And boomers wonder why millennials are bitter towards them..

Man of Honour
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Of course 29/30 people did not get that job.

You're telling us that you were the only person to do x,y,z to make any effort to get that job, and maybe that's correct.

But at the end of the day there was only the 1 job for the 30 people applying.

You can't tell everyone to "go get that promotion".

Therefore you shouldn't tie owning a home to something that 1/30 people can realistically achieve.

The market could address all types of buyers, or the govt could re-instate council housing. Or regulate the private rental market.

It does nothing. Nothing at all. Successive governments either don't care or don't want to take the necessary steps.

With the current Tory govt and its massive majority, we're more likely to see Victorian era work houses than a properly regulated private rental market.

So I really am wasting my breath (virtually) here.
No, there were 30 temporary roles, I was the only one who used that as a springboard into a different industry and career path.
 
Soldato
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Ok so you don't know what affordable housing actually is, I think that might be the problem here.

Quite possibly, but if my posts in this thread have shown anything it's that I'm not averse to learning new things, so please explain what you mean by it?

Edit: a quick Google suggest you're talking about affordable rental properties, which I'm not sure is relevant in a thread about house prices & buying houses

No one is saying equal outcome. But somewhere to live should be a baseline.

"Somewhere to live" isn't what we're discussing in here, it's "owning your home" which is significantly different.

So we're saying that owning your home should be a baseline... based on what? What is the minimum effort and sacrifice you would expect someone to have to put in to own their own home?

40 hours a week at minimum wage? What if you can only get a 35hr a week job?

Is that 40 hours a week at minimum wage in London or Hull? Why should someone doing 40 hours a week at minimum wage in Hull be able to afford a better house than someone in London? Are we suggesting having a different minimum wage in different parts of the country?

What if you had kids at 18 and you can't afford to work because of childcare costs - should you still be able to afford to own your own home?

What if you decide to spend your days drinking white lightning in the park? Should you still be able to afford to own your own home?

What if you have 3 kids... should everyone be able to afford a 3/4 bedroom house to cover that scenario?

What you're suggesting is a noble idea in theory, the problem being that as soon as you try to apply it to any kind of real world scenario, it's quickly revealed for the fantasy it actually is.

Exactly. None of us are saying that a 5-bed mansion should fall into the lap of those on min wage, despite that repeated attempt to characterise this discussion on those terms.

The problem is that a 5 bed "mansion" (ok maybe not a mansion, but a large property) in some parts of the country costs less than 1 bed flat in other parts. How do you deal with that?
 
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Soldato
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Quite possibly, but if my posts in this thread have shown anything it's that I'm not averse to learning new things, so please explain what you mean by it?



"Somewhere to live" isn't what we're discussing in here, it's "owning your home" which is significantly different.

So we're saying that owning your home should be a baseline... based on what? What is the minimum effort and sacrifice you would expect someone to have to put in to own their own home?

40 hours a week at minimum wage? What if you can only get a 35hr a week job?

Is that 40 hours a week at minimum wage in London or Hull? Why should someone doing 40 hours a week at minimum wage in Hull be able to afford a better house than someone in London? Are we suggesting having a different minimum wage in different parts of the country?

What if you had kids at 18 and you can't afford to work because of childcare costs - should you still be able to afford to own your own home?

What if you decide to spend your days drinking white lightning in the park? Should you still be able to afford to own your own home?

What if you have 3 kids... should everyone be able to afford a 3/4 bedroom house to cover that scenario?

What you're suggesting is a noble idea in theory, the problem being that as soon as you try to apply it to any kind of real world scenario, it's quickly revealed for the fantasy it actually is.

So because its hard, we just let it to continue spiraling?

At some point, all these people that can't afford a mortgage deposit because rents are too high wont be able to pay the rent. They will still need housing when they retire, but they wont be able to pay the rent. Normally by retirement you would have paid a mortgage off or be very close to it.
 
Soldato
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There's no question that prices are going up higher than salaries and inflation, but how on Earth is that the fault of Boomers?

If people refused to pay inflated prices, rates would go down. It's the same people who moaned about the 20 series pricing, bought them anyway, and then fawn over the 30 series.

