George is at it again

Its a chicken and egg situation @clueless1 .
Did the house prices rise so high that both parents had to work in order to pay the mortgage or was it the other way round, house prices will rise to the level that can be sustained and although we are told, by government and house builders, its supply and demand its mostly down to people being forced to pay stupid rent by those that own the houses, private landlord or buy to let.

Its just a con by the house builders to say that we could ever build ourselves out of the housing shortage.
They have owned large areas of land around here for many years, 20 or more, and only just started to build on it now, they were waiting for the right time and price.
And when they do build, only a small percentage are the so called "affordable housing" mostly it's the unaffordable 4 or 5 bedrooms, jammed in, with no garden to speak of.

Personally I prefer my 1947 Ex council house as regards space to any £350 000 modern house they are chucking up today.

 

No @pete, I think it's a carefully engineered system. You take choice away from people while convincing them you're giving them more. Then you milk them for all they're worth.

When I was at school, girls were brainwashed to want the same jobs as boys. That's fair enough, that's their choice and right in my opinion, but what isn't right is that they were equally brainwashed to believe that staying at home to keep house was demeaning.

That phase of social engineering completed, jobs now harder to get because twice as many people wanted them, suddenly people needed to give themselves a competitive edge. Cue the abolition of university grants, and later the introduction of tuition fees, running in parallel to the nextphase of brainwashing, to convince the youth that they'll suffer some shameful fate worse than death unless they go to uni, and click up an enormous debt, while the very rich corporations that are universities get richer. So now you have households where all adults work, and all are in debt, and all accept this as not only normal, but expected, almost mandatory in fact.

Of course the banks love this. People brainwashed to expect everything while struggling to afford anything. Credit steps in. More debt. All the while the banks are just farming plebs and milking us for all they can get.

The whole thing is too well engineered to be accident, coincident or chance.

So how does this affect house prices? Well, people have been conditioned to believe they should always have slightly more than they can afford and a lot more than they need. While at the same time it gets ever easier to borrow money, creating an illusion of wealth. In Buddhism there is a saying. Reality is the product of imagination. So by creating an illusion of wealth through easy credit, and an expectation greater than need, inevitably, prices can only go one way.

 

I agree @clueless1 but not sure its part of a gigantic plan by some super being.

I think its mostly based on human nature, wanting to move on and change things.

True, we are conditioned by society, but we always have been, its nothing new, you could argue that people of old were also conditioned to know their place.

 

That's part of it, another part is that they both need to go to work to pay for childcare, a second car (to get to work and drop off kids at nursery/childminder), employ ironers/cleaners/painters/dog walkers/etc. (no time for those after childcare drop off/work/collection), eat ready meals (too knackered, too little time to prepare from scratch, etc., etc. and no time for 'shopping around' to save money.

Rental costs around here are now an average of £1,000/month, £500/month seems rather a lot to spend on gadgets, but easy to spend on the above. I've worked with women in well paid posts who said all their take home salary was spent on the extra costs of going to work, but they had to do it or they'd never get re-employed again at the same level if they took years off until all their kids were at school, but still paying for part time childcare (full time in school hols), etc.

Another issue is job security, where neither partner can risk staying at home with the kids in case the other loses their job.

 

This thread is so interesting!

I have to say nothing irritates me more than keeping up with the Jones's so to speak, I can't understand why everyone wants the same gear! I don't understand the why everyone wants the biggest, newest thing!, I can't even be bothered with talking about a new car! If somethings not broke don't fix it! I know I'm stuck in my ways & a bit old fashioned but I'm very happy not to be like that! My friends are all in debt up to their eyeballs, they have everything sky, kids, personalised number plates, new kitchens, 4 holidays a year, meals out at least twice a week......mortgages they can barely pay, credit card debt &
car loans, it's blinking bonkers, I wish everyone would go back to being happy & content with their lot.....unfortunately I can't see this ever happening.

 

I sometimes get called a scrooge when it comes up in conversation that we've never even switched on our central heating in all the time we've been in this house, which is nearly 6 years.

The fact that both wife and I grew up in houses with single glazing, no insulation and no central heating and didn't suffer counts for nothing. Nor does it seem to matter that this house doesn't need central heating, being so well insulated and having a large southfacing living room window, all adds up to it being perfectly comfortable with just the gas fire on low for a few hours on the coldest winter days.

 

I like my heat. I should have been born with a jumper. I like my toys and am willing to work for them.

With everything in our lives, we set our priorities. Mine are taking care of family and friends, then comforts, then toys. I consider my gardening hobby a luxury.

There are many who cannot do it because they don't have the space or time.

I work hard and yet feel pampered.

priorities..... to each their own.....

 

I thought it was just me that never used central heating. I just have a halogen heater in my living room.

 

@clueless you say your area is cheap.......
My one bedroom flat is £78 per week and a two bedroom flat is £89. A one bedroom flat with front/back gardens is also £89. A two bedroom house with front and back gardens is £129.

 

I love to be cosy, so I do use my central heating. If possible though, I want to open up the old chimney in the living room (which the old owners covered over at fireplace level but didn't completely block apparently) and regain a fireplace or a stove. That would reduce the central heating usage a bit!

 

@clueless1 Kev calls me Mrs Scrooge & when I do the household accounts he always says to me 'are you 'scrooging' wife?!' I run a very tight ship so to speak.
Our friends think not having sky is the most hilarious thing in the world, but we aren't at home much so why would I pay for something I'd never watch??? That's just being wasteful!

@Super Lucyjin, we had an open fire in our house when we moved in but due to a cracked chimney breast we had smoke coming through the floorboards upstairs when we lit it we soon sorted it with a chimney liner & a multi fuel burner, I have to say the multi fuel burner has saved us a fortune in heating oil it was worth every penny having it installed , I can recommend you having one fitted

 

I had a friend tell me that when he was young, his father gave him a tanning when he was caught smoking cigarettes in the coal cellar. He says to this day he doesn't know if the hiding was because he was smoking or because he was stupid enough to light a match in the coal cellar