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Are UK Retirement Homes Worth the Investment? And More Housing Questions Answered · Merryn Talks Money

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  Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.
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  Speaker 2: Welcome to Meron Talks Your Money, the personal finance edition
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: of Merin Talks Money. In these bonus podcasts and this
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: they are bonuses and you are lucky. We talk about
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: the best strategies for making the most of your money.
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  Speaker 2: I'm Merrin, Sumset Web and with me today a senior
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  Speaker 2: reporter and Money to Stilt author John Steback. Hi, John, Hi, Melon,
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  Speaker 2: Good to have you here. Talk about houses just a
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: little bit more. For those who knew Tomeron Talks Money,
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: we did a personal finance series focusing on only how
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  Speaker 2: to buy houses in the UK earlier this year. We
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  Speaker 2: put at eight episodes in total, answering questions about freeholds
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  Speaker 2: versus lease holds, about shared ownership probably is good idea.
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  Speaker 3: Or bad idea?
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  Speaker 2: Bad idea by the way, where the new bills are
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  Speaker 2: a good idea or a bad idea?
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  Speaker 3: That kind of thing.
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  Speaker 2: We thought we covered everything, but of course in the
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  Speaker 2: end we did not actually cover everything. So as the
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  Speaker 2: episodes have been released, we've received emails and a couple
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  Speaker 2: of comments with new questions, and we thought we would
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  Speaker 2: dedicate our final personal Finance episode before the summer to
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  Speaker 2: addressing a couple of those questions. So to do that,
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  Speaker 2: we have brought back the absolutely brilliant Paula Higgins, who
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  Speaker 2: is CEO of Homeowner's Alliance. The mission of Homeowners Alliance,
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  Speaker 2: by the way, is to champion the interest of Britain's
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  Speaker 2: homeowners and to provide unbiased practical advice, which is of
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  Speaker 2: course exactly what we need here. Paula featured on our
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  Speaker 2: episode on new bills. We went a lot, then, didn't we?
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  Speaker 2: John John was actually outraged by half of that, weren't you.
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  Speaker 4: I think that's the angliest of being all the podcast.
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  Speaker 2: You are still recovering from. It was a state management
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  Speaker 2: fees that really sent you off at I'm amazed you
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  Speaker 2: didn't know about it, about all that appauling souse. If
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  Speaker 2: you will get more outrage today, Paula, thank you very
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  Speaker 2: much for joining us today.
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  Speaker 1: Yes's nice to be hear. I expect you will get
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  Speaker 1: more outraged.
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  Speaker 2: I was going to ask you to promise that ups front,
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  Speaker 2: but it's not really necessary, is it'll be that?
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  Speaker 3: Okay? So here we go. Here's our first question.
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  Speaker 2: And actually this is a question that I suspect an
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  Speaker 2: awful lot of people will want to hear the answer
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  Speaker 2: to It's.
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  Speaker 3: From someone called Jonathan.
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  Speaker 2: My father died last year and I'm in the process
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  Speaker 2: of looking at retirement apartments for my mother. I thought
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  Speaker 2: it would be really useful area for you and John
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  Speaker 2: to discuss. It appears you have to sell these types
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  Speaker 2: of properties back to the company often loss. So would
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  Speaker 2: people in this age bracket Are downsizers be best to
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  Speaker 2: buy on the open market? Or should they buy? I
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  Speaker 2: think what he's saying is, should you buy retirement homes
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  Speaker 2: at the lure of away day trips, yoga classes and
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  Speaker 2: ongoing care?
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  Speaker 3: Is that worth the investment? Now?
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  Speaker 2: I know what I think about this, having looked at
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  Speaker 2: this a few times over the years, and I think
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  Speaker 2: one of the things we said about shared ownership was
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  Speaker 2: run for your life, didn't we I think I'd feel
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  Speaker 2: a little like that about retirement properties. But maybe I'm wrong.
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  Speaker 2: I shall tell you what before we ask you, Paula
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  Speaker 2: what the answer is. Let's ask John was his instinct is, John,
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  Speaker 2: should Jonathan buy a retirement apartment for a s mother?
