buying your first house - impossible!

[Doggit]

Don't be silly CB, he gets his flunky to do it for him. No I was being serious. Branson wasn't such a big shot in those days, and I didn't take that much notice of him. I was a bit surprised when she said he'd been listening in on our conversation, but there's been a lot of comments that he wasn't such a hot shot underneath.

 

[big-all]

i bought my present 3 bed terrace for £26'250 agreed on 249950 with 1.25k for fixtures and fixings to avoid stamp duty
some years later remortgaged at £42'200 to buy out the then ex wife
now over 30 years on over 10 times the value at nearing £430k or approaching half a million off no good to anyone except the greedy and speculators
i would rather the improvment in value was small as it serves no one other than those investing and inflating housing costs

 

[Doggit]

Yup, everyone used to sit around at dinner parties (so the stories go) where they were all congratulating themselves at how much their properties were worth, and no one seemed to realise that as the price went up, so did the amount that they then had to find to fund the next purchase. House price rises are great when you want to downsize or cash in, but no good for anything else.

 

[Bosswhite]

Yup, everyone used to sit around at dinner parties (so the stories go) where they were all congratulating themselves at how much their properties were worth, and no one seemed to realise that as the price went up, so did the amount that they then had to find to fund the next purchase. House price rises are great when you want to downsize or cash in, but no good for anything else.

I went through that era, those conversations used to bore me silly,
Yes property prices went up, but it was "dead money" no one could do anything with it, OK if one wanted to down size, but then they would have to move out of the area to get the real benefit.

 

[bernardgreen]

DIY self build is a way for young people to get into the housing market. ( works for older people as well if they are healthy and able to do a bit of hard work )

It is hardwork and may also be emotionally stressful to build the house, but the end product can be very cost effective.

 

[Doggit]

Yes great idea Bernard, but you've seen some on these programs that have come out great, and some that no one will buy afterwards. I suspect there's mileage in this scheme, but there's going to have to be a team of competent trades on hand to keep the jobs up to standard. Yet having said that, some of the new builds that have been reported on here obviously didn't have the requisite competent tradespeople on site either.

 

[bernardgreen]

but you've seen some on these programs that have come out great, and some that no one will buy afterwards

The houses here have been in demand

https://www.theguardian.com/cities/...y-walter-segal-self-build-south-london-estate

As to costs, this is the one my wife and I built. Total build cost ( receipts to the VAT reclaim ) was £22,000 in 1981 ( land was £12,500 as it was considered un-suitbale for normal building )

Three bedrooms, lounge dinning room kitchen, study, utility, bathroom and separate shower room.

 

[Doggit]

Nice one Bernard.

 

[JohnD]

she said he'd been listening in on our conversation

if true, nobody knows, of course, if he was listening to admire your pearls of wisdom, or if he was listening in astonishment that anyone could spout such nonsense.

He might even have been listening to find out "how the other half lives" or to try to place your accent.

 

[Bosswhite]

DIY self build is a way for young people to get into the housing market. ( works for older people as well if they are healthy and able to do a bit of hard work )

It is hardwork and may also be emotionally stressful to build the house, but the end product can be very cost effective.

Depends on the scheme, Group Self Build everyone has to contribute certain hours, not everyone is in the employment that will allow that, and one has to dedicate at least a couple of years of their life to the scheme

 

[JohnD]

I don't think I've ever been in a Segal system house, but they were noted for their economy of (self) build.

Timber frames and lightweight foundations

I am currently living in a self-build development. None of the original group remain, most of them were hit by a rise in mortgage interest rates soon after completion.

 

[bernardgreen]

Depends on the scheme, Group Self Build everyone has to contribute certain hours,

Not all self build "groups" set timetables and / or minimum hours on site. Those that do set minimum hours are often troubled by conflicts where one house builder does not give ( or is considered as not giving ) enough effort on houses other than his or her own house. An individual build does not have that problem

The best schemes seem to be clusters of individual and independent builds with no overall management of the cluster..

 

[bernardgreen]

Timber frames and lightweight foundations

True timber frames, post and beam construction

 

[IWalkLikeHimaMartian]

.. but you've seen some on these programs that have come out great, and some that no one will buy afterwards. ...

I am currently living in a self-build development. None of the original group remain, most of them were hit by a rise in mortgage interest rates soon after completion.

In too have lived in a self-build house.
The price tripled over my tenure there, although admittedly it was a mortgage "snatch-back". It sold very easily for the asking price when I sold.

 

[ReganAndCarter]

my stepdaughter 29 tells me her generation prefer the idea of renting. I put it to her that was only because buying was so difficult. Maybe if you have not experienced home ownership, its no big deal and renting is fine.

But how will she pay the rent when she retires and her income probably drops by 50% or more? Won't be any decent pensions for her and by then the population will definitely have risen by millions. Predictably house building will be a fraction of demand and the demand for rentals will be huge.

She hasn't thought this through.