I wonder what is really happening to the UK? Mortgages..... I have a limited company and am in my late 50's. but have not been able to get a mortgage, even with a good down payment. I used to own a house back in the 80's - they would snap your hand off if you had a small down payment. We don't have enough houses for the amount of people and I hear from many fathers that their children in their teens and 20's have no chance of getting a mortgage and moving out. I met my lovely wife in 2008, and that is when the worldwide crash happened. Sometimes I get negative but realise many people are renting because of the situation in the UK. Renting..... I would love to see a financial comparison between what it really costs to own a house versus how much rent is paid. Renting has the worrying aspect of not knowing how long the stay in any house will be. If it wasn't for the fact that I would have to be without my family for long periods whilst working in the UK, I would consider living in the Philippines. With this and the poor health service and lesser education, it seems the Philippines is fraught with danger.
The more I read about living in the Phils on BF the more I am starting to distance the idea of ever living there. A poor health service definately fills me with dread, sooner or later you're going to need it, I realize there are good hospitals there but its not the norm. Another thing to consider of course is finance and the fact you cannot own your own property there. Regarding not being able to get a morgage, that will only get worst, especially when you're starting to reach an older age like a lot of us here at BF.
I am in your situation. Twice divorced so two wives have made off with houses that I "owned" and now I am renting and will be for the rest of my life. Very doubtful about living in the Philippines. What I think has been happening in the UK is that pay has not kept place with inflation for quite a while, and many people have been "realising the equity" in their houses by re-mortgaging. In reality we have seen the return of the private landlord. Wealth is becoming concentrated in fewer hands.
There was a time when I had a house, a flat and a share in my mother's flat. Like others, the ex wife, who owned sod all, made off with both houses plus a quarter of the money in my mum's flat. When my current wife first came here we rented for about a year. With my mum getting on a bit we sold her flat and bought a reasonably large house, with me getting a mortgage that is costing me roughly the same as I was paying in rent before. My mum lives downstairs, we live upstairs, with my kids being there half the time, and we share the dining room and kitchen. So far it's working pretty well. We made sure we got a place where the layout worked well, and we can effectively live seperately in the same building. I think I prefer owning. Since getting divorced I'd already had to move twice due to tenancies not being renewed, so at least you feel settled. Like others, the lack of a health system would stop me moving to The Philippines, even after my kids grew up.
You will find it hard pushed to find somwhere in the Philippines that isnt likely to go pop, ripped apart at the seams, hammered by a super typhoon or flooded by storm surge or excess surface run off and thats just the natural hazards. The countries geohazards, will never in a million years, diminish. Plus the issue of health provision.
i have lived in the Philippines and would do so again. Typhoons, earthquakes and volcanoes don't bother me; the built in readiness to take offence, the unfair legal system, the corruption and the ever present risk of violence concern me.
Well, add them both together and you have an interesting blend. Plus the health service issue and absence of any HSE. Plus the civil warfare in the south. Plus a small matter of the Chinese knocking at the back door.
Buying a house is just a lot tougher now than ever before and there isn't a single politician out there willing to tackle the issue. The main problem is that prices rise and rise, but the banks are jittery over lending money to anyone these days. The government could (if they wanted) start a massive house building scheme that would produce a mixture of low cost council houses and low cost houses for buyers, this in turn would cause houses already out there to lose their value - not a big vote winner for the Conservatives and probably pretty damning to Labour or the Lib Dems too. Another way forward would be an asset tax, taxing people based on the amount of property that they own. This would hit people that profiteered after the council homes were sold off and those that bought them found themselves in debts they couldn't afford and ended up selling on the cheap, as well as those who own vast estates. This would put people who bought a bunch of houses on buy to let schemes in a muddle and they'd probably prefer to sell off their housing stock. Again, it would come off unpopular with some and this is why I doubt it would be considered. There is no easy solution to the widening wealth gap we have in this country, any change to reduce that gap will be painful to many people. However, I think it is indisputable that with the trickle up economics we've seen over the past 25+ years continuing, the economy will continue to stagnate as the working class and middle class cease to spend as they once did. Not to mention we'll see another massive bust with the economy as the City continues to do what they did so badly prior to 2008. They remain as unregulated as they were 6 years ago, doing shady things in the derivatives market and risking all our livelihoods as they chase those bonuses. I remain doubtful I'll be able to buy a house, despite having a deposit in a few years. I think that deposit might be better spent on land in the Philippines to at least own something that we can pass down.
