brits1

Yes but if you did that (sell up and go) would you not be out of pocket? would you make a great deal on your home if you do sell.....lots of people have the same problem here in Australia..homes that cost $340,000 2.5 years ago are now selling for $620,000 today!!! (I should know as that is the price we sold our old home for and that is the price they are selling at today!!!) we on the otherhand had to pay for more expensive land (to build) and by then the prices of homes to build shot through the roof and so did all the other building materials...so really it is a catch 22!!!! nobody is a real winner unless you bought years ago and now are selling !!!! if you are dissatisfied with where you live why don't you look at areas that are near to good areas but not as yet expensive (good areas usually in time bring other area prices up) and buy there......or.....move a far out as you can from work and see how the prices differe in those area's......there are other alternatives if you really look around......
Jackie

Danny B

This is pure snobbery at it's best, maybe if you grew up in a working class family and had been teased at School for living in a Council house you would appreciate why Thatcher gave tenants the 'right to buy'.

Gord almighty, I can't believe you are putting the bloke down for owning his own house. Do you realise how important it is for someone to own a house in the UK? Especially for poor people? It's one of the few things that these unskilled people can pass down to their family.

The sooner we try and get rid of the social class system the better IMHO.

northernbird

I have to disagree. When my parents divorced my Mum had to wait for a council property to become available. We had to wait yonks for one to become available as most of them had been snapped up cheap as chips by people who then sold a few years down the line to move to 'better' areas. I agree the class system has to go but not at the expense of housing for people who really need it.

Danny B

I'm pretty sure that you cannot get a Council House any more, at least you couldn't in my neck of the woods. Nowadays houses are getting built for the poor & refugees by 'Housing Associations' where you either pay a heavily subsidised rent, none at all or 50/50 part ownership.

I hear what you are saying about your Mum waiting for a house because they had all been bought, you have to remember though that getting a Council House is a priviledge and not a right.

dingbat

Whilst there may be some truth in that, the privilege of getting affordable housing was eliminated by Thatcher. No one - and I mean no one - should ever have the right to buy council properties. The whole point was that poorer families could house and feed their kids, with less reliance on fancy calculations disguised as benefits, benefits that ultimately cost more than the housing would have. Yes, estates foster(ed) low income existences - I grew up on one of the worst estates down South, so I speak from experience. Some of us had no choice but live like that, but some of us also figured out a way out. That incentive has now gone.

Thatcher sold greed to the populace, and did it very well. Harry Enfield springs to mind, I lost count of the amount of Cosworths, glitter, and tat the scallies round my way could suddenly afford, when they bought their council houses. The truly disadvantaged just got poorer and more desperate, but no one seemed to see that, until it was too damn late. Being a council tenant for twenty years does not entitle you to a windfall at the expense of the next poor family down the road. It entitles you to a decent home to raise your children, without fear of eviction. There is no moral justification for the Right To Buy scheme. Look what it has left behind; go and watch these kids on the sink estates that are left, and tell me that there is any fairness in Jo Bloggs buying his council house for £30k and selling it a while later for £200,000. Anyone old enough to remember Cathy Come Home might understand why the lack of affordable housing in the UK pisses me off so much.

Eeyore

Yes, the right-to-buy scheme had a cynical political motivation - it converted lots of natural Labour strongholds into Tory-voting areas almost overnight.

The real problem, though, is that councils were forbidden from building new housing to replace the houses that were bought by their tenants, thus creating a shortage that would ultimately help to cause the the current price insanity.

dunroving

You assume I didn't grow up in a council house. Correct, I didn't. I grew up in a tiny box of a council flat , 30 stories up in the middle of Birmingham. If you knew me you'd realize I am about as far from being a snob as you could find. I earned the right to go to a grammar school where, yes indeed, my brother and I were about the only kids living in council accommodation. In fact, without going into the details, these days social services would have stepped in to sort out our situation. I subsequently went overseas to work, where I put blood, sweat, tears, and all my savings into a postgraduate education. I played the game the way it is supposed to be played, by earning everything I got and paying for everything I got. No get rich quick stocks and shares from privatisation of British Gas or various building societies, no cheaply bought council house. In 1988, I bought a house privately, did it up and rented it out (back when 99% of the population had never heard of Buy-To-Let, and it wasn't anywhere near as simple as the past 5 years or so).

