Working From Home - Impacts of Coronavirus

[SilverSolder]

This one is interesting as I'm about to buy one.

Buy to let is exactly the issue.  Has been for a while and it's got quite serious.  It's nothing more than landlords buying up all the properties and then renting them back out at twice (or higher) the mortgagable rate to make profit.

I just moved from a 2 bed apartment in a 3 apartment/3 shop complex paying £600 a month, to a full 3 bed semi-detached house with front and rear gardens and drive/garage.... Mortgage + rates = £550 a month.

But those on lesser income will not get a mortgage so they get stuck paying higher and higher rents.  Calls to regulate the landlord business to cap rents and force landlords to provide "quality of service" and "minimal living standards" in their properties, was voted out in parliament.  Everyone of the Tories who voted against it... you guessed it... have multiple properties to let.  No conflict of interest at all.  I want that vote taken again, but anyone who has a for-let property be banned from voting.

With the UK crawling further and further into bed with the US and with Brexit removing very rapidly our human rights bill and employement rights this will just get worse.  When the employement rights go getting a mortgage will become much, much harder, so only the affluent will have the capital to leverage a mortgage, meaning the rich will own all the property and the poor will pay rent and jump to their landlords whim.

Evil landlords want to get us back to Feudalism!!! EU - save us!!!
Look, I understand your grievance but you should listen to yourself and maybe read some other sources as well before typing such hyperbolic blanket statements.
The Housing Market is already over regulated in most places including Switzerland and that is the main reason for unhappy renters AND Landlords.
That, the broken competition via regulation and the massive Influx of people to hotspots i.e major Cities natural and artificial produces places with quite unaffordable rent.
Berlin is a placed where I lived for a few years which exemplified this Problem and they had a Left, Far Left and Greens in Power for years  (almost 20 now) and they only managed to make it worse for everyone involved.

And No - I am not renting out Property.

The reason rents (and house prices) are so high is because people are willing to pay that much - basically, the price is "what the market is willing (and able) to pay".

This is compounded by most people wanting "somewhere nice" to live, so they stretch what they are able to pay to the max.

Most people are not professional buyers in their day time jobs, they just look at what everyone else is (over)paying and go along with that (what else can they really do).   

So you end up with a vicious circle of uninformed buyers that plow as much of their salaries as they can into their dwellings, while crying about lack of disposable income all the while.

We all have the choice of living in a more modest place and using the money saved for something else, but few elect to do that...

[PlainName]

We all have the choice of living in a more modest place

Really? When there is a housing shortage it's just a game of musical chairs where those with money get a seat and those without being fucked. The reason there aren't more people on the street is because of couch surfing and living with parents. Plus even if you can afford a place to live, if that's soaking up the majority of your income then you're basically living in poverty.

'What the market is willing to pay' is inappropriate here. You could say the same about food, and sure enough if you're skint you can buy ridiculously cheap frozen ready-meals. Which have very little nutritional value and not that much better for you than eating sugared cardboard. But, hey, that's your choice if you don't have the money, right? Fresh food, fruit, vegs... just luxury items and if you can't afford to play the game, well, that's what the market is willing to pay.

[VK3DRB]

IN Australia, the primary reason for high rents and exhorbitant housing prices here is gross economic mismanagement by state and federal governments who are addicted to high immigration rates and feeding the tax breaks for housing investors. Most politicians have investment properties and use it for tax minimisation. In this city, homelessness is a growing problem mainly because the homeless cannot afford to live anywhere. Meanwhile there are 80,000 empty properties in this city that are mostly owned by foreigners hiding money here - another government debacle. The government are 100% to blame and deserve utter contempt, or worse. They are the cause of a lowering birth rate, kids left in expensive child care as mum is forced to work to make ends meet.

This housing Ponzi scheme is close to crashing thanks to COVID-19 and the greedy "mum and dad" housing investors will hopefully lose, so that young Australians can afford their first home. We need a major paradigm shift in government policy where houses are viewed as homes, and not speculative investment products.