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  Speaker 4: Well, I mean my instinct is probably not. I suspect
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  Speaker 4: to say, as charges are very expensive, and I suspect
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  Speaker 4: it's hard to say a woine, But I'm not an
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  Speaker 4: expert on this, so I'll be interested to know if
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  Speaker 4: that my gut feeling is correct or not.
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  Speaker 2: Okay, you know, John, there's quite a lot going around
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  Speaker 2: at the moment about whether you should go with your
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  Speaker 2: gut feeling or with your expert thoughts on various things.
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  Speaker 3: But maybe we'll come back to that later.
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  Speaker 2: Paula, should Jonathan buy a retirement department for his mother?
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  Speaker 1: Well, his mom might like that retirement living, so his
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  Speaker 1: mom might think differently. But to be honest, they are
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  Speaker 1: expensive to buy, they're expensive to live in, and he
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  Speaker 1: might still be paying for it after she goes. So
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  Speaker 1: I've got a long list of reasons. So first of all,
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  Speaker 1: high purchase prices on average, there are seventeen percent more
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  Speaker 1: than a standard you build, which of course we know
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  Speaker 1: is expensive anyways, but you get a lot of extra services.
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  Speaker 2: Okay, question question, question on the high purchase price. Yes, Now,
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  Speaker 2: the purchase price is a function that if people are
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  Speaker 2: prepared to pay, and a function of the net present
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  Speaker 2: value to a degree of the service charges that you
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  Speaker 2: might pay. Right, So how can it be that they
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  Speaker 2: would be higher than the price of an average new build.
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  Speaker 1: Well, the reason why they're getting you to buy into
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  Speaker 1: the luxury lifestyle. So you've got to think about all
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  Speaker 1: the services you're going to get, the lovely classes and
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  Speaker 1: this pool and all that sort of things. So they
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  Speaker 1: really do sort of entice you in, and you know,
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  Speaker 1: or will find that they'll want you to come along
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  Speaker 1: and have lots of champagne and lots of chats with them,
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  Speaker 1: and you're buying into the community, the lifestyle. So they
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  Speaker 1: are generally more expensive than a new build on the
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  Speaker 1: same street.
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  Speaker 3: Sounds like a timeshare already, Yeah, yeah.
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  Speaker 1: I mean the other thing is that actually are they
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  Speaker 1: also drop in value, So around half of the new
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  Speaker 1: built homes when they go to sell actually go down
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  Speaker 1: in value. And they're also really difficult to sell. So
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  Speaker 1: according to HUK, one hundred and fifty thousand retirement properties
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  Speaker 1: are actually vacant because they can't sell. So you've got
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  Speaker 1: lots of issue there that after it happened, so and
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  Speaker 1: then we were not even having started on things like
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  Speaker 1: event fees, exit fees, service charges.
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  Speaker 3: That's okay, So let's go back a little bit. So
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  Speaker 3: I'm Jonathan's mother.
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  Speaker 2: I buy this retirement flat about new so it's brand new,
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  Speaker 2: I move into it, I have to pay service charges,
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  Speaker 2: event fees, all sorts of things along the way.
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  Speaker 3: I die.
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  Speaker 2: Sorry, Jonathan, Jonathan inherits the flat, but of course Jonathan
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  Speaker 2: can't live in it because Jonathan is not old or
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  Speaker 2: not old enough. Right, So Jonathan says to himself, right, well,
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  Speaker 2: I better sell this thing. But while he's looking into
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  Speaker 2: selling it, he's continuing to pay the service charges.
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  Speaker 3: Right, that's right.
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  Speaker 2: What would an average service charge on say a standard
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  Speaker 2: two bed, one bed, let's say one bed retirement flat.
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  Speaker 1: Be according to we've calculated average service charges that can
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  Speaker 1: really range. But say you're talking about say five six
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  Speaker 1: hundred pounds a month, and that is an ongoing cost
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  Speaker 1: for Jonathan after his mother passes away or maybe has
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  Speaker 1: to move elsewhere. And then also you might even get
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  Speaker 1: you might've end up having to pay council tax as well,
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  Speaker 1: and it could even go into double council tax if
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  Speaker 1: it's an empty, empty home type thing, and it's really tricky,
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  Speaker 1: they stay on the market for a lot longer. So
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  Speaker 1: he's got that outgoing cost, which I think his mother
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  Speaker 1: would be horrified to think that he's yeah paying.
