Are prices shooting up where you are?

[Focusanddetermination]

Just that really. I'm in a small Midlands town, have a high amount of activity and prices shooting up in the past few weeks even.

I thought people would be more hesitant with a looming recession, but it's almost the opposite.

@Climbingallthetrees and that they have a good work life balance, lol. I have friends in banks on 100k and they all work 60 hours a week as a standard, if not more.

@Desiringanonlychild, in my area there are a few large (three bedroom) flats but not very many. So I don’t know if their value has dropped, unfortunately. There are some luxury flats on the market for around £300,000, but it remains to see if they’ll sell for that. Many of them are retirement properties.

So strange. That is just so 2020.

@ChocoTrio

Yes. Yes it is.

@serenada

I'm not sure the page 12 posts are evidence that they are the same person or am I missing something?

I asked @plainsailing01 a direct question, too.

@serenada

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/_chat/3901085-What-do-people-think-about-Glassdoor

You're welcome.

Got side-tracked by the trolling in this thread, but agree with this 100% and am baffled why people like quant find it so hard to process:

However, humans aren't robots guided by what's "optimal". Happiness is the most important factor and money only plays a small part in that; for me it takes a small amount to be comfortable (1k a month really), anything over that I don't spend because there's nothing I want to spend it on. Life isn't just about maximising investment. For example, with my qualifications I could work in a bank, make 200k a year and retire early. However in reality I'd probably commit suicide out of misery, so I choose to do a 35k job where I don't have to commute to London and can leave the office at 5pm to go to hobby classes in the evening. I might even move to a creative sector (shock horror) where I earn absolute peanuts, because I enjoy the work so much! Definitely not "optimal" behaviour @BeijingBikini

I have fallen into a high salary role, essentially because I wear 4-5 different hats and it's cheaper than hiring 5 separate people. It wasn't really planned, the opportunities fell into my lap and I happen to know a wealthy business owner, who runs several businesses and will only work with those he trusts.

It's stressful, it's exhilarating, it takes over my entire life. I managed around 5 days off in the whole of last year, going away for my birthday, but even then I was frequently checking emails. Aside from those 5 days, I worked 7 days a week, often with laptop in bed post 11pm.

My plan was that I'd stick it out for the immediate future, until burnout (which will come) and then find myself the role that is good for the soul! Charity sector, teaching etc. I long for those days.

I bought property this year. I would not have been able to do so on a significantly lower salary. Somebody rightly pointed out in this thread that affordability criteria is incredibly strict. This needs to be taken into consideration for those who will wait it out for the next 12-18 months, as I it will get stricter.

@BakedBlossoms

Smallgoon we bought in 2015 but then I fell pregnant (unplanned). We've been fine here with DS all that time but we won't fit a new baby in here too. Believe me we can't get any more creative than we already have. Its so upsetting. We bought for 345k and have 265k left on the mortgage.

@BakedBlossoms I fear that you may have purchased at the top of the market. I keep hearing that 2014 was when property really peaked. Can I ask what sort of price you were hoping to achieve? Have you dropped to below what you paid?

@Smallgoon

Thank you but all I see there is @plainsailing making a typo and @Quant correcting it - am I missing something?

@BakedBlossoms please dont worry...honestly little kids dont care where they live, they just love their parents and family...space, size etc are all adult concerns.just focus on being happy with the little one and your other DC.

it's very very unlikely that you'll be in negative equity for a long time.yes, it can happen - parents of a v good friend of mine were stuck in negative kids unable to sell with five kids in the early 90s, but eventually the market turned.so you will sell it in the future, plus you are still paying off your mortgage so you are putting more and more money in and therefore it's all ok.

try and sell now - but dont worry if you cant!!! your kids will just be happy to have you and eventually you will move.and the obsession with gardens will fade soon enough once this passes.

most of the conversations here are about marginal gains etc...perfect, ideal time to buy etc...but in the real world life ain't like that so dont worry too much.

and remember the more expensive houses might drop more than your flat so it'll make the next move easier.wherlther quango is a fake or troll some of what they said is correct - lower housing prices are good for everyone.

@serenada

It is subtle but I think @Smallgoon makes a good point that the typo correction is a weird one for quanto to make unless it was quanto (whilst under the facade of plainsailing) who made the typo in the first place.

It does not exactly seem like quanto's character to correct typos in other random people's post. Typos are everywhere!

Then plainsailing quickly thanks Quanto for the correction too. Almost to keep up appearances that they're two different people. When actually, they are probably the same person.

Strange.

