Jan 13th, 2016: Unique Real Estate

Since the world doesn't want to support me in the manner to which I'd like to become accustomed, and I don't have a powerball ticket, I figured UT wouldn't mind too much if I hustle a little real estate on here.
First up is this sweet opportunity to acquire a Grade II listed, Victorian, three bedroom end terrace property, in Fairview, Cheltenham, GL52.
A steal at only £210,000. That's $303,670.50 to you colonists.



Ain't she a beauty.

I thought England had some sort of weird real estate deal where you just leased from the Queen for a certain number of years when you bought a place. And the number of years remaining on the lease was always mentioned in the ad. You can actually buy this place and own it? Forever?

Not all of English property is leasehold.
Leasehold property is not always ultimately owned by the Queen - other rich folk can also own it.
You may be thinking of the feu system in Scotland.

There's parts of California and New York where a place like that would go for a price like that. Real estate markets are so insane.

The trouble with property that is 'listed', ie essentially under a preservation order, is that repairs have to be carried out using, as near as possible, original methods and materials.
The renovation for that house is going to be extremely expensive.
I can't think why anybody would take on a listed building, be it house or commercial premises, unless they are prepared to live permanently under the threat of high maintenance and repair costs.

We have something similar, where buildings, even whole neighborhoods can be listed as historic properties. I believe then, you can't change the appearance of the exterior, but may renovate the interior.

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Originally Posted by glatt I thought England had some sort of weird real estate deal where you just leased from the Queen for a certain number of years when you bought a place. And the number of years remaining on the lease was always mentioned in the ad. You can actually buy this place and own it? Forever?

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Originally Posted by limey Not all of English property is leasehold. Leasehold property is not always ultimately owned by the Queen - other rich folk can also own it. You may be thinking of the feu system in Scotland.

I imagine that graph probably counts the 99 (sometimes, 999) year leasehold as 'owned'.Much less of the property market is leasehold now than it used to be.

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Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce I just saw this graph comparing London in 1939 vs 2015.

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Originally Posted by fargon What is Social rented?

Though, even in social housing, the cost of rent is not really 'low'. It's just lower than most of the private renting. The difference between social rent and private rent is particularly acute in areas where private rents have rocketed up in the last ten years or so.

So it is like section 8 housing over here. Thanks Dana

The housing market in London distorts that of SE England, and indeed the country as a whole.
Housing costs are prohibitively expensive in London for anyone on an average salary.
If you're a hedge fund manager, banker or hotshot lawyer, a decent home will be within your means.
If you're a nurse, firefighter, teacher, or other 'key worker', broadly speaking, you don't stand a chance of living anywhere near your place of work.
There are a number of Government sponsored schemes to assist key workers with housing purchase or rental simply in order to keep these vital services going.

HM, that cave is astounding, but it doesn't have the charm of con/de-struction debris and no Banksy.

Fargon, Carruthers, keep in mind that chart is only for London and may not reflect the rest of the country.

Dana, NYC addressed the skyrocketing rents with "rent control" laws that capped the rate at which rents could rise. From that point tenants were protected unless they moved, so it was in the landlords interest to evict people, often unfairly. That resulted in a dual system of buildings controlled and uncontrolled, which is pretty bizarre.

We could house all the homeless in the empty walmart stores... and that's without the coming vacancies which are all juju's fault.

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Originally Posted by Clodfobble Are the decisions based on income, or the actual type of job that one holds? That is, are they choosing to house nurses, or simply choosing to house anyone who makes less than X amount of money?

There is a great deal of overseas wealth in London which is forcing up property prices.
Flats (apartments) and houses are bought and perhaps occupied for a few months a year, but are very often left empty waiting for the price to go up.
Much of the foreign 'investment' comes from Arabs (oil), Malaysians (property), Chinese (industry) and Russians (don't ask).
I suppose that if you can only get 0.5% on your money from the bank, you might as well 'park it' in property and watch the value increase by 5% pa.

There's a good article from the Guardian here:

Londoners miss out as homes built as ‘safe deposit boxes’ for foreign buyers

And another one from the Daily Telegraph here:

These are the foreigners ruining our country

On the face of it, it's a rather inflammatory headline, but do read on.

Traditionally, if the Headlines aren't inflammatory they don't sell papers (or attract clicks), and aren't doing their job properly.

One thing that used to bug me, before I just became immersed in my own personal misery, was that admin staff were not included as Key Workers.

I don't mean people who do the filing for rich bankers, or make the coffee for advertising corporations. I mean the admin roles in schools, the NHS, the Emergency Services. Often roles which require more dedication than those in the private sector, at lower pay, with less fringe benefits. See how long your local hospital lasts when no-one knows how to put paper in the photocopier, or where they keep the stapler.

Oh wait - the NHS are playing that game already...

ALL figures below approximate btw, but not deliberately skewed:

Average salary in the UK is £25,000 ($36,000)
Average house price is £275,000
Normal (most common) mortgage awarded on 3x up to 4x salary.
As a single person I'd have to earn £50,000-60,000 pa.
Highest salary earned by my good self? £22k
Priced out of the market? Oh yeah.

My highest salary was about 17k I think