Is it "bougie" to have 2 properties ?

[IHearYourVoiceItsLikeAnAngelSighing]

Hello Mumsnetters,

I bought my first property; a flat in zone 2 about 7 years after I finished university. No bank of mum and dad or inheritance, just saved up student loan and 7 years of hard work; frugal living and lots of saving. I paid it all off, saved up again and earlier this year I bought a small house in zone 4 as I have a child now so need more space and also a garden means I don't always have to leave the hosue for my child to be able to play outside. It was a practical/strategic move as I specifically bought in an area with good primary and secondary schools, lots of green areas and also now I don't have to book a venue for kids party as I just use my home.

The issue is, now I'm being "accused" of being posh/bougie because I have a "flat in the city and a house in the suburbs" even though I am still completely myself. I live a very simple and frugal life; shop at lidl, buy whatever I can in bulk so it works out cheaper, never owned a car and my winter coat is at least 10years old.

I don't know why it bothers me but it does. Am I worrying over nothing?

A lot of posts on mumsnet are made up or don’t tell the full story so I would take all this with a grain of salt.

As a Londoner, I know that you can’t buy two properties within 7 years just by “saving” unless you have a very healthy six figure salary from day one and even then it might be tricky if you are single!

Yes she is. On a later post in that thread she is bemoaning the expense of traditional extensions and contemplating a modular extension.

But but but ... that can't be true. Because people who own multiple properties are just like normal people, only better at budgeting, and anyway they mostly let other people stay in their spare houses for free or very cheap rent. So they're not only excellent at budgeting but also saintly. Often are single mothers too. Therefore it is Wrong And Mean to even consider a wealth tax, and anyone who does is following the Politics Of Envy, and also probably feckless and just an all round bad 'un.

Wow, @SeaAndStars that’s impressive!
I do have a question - What are you doing in your retirement?

To be honest describe someone in your position as savvy or sensible. I think PPs are right - whoever is telling you that it is bougie to own two properties is jealous. So annoying. I have a slightly similar situation with jealousy. I am going on a lot of foreign trips especially at the moment because of all sorts of unusual circumstances- close family member currently living abroad, close friend who lives abroad very ill etc etc. I do also have regular foreign holidays.

I am very good at finding bargain air fares, cheap hotels, using public transport in any part of the world. So although I spend significant sums, it's less than most people would imagine. A friend of mine keeps on going on and on and on about how she wants to go abroad and she os never going to be able to afford it etc etc but she and her husband go away the Uk and stay in 5-star hotels.

I also live in a tiny and cheap property and don't have a car, whereas she has a massive expensive car and a big house.

We all have different priorities. But yeah is is so annoying when people criticize your life decisions.

@HotTiredDog I've spent the last two years doing up the house I now live in. It was probably in the worst state of all the houses I've done so it's been a big job. I also volunteer for the National Trust and two local environmental groups. My hobby is gardening and I grow my own veg here and on my allotment and I keep hens. I run a stall outside my house selling eggs, chutney, jam, fruit, veg and flowers. In winter there's less gardening so I make a bit of pocket money by buying and selling vintage things and antiques at flea markets and fairs. When I'm not doing that I'm away in my camper van. I swim every day in the sea too. I can't seem to not be busy but I do like it that way. Thank you for asking.

We own two. 🤣

Only two. Keep at it 😂

Well, yeah it’s obviously a fortunate thing that makes you wealthier than most and is a sign of either having more help than most or a high income. I don’t know anyone who saved student loans who wasn’t receiving a lot of parental help, an surprised if you managed to work enough to pay london rents and study a degree full time but if so well done you.

We own mostly commercial property so not making anyone homeless. Does that offend anyone?

We have two houses - we have our reasons and we don't talk about it much, but I'm sure some people hate us for it. 😳

My wife works part-time due to our young family and we use the rental income to supplement our income.

Zero guilt or shame.

If we sold the rental property, what would we do with all that money (2 bed flat in Zone 2 London that's owned outright)? I suppose we could clear the mortgage on our family home, but then what would we do with that £2600 a month that we're currently paying on the mortgage? Buying a second property, should be the obvious move!

I’d like to add that also there’s NOTHING WRONG with the bank of mum and dad. It’s not a shameful thing.
Thinking of your children’s future is positive and just because as a nation people have been brainwashed into consuming endlessly, it doesn’t mean that those who don’t go along with this and prefer to organise their finances with future generations in mind have to pretend otherwise.

We don't rent our second home - we live in it. We don't want to rent it, when we no longer need it - it'll be sold, I'd hate to be a landlord - not my thing. BIL kept banging on about how we should Airbnb it - we don't need to, we can afford to keep it without extra income - we didn't buy it as an investment, we bought it because we needed to live in it at the weekend, the alternative would have been a hotel and that would have been grim.

I’m in the USA so I can’t comment on property values but I can tell you …..
it might be bougee but it definetly is a ton of work.

LOL - depends if you're a racketeering LL decimating the high street or killing off backstreet small businesses ???

I think they are likely picking up on your humble 'self made' bragging (which is always a lie, economically its not possible) and that's why they are responding back in kind.

Why isn’t it possible? Op has never stated how much she earns, she could be on £500k per year.

Yes but it's not possible to save your whole student loan as a housing deposit and pay rent, travel, and food etc using a part time student job in London. Unless the part time student job is paying you 100k pa pro rata and then what the fuck is it.

😂 sincerely hoping this is parody?

Minimum wage came into affect in 1999 and was £3.60/hr. That equates to just over £7K per annum. When I first moved to England, I was earning £8K/annum. Prior to moving to England, I was living somewhere with no minimum wage and I was earning £6K, working 60 hour weeks. I bought my first house once I was earning £11K/annum and I paid £125K for it.

Who is "accusing" you?? Ignore them. You've worked hard. You deserve it. Maybe don't share that info with others

This is how I feel reading this thread. Owning two properties (or even one) in London means you’re doing pretty well income wise unless you had inheritance etc, so why would you be super frugal day to day. You can’t obtain London property simple
by by being frugal it’s just so expensive. A bit confused.
otherwise I personally don’t care if someone has a property or three

If you earnt 500k a year you wouldn’t need to be frugal

But you'd do the same if you could. You should hate the system, not the people who take opportunities that come their way.