Anyone other Gen-Zers on here sick of daily life

[lorrisandthesnowman]

Just that really. Endless bills, no hope ever of getting on the property ladder as the mummy and daddy bank wasnt an option, paycheck to paycheck living. The fruitless thought cycle of if we should have children/can we/ what would that future even look like.

Or is it just me and im in a bit of a negative slump

Have you looked at Skipton for mortgages?

10 years ago we were renting, paying &1,200 each month for a house and couldn’t get a mortgage due to a number of issues that the banks told us we had. Like we didn’t earn enough (the mortgage we wanted was £600 per month. We were paying out rent absolutely fine!), we had 2 cars on finance etc. it was awful throwing money away renting each month.

Then a friend suggested Skipton as they have people making the decision and not “computer says no” and they were brilliant and we got a mortgage.

I do get where you’re coming from, OP. I’m very lucky with my job in that it’s remote and flexible, but I do work a lot and feel like all I do is spend money on bills and just on living. Council tax is the one that really pisses me off because my local council are a joke and I genuinely don’t know what my council tax is funding. That’s another post, though 😂.

I haven’t had a holiday in 8 years, and life just feels relentless sometimes.

However, I do try (some days I try harder than others) to stay positive and feel grateful.

The job market is shocking at the moment, so I always work more and take on extra projects at work because I see how difficult it is to get a job right now and I’m grateful for having one that allows me to pay my bills.

I’m also looking at retraining in a completely different field, so hopefully in a few years, things won’t feel quite as exhausting and life will be a bit more balanced.

I have just been able to buy my first property at 42, completely on my own, so it can be done. This is partly why I haven’t been on holiday for so long, and I feel very grateful to have been able to do that because I know how difficult it is.

If buying a property is a priority for you, are you able to consider moving to a different part of the country?

I’m a low cost part of Scotland and only needed a 5% deposit because I was a first time buyer. I used a lifetime ISA to get the government bonus, and I managed to get myself a nice little house with a garden in a quiet area for less than £100K.

It needs a little bit of upgrading in terms of decor and a new kitchen at some point, but nothing that’s unlivable for a bit, and it’s enabled me to get on the property ladder.

I would definitely look into different areas if you’re able and once you’ve looked at the numbers, save as much as you can for a while and then speak to a good broker.

This isn’t where I want to live forever, but buying here relatively cheaply is a good stepping stone for me.

Nope.

. I'm at the start of the millennial generation. And there is no way I would have afforded a house in my 20s. I was living wage slip to wage slip and had no savings or any family who was able to help.

I don't get this thing from gen z what do they think our lives were like when we were young that everything just dropped in our laps? That we all became homeowners at twenty five 🤣

NOBODY has any money in their twenties. It takes time to earn and put savings in the bank. Life hasn't dealt you an unfair hand that's just life.

Also please don't say paycheck OP. That's an Americanism , at least spell it paycheque.

I am Gen X no bank of mummy and daddy. Had to pay my own rent from 18 so never had a chance in hell of saving for a deposit. We barely just scrape by each month. It’s a slog, the only people I know that own houses had a lot of help to buy.

I’m older but we wouldn’t have managed to get a house with 2,200 savings either. We chose to have a very small wedding and spend the money we would have spent on a larger one on a house deposit instead.

Now you MUST be lying!! Apparently all of us born in the 60s bought houses for thruppence, did free degrees whilst being able to not work just living the life of Riley and now are retired with our HUGE pensions and multi million pound houses, slagging off the younger generation....don't you read mumsnet?!!!!

I’m not saying it’s not tough, I’m just saying don’t imagine it’s always been the norm to be able to buy a house in your 20s on close to entry level wages up until now.

As I said the whole housing landscape has changed.
It’s not just about owning but the fact in the 70s/80s 30% plus lived in council housing.

And in the 70s the average age of a FTB was 24.

28 is so young op, keep trucking, there’s still loads of time, I’m inspired on here by the amount people have saved by squirreling tiny amounts into another account. It must be horrendous looking at the cost of stuff but you can totally do it x

I'm GenX and bought at 38. Still here. We struggled (teachers).

We had some help to buy as did my parents but neither of us could buy our properties now as our salaries haven’t kept up with house prices.