Something is only worth what people will pay for it. That and foreign investment in places like London.

Boomers are profiting, but it's not their fault.

We have better healthcare, technology, social care, elderly care, disability support, mental health support. Everyone owns high end consumer electronics. The list goes on and on.

It's one of the few areas the younger generations suffer. It's wrong, and it'll keep getting worse. And with people living longer and elderly care being expensive, I think we'll end up mostly renting. Not a good thing.

I feel fortunate that I made money when I did and the mortgage is low, because I'd be totally ****ed now considering my health :D
 
Caporegime
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The vast majoirty of people do have somewhere to live. This notion of an individual on a low income being able to buy a house is rather unrealistic.
Yes and rents can be more than a mortgage, quite typically.

You might not care about that - but as mentioned earlier, the taxpayer spends £billions on paying rents to private landlords.

If you don't care about that either, then I guess you won't see any problem.
 
Caporegime
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Where do they live when they retire, and you an I don't worry since we have paid off the mortgage?

Presumably in a flat or a house?

Have you noticed masses of old people lining the streets of our cities living in cardboard boxes?

Or is it more men aged circa 20-50, often with likely substance abuse issues?
 
Soldato
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There's no question that prices are going up higher than salaries and inflation, but how on Earth is that the fault of Boomers?

If people refused to pay inflated prices, rates would go down. It's the same people who moaned about the 20 series pricing, bought them anyway, and then fawn over the 30 series.

Something is only worth what people will pay for it. That and foreign investment in places like London.

Boomers are profiting, but it's not their fault.

You can't refuse to pay for somewhere to live. That's why prices are soaring. And it's why so much taxpayers money is going to private landlords.
 
Caporegime
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Yes and rents can be more than a mortgage, quite typically.

You might not care about that - but as mentioned earlier, the taxpayer spends £billions on paying rents to private landlords.

If you don't care about that either, then I guess you won't see any problem.

What specific problem are you complaining about though - you're all over the place with this tbh... Yes I'd like to see some more council housing built (and indeed more sold off in some areas). That won't change much re: this notion of some lone individual on low income buying a house!
 
Caporegime
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What specific problem are you complaining about though - you're all over the place with this tbh... Yes I'd like to see some more council housing built (and indeed more sold off in some areas). That won't change much re: this notion of some lone individual on low income buying a house!
It's a complex problem.

So far I've complained about:

1. Lack of regulation of the private rental market. Something akin to France/Germany (etc). Long-term assured tenancies, landlords not having the right to terminate early, being able to demand repairs and other rights.
2. BTL being a means to increase the costs for low earners, and a means to increase income for high earners.
3. Houses being less affordable in terms of total cost as a multiple of average income
4. The market not catering for low earners with low-cost, no-frills housing (does not mean substandard).
5. The amount of tax paid to private landlords to house people since council housing is no more.

"All over the place" just means it's a multi-faceted problem and no one silver bullet exists.
 
Caporegime
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Multi-generational households, which are becoming far more prevalent.

Yup, granted they're getting hit a bit thanks to Covid19 but otherwise some of the UK's Asian population are doing the rest of us a massive favour in terms of using less housing stock, less reliance on local services (carers/care homes) etc...
 
Caporegime
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Yup, granted they're getting hit a bit thanks to Covid19 but otherwise some of the UK's Asian population are doing the rest of us a massive favour in terms of using less housing stock, less reliance on local services (carers/care homes) etc...
I think you'll find that it's not just Asians.

The amount of people living at home for longer is on the increase and up down the country.

It is not uncommon now to be living with parents into your 30s.

I'm sure it's not always by choice..
 
Caporegime
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It's a complex problem.

So far I've complained about:

1. Lack of regulation of the private rental market. Something akin to France/Germany (etc). Long-term assured tenancies, landlords not having the right to terminate early, being able to demand repairs and other rights.
2. BTL being a means to increase the costs for low earners, and a means to increase income for high earners.
3. Houses being less affordable in terms of total cost as a multiple of average income
4. The market not catering for low earners with low-cost, no-frills housing (does not mean substandard).
5. The amount of tax paid to private landlords to house people since council housing is no more.