Sure, there's a lot to be said for working class people owning their own houses. But look at how many of those council properties were bought up and sold on, or bought up and then rented out at a much higher rent than the council ever did. By people who did NOTHING to earn that big, fat profit except live in Thatcher's Britain.

And which is more unfair, a working class bloke getting an ex-council house for 30k and being debt-free, or someone who dragged himself up by the bootstraps having to buy the same house for 165k and being debt-burdened for the rest of his life?

Don't jump so easily to conclusions. :curse:

seanyg

yes we're having the same problem - we're emigrating next year and have just bought a house to do up in the hope of making some money for our move abroad. now there's talk a housing market crash we're very worried!! we don't want to rent it out as it means flying back from oz or canada (wherever we decide to go) to sell it which will be expensive and a lot of hassle, plus if we're renting it we have no capital to get on the housing ladder in our new country (before prices shoot up there too!).

ps - why was somebody including new brunswick, nova scotia, manitoba etc in the places "no one wants to live anyway"? they look lovely and we're thinking of going there!! would be v interested to hear comments about why they're good / bad pls???!!!

ShozInOz

Housing is very over-priced the UK and not sustainable. Now isn't a great time to buy, but I wouldn't expect a 30%/40% crash either. I could well imagine a 10% slump in 12-24 months though. Renting is a better option right now.

SoJohn

Agreed. There would be a big crash if it wasn't for one tiny detail.....supply and demand. There aren't enough houses being built and that's why prices have shot up in recent years.

I'd agree with you. 10% is the next 2 years, if that. Part of me thinks it will be stagnant for a few years and then inflation increases.

The only thing that could result in a big crash is a catastrophic event in the UK economy - not very likely.

dingbat

NS and NB are beautiful. MB...well, not my favourite place I have to say. In any event, NS is quite popular with a new wave of British immigrants. NB isn't, because there is nothing to offer the young ones, or families moving who need a sustainable income. Career prospects and connection to the outside world are limited, and that is being charitable. If properties are cheap, there is a reason they are cheap! Income to total housing cost ratio's in the more populated areas (where there is work) are not that different to the UK. This is a classic mistake made by cash rich Brits selling UK properties. When the money runs out, what do you do? NB is a wonderful place to visit, even have a holiday home, if that is what you like. If you are moving to Canada to start a new life, and want a life rather than an existence, unless you don't have to work or have pots of money, I'd think again.

brits1

Same here in Aus to...10 years ago you could buy a nice house..and all the rest easily, I only had to work part time (which is one of the reasons we decided to migrate here)...it's now a very different story with 99% of our friends all having to work full time to cope with the rise in the cost of living...so i's seems to be the "same old same old" the world over....

guest5234

Wrong...my parents spent 25 years in their council house paying a "high rent" they could not afford a house like the "rich" (banks would not give a mortgage in those days) they paid for the council house 3 times over in rent over 25 years...they were rightlt given the chance to buy it...and you say people sell after buying their council houses no they do not...most have lived in the same house for 20 odd years and are happy to stay where they are and would be no better off if they sold and moved, these are older people who have qualified for the right to buy as they have been in the same house for 20 years plus.

Howard1944

Vauben Estates, Bermondsey,10 people, 3 rooms, lessons learned, without a little pressure a lump of coal would never become a diamond.

Canada is home, wealthy and wise, all of us, if you want a helping hand, look at the end of your wrist.

Learn to earn learn how to make your money work for you, if money is not your servant, it is your master.

A journey of a 1,000 miles starts with the first step.

Good Luck is when opportunity meets preparation, AND, I find the harder I work, the luckier I get.

Obstacles are the things you see when you take your eyes off the opportunities.

I've been rich and I've been poor, rich is much better.

Dan725

I agree with most of that, although I wouldn't necessarily say that living it for 20 years plus is the requirement. My sister and her boyfriend (now husband) bought their council house at about 50% of (resale) market value after having lived in it for 10 years or so. But you are right, they are not going to turn round and sell it - wherelse are they going to get that value for money? If they sold, their equity would get them no further than an equity jumpstart on the private market.

They love living where they are and having now bought, it has effectively put a stopper on rent raises and they have a house for a bargain price.