Research by the upmarket estate agency Savills estimates that there are up to 350,000 second homes in England.


CHARLES Phillpot, 51, and his wife, Claire, 36, from London, describe their decision to buy a four bedroom, cliff-top house in Polzeath, Cornwall as 'an outstanding success'.
They bought it from Mrs Phillpot's uncle for about £700,000 last year in an area known as the 'Martha's Vineyard of England'.
By renting it out for 12 weeks a year, the house pays for itself and in peak season they can get £2,000 a week.
Property values have soared in Cornwall. 'Everybody who has got a property down there is thrilled,' said Mr Phillpot.
The company director, who has two children, Emma, 15, and James, 13, added: 'The whole family absolutely love it. We see it as our home.'

350000 is equivalent to the whole population of Coventry. No wonder FTB's can't get on the ladder!

Disgusting, isn't it?

So Mr Philpott considers it his home, does he? I guess he doesn't care about his neighbours - you know those people who actually LIVE in Cornwall - and can't afford to buy their own place because of the likes of him. The council should charge him 10% of his property's current value in council tax a year.

Meanwhile local people cant afford a property in the villages they grew up in, local jobs dont pay enough compared to city wages, familys are split up, local industry goes down the drain and the whole place becomes a holiday village. Polperro is a lovely little place, but the majority of properties are empty waiting for the holiday rentals.

I know someone where we used to live who was selling up because the houses either side were weekend homes. On their little cul-de-sac of eight houses only two of them were lived in and the other house went away every Friday night to THEIR weekend house in town! Ineffect they had no neighbours and did not like it.

With all due respect, FTBers aren't exactly in the market for 4 bedroom cliff-top houses at £700k.

quote:

Originally posted by slapmatt:
With all due respect, FTBers aren't exactly in the market for 4 bedroom cliff-top houses at £700k.

With all due respect, your comment is a tad short-sighted!

Where does it say they don't live there? 12 weeks of the year they rent it out, but the rest of the time it is their family home. I think that's fair enough.

Ary.

Sounds like a teeny weeny bit of jealousy in this thread. If someone wants and can afford a hugely expensive second house then good luck to them.

Villages all over the country have always been a problem for those who've grown up there. The people I know who stayed in my village (and this isn't a choc box type idyllic place, but a nice village nonetheless) could only do so because they had met somebody and bought with them, or because they got a good deal or a lot of help from parents. The rest of us moved away and into town where the terraced houses are. Some caught at the right time having gone up in the world salary wise, found themselves a partner whereas previously they were on their own etc. and managed to buy and move back to a modest place in the village.

Young people have always struggled to stay in the villages they've been brought up in, it's not a new thing connected with 'out of towners' buying up property.

Those who can afford big second pads, well it's tough but they can afford it and they can do what they want with their money. It's not stopping anyone else from buying a place if they also have the money. Perhaps those people might say, well get yourself off to the city, slog your guts out for 10 years whilst commuting for 2 hours each way per day from an affordable area like I did, and then you too can buy a house.

Not saying I've done this, but not everyone gets their money through inheritance and not everyone makes a big profit on a house sale because they've bought to invest. Most people bought a home, as soon as they could afford it, and stayed there a long time, during which time depending on their area, they made masses of equity.

If I had a sizeable sum of money I would probably buy another house either in this country by the coast or something, or abroad. My money, my choice.

Don't other European countries impose massive Capital gains Taxes on second homes. I would fully support the introduction of this here.

There are many ways that those better off can invest their money, and our first priority must be to provide homes for those that just want somewhere to live.

I know that the example used is a very expensive house but many smaller homes are also snapped up as Investments. My friend, a 26 year old who always claims to be skint and doesn't earn very much at all, has been suckered in to mortgaging himself to the hilt to but a small 1 bedroomed flat in Bristol for £90,000 as an investment. He can't really afford it but he has been convinced that he is bound to make money. That flat would have been a perfect flat for some FTB's.

quote:

Originally posted by queenstomper:
Those who can afford big second pads, well it's tough but they can afford it and they can do what they want with their money. It's not stopping anyone else from buying a place if they also have the money. Perhaps those people might say, well get yourself off to the city, slog your guts out for 10 years whilst commuting for 2 hours each way per day from an affordable area like I did, and then you too can buy a house.

My thoughts too. Too many people sit on their arses all day doing very little and then expect everything to be given to them on a plate.

I was left pretty much nowt when my folks died except a couple of grand; no house or anything, because they didn't have one to give. I thought I was never going to have a place of my own but through a lot of hard graft and 60-75hr weeks I paid off all my debts and could finally afford the £78k place I'm in now, ON MY OWN.