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  Speaker 2: But I suppose the question then is why do they
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  Speaker 2: stay on the market so much longer, given that everything
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  Speaker 2: should have a clearing price, right, and there are lots
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  Speaker 2: of people who would like to live in retirement homes.
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  Speaker 2: It sold perfectly well first time round, why is it
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  Speaker 2: not selling second time round?
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  Speaker 1: Well, you might like to live in a retirement phone
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  Speaker 1: first time around where everything's brand spanking you, but second
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  Speaker 1: time around you might decide you don't want to go
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  Speaker 1: and live in a place where there are people older
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  Speaker 1: than you, or that it hasn't been well maintained. And
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  Speaker 1: then also because it's very hard to sell on because
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  Speaker 1: as you say that, there's an age restriction and if
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  Speaker 1: they haven't been maintained. And also you get an independence solicitor.
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  Speaker 1: So a lot of times the first time you buy,
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  Speaker 1: you might get in their solicitor. But when you know
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  Speaker 1: an independence lister start looking at small print, they'll look
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  Speaker 1: at the service charges, which might have gone up in time.
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  Speaker 1: They'll look at the exit fees again, so they'll look
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  Speaker 1: at the resale value, and then you might think, actually
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  Speaker 1: it's not a good idea, Maybe I'd rather move somewhere else.
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  Speaker 1: Exit fees, exit fees, So yeah, that's another thing that
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  Speaker 1: you know up front. You know, sometimes in the marketing
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  Speaker 1: they will eventually disclose them, but they're often one to
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  Speaker 1: two percent of the sale price. It can be highest
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  Speaker 1: thirty five percent. So whatever price you sell for, Jonathan
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  Speaker 1: might have to give thirty five percent back to theres.
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  Speaker 4: You got him.
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  Speaker 1: You got him.
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  Speaker 4: She just said, you just said forty five percent.
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  Speaker 1: We've seen thirty five percent. So sometimes it's like, you know,
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  Speaker 1: maybe four percent a year type thing.
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  Speaker 3: Percent a year, you'll have the capped a year resident.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, year of residence that it might be. So we've
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  Speaker 1: seen like four percent a year but then capped after
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  Speaker 1: five years type thing. We've also seen exit fees, what's
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  Speaker 1: based on the purchase price, not in the sale price.
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  Speaker 1: We get people to our site all the time with
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  Speaker 1: this or horror stories. We've also seen cases where people
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  Speaker 1: can't sell because it's limited to the people who are
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  Speaker 1: managing the property or the freeholder, and they say, well, no,
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  Speaker 1: you've got to get up to good standard for us
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  Speaker 1: to sell it. And so they have to then go
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  Speaker 1: and put in new kitchens and things like that because
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  Speaker 1: they haven't really maintained it. So it can be really
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  Speaker 1: really tricky, which is why you know, going into it
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  Speaker 1: people might not want to buy a secondhand retirement home.
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  Speaker 2: And the freeholder or management company can veto a buyer.
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  Speaker 1: They can in the fact that you know, they've got
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  Speaker 1: no one, they've got no incentive really to get you
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  Speaker 1: to sell quickly because they're still getting the service charge
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  Speaker 1: actually maybe getting service charges, but they're not actually having
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  Speaker 1: to service the property or you know. That's the thing.
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  Speaker 2: So the incentive for them is for you not to sell.
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  Speaker 1: Well you said that not I but it can be
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  Speaker 1: it can be very tricky. So it can be really tricky,
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  Speaker 1: and you can't sub left it, so you can't rent
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  Speaker 1: it out, you can't go and move in there yourself
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  Speaker 1: if you want to. It's really tricky. Maybe if Jonathan,
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  Speaker 1: you know, would like his mother to have that lovely
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  Speaker 1: sort of luxury lifestyle living, you can look at sometimes
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  Speaker 1: renting instead, which has another set of tax complications and
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  Speaker 1: things like that. But you know, but that might be
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  Speaker 1: another option for him.
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  Speaker 3: Jonathan.
