Do you live alone? How do you afford it?

[littlepieces]

My dream has always been to live in my own home - just renting would be fine. I grew up in a really dysfunctional family, suffer from anxiety and absolutely crave quiet and privacy. (I'm not a hermit, quite social in fact, but need a safe space). Despite working hard and earning an OK salary in a 'professional' career, I'm unable to afford either. I'm mid 30s and can only afford a room in a flat share which is really getting me down. To rent a very basic, not particularly nice studio/1 bed flat in an undesirable area that's nearish to my work and friends would be almost three quarters of my monthly salary.

Would love to hear from people who rent or own alone... seems like many people manage it. How do you afford it? Where do you live and how much does your home cost to run per month in relation to your income?

What I did as a single person was get an interest only mortgage. Converted it do an offset a few years in so I could put any money aside, but unlike making overpayments I could dip back in if I needed to. I did get a cheap endowment as well

Far, far cheaper than renting. Figured if it ever became unaffordable, or I got to the end of the mortgage term, I’d just sell up and hopefully the equity would be enough to buy something in a cheaper area. Even if I had to hand back the keys I’d be a lot better of than having paid rent for 30 years.

The bank were fine with this as I had no dependents or any other residents.

25 years later and I had paid off a chunk, endowment matured and paid the rest.

32, single, have lived alone in London for 3 years. My first flat I literally stuck my budget into rightmove and picked a flat I could afford. It was in an area of London I’d never been to before but it was near a tube so took it. Rent was £950 and all outgoings together were about £1200 which was just under 50% of my salary. I earn £45k.

I bought a flat in south east London for 200k a couple of months ago. I’d been saving for about 7 years and had a 10% deposit of 20k - before living alone I flat shared and i’ve never paid over £600 all in for a room in shared house because I looked for cheap options or took over friends’ rooms if they moved out of somewhere cheap.

Now my mortgage is £795 and overall monthly outgoings are around £1000 so around 40% of my salary. I haven’t had any financial help from family either.

I lived at my parents house for three years and worked 2/3 jobs to save up deposit. Continued working part time during uni. Put down a deposit on a small terrace with small yard. In all, inc council tax, mortgage and bills, costs just over 600 a month. My take home pay each month is 1700. So I have plenty left.
I live in the north west.

Having split with my ex and moved down south despite me having been the main earner paying all rent etc up north, I was shocked by how expensive London is, I am moving from an en suite flat share I've been in for about 10 months to a studio/ one bed and both work out to be over a grand a month

North east. You can rent a modern two bed, mid terrace with garden, in a quiet area but close to transport for 450 pcm.

But there are places you can rent a studio for less than 1000 in SE London (Lewisham, Sydenham, even cheaper in Catford). If you're on a professional salary in London that should be doable, you'll have to be frugal in other areas but that's the trade-off.

Just to add previously up north I was renting 2 bed properties for half the price a studio flat in london, I don't have the luxury of living at home and saving like some people do but I'm on my way towards saving for my deposit back in my home county up north (could never afford london at half a mil for one bed flats right out to zone 3 is crazy)

Oh and if you want south east London, you can get some lovely studio/1bed flats in reasonable areas for 180- 250k. Yes it’s a lot for what it is, but you’ll get your own space and a reasonable commute. Out along the east london line to crystal palace, for example.

I live in a very expensive major city but luckily I bought a flat in a not posh but not rough area for crazy little money 25 years ago. I could barely afford rent now - £650 for a basic flat not including any bills!

NW, 2 bed apartment with garden (75sqm)
Mortgage is £405pm
Council tax £110 ish
Gas/electric £50pm
Water £20pm

Then contents insurance, car, Netflix etc
Wage varies monthly but between 18 and 26k a year

@Reallyreallyborednow

Oh and if you want south east London, you can get some lovely studio/1bed flats in reasonable areas for 180- 250k. Yes it’s a lot for what it is, but you’ll get your own space and a reasonable commute. Out along the east london line to crystal palace, for example.

