london

Even the trendy wine bars have been knocked down for expensive investment flats.

^

can't say I miss the foundry though, fucking stank in there.

I was actually quite fond of the particular *smell* of the Foundry, especially on a wet Saturday night. It smelled like a rave afterparty that had been going on for ten years.

(But, it was my local, and so many of the "important" events of my life happened there so it's not really objective.)

Ha, yes, good description. I mean, I never liked it in there so can't say I miss it specifically, but it's still shit that it's been replaced by speculator flats.

They're ruining everything, even the crap things.

I want to know where the Worm Lady reads her poetry now. :-/

Never liked the Foundry much but I will love them forever for hosting this exhibition, the poster hangs proudly on my wall to this day.

http://www.atlaspress.co.uk/theLIP/img/dora3.jpg

Transport issues aside, how is Thamesmead these days?

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/feb/06/hackney-house-price-bubble

that fucking creperie

I was about to wonder how people in their late 20s can even be in the market for buying a house, but I realise that neither I nor most of the people (anyone?) I know have really made the best career choices for accumulating wealth.

That's a good article. Completely OTM in my experience.

Everyone I know who bought in their 20s was pretty driven about it; e.g. living at home with parents (as a couple) for a year after university and saving all their income for a deposit, or doing something similar while renting a very small cheap room somewhere (which is what my sister did). Or working in the city, of course.

Am still somewhat amazed that we bought a one bedroom flat in Clerkenwell for under 300k last year. Haven't been looking at the prices since, but all these Hackney prices articles make me suspect that there aren't many left at that price now.

It's less the deposit, more the idea that young people are in the market for flats that will demand mortgage payments of £2500 - £3000 every month and more if rates rise. A few years ago I'd have assumed that was solely finance ppl territory but it doesn't seem that way. Again, my strategies for the accumulation of wealth haven't been great though.

I mean, it says something about the perceived buoyancy of the London economy when a mortgage broker sits down with a 28 year old couple 'in marketing' or 'in publishing' and everyone agrees that they are going to have an uninterrupted six-figure household income for the next twenty five years. I'd be completely terrified.

I was about to wonder how people in their late 20s can even be in the market for buying a house, but I realise that neither I nor most of the people (anyone?) I know have really made the best career choices for accumulating wealth.

― Merdeyeux, Friday, February 7, 2014 12:47 AM (7 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

seriously!

but even taking the various freelancers, artists, permanent students and so on out of the equation...even most of the people i know with good, successful, respectable late 20s/early 30s jobs can't even think about buying a house. i mean things like "head of department at private school" and "editor of national magazine". by any normal measure, people whose careers are going well. probably 99% of people i know who have bought/are buying are either finance people or had parental help.

that said, that article made me wonder why anyone would want to buy a house - the urge to own property is so strong that you'd consider some of those shitholes described? it's baffling to me. though this is probably my own rationalisation of the fact that i'll never own a house speaking (plus the non-desire to have children which seems more and more like a blessing every day)

f ucking finance people

that article made me wonder why anyone would want to buy a house

a mortgage is usually cheaper than rent in london, so then couple that with the fact you end up with something tangible you can sell then it's a pretty simple equation. maybe not so much if you fancy moving to a new city, being a bit rootless - owning a house can put a damper on those things. but it doesn't have to. i know a few couples who have just upped sticks, put stuff in storage and rented their place out indefinitely.

the word that keeps jumping out at me in this coversation is 'couples'

well yeah, pooling resources is pretty key

although i know a dude who bought a house with his best friend a few years ago near seven sisters

although e.g.

If I live to see, Seven Sisters
I'll make a path to the rainbow's end
I'll never live to mash potato again

Just depressing how 15 years ago, £10k deposit and a steady 'professional' job meant you could buy something nice in an up-and-coming part of Zone 2 (or a fixer-upper somewhere posh, or a nice ex-council flat in Z1). Now you'd be lucky to get 350 square feet for £350K in my neighbourhood.

