renting the good life?

[kiwirach]

And folk with little money have no chance to ever own their own place.

this is where i'm at, so have to start thinking outside the square!. i dont know yet what the answer is.....is it a move abroad?....even back home to NZ, but i reckon i'd be in the same boat there!.

thanks for everyones replies.

[kiwirach]

oh and on the subject on females and possessions.... .....i call myself a goldfish....i grow my possessions to my surroundings!. i have a pile of 'treasures' here and a pile in my parents loft in NZ!.

[Thurston Garden]

Most places to rent are furnished, and therefore extremely awful.

Ina - let the dreaming start here! I often look at the register and wonder.....would they sell.....could I do it up?

[Annpan]

The village my sister lives in has 10 houses, 8 of them are rented out from The Lady who owns all the land around there... my sister tells me that all the farms and houses for about 5 miles around are owned and rented out by the same Lady.

All the houses have proper sized gardens and the rent is reasonable, some families have been there for generations.

Just saying that there are defo properties out there, just need to really look. I am pretty sure that most crofters rent. Or you could try to find a farm/croft with a second cottage in need of repair, and come to some kind of arrangement with the owner - you do it up, they charge you cheap rent.

Good luck.

[Gytrash]

Or you could try to find a farm/croft with a second cottage in need of repair, and come to some kind of arrangement with the owner - you do it up, they charge you cheap rent.

Good luck.

Opportunities like this do happen! My uncle and aunt rented a lovely little cottage in the middle of nowhere for a few quid (literally) a week, about 15 years ago.
The farmer who owned it would rather have rented it to them for next to nothing, the proviso being that my uncle maintained it, than have it slowly crumble into dereliction.

Just get talking to the local landowners in the pub!

[ina]

Ina - let the dreaming start here! I often look at the register and wonder.....would they sell.....could I do it up?

Thanks for the link - I'd heard of that, but hadn't got around to finding it yet...

And yes, I know, sometimes you can be lucky, and find a cheap place to rent that you can do up yourself. In fact, on this farm where I work there is just such a place, but it's rented out to a very deserving family with little money.

The problem is that I will need a place in a few years' time, when I retire (ha! - no, I'm not over 60 yet...); up until then I have to live in the tied cottage. But of course, when the time does come, there won't be much left to start looking for something. So ideally I'd need to find something now, that I can buy and do up, to be ready when I am.

Problems, problems...

[Stonehead]

Or you could try to find a farm/croft with a second cottage in need of repair, and come to some kind of arrangement with the owner - you do it up, they charge you cheap rent.

Good luck.

People are too greedy, selfish and ownership obsessed for this to work. We have a run-down cottage on the croft and did look into having someone do it up, then live there rent free for a certain number of years.

We drew a huge amount of abuse, derisive comments and insults, as well as a huge amount of scepticism. We were accused of trying to exploit people and rip them off. We also had quite a few timewasters, fantasists and outright nutters trying it on as well.

So, there's absolutely no way we'd do this now. The cottage will continue as our wood store and chick brooder, and if someone came to the door and said, "could I do it up and live there rent free for 10-15 years", we'd tell them to be on their way.

[mrsflibble]

we rent a 2bed hours with a very small garden in a suburb. we can not afford to buy a house, nor would I want to with the british economy the way it is right now.
our landlady does not know what I'm doing in her garden or on her windowsills, but then 8 garlic plants out the back, a lavendar, some flowers out the front and in may some growbgs with tomatoes wont hurt.

I currently have a little greenhouse thing going on on my landing windowsill; 11 tomato plants (3 yellow which I grew from seed, 8 varying varieties bought as baby plants from wilkinsons) and 4 chilli plants are doing quite well up there 'cos they get shaded sun all day.

[Ellendra]

And folk with little money have no chance to ever own their own place.

DON'T BELIEVE THAT!!!!!!

Excuse me, but with a bit of creativity, resourcefulness, and enough determination, yes, you can. I did.