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  Speaker 2: I think you have a fairly clear answer there that yes,
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  Speaker 2: you might, you might want to do this, but you
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  Speaker 2: would have to do it with very very very open
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  Speaker 2: eyes and accept that you might be left for a
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  Speaker 2: reasonable amount of time with the liability and.
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  Speaker 1: You're probably leaving that for your children, you know, to do.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, it's so interesting, isn't it, Because if
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  Speaker 2: you think about that effectively as a permanent debt in
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  Speaker 2: the same way that we've seen these awful troubles over
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: the years. We haven't talked about timeshares during this series,
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  Speaker 2: but one of the appalling things about timeshares, of course,
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  Speaker 2: is you inherit the timeshare. The timeshare is worthless. It's
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  Speaker 2: effectively a stream of income that you have to pay out.
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  Speaker 2: You can't sell it, you can't get rid of it.
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  Speaker 2: But it's part of the estate. So if you want
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  Speaker 2: to inherit the rest of the estate, you have to
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  Speaker 2: take the timeshare. And so obviously I'm not calling them equal,
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  Speaker 2: but there's an element of that in there.
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  Speaker 1: You know. We say sometimes if you are thinking of it,
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  Speaker 1: that it might be you might want to look at
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  Speaker 1: a flat and a mixed development so then at least
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  Speaker 1: you don't have the restrictions on selling. The price will
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  Speaker 1: hopefully hold a little bit more and causes headache for
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  Speaker 1: your children.
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  Speaker 4: And also make sure you can't your own lawyer look
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  Speaker 4: at this stuff. Don't know somebody else's lawyer.
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  Speaker 2: But it's also so interesting, isn't it that the idea
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: that people first time around buy with an in house lister.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and it's hard because the people don't. They're not
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  Speaker 1: the one selling, so you can't really go and find
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  Speaker 1: it because the people trying to sell it for the
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: the ones who signed the contract in the first place.
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  Speaker 2: Right, Okay, Well, moving on another question we've got, and
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: this is an interesting one, and I see I have
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  Speaker 2: some experience here. Interesting is about buying a house via auction.
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  Speaker 2: So Ozma wrote in with a story about how family
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: almost brought it home through auction recently, but the whole
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: process filled out with dread and denise.
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  Speaker 3: For good reason.
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  Speaker 2: I'm guessing she wanted to know if there's tips or
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: things that a buyer should know if they are considering
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  Speaker 2: buying via auction. Paula, what do we need to know
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: if we're going to go buy a house via auction?
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  Speaker 1: Well that's a good question. There are two types of auction,
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  Speaker 1: and one is getting more and more popular. So there's
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  Speaker 1: the traditional auction, which generally you need to have the
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  Speaker 1: cash to buy, so it happens so quickly that you're
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  Speaker 1: committed on when the hammer comes down and you need
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: to have the cash there and you probably need to
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: know what you're doing stuff.
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  Speaker 2: Do you have to pay one hundred percent immediately if
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  Speaker 2: you win a house at auction or is it a deposit?
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  Speaker 1: You have usually like twenty eight days, so you put
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  Speaker 1: down ten percent and you're committed, you've exchanged contracts, so
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  Speaker 1: you really need to know look at the legal pack
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  Speaker 1: quite carefully, know exactly what you're getting. You've got to
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  Speaker 1: be a really savvy buyer really, because it is it's
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: your money of down the line. But the other type
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: of auction, which is coming more and more popular and
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  Speaker 1: it's a big growth area, is something called modern method
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: of auction, and this is where it's more tricky because
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  Speaker 1: you've got more like fifty six days to exchange and
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: to complete, so it means that you can actually probably
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  Speaker 1: get a mortgage and state agents are starting to prefer this,
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: so there's more money to be made here. And this
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: is like an online action, so a bit like an eBay,
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: so you can go and you can see it there,
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: you can put your bid in. It usually is open
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: for thirty days. It works in the same thing, but
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: you know the main difference with this is also it
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: is that the buyer will be having to pay the fees.
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: So there's a non refundable reservation deposit, which can be
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: about six thousand pounds, So that's quite a lot of money.
• 12:37
  Speaker 3: I suppose it full.
