The Housing Ladder

[sasguru]

The big house is the ultimate status symbol (after the trophy wife).

If you drive an expensive car people just think you are a twat, but if you live in a grand stately home, you are admired and envied as the pinnacle of success.

1 out of 3 ain't too bad, eh Dim

Mortgage paid off, will probably trade in for one outside London (prob Surrey) and free up a few hundred K in the process.
If the Singapore move doesn't come off.

[chicane]

So, to cut a long story short while it threatens to get Wilmslowesque, why do so many people desire to continue the ascent of the ‘housing ladder’?

It looks like you're in a position that most buyers of the last five years can only dream of. I'm not surprised that you're satisfied with your lot.

[Platypus]

Very sensible. I can only think that people in Britain all have their heads turned by the thought of how much money they might make out of their house. Or perhaps have a well-founded fear that a house that they can just afford now may be way out of their reach later in life, so they'd better grab the chance....

Indeed - my folks always told me to buy the biggest place I could afford. It might be a struggle at first but it gets easier as one's incomes increases over time. And such houses tend to appreciate more quickly.

It was probably good advice.

[TimberWolf]

The trick is to pick parents that own a house.

Article (well ad for a book) here, which I havn't read yet: How the Baby Boomers Took their Children’s Future

[DimPrawn]

Very sensible. I can only think that people in Britain all have their heads turned by the thought of how much money they might make out of their house. Or perhaps have a well-founded fear that a house that they can just afford now may be way out of their reach later in life, so they'd better grab the chance....

I wonder if what it will take to fix it in the UK is a government that is prepared to allow house-building to the extent that the population demands. ISTM that most of the price of a house is scarcity value (or location, which is a bit like paying £10 for your polo shirt plus another £50 for the alligator on ot).

The problem is not the number of houses but the location.

The government could (and maybe will) build a million homes in Wales and the North and remote bits of Scotland, but everyone wants to live near London so they can earn £70K a year driving a bus or some public sector non job paying top whack cos it's in the Capital.

[Julius Caesar]

Both Platypus and Mich are interesting on not following the obvious status symbols.

It is true that a big house being a sign of success is not universal, even in the UK. For example, I know a few people who are academics, all professors by now. They're not rich, but not one of them would swap what they do for a big house, and they don't particularly regard it as a sign of success. Perhaps we in contracting are too focussed on money?

[DimPrawn]

1 out of 3 ain't too bad, eh Dim

Mortgage paid off, will probably trade in for one outside London (prob Surrey) and free up a few hundred K in the process.
If the Singapore move doesn't come off.

And spend the few hundred K on buying yourself a personality?

[Spacecadet]

Indeed - my folks always told me to buy the biggest place I could afford. It might be a struggle at first but it gets easier as one's incomes increases over time. And such houses tend to appreciate more quickly.

It was probably good advice.

Inflation also takes care of the debt over time.

However with rates and pay stagnating and the government doing what it can to keep inflation low the old way of thinking shouldn't automatically be applied to current times

[Platypus]

At times of good business and good income, we can celebrate our success by visiting fine restaurants and holidaying in luxurious surroundings.

Looking back, I really regret the amount of money I've p*ssed away on eating out, good wine and frivolously buying stuff that was 'nice to have'.

In hindsight, a couple of houses would have provided a nice pension and a much more comfortable middle age.

(My income is long past its peak and I have little to show for it)

[Mich the Tester]

Looking back, I really regret the amount of money I've p*ssed away on eating out, good wine and frivolously buying stuff that was 'nice to have'.

In hindsight, a couple of houses would have provided a nice pension and a much more comfortable middle age.

(My income is long past its peak and I have little to show for it)

I never regret spending money on wine and food as long as it’s good wine and food.