I know there's no chance of me having the money to buy a house for another year or two (roll on graduation and the lovely little bursary for teacher training) but I'm having a look at what kind of properties I could afford (yes I know, house prices change every month, so what I see now may not be anything near what I could get in a couple of years - but in a couple of years I might b looking with someone, totally changing my budget altogether, this is just for an idea).
Why is it that there's all this noise about how hard it is for first time buyers to get on the housing ladder? I've found loads of properties within a nice budget range, that I could easily afford on my own if I had the deposit. Oh wait, I see the problem. Every single one of them is a retirement flat. So not only are some pensioners being pressurised to 'downsize' from their nice little bungalows or houses they've been in for years (my grandmother for example, detached 2bed bungalow, ensuite to master and a main bath as well, quiet street, lovely little house) in order to make the property available for young families, but single first time buyers are totally priced out of the market because all the nice new apartment complexes are built as retirement flats. That's frustrating. I can kind of understand it, but it's still blinking frustrating. What's really bugged me though, is every one of these retirement flats that has no onward chain (ie is vacant), is advertised as "CURRENTLY EMPTY - PRICED FOR QUICK SALE!!" as though this is a fantastic thing. All it means is that the person who was living there died, and their bereaved family are trying t settle all their affairs while grieving. What happy news! I don't want anything like that when my grandmother dies - as mentioned, she's not in a retirement flat, so it wouldn't be as obvious to total strangers that she'd dead so we're selling her house, but it's still horribly callous. The same goes for my parents. I'm the executor on their will, so it will be my responsibility to sort out all of their belongings, clear the house out, and start the proceedings to sell the house. I don't want to walk past the estate agent window and see their house with such a heartless and consumerist sentence in capital letters beneath it. If someone is buying a property they want the sale to go as quickly as possible (reduces the solicitors fees considerably), why is it necessary to emphasise this fact when the reason for selling is death?
