I'm no financial whizz-kid, but I understand how hard things can be in the current economic climate. Tonight we had a Vestry Meeting, and the hard truth is that all the parish assets are tied up in a house which we cannot sell. I'm convinced it's not because nobody wants to live there, but who is committing themselves to vast mortgages at the moment with the uncertainties surrounding our personal financial futures?
The political debate at the moment isn't helping, with so much scaremongering going on, with who will do what, and the disastrous consequences for all. Maybe folk are waiting in the hope of a magic wand appearing after next Thursday. I predict that next Friday things are going to be much of a muchness to today.
I am glad that I head a church which is sitting on unsold property. Things are grim, but we'll survive one way or another. I feel for individuals and families that are in a similar position. The ones who were told, like us, that our property would sell quickly and the purchase of a new home was going to be advantageous in the current climate. Estate Agents who promised us ten or fifteen thousand pounds more than the old property is actually now valued at!
We have five months before the parish is totally cash-strapped, that is five months before there will be no cash to pay me, but our property portfolio is excellent, on paper! As a church we will deal with that, somehow, but if I was a parent facing the same sort of difficulties, and with a family to feed and clothe, I would be at my wits end.
I listen to the guff that is being produced by the politicians just now, and cannot for the life of me see that anyone has any solutions to our problems, or any great ideas about kick-starting a house market which is what most of us have our life savings invested in.
In all the gobbledegook, the only sensible thing I'm hearing just now is from those who realise that we certainly don't need Trident, and it's a huge expense we could do without. As for the rest.. well, take your pick. I've got to the Orwellian stage where I look at them all and I cannot tell the difference. What we have is a group of chancers who care for nothing but their own re-election, by whatever means possible.
4 comments:
Can you lease it to someone?
The problem with the ex-manse is almost certainly that no-one can get a mortgage out of the banks at the moment.
As to the politics, I'm depressed by just how hard it is to find a counter argument!
Renting is not really an option, Susan, since it ties the property up for six months and then we would have to start all over. We would need to charge about $700pm, and that's a lot of money for ordinary folk to pay simply to rent! We still have it ingrained in our skulls over here that you must own rather than rent your property. Thatcher is to blame, really!
Sorry about the hoose, Kenny - but a great post!
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