Yes, this is true. I live near Crystal Palace and there are several flats for sale around me for 200-220ish. It is a lot for a one bed flat but saying there are no one bed flats at all in London for under 500k is nonsense

This isn't exactly where I live but I know the area well
2 bed end of terrace is 130k
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/107602232#/

Apartments to rent are around £450-500
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/80412498#/

I have an above average income and after rent and houshold expenses i have about £300 left for the month to cover fuel food et. I have the smallest cheapest 2 bed jn the area, which i dont feel is a home btw, i feel i pay for the privilege of house-sitting. Some months where i have unexpected expenses i cant afford to eat. Its depressing.

I'm not in the UK, so area is irrelevant. My mortgage is 37% of my take home pay. That's paying the minimum, not paying off any extra each month (which I'd like to do but can't right now). I don't have any debt except my mortgage, and drive a tiny, very ordinary car that would usually be driven as a teenagers first car, definitely not a typical 'family' car. Rent would be exactly the same as my mortgage repayments if I was renting this property.

To make the move from a flat to a house, I moved slightly further out (literally 2 miles away) but it means I don't have the amazing public transport links I did (which I don't use anyway), not as close to the beach or shops, but still a great area. I also live on a busy road. If I lived in a quiet cul de sac a minute or two's walk away, my house would cost easily 40% more. That was the sacrifice for me to live in a nice area.

I have some friends who were Property Guardians.

I live alone. I bought a shared ownership flat. I'm in zone 2, fairly central with great transport links, in a nice area that's reasonably quiet. The mortgage on my share plus rent plus service charge plus bills comes to £1K - significantly cheaper than any one-bedroom places for rent, and significantly nicer to live in because it's mine. Shared ownership isn't ideal for everyone but it was a godsend for me to be able to live alone in London and afford it.

@NannyAndJohn

It is tricky if you live in an expensive location.

DS (26) rents on his own and despite being on a decent wage (just shy of 50k) he's pretty much living hand to mouth. In other parts of the country he'd be able to buy something nice instead of renting a 1 bed flat. But he works in a niche field and all the jobs are in expensive areas.

Living hand to mouth on £50K?! I think he/you should rethink the definition of hand to mouth. People live well on a lot less.

I think @NannyAndJohn has a very comfortable definition of 'hand to mouth'.

On 50k, he should be taking home around £3k pm and even if he spends half of that on rent, which is already not restricting himself to the cheapest property available, that leaves more than enough for travel, food and bills plus disposable income on top and plenty as a single person with no dependents.

Spending all your above average salary each month does not equate to 'hand to mouth'.

My first place, I afforded it firstly by moving home for a year (with a large commute to work) to save any deposit up.
Also, my first place wasn't pretty! I brought cheap in a not so ideal area and basic using second-hand furniture that friends and family kindly let me have.
Far from ideal but it was mine and I loved it.

I can only manage because I have a HA property. I couldn’t afford private rent. People talk about moving to cheaper parts of the country but that often means lower wages. So anything you gain by cheaper rentals you lose on wages, if you can even get a job there. DSis is in that position. Minimum wage job so although her rent is lower than mine, she’s worse off. She applies for other stuff whenever it comes up but vacancies are few and far between.

My comments above were based on living in the suburbs of a large city in northern England. Loads of jobs including well paid professional ones.

@Scarby9 I don't earn anywhere near 50k, that was in response to someone who posted that her son can barely afford to rent his own place on 50k.

I also don't want to live in London but somewhere within a 90 min commute. I am not looking to rent or buy in London I have made this all pretty clear I think!

Where in London would you need to commute to? Where I live is under a 90 min commute into the city, or bits of east and central London, and you can get a studio 15 ish mins from the station for £70k or rent a flat for £450 a month.

@littlepieces

I have absolutely no desire to live in London, and don't have any illusions that I can afford to rent or buy something in a trendy area either. Currently in an 'undesirable' area way out in South East London, and have lived in some pretty notorious (cheap) areas in the past without issue. Unfortunately Im stuck in London for work for a couple of years yet, and required to go into the office 2-3 days a week which is the same for most organisations in my industry. Even areas within a 90 minute+ commute are out of my price range, and then there's the cost of the trains on top.

Also think help to buy/shared ownership is a bit of a con, not sure how I'd afford a loan, mortgage AND service fees/ground rents without being skint.

@MistySkiesAfterRain Any hint as to where you live?

Near Gatwick.

Tunbridge Wells, Rochester I'd look at. Possibly Reigate. Out towards Chilterns? Colchester/Dedham Vale area. Look at towns near nice green space, AONBs..