If you're prepared to put enough graft in, you can have anything you want!

R

quote:

Originally posted by Rob K:
I thought I was never going to have a place of my own but through a lot of hard graft and 60-75hr weeks I paid off all my debts and could finally afford the £78k place I'm in now, ON MY OWN.

If you're prepared to put enough graft in, you can have anything you want!

R

Rob,

When did you buy?

quote:

Originally posted by reverand:

quote:

Originally posted by Rob K:
I thought I was never going to have a place of my own but through a lot of hard graft and 60-75hr weeks I paid off all my debts and could finally afford the £78k place I'm in now, ON MY OWN.

If you're prepared to put enough graft in, you can have anything you want!

R

Rob,

When did you buy?

This year; moved in 1 April.

R

quote:

Originally posted by bclark1:
Don't other European countries impose massive Capital gains Taxes on second homes. I would fully support the introduction of this here.

There are many ways that those better off can invest their money, and our first priority must be to provide homes for those that just want somewhere to live.

I know that the example used is a very expensive house but many smaller homes are also snapped up as Investments. My friend, a 26 year old who always claims to be skint and doesn't earn very much at all, has been suckered in to mortgaging himself to the hilt to but a small 1 bedroomed flat in Bristol for £90,000 as an investment. He can't really afford it but he has been convinced that he is bound to make money. That flat would have been a perfect flat for some FTB's.

I do get what everyone is saying but not everyone with a second home has it for an investment. They have it because they want a second home and they have the money to buy it, and to run the place even though there might be nobody there a lot of the time.

This 26 year old who doesn't earn very much at all - surely he IS a FTB? Whether it's an investment or not? Another FTB could have bought that flat, but he did.

The problem with providing homes for those who just want somewhere to live is that with the right to buy etc. schemes those same people sell up as soon as they can with massive profits. We all want better and we all want to make some money.

But we can't all be living in the villages we grew up in. I bought my house when I was 24. I have equity, yet I still can't move back to my village. Such is life, if you're on your own with a job paying less than the supposed average wage, you have to make do with what you can get.

I could feasibly get a job in the city at double, maybe 3 times my salary and save that half/two thirds for a few years whilst living on the other half - the income I have now. I would have a big commute and I would be doing nothing but working for a few years. But if I really wanted to save up a stash of money, I could do it. I choose not to.

quote:

Originally posted by Rob K:

This year; moved in 1 April.

R

78K?? IS this a late Aprils fool? What sort of place? Surely not somewhere where a family could live?

It is possible in some places up north.

quote:

Originally posted by queenstomper:

quote:

Originally posted by bclark1:
Don't other European countries impose massive Capital gains Taxes on second homes. I would fully support the introduction of this here.

There are many ways that those better off can invest their money, and our first priority must be to provide homes for those that just want somewhere to live.

I know that the example used is a very expensive house but many smaller homes are also snapped up as Investments. My friend, a 26 year old who always claims to be skint and doesn't earn very much at all, has been suckered in to mortgaging himself to the hilt to but a small 1 bedroomed flat in Bristol for £90,000 as an investment. He can't really afford it but he has been convinced that he is bound to make money. That flat would have been a perfect flat for some FTB's.

I do get what everyone is saying but not everyone with a second home has it for an investment. They have it because they want a second home and they have the money to buy it, and to run the place even though there might be nobody there a lot of the time.

This 26 year old who doesn't earn very much at all - surely he IS a FTB? Whether it's an investment or not? Another FTB could have bought that flat, but he did.

The problem with providing homes for those who just want somewhere to live is that with the right to buy etc. schemes those same people sell up as soon as they can with massive profits. We all want better and we all want to make some money.

But we can't all be living in the villages we grew up in. I bought my house when I was 24. I have equity, yet I still can't move back to my village. Such is life, if you're on your own with a job paying less than the supposed average wage, you have to make do with what you can get.

I could feasibly get a job in the city at double, maybe 3 times my salary and save that half/two thirds for a few years whilst living on the other half - the income I have now. I would have a big commute and I would be doing nothing but working for a few years. But if I really wanted to save up a stash of money, I could do it. I choose not to.

Sorry I didn't make it clear, my friend has bought this flat as a Buy to Let, he already has bought his first place last year which he says he can barely afford.

Yes it is true that some people buy a second home because they want to but in that case then the capital gains tax won't worry them. The tax only kicks in on the profit they make so if they really really just want the house to have as a holiday home they won't worry if they don't clean up financially.