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: The deposit for securing the property is so if you
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: win your online auction, you put on a deposit of
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: six thousand pounds and that will go to the estate
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: agent and to the auctioneer. That is non refundable. So
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: if you decide to pull out, or you can't get
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: a mortgage in time, or that the legal pack is wrong,
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: there might be things there there's no reason to get out,
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: or even sometimes the seller can mess you about.
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  Speaker 2: But if you win it auction, legally you can't pull out,
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: can you. I mean, you're committed.
• 13:06
  Speaker 3: Even with this six pounds.
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: Okay, but you wouldn't be legally obliged to pay for
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: the house.
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: So if you do, you know, so, say you put
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: it down and then when you've decide to and sometimes
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: it might be worthwhile to pull out. But what's really
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: frustrating is sometimes people put their money down and then
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: they find out there's information the legal path that might
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: be incorrect, or maybe the sellers mess them about and
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: they can't get their money back. And also that six
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: thousand pounds, so you really need to take The big
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: thing is to take that money into account into the
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: price you want to pay for the property, because also
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: for the modern method, that six thousand pounds goes a
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: part of the price of the property, so you'll have
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: to pay stamp duty on ad So that's something to
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: think about. So you've got to be really careful. And
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: this is where if you're a seller you might think, oh,
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: you know, selling is by modern market of auctions good,
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: but there's a lot more commission being made off these properties.
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: Someone's going to have to pay for them.
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  Speaker 3: All right, Well that's something to think about. John, Would you.
• 14:03
  Speaker 4: Buy a house at auction something that we'd consider I'd
• 14:07
  Speaker 4: be very very intimidated by law. And I think the
• 14:10
  Speaker 4: other problem with buying the auction is you you plently
• 14:13
  Speaker 4: of a half decent team of people who like somebody
• 14:16
  Speaker 4: in noise what they're doing to actually see the house fast.
• 14:19
  Speaker 4: I'm definitely not competent enough at D A Y and
• 14:22
  Speaker 4: things like that.
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  Speaker 2: You have to take that on a surveyor and be
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: usual checked before you did it, wouldn't you Although you
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: was wonder why on earth house is coming to auction,
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: what's gone to or be wrong in the first place.
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: Yeah, well, it could be probate, it could be awesome.
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: Maybe it's a particular house you want to get on
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: a certain street or whatever. So you're right, you know,
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: if you get your surveyor get a builder along. We'd
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: also say that look at the legal pack. Maybe get
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: your your solicitor up front to look at that legal
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: pack to make sure that's all correct and everything's in there,
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: because that's what you don't want to go wrong, that
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: there's something missing there. Maybe it's a non standard construction
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: type or something like that.
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: Paula, Why is it a probate house more likely to
• 14:59
  Speaker 2: go to auction just because the airs wanted over quickly.
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: Yes, it's just you know, to get it done quickly,
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: really and sometimes you might not have all the paperwork,
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: you know, because you don't really know what's happening with
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: what's happened with the probates, so it makes more sense
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: that to sell, so you can't get you know, you
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: can't get good deals, and it could be that, you know,
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: you can get quite a gem and especially if you're
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: looking in at a particular area and if you're Sammy Bayern.
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: But you know, if it's a traditional auction, you probably
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: need to have all that money in the bank ready
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: to spend on it. And it's a bit worrying with
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: the other type of auction if you're relying on a mortgage,
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: and if you get your mortgage refused, then you're a
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: bit stuck.
• 15:36
  Speaker 3: Yeah, in a lot of trouble. Okay, all right, Well,
• 15:38
  Speaker 3: talking about being in a lot of trouble.
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: We got several other comments asking us for information about
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: how a buyer can protect themselves from expenses if the
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: sale falls through, if something goes wrong, What if something
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: goes wrong before you exchange, or what if something goes
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: wrong between exchange and completion?
• 15:54
  Speaker 3: Is there any way to cover yourself?
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: So there is something called the home Buyer's Protection Insurance,
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: which is atual a good little piece of insurance. I
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: don't really like. Sometimes we're a bit over insured. But
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: we do know that one in three properties fall through.
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: People can pull out right up to the point of exchange.
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: So you can get something that where it will cover
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: your out of pocket costs, so your survey costs, your
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: mortgage arrangement costs, your survey fee. So that sort of
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: thing can be quite useful if but you've got to
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: make sure you get it at the right time, so
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: you can't go and get it after you've done your survey.