[quote serenada]@Smallgoon

Thank you but all I see there is @plainsailing making a typo and @Quant correcting it - am I missing something?[/quote]
Is that really all you saw? Because I saw somebody correcting their own post and realising they'd posted using their other username, and then quickly tried to cover it up... Why would another poster be so quick (and pedantic) about correcting a simple grammatical error...?

I mean, look at the timestamps on the posts. But fair enough if you can't see that. Most others can.

that's true I type on my phone and my typos are horrendous 😂

Well, no I didn't realise you could have multiple names on MN that you could swop from.

But this is a bit sarky @Smallgoon

'I mean, look at the timestamps on the posts. But fair enough if you can't see that. Most others can. smile'

I'm as non confrontational as can be in my posts as I am genuinely hoping that the confidence and assurance of those who think the market will stay stable will rub off on me.

I think I understand things, I look at charts , I read the papers and try and guage situations but sometimes on here, I will read something that reminds me that the real information we need in order to make those decisions resides behind a framework I will never be part of.

But this is a bit sarky @Smallgoon**

It wasn't intended to be sarky at all. But I don't necessarily want to spend any more time arguing about whether that quanto character masquerades as several others on this forum. I think the evidence is quite clear that they do.

I get that you relied on them for info on what to do in the market. But if they are part of the 'HPC' collective, which a few on here believe they are, sadly you aren't going to receive a very two-sided argument from them. Just the one that suits their agenda.

personally I think if anyone is looking for advice on the market and decision making arpund house buying @StatisticallyChallenged is really pretty good! they outline all the pros and cons etc

@Greenhats10

Yes, I agree

@Smallgoon

Agreed

@Greenhats10

personally I think if anyone is looking for advice on the market and decision making arpund house buying *@StatisticallyChallenged* is really pretty good! they outline all the pros and cons etc

Agree 100%

You get both sides of the argument from @StatisticallyChallenged and they appear to have a lot of experience with buying/selling property from what I could gather. I'm more inclined to be influenced by somebody who has this kind of experience vs somebody who starts every post with highlighting that they work in a 'global bank' therefore must be right... [hmmm].

Perhaps Quant could stick to providing advice on purchasing boats, since they're apparently quite experienced in that field

Yeah I agree @StatisticallyChallenged makes good points. Tbh, everyone on here has offered something to at least consider as food for thought. Even Quanto/Newbie offered some points to take note of - the problem was their 'know-it-all' attitude in something that is hard (maybe even impossible?) to predict with absolute accuracy.

Tbh I've been feeling anxious and foolish since lockdown because I exchanged beforehand and didn't expect this disruption with the builder's completion dates; incidentally, the delay has meant I benefited from the stamp duty holiday so that helped as a consolation.

I'm worried about a house market crash - no one wants to lose money on such a big investment. However, points on this forum have reminded me that it's a home we are buying rather than just an investment - it's important to keep things like that in mind. It's about making a home, and not just buying a house.

@ChocoTrio You haven't completed yet?

Did building work halt on new builds in your area? It was the one area I noticed that work continued throughout lockdown. I noticed lots and lots of building sites still active here in London.

I think they have at least three sock accounts on this thread alone. It’s just a reminder that anyone can be anything they choose on the Internet.

@Smallgoon I managed a 45k job for about 10 months, but had impostor syndrome and a total breakdown. Much happier now with a 10k paycut.

People forget housebuying is buying a HOME, not investing in stocks and shares. Even if you're in negative equity, you'll pay the whole thing off in the end.

@Redhair23 it's like the Circle - anyone can be anyone!

@Smallgoon

That's right - not completed yet, but I do have a completion date set through the solicitors now (it is set for 2 months after the original date). Not long now.

Most builders seemed to have had a blanket policy of pausing work on all their new build sites across the country - it was paused for about 2 months. Makes sense why they got behind. However, their new social distancing policy meant changes to how they worked when they got back on site - i.e. they're slower now! Even viewing the showroom houses on new build sites has had restrictions put in place since lockdown!

It has been very frustrating to wait so long! But - the extra time has meant I have made other choices about the house, such as choosing better quality flooring, that I may not have done otherwise. Swings and roundabouts.

@BeijingBikini

"People forget housebuying is buying a HOME, not investing in stocks and shares. Even if you're in negative equity, you'll pay the whole thing off in the end."

Exactly.

Finding a home to buy in the first place is really hard.

@ChocoTrio I can totally relate. I haven't moving in my new property yet, but I did halt all work over lockdown. I'm hopeful that I should be able to move in within the next two weeks. My kitchen arrived, appliances are on order, and I just need floors to be laid.

In some ways it's been quite nice, as I've spent lockdown with family. Patience is a virtue and all that