Start by making your lists. Write down what you must have in a place, what flaws you refuse to accept in a place, and what can be negotiated for the right price.

Be aware that what is a flaw to one person can be a selling point to another. For instance, I wanted a place that was remote, not in a flood plain, and had water on the property. The realtor I bought from had dropped the price several times, because this place was "too hilly", near impossible to find, and had one corner designated "wetland conservation zone" because of the trout stream running through it. It was perfect!

[Annpan]

Ellendra - the housing market in Britain is maybe abit more harsh that in America... though prices 'can' be alot cheaper in more remote parts but, with so many 'escape from the rat-race' folks, you can still pay through the nose.

Minimum wage here is currently around £12,000 pa
Average house price is something like £180,000 (from BBC website)

Most people have little chance of getting on the housing ladder without a big financial boost...

That said ... We did it... we worked every hour God sent for 4 years earning money and fixing up the most discusting ground floor flat, it is now a chic batchelor pad for my brother, and we were able to move out of the city... but we worked really, really hard to get it... and we still are working hard to make this a habitable house.

I don't think it is fair that some wish for a house price crash, when there are those of us who have put our blood, sweat and tears and gambled everything we had, just so we could own our own piece of land.

[Gytrash]

I don't think it is fair that some wish for a house price crash, when there are those of us who have put our blood, sweat and tears and gambled everything we had, just so we could own our own piece of land.

A house price crash is the only way that I would be able to buy a place, as a first time buyer.

[Annpan]

I understand that, and I think that it is lousy that some people really can't afford to buy property... but how is that fair when some of us worked hard for years to afford our own home.

We bought our first place when we were 20, we had no financial help. We have never had a holiday, didn't have a free weekend for 4 years, we had no social life, we spent every evening working on the house, and worked overtime at work whenever it was offered (we were both on min wage)
Don't get me wrong, I think it was worth it.

I just have friends who say... yeah but I was travelling, or I was enjoying my 20s, and now I can't afford a house... Is it fair that the same friends wish ill on us, so that they can now afford a property.


On the other hand... it is maybe about time that the system in this country changed to being more european. More affordable good housing to rent, it is not fair that people have to rent sub-standard homes that they can do nothing about. Every private landlord I have met has been a criminal, their ought to be better legislation of rental properties.


Give me the reigns of the country I'll sort it out

[Gytrash]

I'll vote for ya!

[Stonehead]

There are those of us who have put our blood, sweat and tears and gambled everything we had, just so we could own our own piece of land.

I couldn't agree more. I could have done as some people known personally to me have done and lived it up, spent all my money and then screamed about how it wasn't fair that I couldn't have what I wanted.

Or I could do what I did—worked my butt off, put up with more than 20 years of biting my tongue, then put all but a grand of what I'd accrued into the place I wanted. (I always keep something for a truly rainy day.)

I earned truly crap money at times and quite good money at others, but I always managed to put aside a little something. I knew I couldn't get what I was after at 20, 25, 30, or even 35 but did manage to surprise myself by getting it before I was 40.

I would have kept going until I was 50 or 60 if it had been needed, but managed to do it while the boys were young and that has been the biggest plus of all.

If you really want it, start small, stay determined, be tenacious and always keep the dream in mind. But please don't fritter time and money away, then tell me I've had it lucky and it's not fair.

[Ellendra]

Ellendra - the housing market in Britain is maybe abit more harsh that in America... though prices 'can' be alot cheaper in more remote parts but, with so many 'escape from the rat-race' folks, you can still pay through the nose.

Minimum wage here is currently around £12,000 pa
Average house price is something like £180,000 (from BBC website)

Most people have little chance of getting on the housing ladder without a big financial boost...

Funny, I was told that exact same thing about US prices before I bought my land. Even the numbers you quoted are pretty close to the same, just change it to a dollar sign.

Sorry if I'm stepping on anyone's toes, but I had people telling me it was impossible for 20 years, and I did it anyway.