"All over the place" just means it's a multi-faceted problem and no one silver bullet exists.

Those problems aren't necessarily all strongly connected though - 1 doesn't necessarily mean buying a property is any more affordable.

2 is vague and meaningless - someone needs to own the property there is rental demand for more than just council housing!

3 you don't have direct control of - that's down to the market

4 - that's not necessarily true - in fact buying a building or house(s) and converting into flats is quite popular for developers

5 you mean the amount of money paid to private landlords - not quite sure what the problem is there specifically?
 
Caporegime
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But there is literally no solution to this. It is utterly impossible for everyone to be equal, and it's a fool's errand to even contemplate trying.

You remove the incentive for someone to excel and no one will bother. If you can do literally nothing and have an equal outcome to someone who has put in their maximum effort... why would you put in the maximum (or in fact any) effort? That doesn't sound like a good future for the human race.

Agreed.
I don't think there is a solution.
That's why I say it's fair to be jealous. But that's how it is.

The market would effectively have to be 'controlled' some how. Which is probably impossible.


Natural corrections will happen. And people will be stuffed. But it's still OK to be envious etc!
 
Caporegime
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I think you'll find that it's not just Asians.

The amount of people living at home for longer is on the increase and up down the country.

It is not uncommon now to be living with parents into your 30s.

I'm sure it's not always by choice..

I didn't say it was - though living with your parents in your 30s isn't really the same thing - that's not too different to a regular household except the child/children have grown up.

Now if you have a couple + kids + grandparents... thats what is generally meant by multigenerational...

Not (elderly) couple and their (man) child
 
Caporegime
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There's no question that prices are going up higher than salaries and inflation, but how on Earth is that the fault of Boomers?

If people refused to pay inflated prices, rates would go down. It's the same people who moaned about the 20 series pricing, bought them anyway, and then fawn over the 30 series.

Something is only worth what people will pay for it. That and foreign investment in places like London.

Boomers are profiting, but it's not their fault.

We have better healthcare, technology, social care, elderly care, disability support, mental health support. Everyone owns high end consumer electronics. The list goes on and on.

It's one of the few areas the younger generations suffer. It's wrong, and it'll keep getting worse. And with people living longer and elderly care being expensive, I think we'll end up mostly renting. Not a good thing.

I feel fortunate that I made money when I did and the mortgage is low, because I'd be totally ****ed now considering my health :D

The bolded line is the truth.
Anyone would have done the same. It's not their fault. It's just the roulette wheel of life.

That's not to say we couldn't, as a society, make things better.


Still think it's a time bomb. Fewer assets going forward. Everyone subscribes. Even to housing (rent)
At some point you're going to be stuffed.
We are going back on time where a few people have the vast majority of the cash.
We either get used to it. Or make changes. I bet we just have to get used to it.

Let's say I get to 65, can't work, ive been renting.
I might not have any pension. I might not have and savings. The young (who may have even less) can't pay for me.

Time to be put out to pasture


I'm scared of my health too.
It's why if I had to start again now I think I'd give up. I'd never pay off my house. I don't think I have enough 'healthy' years left.
 
Caporegime
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Those problems aren't necessarily all strongly connected though - 1 doesn't necessarily mean buying a property is any more affordable.

2 is vague and meaningless - someone needs to own the property there is rental demand for more than just council housing!

3 you don't have direct control of - that's down to the market

4 - that's not necessarily true - in fact buying a building or house(s) and converting into flats is quite popular for developers

5 you mean the amount of money paid to private landlords - not quite sure what the problem is there specifically?
I'm not going to spell out the rather obvious links between them. Shouldn't really be necessary.

But to give an easy example. If rentals are highly regulated, then BTL as a whole becomes less profitable. Especially for the "slum landlord" types. It becomes more risky. Less possibility for easy cash and exploitation.

Leading to less people being interested in BTL as a means to make a quick buck.

I didn't say that every rental property was taking money from the poor and giving it to the rich, and I'm sure you can do better than that type of nonsense nit-picking. But a lot of the BTL types who target the low end of the market, ARE making profit from other people's misfortune.

Deny it is happening if you wish. But in that case we have very little to say to each other.
 
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