[paulca]

However, if you are disabled, ill, or just unemployed the government offer you something pathetic like £60 a week towards your rent and about the same to live on.  If you live somewhere that costs more, like anywhere out side of a council provided house, the might pay you a bit more, but if you a single living in a 2 bed apartment, they will "tax" you for the unused room.

The lack of affordable homes for the poor is an issue that goes someway to causing homelessness and definately provides a way for rich landlords to syphon money out of the welfare state.

The issues are that a second home (or renting out your original apartment) when you upgrade, results in you the landlord paying two mortgages.  So the mortgage for your apartment might still be £400 a month, to cover maintenance, rates and make a profit you need to charge £800 a month.  Putting that out of many people's  markets. 

But that isn't the worst.  Say the government do build 100,000 affordable homes costing £100-£150k to own.  The property tycoons are straight in there and buy the majority of them off plan.  By the time they are ready to live in, rather than a lower class family being about to get a £400 month mortgage on one of the, the tycoons are renting them out for £800 and sitting on a beach somewhere. Worse, in a lot of cases they will chop the house up into  2 apartments and rent each out for £600 a month.

This already happened.  Most of the council housing stock was allowed to be sold to private owners in the 80s/90s.  I can go onto a local rag here and find properties which were council houses with £60 a week rent being rented for £700 a month.

*Prices dependant on the area you live, for London, add a 0

[GlennSprigg]

As Dave said to someone else, before locking them out...

EEVBLOG
Please STOP posting Covid threads on this forum.
Locked.

Unless of course it is HIS thread, with over 87000 views
and nearly 2000 replies.

[PlainName]

In case you hadn't noticed, this is Dave's forum and since there apparently isn't a democratic steering committee, nor even any investors to pander to, he can do whatever the hell he likes, including not just one rule for him and another for the rest but a separate rule for every individual poster. And then ignore them if he wants.

There are alternative windmills, where a result is possible, if you must tilt at one.

[SilverSolder]

We all have the choice of living in a more modest place

Really? When there is a housing shortage it's just a game of musical chairs where those with money get a seat and those without being fucked. The reason there aren't more people on the street is because of couch surfing and living with parents. Plus even if you can afford a place to live, if that's soaking up the majority of your income then you're basically living in poverty.

'What the market is willing to pay' is inappropriate here. You could say the same about food, and sure enough if you're skint you can buy ridiculously cheap frozen ready-meals. Which have very little nutritional value and not that much better for you than eating sugared cardboard. But, hey, that's your choice if you don't have the money, right? Fresh food, fruit, vegs... just luxury items and if you can't afford to play the game, well, that's what the market is willing to pay.

For the purposes of this discussion, I am assuming you have a job and are making enough money that you are in a position to buy or rent a place.  If you are not yet in that position, it is a whole different discussion.

My observation over the years with family and friends, is pretty consistent:  people always buy or rent the absolute max house they can possibly afford.  They do the same with their car, and their phone, and, and, ....    Nothing but the best for my family!   

[themadhippy]

However, if you are disabled, ill, or just unemployed the government offer you something pathetic like £60 a week towards your rent

And very little chance of help with the deposit ,and as payments are made in arrears no chance of paying the one month upfront  either.

[EEVblog]

As Dave said to someone else, before locking them out...

EEVBLOG
Please STOP posting Covid threads on this forum.
Locked.

Unless of course it is HIS thread, with over 87000 views
and nearly 2000 replies.

It's one things contained to one thread, and another to have people like you starting new covid and other off-topic threads all the time. Just stop it.
I deleted your latest covid thread.

[nctnico]

We all have the choice of living in a more modest place

Really? When there is a housing shortage it's just a game of musical chairs where those with money get a seat and those without being fucked. The reason there aren't more people on the street is because of couch surfing and living with parents. Plus even if you can afford a place to live, if that's soaking up the majority of your income then you're basically living in poverty.

