To feel absolutely desperate re our housing situation

[AwfulMaureen]

Some may remember my thread worrying about the fact that our Landlord is selling...we got our official notice today...2 months. Fine. I have no hope that the local authority will house us though I will try.

We have some savings...which we can double in the next two months if we save every penny and eat nothing but porridge...which will amount then to 20,000.

I don't want to try for a mortgage as A: We are both 41 and don't want one at this point ...the stress and worry of being chained to a bank is not for me...my sister is always in constant fear of her mortgage provider...and B: I doubt we'd get one anyway as we're both self employed and so not a good bet.

I did look into part ownership but around here the only properties available are flats...upper level flats with no gardens. So our 20 grand would go on owning 25% of a flat in an area we'd never choose.

What can I DO! It's SO frustrating....if we could find a little wreck of a barn with planning permission, we have the skills and patience to do it up...I've even found myself looking at frigging barges and Park Houses...you know...those little trailer park things! Most of those are for retired people with no children.

Why the arse should we continue to rent privately? I just don't want to!

The savings we have have come to us through freakishly good timing so we can't really replicate this amount of money over the next few years and I'm afraid it will all leech away on rent etc...I just want somewhere to call my own.

I think about all those English Heritage wrecks....rotting away...when we could improve and protect them...and other listed buildings which are going to waste. We're willing to be a bit quirky in our lifestyle but have to consider the children which is why a barge isn't really ideal!

We are both 39 and have just taken out a 25 year mortgage, not especially worried about it, have just rented for 5 years and couldn't afford in retirement. I hope we will be able to pay it off early. It's an offset one so we will do max Isas each year (offset into mortgage) and hopefully by time we have retired will have no mortgage and 25 years works of Isas. It's possible we will pay it off earlier - we worked out we can afford at 7% so if rates are lower we can pay some off earlier. But if you don't want to buy they find something similar to your current home and rent it instead.

Have you tried to get a mortgage and begin turned down?

Otherwise I'd just go and see a good mortgage advices, being 41 is no reason not to buy you will have paid the bulk of it off by 60/65.

Personally, I don't think there should be any entitlement to a council property if you have £20k in savings...

Leaving that aside pretty much all my friends who have mortgages will be paying them off well into their 60s. Someone I know has just taken out a 20 year mortgage (their first) at the age of 50 because they were sick of renting and wanted security for their retirement.

As I see it, you bite the bullet and buy. Or carry on private renting. It's not a bad choice either way, just a matter of preference.

The council will not house you because you have savings over 6000 pounds and you have the means of renting privite because of the notice period you have been given.
Rent or buy is your choices.

I doubt you would even get a fixer for 20k, we're ATM looking at land with planning, derelict etc and the very, very min is 50k in a not great area ( we are in the south).
Plus you have to figure in costs, we've just finished one, hidden costs of 20k no kitchen/ bathroom just structure and my husband has a construction company so we get things at cost, labour our lads, so much cheaper than norm.
Building from scratch is cheaper but land can be expensive.
Renting is the same as buying in terms of what you pay and you have to put a roof over your head! For me I'd rather know that if things go tits up at least I might get some money back, renting your just paying someone else's mortgage!

Top of the rang camper-van

We got a 12 year mortgage when DH was 53. You'd be much better off buying than renting.

If you take out a 20-25 year mortgage you will pay it off as you retire. Then if you want to you could always sell and downsize and pocket some of the equity to make retirement more comfortable.

Yabu.

the average age of a 1st time buyer is 35 and is apparently 52 in London according to some stats. I've known people get mortgages in their 60s. Just take the plunge. 41 is nothing, you are looking for trouble where there isn't any.

So what do you want? I'm a bit confused.

OP, it sounds like you need to start thinking about how you are going to fund your retirement as well.

Not knowing how you'll support yourself in retirement when you're already in your 40s is only going to become a bigger worry for you.

Buy a canal boat. You will still need to top ut but your £20000 will go a fair way.

I think a mortgage is the sensible way to go. You either get a mortgage now and work really hard to pay it off pre retirement or continue to rent and worry about paying for that long into retirement.

Weren't you planning to emigrate to Australia or have I mixed you up with someone else?

Did you say that you can save 10K in two months
?!
I think one year wont make big difference (unless prices rise a lot) so rent for another year and then buy. You seem unsure and its not good idea to rush.

Why are you scared of mortgage companies (banks)? We cleared off ours by the time DH was 40 and I was 37. Then again, it is only an upstairs flat with no garden, just a balcony. Rents have more than doubled since the last time we were renting (seven years ago).

The last thing I'd want to do if I was low on funds is buy a do-upper though. You need a lot of money to fix them up.

Dude seriously. If you can save £10k in a couple months, no one is going to turn you down for a sensible mortgage. Unless you're in the south east, in which case you're going to have to just rent privately like everyone else there, I'm really not seeing the problem. My mortgage provider is far nicer than any landlord I've ever had (as long as I pay, which I do, they don't come round moaning that my kitchen's not tidy enough when I'm working fulltime with a toddler, for example).

I don't think it's a desperate situation, you actually have time and options. You don't like the options, but they are still there.

You have the ability to save 10k in two months and your worried about where you're going to live and feel "desperate" about it all? Really? Have a

So get a 24 year mortgage?

I'm a bit befuddled by the living in fear of the mortgage provider thing, in my experience they're far more predictable and reliable than most landlords.

If you were thinking of emigrating, Australia is just as, if not more, expensive by the way. Particularly in the cities. Every year we get a batch of Poms who haven't done their homework and hoped to escape the high prices of England by coming to the Antipodes believing things ...must be cheap ... because we're an old colony just full of descendants of convicts ..

Yes YABU to feel desperate. Last week I met a young couple about to have a baby in a private rented flat with black mould and no heating. That is desperate. What you have is a dilemma.

I do kind of get your point that a lot of the options are pretty shitty. It is ridiculous how much housing costs in the UK.