I have considered this option but having British kids and putting them through school in the UK means they will probably never want to live in the Philippines as they will always be too Anglicised. Unless the Philippines follows the models of Singapore and Hong Kong, and to a lesser extent, Thailand where it certainly feels more of a first world country.
Living in the Philippines isn't an option for most of us, however. Being able to work and provide for our families is almost impossible there.
That's the only way John, I could live very well in the Philippines on my UK salary, don't think I'd even get a job in the Phils if I just went there and looked for work.
There's somewhere I could mention, where the majority view seems to be the Philippines is a paradise and the ideal retirement destination. Here, the majority view seems to be "Nice idea but it's not really that good there", and frankly this is the more truthful statement. Anytime I've been in Phils, in admittedly a remote area to visit the family, I've been aware parts are truly beautiful, but socially I get a gut feeling outsiders are tolerated rather than welcomed by many there. I know the best thing is to keep ones mouth shut and not give anything but positive opinions if asked. This might be paranoia, but why take the risk. I've also been introduced on occasion to some really rough looking Filipino men, and ended up having some of the best nights ever with incredibly friendly people. The moral is, you just can't tell. Just because a place happens to be where our partners might have hailed from, doesn't make it good or bad.
I digressed there lol This was originally about house ownership vs renting costing huh. Well if we put aside the possibility of extreme repairs which probably won't ever happen (Roof come off due to an earthquake, or infestation of killer hornets etc) I'll use costings based on my home town, because this is where my knowledge is best, all anyone needs to do is ratio up the costings for any part of the country 2 bed house in half decent part of town Rent £480 a month. Value 80k (seriously). Mortgage 64k using 20% deposit Interest per annum £1920 using say 3% rates Repayments per annum £2560 Total payments per annum £4,480 or £374 a month. This comes down year on year. Interest rates can go up and down. Buildings insurance not needed for rental property. For owned property as long as you aren't silly and get it from your bank, it is under £100 a year. Buildings and contents for me just cost me just over £100 which I'm going to get cashback on. Peanuts really. Don't consider water rates, council tax etc if you want a difference costing as you have to pay all these whether you rent or buy. Maintenance a year? Hard to say, how often do you want to decorate? You'd surely want to keep your rented home clean and nice looking though. Say repairs to windows or door - few hundred a year at most surely. Maybe you're lucky and your fridge and washing machine comes with the house (Mine did when I rented), fridges just don't break down, but washing machines - last 3-5 years maybe? So: Renting costs £1272 a year more. BUT 100% of your rent is money which goes to the landlord. You never see this again. Buy and most of your payments go towards your home capital. House values very rarely go down, you could get this back if you were to ever sell and decide to then rent, or live in a tent etc. Probably doesn't matter if you never intend moving. So think like this Renting - £5760 a year Buying - £1920 a year dead money to the bank. £2560 a year to your personal savings scheme. Less a couple of hundred to take into account repairs and some replacements to stuff, servicing the boiler etc Eventually that mortgage will be paid, and you will be living very cheaply. Rent and that cost is there for life. Buying sounds great? Well yes and no. Renting means you never need to worry about your boiler blowing up, don't need to worry about leaks - it's someone elses problem. Also, get crappy neighbours - well you can just up sticks and leave them behind. All this also depends on getting a mortgage, that isn't exactly easy at the moment.
It isn't a bad price is it really. It's for West Yorkshire, unfortunately we have some nice places and some not so nice places, one in particular beginning with "B" hehe. Seriously though, you can get a really nice house in one of the best areas for under 200k. The area we're in though, the prices are a little depressed as it's getting a little, how shall I put this...the ethnic makeup is changing. Many things to plan for the future, might be time to move soon, but hey
Place beginning with B where the ethnic make up is changing eh, think you could have included the whole Alphabet there Love a game of I spy on BF You usually find that in those kind of areas that there are some really pleasant gradely folk around, especially amongst the older generation.
Hehe I don't live in that particular city. Maybe one day their rugby league team will stop whinging about their points deduction. Little sympathy for them as their fans have been making fun of the surrounding teams for years, whilst getting preferential treatment off the league.
