K of that was equity.

If you bought twenty ot so years ago you should have made some serious money.

Bought in 1999 a tiny three bed semi for 53k. The house was a project and needed 22k spending on it.
Sold it in 2005 for 170k. I think 100k of 170k was house price inflation and not the work we had done.
Bought another project needing 40k of work doing in 2005. Cost 224k to buy and moving next week having sold for 348k.

Both our houses belonged to old people and needed tons doing to them. Both were almost unlivable in at times! Both houses were right down South but not in London. With both houses we did what we could before the builders did their bits.

Unfortunately as I am a SAHM and our rent is more than a mortgage would be I've been subsidising the household shortfall out of the house profit! But on the plus side its meant I haven't had to worry about having to work to make ends meet. But the money needs to be back in a property again as the interest rates are terrible.