'What the market is willing to pay' is inappropriate here. You could say the same about food, and sure enough if you're skint you can buy ridiculously cheap frozen ready-meals.

I fully agree. Too expensive housing is killing any chance for young people to have a decent place to live. Currently there is a movement going towards 'tiny houses'. Oh so cute but realistically it is just poverty with a thin layer of chrome on top to make it shiny.

[Ed.Kloonk]

../
 In this city /..

Which city, mate?

[SilverSolder]

We all have the choice of living in a more modest place

Really? When there is a housing shortage it's just a game of musical chairs where those with money get a seat and those without being fucked. The reason there aren't more people on the street is because of couch surfing and living with parents. Plus even if you can afford a place to live, if that's soaking up the majority of your income then you're basically living in poverty.

'What the market is willing to pay' is inappropriate here. You could say the same about food, and sure enough if you're skint you can buy ridiculously cheap frozen ready-meals.

I fully agree. Too expensive housing is killing any chance for young people to have a decent place to live. Currently there is a movement going towards 'tiny houses'. Oh so cute but realistically it is just poverty with a thin layer of chrome on top to make it shiny.

Doesn't population growth factor into it?  There is only so much land...

[Ed.Kloonk]

As Dave said to someone else, before locking them out...

EEVBLOG
Please STOP posting Covid threads on this forum.
Locked.

Unless of course it is HIS thread, with over 87000 views
and nearly 2000 replies.

It's one things contained to one thread, and another to have people like you starting new covid and other off-topic threads all the time. Just stop it.
I deleted your latest covid thread.

Whilst I appreciate the full-time job of maintaining the forum to a certain degree, we need to realise that covid is all that is happening from a news standpoint, so it's all that some want to talk about. We are bombarded by rubbish on TV and twittter.

I suggest going after these lying, fuckhead Journos on twitter. It's not Dave's fault for any of this. If you care that much, attack the problem at the source.

[coppice]

I fully agree. Too expensive housing is killing any chance for young people to have a decent place to live. Currently there is a movement going towards 'tiny houses'. Oh so cute but realistically it is just poverty with a thin layer of chrome on top to make it shiny.

If you want house prices to come down get interest rates back up to where they were when housing was cheaper. Buying a house will always be financially painful. It was damned hard to buy a house in the 70s and 80s, when house prices were relatively low, but interest rates on a mortgage could be eye watering. If you reduce interest rates, house prices naturally rise until the eye watering readjusts to its old level. Only in places like Texas, where there is a lot more land than people, do you see long term lowish house prices. Even there things are now being distorted in places like Plano by companies fleeing California, who bring with them a bunch of people with a huge pile of cash from selling their overpriced homes in California.

[paulca]

Doesn't population growth factor into it?  There is only so much land...

It plays in a lot, but the largest generation (still) are the boomers.  The millennial generation was quite small.

It's to be expected that the largest generation would vote the way it wants the world to be.

Unfortunately that is not exactly what the future generations needs.

[Ed.Kloonk]

Doesn't population growth factor into it?  There is only so much land...

It plays in a lot, but the largest generation (still) are the boomers.  The millennial generation was quite small.

It's to be expected that the largest generation would vote the way it wants the world to be.

Unfortunately that is not exactly what the future generations needs.

Everything's the Boomer's fault, huh?
 

Edit: I didn't watch the 47min vid, but that vid title is provocative enough. Esp when posed as a question.

[paulca]

Edit: I didn't watch the 47min vid, but that vid title is provocative enough. Esp when posed as a question.

It's the Royal Institute Lecturers.  Done in the same very lecturer theatre as people like Faraday gave their lecturers.   I believe that desk IS the SAME desk.

And, "fault", no sure, but they have a momentum in society that allows them to pull society with them and continue to favour them.

[SilverSolder]

I fully agree. Too expensive housing is killing any chance for young people to have a decent place to live. Currently there is a movement going towards 'tiny houses'. Oh so cute but realistically it is just poverty with a thin layer of chrome on top to make it shiny.