There are loads of houses up here (scotland) still going for 55-75K. The prices are rising fairly quick though so don't know how long for.

There are literally losds of people moving up here from the South (like we did).

And here in North Staffs. Prices have shot up but whereas 4/5 years ago someone like me could have bought on their own with a 3x salary mortgage, that's not possible any more. I bought 11 years ago and despite earning considerably more over the years I couldn't start out now.

Like I said I understand the problems, but it's not the fault of people who buy 4 bedroomed country properties in picturesque villages.

bclark1 your friend is likely to fall flat on his face with that investment. He only has to have a 6 month period without a tenant and it could all go horribly wrong. Though if someone is willing to listen to the advice of others when they are not in the same circumstances themselves then they only have themselves to blame.

I have every sympathy for the plight of FTBs, but it still is possible to save up and afford somewhere to buy, as long as property doesn't continue to rise at a faster rate than inflation.

By 1989 the average house price was around £90,000, but I was only earning £5500 pa, which meant I could have only borrowed around 16,500 - barely enough for a conservatory. I live in the south east, and so the average price was even higher.

I decided to retrain, and get a better paid job, for five years commuting for 4 hours a day. For ten years I scrimped and saved, eventually (in 1996) had saved around £70,000. This was enough to buy a property. I have always only ever been a basic rate tax payer.

Admittedly I was helped by a downturn in the market, but even if prices had stagnated during those years, I would have been able to have bought somewhere.

Again, I stress that I am not downplaying how difficult it is for FTBs, nor how overpriced properties are, but it is still possible for many people to affoird to buy if we see a prolonged period of stagnation or a drop in prices, and people are willing to do some serious saving.

I think we all hope for a stagnation, whatever our circumstances. Nobody really gains unless they're selling their property and not buying another one. And then they'll have cash but they won't have a house so swings and roundabouts really.

Anaglypta - £5500 was my salary in 1989! My first full time salary. It was about £350 a month I think.

Also with the FTB thing, remember what our parents and grandparents have told us. When they bought their first houses they perhaps lived in one room for a year. They furnished their house over a number of years. It's maybe taken 20 years to get the property just as they want it - by doing things little by little, taking care of the essentials but adding the aesthetics over time.

Now I know you can't pick up a run down property for the bargain prices you used to - but seems to me a lot of FTBs just aren't prepared to live a meagre existence for a few years and build their homes around them. They want everything and they want it at once. And a lot are not prepared to save money while they live with the folks either. Not all, but it's a must have society by and large.

I agree that it is still possible for FTB's to buy property, although not easy or possible for all. I was a FTB a little over a year ago at 25. I have a pretty good job as does my fiance but we still had to save and save but we ended up buying a quite nice three bedroomed house in Bristol.

We could have bought a cheaper home that was smaller but we wanted something nice that we could stay in for many years. The worry is for FTB's in the future if prices keep going up, also those that aren't as lucky as me.

I know some people talk about having to work your behind off to get money etc but not everyone is lucky or able to get the breaks in life. I feel that I have been lucky in life as well as hard working. I was lucky enough to be born to loving Parents who looked after my needs when I was growing up and allowed me to concentrate on growing up and learning at school. They also gave me a stable enoguh base to go to Uni and get a good degree. As such I know have a good job with prospects. Yes I worked very hard during that time and still do but some people don't have the same start in life and some don't have the same support, others choose to dedicate their lives to helping, which unfortunately rarely brings high salaries with it.

I don't believe that as a society we should forget these people. Will they be able to afford their first homes in twenty years? At the current rate maybe not. I just feel that maybe the Government needs to put their needs first. Surely the right of someone to own their own modest small little home should be placed above someone who just wants to add to their bank account by buying a Buy to let home?

Good point bclark, like I said I couldn't buy my house now.

New build houses should be a lot cheaper than they are. They don't cost a lot to build. Further than that they could regenerate areas for an even smaller cost than demolition etc. It would be difficult to control. Such houses would always have to have a clause that it be sold at a discounted rate and always to a first time buyer (after the first person to buy it decides to move on, or dies etc.) and how could that be regulated? If someone has bought it they will sell it for the market value - whatever someone is prepared to pay for it. If it's cheap, someone will bid over that price, and then someone else will.

I can't see how it would work. When private ownership is involved those who buy a house cheaply to get on the ladder will always sell it for a big profit and it all starts over again.

Housing for those who cannot get a mortgage would be a better idea. Low rental, means tested. If it's low rental they can either save and save, or they can stay there all their lives if they want. Not concentrate on single parents or families but single, working people and couples as well.