Jan 13th, 2016: Unique Real Estate
 

Since the world doesn't want to support me in the manner to which I'd like to become accustomed, and I don't have a powerball ticket, I figured UT wouldn't mind too much if I hustle a little real estate on here.
First up is this sweet opportunity to acquire a Grade II listed, Victorian, three bedroom end terrace property, in Fairview, Cheltenham, GL52.
A steal at only £210,000. That's $303,670.50 to you colonists.

http://cellar.org/2015/realestate.jpg

Ain't she a beauty.
I know you have checkbook in quivering hand, yes. No? Hmm there is one other feature on the outside...

A genuine Banksy
http://cellar.org/2015/banksy-house.jpg

The phone booth is a real working item so that belongs to the phone company, but the wall with the Banksy is yours with the house.
link & link

I thought England had some sort of weird real estate deal where you just leased from the Queen for a certain number of years when you bought a place. And the number of years remaining on the lease was always mentioned in the ad. You can actually buy this place and own it? Forever?

Not all of English property is leasehold.
Leasehold property is not always ultimately owned by the Queen - other rich folk can also own it.
You may be thinking of the feu system in Scotland.

There's parts of California and New York where a place like that would go for a price like that. Real estate markets are so insane.

The trouble with property that is 'listed', ie essentially under a preservation order, is that repairs have to be carried out using, as near as possible, original methods and materials.
The renovation for that house is going to be extremely expensive.
I can't think why anybody would take on a listed building, be it house or commercial premises, unless they are prepared to live permanently under the threat of high maintenance and repair costs.

We have something similar, where buildings, even whole neighborhoods can be listed as historic properties. I believe then, you can't change the appearance of the exterior, but may renovate the interior.

I just saw this graph comparing London in 1939 vs 2015.

http://cellar.org/2015/londonhousing.jpg

I imagine that graph probably counts the 99 (sometimes, 999) year leasehold as 'owned'.Much less of the property market is leasehold now than it used to be.

What is Social rented?

Housing rented from a Local Council or Housing Association.
I believe that Councils have largely withdrawn from housing provision and handed over that function to Housing Associations which are non-profit making bodies.

From Wiki:

Link

Though, even in social housing, the cost of rent is not really 'low'. It's just lower than most of the private renting. The difference between social rent and private rent is particularly acute in areas where private rents have rocketed up in the last ten years or so.

So it is like section 8 housing over here. Thanks Dana

The housing market in London distorts that of SE England, and indeed the country as a whole.
Housing costs are prohibitively expensive in London for anyone on an average salary.
If you're a hedge fund manager, banker or hotshot lawyer, a decent home will be within your means.
If you're a nurse, firefighter, teacher, or other 'key worker', broadly speaking, you don't stand a chance of living anywhere near your place of work.
There are a number of Government sponsored schemes to assist key workers with housing purchase or rental simply in order to keep these vital services going.

HM, that cave is astounding, but it doesn't have the charm of con/de-struction debris and no Banksy. :lol2:

Fargon, Carruthers, keep in mind that chart is only for London and may not reflect the rest of the country.

Dana, NYC addressed the skyrocketing rents with "rent control" laws that capped the rate at which rents could rise. From that point tenants were protected unless they moved, so it was in the landlords interest to evict people, often unfairly. That resulted in a dual system of buildings controlled and uncontrolled, which is pretty bizarre.

We could house all the homeless in the empty walmart stores... and that's without the coming vacancies which are all juju's fault. ;)