If you want house prices to come down get interest rates back up to where they were when housing was cheaper. Buying a house will always be financially painful. It was damned hard to buy a house in the 70s and 80s, when house prices were relatively low, but interest rates on a mortgage could be eye watering. If you reduce interest rates, house prices naturally rise until the eye watering readjusts to its old level. Only in places like Texas, where there is a lot more land than people, do you see long term lowish house prices. Even there things are now being distorted in places like Plano by companies fleeing California, who bring with them a bunch of people with a huge pile of cash from selling their overpriced homes in California.

I remember paying 18% interest on the mortgage...   yes, houses were cheaper, but...

[james_s]

We all have the choice of living in a more modest place

Really? When there is a housing shortage it's just a game of musical chairs where those with money get a seat and those without being fucked. The reason there aren't more people on the street is because of couch surfing and living with parents. Plus even if you can afford a place to live, if that's soaking up the majority of your income then you're basically living in poverty.

I think what it comes down to is there are just way too many people. I've watched the population in the area where I live explode throughout my lifetime and tens of thousands more people keep pouring in all the time, I don't even know where they're all coming from. There are far more people than there are nice locations where people want to live, as long as that's the case there will be housing shortages and people priced out of the market. We can't build our way out of this either, the more housing they build and the more affordable they make it, the more people flood in to fill it. It's like where they widen the roads over and over adding lanes and traffic never gets better.

[james_s]

As Dave said to someone else, before locking them out...

EEVBLOG
Please STOP posting Covid threads on this forum.
Locked.

Unless of course it is HIS thread, with over 87000 views
and nearly 2000 replies.

It's one things contained to one thread, and another to have people like you starting new covid and other off-topic threads all the time. Just stop it.
I deleted your latest covid thread.

Yes, Covid is kind of inescapable and all-encompassing right now, it is affecting all of us and is essentially impossible to avoid. It's nice to have a place to discuss things related to it and I think for the most part things have remained very civil. On the same note, I completely agree that it should be contained to ONE thread. It has already permeated all parts of day to day life, I don't want it to permeate all parts of every forum I'm on too.

[PlainName]

Doesn't population growth factor into it?  There is only so much land...

Yeah, what we need is something like a global pandemic to thin them out a bit.

[coppice]

Yes, Covid is kind of inescapable and all-encompassing right now, it is affecting all of us and is essentially impossible to avoid.

It extremely relevant to an electronics forum, as I am starting to hear from more and more hardware and software engineers who are now searching for a job in a terrible market. The past one or two weeks seems to have been the crunch point where many people have moved from working at home or furloughed, to laid off.

[Ed.Kloonk]

Yes, Covid is kind of inescapable and all-encompassing right now, it is affecting all of us and is essentially impossible to avoid.

It extremely relevant to an electronics forum, as I am starting to hear from more and more hardware and software engineers who are now searching for a job in a terrible market. The past one or two weeks seems to have been the crunch point where many people have moved from working at home or furloughed, to laid off.

I don't want to seem to be cold, but where I am, there is work. Whilst I understand those who graduated would prefer a particular station in life, the fact is right now the industries, such as supermarkets, cannot secure willing staff because accepting even casual work affect their welfare benefit status.

Now, I understand there a number who find that statement egregious, what I fail to understand is why young, fit people cannot see that the last thing you want when you're active and youthful is a desk job.

[paulca]

As a software engineer I fear I may be sat on a step having watched lots of industries fall harshly, now dangling my feet over that edge my smile is fading.

[Nusa]

It plays in a lot, but the largest generation (still) are the boomers.  The millennial generation was quite small.

The millennial generation wasn't small, it's just that the boomer generation was huge. Not anymore. Enough boomers have died off that millennials took the numerical lead last year, at least in the US. Boomers are still the larger voting block, simply because a higher percentage of them actually vote, but time will change that too, soon enough. If you combine Millennials with Gen X and voting-age Gen Z, they easily outnumber the boomer and remaining silent generation.