A smallish period, plus add onto that MLI and a punishing interest rate to counteract the 100%.

I’m Gen X and was still living in a flat share at 27. I bought a house with my then-boyfriend (now husband) when I was 28 and our mortgage rate was 8% We scraped together an £11k deposit between us and then had to take a bank loan to do work on the house. No family money.

I don’t share that to say that we had it harder, just that 20s is still young and comparison (with your peers) is the thief of joy. All my friends who had bigger/better houses bought them with big deposits from the bank of Mum and Dad.

Getting on the housing ladder is so hard now but you still have time. Hang in there.

Millennial here. We saved for a deposit by sharing a cheap room in a shared house instead of getting our own place. But that route seems long gone with even a room costing £1k these days in London. It is truly shit, you have my sympathies.

I’m Gen X and it was the same for me. Struggled to save, no money from parents, had to cut back on absolutely everything and when I did eventually buy my first house, it was miles away from the expensive area I grew up in, because that is what I could afford.

If you live somewhere expensive op and your wages aren’t particularly high can you move somewhere else? DH’s family are always going on about how lucky we are to live somewhere cheaper when staying in the expensive area is a choice. Personally I would prioritise that over area.

I think it isn’t easy at the moment but no one knows what the future is for Gen Z. For me the big difference between the generations is the huge tuition fees for university. And anyone who went to
university in the past and pretends that it was all the same back then is lying. I’m young Gen X.

That said 100% mortgages are a bit of a myth and a lot of people who had them ended up in negative equity.

Where are you keeping your deposit? Do you know about Lifetime ISAs (LISAs)? The government will top up your savings by 25% each year. You can put in £4k a year.

I think everybody has an existential crisis as they approach 30 these days! When you think of what our parents were doing at a similar age, we feel behind. But times have changed.

I really feel for you it is definitely tougher now.
My dh got a mortgage on his own very easily on a 1 bed flat in the south in the 90s. On a bit more than minimum wage job. His nan gave him £1500 for a deposit.
Can you move in with anyone short term to up your savings?
Ive saved a little for my kids but no where near enough for a deposit, the only thing I can do to help at the moment is let them live here rent free as long as they are saving.

Have you spoken to a good mortgage broker? Or just a few banks ? It’s definitely worth it. We have used a good one for years and she recently talked my dd through how much she needs and what’s possible. We've had good mortgages through her with skipton(someone mentioned up thread) Coventry, & Birmingham and Midshires.
I know lots of people don’t like them but what about a part rent part buy ? I think it’s going to be the only way for some people. Get one where you can increase the amount you own over time.
Good luck 🤞

I’m a late boomer and bought when i was 38, on my own, living in London. I got a 100% mortgage on the 60% share I bought, at a swingeing rate of interest and stuck it out for 20 years. You have to decide what is most important to you. I didn’t want children but did want the security of my own place.

Everything that @WeddingDressguest said, including the 'pay cheque' part!

And making a 5-year plan sounds very sensible.

My parents are boomers and were able to buy a house in their 20s and live on one income while raising children because housing was something like four times the average wage.

Now the average home is more like eight times the average wage. My parents were very generous and helped us into our first home. We will try to help our own children (Gen Zers) but despite having two incomes money is so tight.

of course housing is generational and you’ve your head in the sand if you think otherwise. It’s simple maths.

At 28 and in a couple you are in a good position to save. I’m 50 now, lived in a flat share til I was 34 then bought my first flat in London as a single woman. I’d been saving my deposit for 10 years … it wasn’t easy and for about 2 years I spent barely anything (no clothes/holidays/going out)

I know it’s tough know, but others had it tough too - like my parents paying 17% interest in the early 80s

No we didn't I was 33 when I had saved enough for a deposit for a house and 100% mortgage wasn't an option until a few years later

I know it’s tough know, but others had it tough too - like my parents paying 17% interest in the early 80s

People seem to forget that today’s interest rates are not so dissimilar to the highs of the past in terms of impact on disposable income because of higher household debt-to-income ratios and much higher property values.Plus no MIRAS today.

One of the reasons housing was cheaper though is it was harder to meet the criteria to get mortgages. So a lot of people couldn’t buy for that reason.