The truth hurts

[Slick]

£140k! That's more than we got for the house we just sold, and that was a three bed terrace in an alright area. It was bought ten or so years ago for not much less than that so I say boo to supposed house price inflation.

That's most unusual, especially for that type of house. I suppose depending on exactly where you lived and exactly whenever the credit crunch hit your area it could happen but it does seem to be particularly unlucky. I assume that you bought around 2008 or just before when your market was at its highest?

 

[winjim]

That's most unusual, especially for that type of house. I suppose depending on exactly where you lived and exactly whenever the credit crunch hit your area it could happen but it does seem to be particularly unlucky. I assume that you bought around 2008 or just before when your market was at its highest?

2007. The house had doubled in value over the preceding four years.

Slight correction, we sold it for £145k

 

[Slick]

2007. The house had doubled in value over the preceding four years.

Slight correction, we sold it for £145k

Yeah, I thought as much. I did the exact same with a flat I invested in. It would take a particularly poor set of circumstances for that to happen again.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Helped some younglings move in y'day. £350k for a very small, very in need of refurb, two bedroomed semi in a not particularly nice part of a small town in Sussex. (Not da'sham).

One's a teacher. Thr other is a junior civil servant. Been saving for years, help from Mum, but if Grandma had not popped someone tell me how this pair of public servants are meant to buy in SE England? Or are we saying that all state school teachers should move t'north where housing is cheap(er)?

 

[screenman]

When I moved to Lincolnshire it seems I was solely responsible for the rise in house prices, I did suggest that the locals could sell to locals for less than outsiders would pay. It fell on deaf ears though and was never taken up.

 

[Drago]

Indeed. Wealthy outsiders only buy up property because local sellers would rather maximise their return than sell to a local at a lower price.

 

[screenman]

Indeed. Wealthy outsiders only buy up property because local sellers would rather maximise their return than sell to a local at a lower price.

So who is to blame? the sellers or the buyers.

 

[Drago]

Why should anyone be to blame? It is what it is.

 

[winjim]

Yeah, I thought as much. I did the exact same with a flat I invested in. It would take a particularly poor set of circumstances for that to happen again.

I have to say I have rather less sympathy for those who bought property as an investment, rather than as a family home.

 

[Saluki]

I have a drive, not a garage. I did have a garage and could fit my Smart Cabrio in. I couldn't open the doors so had to park it with the roof down and climb out. Same thing with my old MX5 that I had a while afterwards. Would never have even tried to get our Disco in there Our neighbours told us that the garage was built in the 60s when the Mini was all the rage. Hubs had a proper Mini Cooper, that didn't fit either. It would go in but you couldn't get out of the car unless you were an actually pipe-cleaner person.

 

[Slick]

I have to say I have rather less sympathy for those who bought property as an investment, rather than as a family home.

Which is fair enough but I wasn't looking for sympathy as I still made a chunk of cash out the deal. All I did was mortgage it to the hilt and rent it out for 7 years, sell it and pocket the difference. Just economics really.

 

[Drago]

Our house was built in the Sixties, and the smaller of the two garages - which is the older one - might have been fine for an A35, but no use for a modern era car. Hence that's why the other garage was built in the Eighties.

 

[snorri]

It's a sad fact that you can't move freely for parked cars in this country. Most urban residential streets have a double line of parked cars down them, increasing risk of accident to pedestrians, cyclists and motorists. They are also a bit of an eyesore.

I'm pleased to say our government appears to have recognised this problem and has invited us to take part in a consultation....what will actually happen is anyones guess.
https://www.transport.gov.scot/media/35820/improving-parking-in-scotland-consultation.pdf

 

[MarkF]

My mother has a Fiat 500 and that is too fat to get in her 1970's garage, big detached house , private drive etc! The only car I can recall from my childhood actually in the garage was an original Mini.

 

[Piemaster]

@Saluki @Drago @MarkF
I don't think you'll find modern garages are any wider. I have read that house salespeople know that no one that looks at a new showhome ever actually asks if a car will fit in it - it's just part of a tick list people have. I certainly didn't and as the show home sales office had been built into the garage there wasn't really the opportunity anyway - it just sort of looked big enough, especially as it was the only double garage on the estate.

The guy who fitted the new garage door a couple of years ago had at some point worked for a national company that was selling garage doors to a developer - as a sweetener he offered them wider doors for the same price. Instant refusal. They explained that it would cost them the space to build 2 new houses in over the whole development.