You are bidding on another house, only to be outbid again.  The housing market is hard.  Not only does being outbid mean that you need to pay another month’s rent, it also means that housing prices will increase about 100 pounds a day until you bid again.  Even as you hit the real estate office looking for something – anything – to buy, any potential properties are being sold to real estate agents and buy-to-let landlords.

Clever homeowners are quickly turning a few thousand pounds into fortunes.  It must be nice to have the guts to risk everything. 

It is one thing to be loose a home to another young family.  It is a 'kick in the gut' to be gazumped by a buy-to-let landlord. 

How are these people making money?  Quite simply, they are taking advantage of the bank’s willingness to lend money, high interest rates, and house auctions.  These house auctions allow them to buy properties at far less than market value.  The landlord rents the house out at a nice profit, and then applies for a secured loan to finance the purchase of their next property purchase.

Despite the fact that the number of homes in the UK has grown more than 10 million in the last 50 years, there are 150 000 people on a waiting list for affordable housing.  The term affordable housing has taken on an entirely new meaning in the last 5 years, not surprisingly, in tandem with the soaring buy-to-let market.