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: And it also is not going to cover you if
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: you yourself decided to change your mind. It's more if
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: there's been something, if the seller changes their mind, if
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: the mortgage lender says they won't lend on it, those
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: sorts of things.
• 16:38
  Speaker 3: Okay, all right, and what would that cost?
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: Well, we have it on our site. It starts at
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: seventy four pounds, which is pretty good value, and the
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: average claim out is about nine hundred and seventy five pounds,
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: so it's not a bad but there's different sort of
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: levels depending on what level of protection you want. You
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: can get on our site, but also you can actually
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: sometimes get it through your solicitor or your mortgage broker.
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: Different doesn't do that much if you've got one and
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: three chance of the deal falling through, you know.
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: Yeah, And I think it's particularly with getting a survey done,
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: So that's why people want to stop getting a survey done,
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: because that is out of pocket costs, and particularly your
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: first time buyers you're talking about, you know, a couple
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: of thousand pounds, which is you know your money's tight,
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: so it is something.
• 17:18
  Speaker 3: That you can do John More insurance.
• 17:22
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I can see the potential value of that More.
• 17:26
  Speaker 4: The main thing is that if it's not covering new
• 17:28
  Speaker 4: pulling out, then perhaps it's less lately happened, because a
• 17:32
  Speaker 4: lot of the time you find something awful in the
• 17:34
  Speaker 4: survey or something like that. But I think, yeah, I
• 17:37
  Speaker 4: mean there's a complicated through says buying the house and
• 17:40
  Speaker 4: particularly be chains and all of the so, yeah, well
• 17:44
  Speaker 4: I would definitely think about it.
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that's buying when you're buying because you've
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: got all that out of pocket costs. There is something
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: called home seller's insurance, and I think that is particularly
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: not particularly good value because you know it might be
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: sort of you'll get your conveyance that could be just
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: a few hundred quarter whatever like that. So but I
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: think the buyer's protection insurance is pretty good, pretty good deal.
• 18:05
  Speaker 2: Okay, particularly as the market feels kind of fragile at
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: the moment, right, how do the market feel to you
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: at the moment, PAULA.
• 18:12
  Speaker 3: Housing market in general.
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: I think there's a lot a lot of stock on there,
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: and then they're saying that the prices is starting to
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: reduce people to be more realistic. But I just don't
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: think people are feeling that.
• 18:22
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, if we feel like that too.
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: And also, it's actually interesting. There's something out this week
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: saying that actually the applications for renovations is at the
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: lowest in ten years of planning a relations so people
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: are actually not feeling very rich to renovate or to
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: extend their home.
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: And that's actually being able to get a joiner in
• 18:43
  Speaker 2: to do the covers in my bathroom.
• 18:45
  Speaker 3: That would be amazing very well.
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: Yeah, sorry, John interruct you're about to say something more
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: interesting and non domestic.
• 18:52
  Speaker 4: Though it's always it's decoupled from the number of sales,
• 18:55
  Speaker 4: which is really unusual. I was looking at too earlier
• 18:58
  Speaker 4: this week. It's kind of an intriguing gap. And yeah,
• 19:02
  Speaker 4: maybe because people are poor, or maybe because the amount
• 19:06
  Speaker 4: of stork has gone up and so a better quality
• 19:08
  Speaker 4: properties can I move in ready? Properties are more are
• 19:11
  Speaker 4: being sold. I don't know. It's it's definitely an interesting one.
• 19:14
  Speaker 4: We'll just do the costs, all.
• 19:16
  Speaker 3: Right, Well we will, we will watch that one. We'll
• 19:18
  Speaker 3: watch that one. John and his correlations.
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: Paula, thank you so much for joining us today. We
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: will definitely be talking to you again.
• 19:26
  Speaker 4: Oh lovely, lovely, Thanks Paula.
• 19:37
  Speaker 3: Thanks for listening to this week's Marin Talks to Your Money.
• 19:39
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• 19:42
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• 19:46
  Speaker 2: John Underscore step Back. This episode was produced by some Asidi,
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: production support and sound design by Moses and Questions and
• 19:53
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• 19:56
  Speaker 2: Our show email is Merrin Money at Bloomberg Dott