It's less the deposit, more the idea that young people are in the market for flats that will demand mortgage payments of £2500 - £3000 every month and more if rates rise.

That's pushing it a bit, surely? At current rates that would be a 750-900k property, and I don't think prices have got quite that bad yet. I suspect people aren't thinking too much about what happens when rates rise, though.

Certainly our mortgage payments are 2/3 of what our rent on the same property was, and we were paying under the market rent, so I can see the logic from a pure cost savings pov, unless you are worried about rising interest rates. But how anyone in their twenties could come up with a 25% deposit without parental help is beyond me - but maybe things have relaxed again and 10% down is possible, anyway?

Possibly. I was working from a mortgage of half a million at 4 per cent but I guess there are cheaper rates out there. Help To Buy rates tend to be a little higher than average though.

Ah yeah I'd forgotten about help to buy. I guess I was working off 2ish teaser rates (well, just scaling my own mortgage payments, really, possibly inaccurately).

couples in 20s could probably get a longer term than the usual 25 years also. would make monthly payments cheaper.

Toby, so you guys got to buy the flat you'd been renting? Another couple I know bought from their landlord and it actually wound up at least ten per cent cheaper than the open market.

Yeah, we got various estate agents to give quotes, and agreed a price based on them (with a discount for not having agents fees), discounting the highest and lowest couple - which was good as e.g. Foxtons were suggesting 50k more than we actually paid.

http://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/shortcuts/2014/feb/18/meet-the-cling-ons-stressed-middle-class

hideous and desperate.

So. Fracking in London: is this a real thing?

https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/ban-fracking-in-lambeth-1

I have got to the point where I can no longer tell what are actual Tory plans and what are these fiendish cartoon fantasies of What Tories Might Do. There is no difference at this point.

that link should be on Is the Guardian worse than it used to be?

if they manage to find a site in lambeth to stick fracking gear in I say go for it.

Hands up, so who's getting a fifteen metre BOREHOLE drilled outside their bedroom window for the next few weeks.

Oh, just me, then?

Man with the badge has sworn blind it's to control flooding, not for fracking, but do I trust Thames Water? No, I do not.

Can't wait for the Boring Machine to get here. zzzzzzzzz

You need to go to the Thames Water site and see if there's an explanation for the works (which may or may not be translatable into English from corporate BS).

Nah, I've already spoken to the site manager, who spoke plain English. It is for sewer control. He assures me there will be no Boring before 8am. Better not be!

(Thanks for the tip on the website, tho, will go and look at what the hilarious corporate BS for "boring a 15 metre hole outside your bedroom window" is)

The person who invents a humorous app to translate neoliberal corporate BS ----> English will make a well-deserved fortune. Get on it, nerds of ILX.

How many different ways are there to translate "you're fucked"?

Surprisingly many, in my experience.

Hmmm:

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/feb/25/just-jam-barbican-cancelled-police?CMP=twt_gu

Barbican ppl I know are furious.

That is bizarre (and shit, obv) - not the main issue but how does a Barbican gig featuring Omar Souleyman/Mt Kimbie/Sophie/RP Boo code as black/dangerous/underage drinking?

good ol' undemocratic, tax avoiding, medieval-guild-run City of London and their racist police

seandalai, p sure they just saw jme & went in, wld be surprised if they know who the rest are. barbican saying they weren't told why... - http://www.thewire.co.uk/news/29413/barbican-cancels-just-jam-event-with-rp-boo_omar-souleyman_loefah_jme-and-others - ...could they just reverse their decision & force the police to do/say something?

Would be tough for a venue owned by the City Of London to defy the 'advice' given by the City Of London police, I think. The whole thing is bizarre.

ah, I was imagining some "we will work w/ the police to address their concerns" ish to get them to try & unpack their prejudice in public, but the ownership makes it less likely

disgusting.

so fucked. those sound like justifications that could be applied to a billion everyday things

one comment on guardian likened this to apartheid