home ownership?

[Filippa Eilhart]

None of this, except housing being expensive, applies to Britain.

nor to Luxembourg, and it even borders on Germany. Housing is terribly expensive, but people get mortgages on 10 % downpayment or less. I (possibly due to the security of my job) could get a mortgage with no downpayment at all.

[naz]

Somwhere something is very wrong. Where i live, a normal house goes for about 75 000$, 20 miles to the east the price is about 175 000$, 10 more miles and you have to pay 250 000$ for the same kind of house. To make it even worse, if you buy the same thing in the capitol a few more miles away, the price will be about 750 000$.

Thing is, all these places are within driving distance of each other. You can live in any of these places and work wherever you want to without any real difference in traveling time.

People think i´m lying when i tell them i bought my townhouse (if thats the correct term for it) for 6000$.

To me it seems that if you dont have a chance to actually own your own house in the end then what´s the point, other than giving away all your money to banks.

Your befuddlement would be justified (I guess) if driving time were the only factor involved. Real estate decisions involve many other things like: traffic, type of street, type of neighborhood, utilities, amenities, quality of schools, infrastructure, governance. It's hard for me to imagine that within a 30-mile radius of a particular point, ALL of these things are equal.

[Floria]

nor to Luxembourg, and it even borders on Germany. Housing is terribly expensive, but people get mortgages on 10 % downpayment or less. I (possibly due to the security of my job) could get a mortgage with no downpayment at all.

Maybe housing is cheaper near the French border. Nobody likes them Frenchies :P

If you really wanted, you could get mortgages for less downpayment. But because housing is so expensive, you would pay more on interests alone than rent in total, and you would end up paying far too much to the bank than the house would be worth. But if housing would be as cheap as in the states, hell yeah! People would be running around in circles buying houses.

[Filippa Eilhart]

Maybe housing is cheaper near the French border.

near the french border, yes. In Lux City, no. You can have a look at this website, but a 2 bedroom flat in the city will cost between 400 and 550 K depending on age and location. A 2 bedroon renovated house outside the city we're renting now would sell for at least 500 K. A 3 bedroom house would cost at least 600K (500 unrenovated, but the assumption is you'll spend the 100K renovating it anyway).

[Floria]

near the french border, yes. In Lux City, no. You can have a look at this website, but a 2 bedroom flat in the city will cost between 400 and 550 K depending on age and location. A 2 bedroon renovated house outside the city we're renting now would sell for at least 500 K. A 3 bedroom house would cost at least 600K (500 unrenovated, but the assumption is you'll spend the 100K renovating it anyway).

What the hell... housing in Germany is really cheap compared to Luxembourg :ack: What do you pay if you rent a normal 2 bedroom flat?

[The Iceman of the North]

Of course the GDP per capita in Luxembourg is twice the German.

[Filippa Eilhart]

What the hell... housing in Germany is really cheap compared to Luxembourg :ack: What do you pay if you rent a normal 2 bedroom flat?

1350-1700, again depending on location and stuff. (plus around 200 eur of "charges" - heating, water, repair fund, rubbish etc.)

Of course the GDP per capita in Luxembourg is twice the German.

that's all well and good when you're a banker, but tell it to a cleaner or shop assistant.

[Lord of Oop North]

What the hell is a Luxembourg.

[Filippa Eilhart]

it's the mecca for the portuguese, how could you not have heard of it?

[Lord of Oop North]

my avó warned me about inland empires with no access to cod.